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Organisational Excellence in the Tax and Accounting Practice: Staff and Systems for Growth

Overview

Most small and mid-sized practices are built around the technical capability of one or two partners and directors. The technical work is done well, but the practice runs on long hours, on knowledge held by a few people, and on time absorbed by SARS correspondence, verifications and regulatory administration that cannot be billed.

Time, capacity, staff or internal systems, and efficient practice management systems are important to practice growth.

This video applies the South African Excellence Model, developed locally in 1997 from the Malcolm Baldrige and EFQM excellence models, to practices of ten people or fewer. The model separates what an excellent practice does (the enablers) from the evidence that it is working (the results). Each area is translated into the decisions a partner or director controls: where capacity is lost, which recurring work must be standardised, how review and quality are assured, how client information is protected, and which measures show whether the changes are working.

Video Content

• What organisational excellence means for a practice of up to ten people, and why technical capability alone does not produce a well-run practice
• The South African Excellence Model: its six enablers and five results, and how the model’s weighting points to processes, client satisfaction and business results
• Leadership where the principal is also the senior producer: delegation, review standards and succession
• Client retention: service standards, engagement scope, turnaround commitments and managing client expectations of SARS
• People and capacity: clear roles, accountability, capacity planning, developing juniors, and the use of contractors, outsourced providers and professional partnerships where recruitment is not viable
• Processes and quality: standardising the recurring compliance cycle (SARS correspondence and verifications, provisional tax and the filing season) through SOPs and checklists, and the principles of ISQM 1 for practices performing audits, independent reviews or compilation engagements
• Information management: protecting client data under POPIA, cybersecurity, and recording practice knowledge so that it does not reside with one person
• Systems and automation: what practice management software, automation and generative AI can and cannot resolve, and how to assess any system against the practice’s own processes
• Measuring results and sustaining improvement: client and staff retention, realisation, work in progress and debtors days, and the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle

Competencies Developed

• Strategic thinking and planning
• Leadership and people management
• Process analysis and improvement
• Using technology and automation to strengthen practice operations
• Quality management and risk awareness
• Performance measurement and data-informed decision-making
• Client service and relationship management
• Ethical and socially responsible practice management
• Managing change within a professional practice