Tax season means long hours and Saturday work for most certified public accountants, but Kirkpatrick Phillips & Miller CPAs PC helps employees make the most of the busy times.
"The biggest highlight here is the people you work with," says Amy Garner, a certified public accountant who started working at the company as an intern five years ago. "The atmosphere is really good. It's a very open-door policy and everyone helps each other."
Beyond sweetening the stressful tax season with cookies baked in-house, the employees celebrate once the April 15 deadline passes.
"Every month we have a social on a Friday," says Marketing
Manager Vickie Hicks.
Founded in 1966, KPM has offices in Springfield and Branson. When the firm hits milestones, its employees are rewarded with corporate recess.
In September, for example, the company rented the former Ozark Mountain Ducks stadium in Ozark after the firm hit an internal goal.
"The management played the staff in a baseball game," Hicks says.
"We had volleyball and barbecue and just played all day."
KPM pays 50 percent of its employees' health insurance premiums and associates get eight paid holidays and up to three weeks vacation after four years of service.
There's no waiting period to participate in the 401(k) plan, and KPM matches up to 15 percent of employee's personal contributions. Employees are fully vested in six months or less, Hicks says.
KPM offers flex-time and free or subsidized parking for employees, according to its Choice Employers survey, and employees receive feedback - and have the option of providing it for their managers - as often as needed, at a minimum of every six months.
The company's benefits package includes tuition reimbursement for work-related continuing education, and more than 70 percent of employees are taking advantage of it.
The company fosters a comfortable workplace environment by making sure that employees have ample opportunities to learn about each other.
Two summers ago, KPM invited all the firm shareholders to share their life stories one day with company employees.
"They talked about why they chose accounting or how they got their first client," Hicks says, noting that the next summer, staff members shared their stories.
"It was a great opportunity to get better acquainted with one another," she adds.
"We didn't know that one staff member clogged, or that another graduated from a high school class of seven people. Now when we see these employees at other company events, (they're) like old friends."
KPM places great importance on professional development and upward movement geared toward long-term success - both for the employees and the firm.
In fact, more than 90 percent of KPM's management staff was promoted from within, according to the company's Choice Employers survey.
"We don't hire anyone unless we see this person as being part of the management team someday," Hicks says.
