Week Six Individual Assignment - Essay Example

Connie Johnson November 7, Week Six Individual Assignment ACC/544 of Phoenix The job marketplace in all occupations is changing constantly. The accounting profession is no exemption. All accounting firms prefer to employee accountants that are Certified Public Accountants (CPA). A CPA certification is a very prestigious title. CPAs have vast amounts of knowledge in accounting and business. The salary a company has to pay a CPA is higher than the salary of a regular accountant. Accountants in general are very well compensated.

The average salary for accountants that work in tax preparation, booking, and payroll services in 2008 was $61,480 (Bls, 2011). The marketing strategy the company used in the past of advertising the firm as a CPA centered firm was effective in the past. The market has changed and consumers of accounting services are looking for cheaper solutions. The domestic market for accounting and business consulting services is a multi-million dollar industry in the United States. In 2008 the were 1,290,600 accountants and auditors working in the United States and the job market is expected to grow to 1,570,000 jobs by 2019 (Bls, 2011).

As the market is getting crunched with more accountants the competition has risen. The global recession of 2008 changed the world and people’s perspectives forever. The consumers have become more conscious, while the companies have become more aggressive in their sales pitch and overall behavior towards consumers. It is time for your company to reconsider its employment strategy to lower its operating costs and for the firm to grow in other services of the market. One of the threats that the company is currently facing is companies that offer tax services by non-CPA accountants that have become very effective in their work due to the assistance of software.

The software’s are user friendly and easy to understand. Some of these software companies sell directly to tax filers since their software are so easy to use. Your firm should consider a new human resource strategy. Selling expensive tax services performed by a CPA has become a solution that creates a cost constraint that forces the firm to charge high prices for individual and business tax returns. The new plan is to hire eight new accountants without CPAs. Four of the new accountants will be college graduates with the bachelor’s degree in business administration and concentration in accounting.

The total year cost in labor is illustrated in the table below: Total Salary total salary Accountants (Experience) 4 61480 245920 Accountants (Recent graduates) 4 40000 160000 $405,920 The total cost of the new division of non-CPA accountants will cost the company $405,920. These employees will be used to achieve sales growth in individual tax filings by offering a cheap solution that offers a price that is equal or lower than the competition. To advertise its services the company will attract clients using the internet.

Ecommerce is a growing industry in the United States that generated over $150 billion in sales in 2010. The company should hire a computer agency to redesign the corporate website utilizing website optimization techniques to increase the total traffic the site receives from normal searches in search engines such as Google and Yahoo. The estimated cost of redesigning the website is $5,000 to $10,000. The website must have an interactive live chat feature to provide instant service to customer’s inquiries.

The customer sales representative will be able to collect orders for tax services. The customer can pay online using credit card or PayPal. This new operation will require the installment of a new software application. The software application will be integrated to the website so that the customer can enter personal information, income data, and other questions necessary to determine the tax obligation. The company will also develop marketing campaigns for its on-site tax services using billboards, classified ads, and announcements in magazines.

The company should also run an advertising campaign on Sirius or XM satellite radio. A lot of the listeners of satellite radio stations are people that commute to work. It is required by law to file tax returns in the United States if you working full or part-time. In 2005 the size of the U.S. workforce was 149 million (Lee & Mather, 2008). This numbers implies that the company had a target market for individual tax returns of 149 million potential customers that year. Change is an inevitable part of the business world.

It is my recommendation that the company must reorganize in order to hire more accountants without CPAs to compete directly with discount accounting service offerings. The recruitment process should take approximately four weeks. Once the new employees sign the contract the will be given two weeks of training. In the third week they will begin their normal jobs with the company. This new project should help the company keep up with the competitive nature of the accounting industry. References Bls.gov (2011).

Accountants and Auditors. Retrieved November 8, 2011 from http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos001.htm#training Lee, M., Mather, M. (2008). U.S. Labor Force Trends. Population Bulleting, 63(2). Retrieved November 8, 2011 from http://www.prb.org/pdf08/63.2uslabor.pdf