Промышленный лизинг Промышленный лизинг  Методички 

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Bonus Programs. When properly administered, bonus programs can be tremendous motivational tools that help propel a firm to be a leader in its field. If not well conceived and executed, bonus programs simply increase costs with very little in return. Three types of bonus programs are found frequently in well-managed professional services firms:

Profit-related executive bonuses: Generally reserved for only the most senior executives or partners of the firm, payment of profit-related bonuses can either be discretionary or tied to a formula. In general, these bonuses are tied to the firms overall financial success and are designed to motivate the senior leadership team to make decisions that are best for the growth and profitability of the firm. Long-term deferred bonus plans are designed to reward performance over several years while incenting the most senior executives to remain with and build the firm. The less discretionary these programs are, the closer the link may be between decision making and results.

Management by objective (MBO)-related bonuses and deferred salaries: Unlike profit-related bonuses, MBO-related bonuses may be considered more like part of a salary that has been deferred for a period of time (e.g., quarterly, semiannually, or annually) and are paid only after successful performance of a set of predetermined tasks or responsibilities. Effective MBO programs begin with a written statement of quantifiable objectives that the employee is to perform. In general, it is best to focus the program on three or four of the employees most important responsibilities that can be quantified. Once those objectives are discussed and agreed to with the employee, they should be documented in writing, with a copy given to the employee and another filed with his or her personnel records. The advantage of this technique is that it minimizes the amount of time required to perform the evaluation at the end of the year and record new objectives for the following year. Finally, the costs of such incentive programs, if properly established and managed, may be accrued ratably as a salary expense each month instead of being charged to bonus expense at the end of the year when paid. In some client compensation agreements, this may properly increase the allowable amount of expense the firm may recover from its client, thus improving the firms profitability.

Spot bonuses: Spot bonuses are, as the name implies, paid on the spot with short notice in recognition of a job well done, generally to lower level staff. Imagine the euphoric feeling of having your supervisor walk up to you, tell you that you did a fantastic job on a particular assignment, and then hand you a check for $1,000. Although not a material amount, the fact that the firms management recognized your performance and rewarded it with something tangible can be a powerful tool that builds loyalty and improves overall productivity.



VMonthly Salary Forecast by Person. To provide both a control point over the payroll process and the foundation for what is normally the largest cost element of the financial forecast, a detailed salary forecast should be prepared/updated each month. A salary forecast is a detailed spreadsheet (or database) that lists every employee, basic statistics about the person such as hire date, annual salary rate, date and amount of the last few salary adjustments, as well as a monthly spread of each individuals compensation, including all bonuses and other salary adjustments. Employees are listed within their respective departments, with a copy of the worksheet given to the department head so that he or she can plan compensation adjustments for the year and the resulting numbers can then be used to develop departmental budgets to the extent used within the firm.

Each month, as new professional staff are hired, employees leave, salaries are adjusted, bonus amounts are refined, and new positions are approved and removed, the salary plan is updated to reflect as many of these changes as possible. Many of these updates are recorded in some form of personnel action request form that the HR department uses to manage and control changes to the employee population. The salary forecast is one of the professional services firms most important management tools and must always be maintained in a current state and reconciled against actual payroll each month by someone other than the one who administers payroll. This simple control is vital in a well-managed firm.

Steps management can take to safeguard its payroll include:

Reconcile actual payroll against the payroll forecast every month and, if possible, as part of the monthly close process. Ensure all variances to plan, however small, are investigated fully and resolved to the satisfaction of at least one senior financial supervisor.

Segregatee duties. Segregation of the payroll process itself from the person responsible for developing and reconciling the forecast can help to ensure that internal controls are properly balanced to safeguard the payroll account.

Ensure that staff responsible for payroll-related issues take vacations. No single employee should have control over the payroll process. When a backup person periodically takes charge of the payroll process, anomalies are more likely to be uncovered than if the same person always takes responsibility for the process.

All Jobs Need Oversight

A large Midwestern professional services firm discovered that its trusted payroll clerk had been diverting payroll funds to his own account while he took a vacation after more than five years without doing so. During that five-plus-year span, the employee managed to divert over a



quarter million dollars to his personal account. The employee was prosecuted and sentenced to jail for his actions.

Timesheets

The foundation for all cost accounting (and billing) in a professional services organization rests with the integrity of its time accounting system. Every employee in a professional services firm is responsible for completing his or her own timesheet, including the CEO and all other executives, even if their time is not charged directly to a client.

The actual amount of time worked on each client or project is recorded on some form of timesheet, whether it is a sheet of paper or direct input into an electronic system. General and administrative time is recorded in a separate account (or in detailed subaccounts) set up for that purpose, with all other client-related time charged to a specific client or project. For administrative personnel who otherwise would not need to complete a timesheet because their time is not charged directly to a client, use of the time accounting system to track vacation/paid time off (PTO) days used is generally the most efficient procedure because it avoids having to create a separate process/procedure to track such time.

Best practices call for all time reports to be reviewed and approved by the employees immediate supervisor. Any modification to the original time reported should be made only by the employee himself or herself, with a supervisors written approval, and documenting the reason for the adjustment. Time records may be used as evidence in legal proceedings, and the procedures surrounding their formation must be above reproach.

Vacation/Paid Time Off Tracking

Laws about PTO and vacation time vary from state to state, and local rules may supersede anything written here. However, as a general rule, employees earn vacation or PTO time ratably through the year and, in some cases, any unused time may be carried over into future years. To the extent that an employee leaves the firm with unused vacation/PTO time remaining, the firm is liable for payment of the value of that time based on a pro rata amount of the employees base salary. In states that mandate unused time be carried over or paid to employees (as opposed to other so-called use it or lose it arrangements), the collective value of that time is a liability to the firm and is recorded in its financial statements at its gross value. Some firms elect to pay out the value of unused vacation time in cash at the end of the year to minimize risks from these regulations and to reduce its balance sheet liabilities. If not managed properly, vacation or PTO time can become a significant liability to the firm.



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