Coping With Timesheets

Question

I am a new accounting professional who's been employed at a CPA firm for 10 months. One of the main frustrations I am experiencing at this point in my career is that my firm, as many do, tends to heavily emphasize billable hours and timesheets.

In my opinion, it seems to me them only serve to micromanage the worker and nickle & dime the client. I feel at moments that the firm only sells time and not services which enhance the client.

It's hard to talk about this with my peers since I don't know who to talk to. This has always been the practice for decades. I was recently assigned a mentor at my request and the first thing they wanted to focus on was how to budget my time down to the hour.

My question is: How do I not let this aspect about my profession inhibit my career and cause me to be unhappy?

Thank you.

Answer 1

Take some time, unless you know this mentor pretty well already, to get to know him or her.

If they seem amenable, find a good time while you are asking another question to bring up the question in an offhand way, "Have you ever felt that taking time to track our hours takes away from the value of the service we provide?" And let them answer. Don't give away too much about how you feel, though your mentor will probably get the idea.

That's all you can really do. They aren't going to change their way of doing business. Someday when you are senior partner, you can change it.

I think you should get into a routine of billing your hours so it takes the least time possible and have that much more time to focus on your clients and their need.