Accountancy has a bullying problem
AccountingWEB's anonymous partner sheds light on bullying in the office, an issue that is rarely acknowledged but never goes away.
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If Accountancy really has a problem then as a partner it is your issue to address.
Unless you are telling us the your firm is an exemplar and the problem is elsewhere.
Why do you think Accy is worse than other environments?
Any evidence?
I've only encountered one bully in accountancy, who was the business owner of a small practice I used to work at. Well, that ius until I marched him into his office and gave him an ultimatum. He stops, or I see him in court (disability discrimination act was in point).
Suffice to say, he didn't bully me again.
I have never encountered bullying in Accountancy. Heavy banter, yes, but then have you seen the Maradona jokes floating around. British humour takes many forms and can easily be mistaken for bullying, racism, sexism and any other ism. Unfortunately bullying in schools is rife and always has been. This is the time to stop the bullies in their tracks.
The senior partner where I used to work periodically burst into someones office shouting and screaming ( although to be fair, never swearing ) at some innocent staff member. The time I remember well was when the practice had a visit from their governing body, who had queried why the firm had given a clean audit report on a set of accounts. He laid in to the senior who had been in charge of the audit: his parting shot being " I told them I had nothing to do with it, I only signed the audit report'. After that I couldn't really take him seriously.
My first job was at that firm, training was non-existant and I was struggling to reconcile a client's bank account. The senior in charge was in a mood about something and came over to my desk, swore at me and then slapped the side of my face, calling me ******* useless. Later that day I meet him in the corridor with no-one else about. I grabbed him by the throat, pinned him up the wall and told him if he ever touched me again he'd be through the window ( we were on the second floor ). Strangely he never bothered me again and left the firm shortly afterwards to work for his father.
Both of the bullies were actually inadequate men who didn't know any other way to behave.
I worked for a firm a number of years ago where the boss ran the office like a dictator. Lots of pressure was put on staff and we were always stressed in case we were called into the office. Time sheets were the holy grail and anytime you exceeded the hours on a job you needed to explain on a note why. It was also frowned upon to be in the office later than 8.30 and leave before 5.30.
I see him now and again and he seems like a decent chap but his leadership skills didn't impress me.
Although for a small practice, it was probably the most profitable around as their fees were sky high. The clients had no idea what was going on in the office but they were treated like royalty.
Many staff voted with their feet and in 2 years, 12 people left. Quite a number when the full team was made up of of around 10 people.