Accounting Office Management & Administration Report

Your CPA firm’s office is more than a place for staff and partners to hang their hats. Prospective and current clients come through, as do recruits and referral resources. What the offices look like—and how functional they are for the work your firm does—reflects your firm’s brand and culture. Appearances are also about more than beauty: they can affect productivity and efficiency.

Space may be changing for your firm as you grow and reshape the kinds of departments or teams that are part of your firm. Increased use of electronic research and digital management resources may mean that space formerly used for libraries and storage can be "repurposed." If your firm hasn’t taken a good look at the appearance and use of the space around you for a while, you are probably due for at least some rearranging, if not a complete redesign.

"Whether reducing library space, securing lower-cost locations, creating multifunctional spaces, or utilizing a centralized reception area, even smaller firms can take advantage of a number of options to be more successful in attracting and retaining" staff, says Dan Caligiuri, senior vice president with Trammel Crow Company, a commercial real estate services company. Such steps can even result in greater profitability in the end, he asserts.

Sounds like a long list of expectations for something as simple as office space; however, the appearance of an office—whether in an urban highrise or a suburban office park—influences the way your people interact, sets the tone for the firm’s internal culture, and is a measure of the firm’s success.

Generational perceptions. Another factor to consider is that different generations in your workforce have different needs that must be recognized within the same supportive environment.

Kristin Hill, a principal at Nelson, the multidisciplinary international design company, reviewed characteristics of the four generations in today’s workplace (see the accompanying sidebar). She says that each generation has different attitudes toward such cultural factors as status, hierarchy, entitlement, work processes, flexibility, and technology. In addition, she concludes that work hours, office sharing, private offices, an open floor plan, formal versus casual wear, furniture, support needs, space allocations, and amenities are also important to each generation in different ways.

"One size does not fit all," Hill stressed during the workshop "Cultural and Generational Influences on Workplace Design" that she gave at an industry conference.

How design reflects your firm’s culture. It’s important to keep in mind what current and future members want now and will look for in the physical workplace environment, Hill maintains. She reports that respondents to a recent furniture study indicated that physical characteristics of workplace design convey corporate culture. Respondents drew conclusions about organizational hierarchy; opportunities for personal learning, professional development, and self-expression; the ability to form social networks at work; and creativity and innovation.

Noteworthy observations:

• A high-walled, paneled executive workplace was perceived by all age groups as more "corporate" and suited to management-level jobs.
• Older employees ranked closed offices highest. Functionality and quiet were important to them.
• Aesthetic quality and image were important to younger employees.
• Boomers complained more than others about aspects of the workplace they didn’t like because they tended to spend more time there.
• Gen Xers didn’t complain. They were more likely to leave the job than to try to change a situation.
• No single panel height, storage option, employee or guest chair, or ergonomic solution was a clear winner in those categories.
• Employees of all ages viewed themselves as working primarily individually and getting together with others as needed.

One of the conclusions Hill drew from the study was that CPA firms need to make a number of options available to their staff and partners, and that such options should be easily identifiable, modest, and manageable in scope and cost. "The options preferred reflect the nature of the work processes and the desire to be able to work productively and comfortably," she said. She stressed that these options were not "frills."

Four types of culture to consider. Hill describes four types of workplace culture and notes which generation likes to work in each of them:

• Controlling: Authoritative, top-down, conservative, definitive, and unwavering. Veterans are most comfortable in this culture. Examples of companies with this culture include General Motors and Sears.
• Collaborative: Team-oriented, inclusive, sharing, trusting, instructive. This culture is favored among Boomers. Sample companies: Subaru and Starbucks.
• Competitive: Have a conceptual vision; are assertive, challenging, and persuasive. Both Boomers and Gen Xers like this corporate style. Sample companies: Microsoft and Wal-Mart.
• Cultivating: Charismatic, bottom-up, catalyst, commitment builder. Boomers, Gen Xers, and Millennials enjoy working in this culture. Sample companies: Kaplan and United Healthcare.

In the end, Hill says, "the firm’s culture must consider the social equation of the [client], the associate who works there, and the shareholder." Figuring out whose needs should be met by the design solution is a critical part of that equation.

Work is an activity and not a place, Hill emphasized, so "old standards no longer apply to office design. Workers have increased mobility because of technology, and increasing pressures from technology and costs are forcing us to rethink alternatives to the traditional workplace. Less is less." Consequently, she says that the office of tomorrow will definitely not look like today’s cubicles.