By Vincent Howard, CPA | Managing Partner, Howard, Howard and Hodges | SkillAbility for Accounting Firms Last updated: July 10, 2026 | 17-minute read TL;DR — The Short Answer A workpaper review checklist should help staff catch incomplete, unsupported, unclear, and unresolved work before the file reaches the reviewer. Review-ready work clearly shows the purpose
Welcome to SkillAbility
Staff Development Archives - SkillAbility
By Vincent Howard, CPA | Managing Partner, Howard, Howard and Hodges | SkillAbility for Accounting Firms Last updated: July 2026 | 15-minute read TL;DR — The Short Answer Accounting workforce development is the system CPA firms need to build capacity from within instead of relying only on hiring, shadowing, and manager rescue. Most CPA firms
By Vincent Howard, CPA | Managing Partner, Howard, Howard and Hodges | SkillAbility for Accounting Firms Last updated: July 2026 | 14-minute read TL;DR — The Short Answer Accountants are shifting from preparers to reviewers earlier in their careers. CPA firm training has to shift from task completion to judgment, skepticism, and review readiness. The
By Vincent Howard, CPA | Managing Partner, Howard, Howard and Hodges | SkillAbility for Accounting Firms Last updated: July 2026 | 14-minute read TL;DR — The Short Answer CPA firms cannot scale a tax department by waiting for enough senior hires. If senior tax talent is too scarce to buy, firms have to get better
By Vincent Howard, CPA | Managing Partner, Howard, Howard and Hodges | SkillAbility for Accounting Firms Last updated: July 2026 | 14-minute read TL;DR — The Short Answer Offshore accounting staff can add capacity, but only if your onboarding system builds review-ready work before client work reaches your managers. Offshore staff are not a shortcut
By Vincent Howard, CPA | Managing Partner, Howard, Howard and Hodges | SkillAbility for Accounting Firms Last updated: July 2026 | 14-minute read TL;DR — The Short Answer To reduce review notes in accounting, do not lower review standards. Build staff who submit more review-ready work. Too many review notes are not just a quality-control
By Vincent Howard, CPA | Managing Partner, Howard, Howard and Hodges | SkillAbility for Accounting Firms Last updated: July 2026 | 14-minute read TL;DR — The Short Answer An accountant development plan shows how a person moves from basic execution to independence, judgment, client communication, advisory readiness, and leadership. Most CPA firms do not really
By Vincent Howard, CPA | Managing Partner, Howard, Howard and Hodges | SkillAbility for Accounting Firms Last updated: 2026 | 13-minute read TL;DR — The Short Answer The best way to motivate accounting staff is to stop making them guess how to become valuable. Most CPA firms try to motivate staff from the outside: raises,
© 2026 | SkillAbility | All Rights Reserved. | Developed & Digital Marketing By Veom Infotech