Accounting and CPA firms have long been community-minded, donating to worthy local causes and encouraging partners to serve with local nonprofits. And over the past decade, the Best Firms to Work For have made a practice of coordinating firm-wide efforts to make sure they have a bigger impact and to include as many staff as possible.
North Carolina's Blackman & Sloop is a great example of this: "Our Pay It Forward Committee coordinates at least one service project each year, we have various food drives for local nonprofit organizations, and last year we had a 'supplies' drive to help teachers with classroom necessities," the firm reported.
It's not uncommon to see the Best Firms hold a "Day of Service" where they line up one or more major volunteering events — building a house for Habitat for Humanity, or gathering and packing up donated goods before a major holiday, or refurbishing a local park — that allow everyone in the firm to participate.
More recently, though, the Best Firms have been adding another layer to giving back to the community, by making it easier for staff to serve at nonprofits that matter to them.
At Hawaii Accounting, this takes the form of VTO: "We encourage volunteering through Volunteer Time Off," the firm explained. "This lets employees take time paid to volunteer during the work week, providing a flexible option for giving back to organizations that are special to the employees."
Texas-based Maxwell Locke & Ritter wants to give staff plenty of service opportunities. "Employees are encouraged and given time and flexibility to participate in community organizations that personally interest them," the firm said, "while firm-wide community service events including weekly Meals on Wheels delivery routes."
A large number of Best Firms offer paid time off for volunteering. Tennessee's KraftCPAs even puts it on employee timesheets, so time spent on a Habitat for Humanity project on a Saturday would be included in an employee's hours worked for that week.
Instead of time off — or sometimes alongside it — some of the Best Firms will match employees' charitable giving dollar for dollar up to $100, $250 or even, in the case of California's Dillwood Burkel & Miller, $500.
However it's done — through structured opportunities created by the firm, or through support for individual employees' preferred method of giving back — the Best Firms are making sure they and their staff continue the profession's long-standing commitment to community service.
