The role of the secretary in an accountancy practice/business

The role of the secretary in an accountancy...

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I run a practice with 5 staff and over the past few months have been really looking at the various options for going paper free . I am also very aware now that with so many processes being automated that less and less secretarial support is actually required in an accounting practice.

It has really got me thinking is their still a role for the traditional secretary and admin staff?

Letters are so standardised they dont need a secretary to type them, filing is gone as documents are scanned, accounts arent typed out any more, much less post goes out due to email and less comes in again due to email.

I really struggle to justfiy the need for fulltime well paid secretarial staff - the problem is greeting clients and taking calls.

I know of one medium size practice close to me who are highly automated and use no secretarial staff at all. Yet I wonder how they manage with calls and visitors.

I'd be very interested to hear of others thoughts, experiences and views.
LJ

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Teignmouth
By Paul Scholes
21st Feb 2008 00:18

Where to start!
Hi LJ - if you have employed anybody to the point that they have become a valuable part of the firm, fit in well, know your funny little (or big) ways and get on well with clients then it is plain daft (if not sometimes illegal) to make them reduntant when they can be re-skilled or encouraged to help out in other ways.

I employed two "secretaries" on a job share but over the past 5 years they have become part-time administrators, bookkeepers etc etc and the glue that holds the practice together, oh yes and they also still WP the odd letter or email.

One who actually started in 2001 helping out with the filing, now maintains the time ledger and prepares our books & management accounts on QBs and does the same for a client and deals with courses administration.

The other who started purely as a WP'er now prepares payrolls for clients, handles all our company secretarial work, deals with our credit control, acts as a secretary for a client, and acts as a buffer between me and my landlord's managing agents (I hate them).

They both handle the setting up and maintenance of clients on our database (IRIS) including ensuring that 64-8's, engagement letters, change of reg office forms, money laundering procedures etc etc are dealt with as well as monitoring various pieces of key information that flow between us, making sure they are eventually filed or sent out.

There are always things that I and technical staff do that could be done by someone else with a little bit of coaching. This is true no matter what the size of the practice.

The benefit of sharing around these areas of work is that it leaves others free to do what they are good at, so I share in making tea & coffee, putting out the rubbish, organising recycling and hoovering....you think I'm joking?

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By User deleted
20th Feb 2008 14:32

Yes I do have a secretary who handles many of the traditional roles in the practice on a fulltime basis which could easily be done much more efficiently and many of which would disappear with a paperless office eg filing.

However the dilema is that some roles would still remain eg taking calls greeting clients but then my secretary becomes an expensive member of staff.

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By User deleted
20th Feb 2008 13:28

LJ

Do you have a secretary? And if so, do you struggle to find her/him stuff to do?

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By User deleted
20th Feb 2008 12:24

But
Who is going to make the tea?

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Me!
By nigelburge
20th Feb 2008 10:35

If you are a small practice
then really you do not need a secretary.

Why not use voice dictation software (DragonDictate) - this chops out typing and also use a fully automated phone system - chops out telephonists.

As for greeting clients, this is not really a full time job is it?

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By User deleted
20th Feb 2008 10:18

Needed but
I work alone and don't have support staff and phone calls do eat into working time without that - so much so that I now have my mother handling calls for me.

I think the future will be in having such staff trained to do other things such as bookkeeping, simple accounts and tax returns etc. in between their other work. A good secretary is highly likely to be perfectly capable of doing this sort of thing and most I know are soon bored without enough to do.

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