Surveying Accounting Firm Culture: Results, Blind Spots and Marketing’s Role in Improvement
An accounting firm’s culture is more than a collection of feel-good initiatives like flexible work arrangements and casual dress codes, it describes how employees feel, think and act. Firms simply cannot succeed and grow without loyal, engaged staff.
Earlier this year, INSIDE Public Accounting (IPA) completed an anonymous Excellence in Firm Culture assessment of 2,000 staff at 21 accounting firms. Questions were centered on 12 cultural qualities that are critical to business success, according to IPA’s survey partner, CultureIQ. The assessment asked staff how they perceived their firm’s performance in those areas, and the results were benchmarked against Culture IQ’s aggregated results of the financial services industry as a whole. Firms also were scored on their employee net promoter score. This data can help marketers bring culture top-of-mind at their firms. Developing a well-defined, positive culture boosts brand awareness, aids in recruitment and increases retention.
Join IPA Publisher Kelly Platt for an AAM High! Webinar where attendees will learn:
- The cultural qualities that are critical to a firm’s success.
- The results and insights gained from IPA's initial assessment – how large firms differ from smaller firms, how the perceptions of women and men differ, and where accounting firms excel and where they lag behind.
- The opportunities – and the blind spots – about improving firm culture.
About Kelly
Kelly Platt, the managing principal of INSIDE Public Accounting and partner in The Platt Group, has worked within the profession since 1994 and has developed a deep understanding of the inner workings of CPA firms. A co-founder of AccountingWEB.com, Kelly currently directs all aspects of INSIDE Public Accounting’s Annual Survey and Analysis of Firms and the monthly IPA newsletter. She launched The PRIME Symposium, an annual event, built around the best practices of the INSIDE Public Accounting Best of the Best firms.