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The following are many of the frequently asked questions we receive during the interview process. Q: How many hours would I be expected to work? A: Our firm works on an hour-commitment basis for full-time staff. You commit to a set number of hours annually (typically 2,300 for a staff accountant). All hours worked, including vacation, holiday, sick and social engagements are applied to this commitment. After you have used your vacation allowance, you are allowed to use flextime for additional time off provided you are on pace to meet your hour commitment. As an intern, you will be working as little as 40 hours per week to satisfy the course requirement or are allowed to work overtime to fully experience a busy season in public accounting. Q: What kind of projects will I be working on? A: You will be exposed to a variety of projects. As is the case for all of our employees, we work with privately held mid-sized companies in a variety of niche markets including manufacturing, construction, health care, etc. Exposure to individual, business, corporate and partnership returns as well as audits, reviews and compilations of many companies in these niche markets is typical. Q: What size of client do we work on? A: Our clients are typically in the five million to fifty million revenue arena, however we have clients at both ends of the spectrum, some smaller and some up to three hundred million. Q: How many employees does the firm have? A: The firm employs approximately 90 employees, 20 percent of which are in the tax department, 20 percent in the audit department, and 20 percent in support functions such as IT, HR, marketing and administrative support. Approximately 30 percent are employed by our supporting companies: Kolb+Co. Medical Billing, LLC; Kolb+Co. Medical Software Solutions, LLC; Kolb+Co. Financial Advisers, LLC; Kolb+Co. Retirement Plan Services, LLC; and Kolb+Co. Technology Advisers, LLC. The firm is guided by 10 shareholders which make up the remaining 10 percent. Q: What can I expect as far as travel? A: Most of our clients are less than an hours' drive away, allowing our staff to be home every night. Occasionally we will work with a client that requires us to be away from home for 2-3 days while on the engagement. Additionally, several training opportunities will require overnight travel. Q: What type of training will I receive? A: You will receive training on all of the various software programs you will be using at our company. Along with how to use the software, you will learn how to use them to our style and formats. Throughout the year, you will also receive numerous continuing professional education courses related to your level, clients assigned and interests. The training provided can be in-house, outside at various locations or via Web-casts. For those in tax, a week-long training course on the campus of the University of Illinois - Champaign is provided for your first four years with the firm. This training discusses a new area of tax each year and is taught by experts from around the country. Q: What software is used? A: We use the Microsoft Office Suite for the preparation of many of our workpapers. The software we use for our financial statement and accounting work is called Caseware/Caseview and CCH's Prosystem FX for our tax return and preparation work. We also use various other software programs for client services we provide. For tax planning, we use BNA's Income Tax Planner software. Training is provided for the industry specific software. Q: What is a typical day like? A: A typical day in the tax department varies depending on the time of the year. A tax season or "busy season" day may consist of working on multiple tax returns (Partnerships, S Corporations, Corporations, Trusts or Individuals). The new staff may have meetings with other client team members to discuss the progress of a return or to go over changes that need to be made to a return. You will have access to an internet research service that provides daily e-mails on current tax topics and be required to keep current with new technical issues.. In the non-busy season we work on tax returns that have been extended, as well as special projects, tax planning and consulting for our clients. There is truly not a typical day in accounting and auditing, however, during busy season, many of your days are spent out in the field at the client's location. There you will work on an area of the audit at your level. You will be working with other members of our firm (a senior and potentially another staff person) and with employees of our client. Although the days of busy season are the longest days of the year, they are often some of the most rewarding and invigorating days! And when it’s over many of our employees enjoy the use of the flextime that has been accumulated throughout busy season. Q: How would you describe the culture? A: One of the mantras heard frequently at Kolb+Co. is "we work hard and we play hard." We employ professionals who have a strong work ethic of servicing the client, providing high-quality work and being the best at what they do. Our employees work as a team, however typically have very entrepreneurial spirits, developing relationships and eventually new business.
We have a business casual dress code in the office, providing a more relaxed environment for our employees. We also offer flex time which allows our employees to balance their work and personal lives. Q: What is the mentoring program? A: We want our employees to grow with the firm, so as to continuously feel challenged and encouraged. This program partners an employee with a mentor who is available to provide career development advice, assist in goal setting and goal setting achievement, and provide support to the employee on a variety of career issues. A mentor is selected by the employee and provides an immediate reference source/guide to the employee's professional development. Q: How do careers progress at Kolb+Co. SC? A: The typical career path within our firm is staff to senior to supervisor to manager. The progression is dependent on the individual's skills, abilities, initiative and knowledge. Generally, the path from staff to senior to supervisor would be two to three busy seasons in each position. The ability to successfully run engagements and develop strong business relationships as a senior will determine the move to supervisor. Supervisors, in turn, will develop their practice development capabilities and demonstrate competency in managing multiple engagements prior to moving into the manager position. Q: What would encourage me to select Kolb+Co. SC over another firm? A: Kolb+Co. SC is the largest locally owned firm in the Milwaukee area, with a shareholder group who are all owners, providing the entrepreneurial spirit to the firm and housing all of the decision making capability under one roof. Our clients are privately held mid-sized companies, providing the employees the opportunity to fully understand the whole business of the client, as they consult on many business issues. We have a large client base, allowing employees a wide variety of business experience and relationships. We conduct a majority of our business in the metro-Milwaukee area, which means our employees are at their homes at night with their families or participating on a sports team, etc. We work on an hour commitment basis, which includes vacation, sick, holiday, out-of-area travel time and social engagement time. After employees have used their paid time off allotment and are on pace to meet the hour commitment, they have the flexibility to tap into the flex time. We encourage a strong work/personal life balance. We have the bench strength of a big firm; however maintain the family friendly culture. Employees will work with co-workers who are the best in the industry, have access to the firms shareholders, and be provided with technology to perform their jobs as efficiently as possible. We provide a competitive salary and benefits package, with many fun opportunities to build relationships with your co-workers such as a Milwaukee Brewers game, Dinner on Us, Rainmaking Learn at Lunch, Busy Season Stress Busters, etc. |
