Proposed in the Intervention Process of Continuous Improvement in Professional Services, the Case in an Accounting Firm

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.I. Eloisa Cadenas

Author(s):  
H. Lon Addams ◽  
Anthony Allred

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Acquiring a new client is an arduous task.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Accordingly, losing an important client can be devastating to a firm and demoralizing to the accounting team assigned to the client, particularly if the client represents a significant portion of the firm&rsquo;s revenue stream.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>This research study reflects the concern of CEOs that poor customer service can result in firing the present accounting firm. Besides completing the work required by the client, the accounting firm needs to build the perception of being a problem-solver and an initiator of ideas that markedly helps a client&rsquo;s overall financial health and well-being.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>To do otherwise will result in the client putting its need for professional services &ldquo;out to bid.&rdquo;</span></span></span></p>



2011 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 551-567 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Mueller ◽  
Chris Carter ◽  
Anne Ross-Smith

There is little existing research on how managers within the ‘Big Four’ professional services firms (PSFs) respond to the increasing normative pressures and performative cultures that characterize contemporary PSFs. It is primarily managers within PSFs that enact the new managerial roles, systems and ethos that differentiate ‘managed professional businesses’ (MPBs) from the P2 archetype. It is managers who in their own estimation need to ensure that both organization and employees perform to the required standard. This article reports from an empirical study into one of the Big Four accounting firms. The focus is on how a specific group of employees, namely female managers, make sense of career and performance in their particular organization. The respondents’ career is being shaped by their real and perceived willingness to be ‘bothered to be playing the game’ as well as providing a good client service and participating in the ongoing rationalization of professional practices. Thus, the self is divided: on the one hand, ambitious, committed and loyal to the firm and to the notion of performing. On the other hand, there is also distancing and disenchantment with the existing practices and reluctant acknowledgement that the reality is characterized by a culture of visibility and exposure; the need to network, play politics and be playing-the-game, none of which are gender-neutral.



Technometrics ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-84
Author(s):  
Berton H. Gunter


2001 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 273-289
Author(s):  
Mark E. Reid

In this case, you are asked to take on the role of a tax professional in a modern professional services (i.e., accounting) firm. Your boss has asked you to develop a plan of incorporation for one of your clients, who has decided to switch from a sole proprietorship to a C corporation. The client has four assets that would be transferred to the corporation: cash, equipment, building, and land. You must determine how to transfer the assets to the corporation, as well as other matters (how much salary the corporation should pay the client, etc.), keeping in mind that the goal is to maximize the client's after-tax return by minimizing the client's tax liability.



2008 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-31
Author(s):  
Martha Wilder Wilson ◽  
Elizabeth Zylla-Jones

Abstract The goal of university training programs is to educate speech-language pathology and audiology students to become competent and independent practitioners, with the ability to provide high quality and professional services to the public. This article describes the behaviors of “at-risk” student clinicians, so they may be identified early in their practica and remediation may be implemented. The importance of establishing a student at-risk protocol is discussed as well as a remediation plan for these students. This article summarized the Auburn University Speech and Hearing Clinic’s Student At-Risk Protocol, which may serve as a model for university training programs. The challenges of implementing such a protocol are also discussed.



2010 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-8
Author(s):  
Dee Adams Nikjeh

Abstract Administrators and supervisors face daily challenges over issues such as program funding, service fees, correct coding procedures, and the ever-changing healthcare regulations. Receiving equitable reimbursement for speech-language pathology and audiology services necessitates an understanding of federal coding and reimbursement systems. This tutorial provides information pertaining to two major healthcare coding systems and explains the relationship of these systems to clinical documentation, the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule and equitable reimbursement. An explanation of coding edits and coding modifiers is provided for use in those occasional atypical situations when the standard use of procedural coding may not be appropriate. Also included in this tutorial is a brief discussion of the impact that the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 (HR 6331 Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act [MIPPA], 2008) has had on the valuation of speech-language pathology procedure codes.



2008 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 56-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jill K. Duthie

Abstract Clinical supervisors in university based clinical settings are challenged by numerous tasks to promote the development of self-analysis and problem-solving skills of the clinical student (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, ASHA, 1985). The Clinician Directed Hierarchy is a clinical training tool that assists the clinical teaching process by directing the student clinician’s focus to a specific level of intervention. At each of five levels of intervention, the clinician develops an understanding of the client’s speech/language target behaviors and matches clinical support accordingly. Additionally, principles and activities of generalization are highlighted for each intervention level. Preliminary findings suggest this is a useful training tool for university clinical settings. An essential goal of effective clinical supervision is the provision of support and guidance in the student clinician’s development of independent clinical skills (Larson, 2007). The student clinician is challenged with identifying client behaviors in the therapeutic process and learning to match his or her instructions, models, prompts, reinforcement, and use of stimuli appropriately according to the client’s needs. In addition, the student clinician must be aware of techniques in the intervention process that will promote generalization of new communication behaviors. Throughout the intervention process, clinicians are charged with identifying appropriate target behaviors, quantifying the progress of the client’s acquisition of the targets, and making adjustments within and between sessions as necessary. Central to the development of clinical skills is the feedback provided by the clinical supervisor (Brasseur, 1989; Moss, 2007). Particularly in the early stages of clinical skills development, the supervisor is challenged with addressing numerous aspects of clinical performance and awareness, while ensuring the client’s welfare (Moss). To address the management of clinician and client behaviors while developing an understanding of the clinical intervention process, the University of the Pacific has developed and begun to implement the Clinician Directed Hierarchy.



2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (18) ◽  
pp. 28-41
Author(s):  
Kelli M. Watts ◽  
Laura B. Willis

Telepractice, defined by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA, n.d.) as “the application of telecommunications technology to the delivery of professional services at a distance by linking clinician to client, or clinician to clinician, for assessment, intervention, and/or consultation,” is a quickly growing aspect of practicing audiology. However, only 12% of audiologists are involved in providing services via telepractice (REDA International, Inc., 2002). Lack of knowledge regarding telepractice has been cited as one of the reasons many audiologists do not use telepractice to provide audiology services. This study surveyed audiology doctoral students regarding their opinions about the use of telepractice both before and after their opportunity to provide services via telepractice sessions. The authors expected that by providing students the opportunity to have hands-on training in telepractice with supervision, they would be more open to using telepractice after becoming licensed audiologists. Overall, the data indicates benefits of exposing students to telepractice while they are in graduate school.



2008 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 43-49
Author(s):  
James L. Coyle

Abstract The modern clinician is a research consumer. Rehabilitation of oropharyngeal impairments, and prevention of the adverse outcomes of dysphagia, requires the clinician to select interventions for which evidence of a reasonable likelihood of a successful, important outcome exists. The purpose of this paper is to provide strategies for evaluation of published research regarding treatment of oropharyngeal dysphagia. This article utilizes tutorial and examples to inform and educate practitioners in methods of appraising published research. It provides and encourages the use of methods of efficiently evaluating the validity and clinical importance of published research. Additionally, it discusses the importance of the ethical obligation we, as practitioners, have to use evidence-based treatment selection methods and measurement of patient performance during therapy. The reader is provided with tactics for evaluating treatment studies to establish a study's validity and, thereby, objectively select interventions. The importance of avoiding subjective or unsubstantiated claims and using objective methods of generating empirical clinical evidence is emphasized. The ability to evaluate the quality of research provides clinicians with objective intervention selection as an important, essential component of evidence-based clinical practice. ASHA Code of Ethics (2003): Principle I, Rule F: “Individuals shall fully inform the persons they serve of the nature and possible effects of services rendered and products dispensed…” (p. 2) Principle I, Rule G: “Individuals shall evaluate the effectiveness of services rendered and of products dispensed and shall provide services or dispense products only when benefit can reasonably be expected.” (p. 2) Principle IV, Rule G: “Individuals shall not provide professional services without exercising independent professional judgment, regardless of referral source or prescription.” (p. 4)



2005 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 173-181
Author(s):  
Francisco Gil ◽  
Jesús Sanz ◽  
María Paz García-Vera ◽  
José M. León ◽  
Silvia Medina ◽  
...  

Abstract. The quality of health services depends on the contribution of all the professionals involved in the system, including certain groups, usually forgotten and underrated, such as the health-transport technicians (HTT). With the aim of improving this group's performance, an intervention program, focusing on the development of the workers' technical and social skills, was designed in a collective of enterprises. Information about the first stage of this program, consisting of the assessment of these workers' social skills, is offered in this study. A specific questionnaire was developed: The Health-Transport Technicians Social Skills Questionnaire (HTT-SSQ), made up of three scales (assertive, passive, and aggressive behavior). It was administered to a large sample (N = 530) from the above-mentioned association. The psychometric properties of the questionnaire were analyzed, with quite satisfactory indexes of internal consistency and factor validity, and the group's deficiencies (excess or deficit) were evaluated.



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