Eliminating Scope Creep For Good From Your Firm

Scope creep. Just the sound of it is enough to cause a mass wave of not only accounting professionals, but professionals of any industry to let out a collective sigh of resignation and exhaustion. How is it even possible that an all-too-common phenomenon that causes widespread frustration has such a polished, easily accessible name? As if defining it and giving it a neat little terminology bow makes it any less of a headache for CPAs or other professionals to deal with.

Regardless of how it's termed or described, its impact on accounting practices is universal. When left to its own devices, scope creep can quickly turn into a productivity gremlin zapping your firm of its existing capacity and resources and leaving you unable to scale and your staff frustrated and closer to burnout.?

In isolation, it can seem innocuous enough. A client contacts you asking you to make an edit or amendment to an existing project or piece of work. You agree to take it on without charging them for the time it takes or the manpower it requires. It has a knock-on effect on your or your team’s existing workload and capacity.?

The other knock-on effect is it sets a precedent of expectation and opens the doors for future requests, which quickly snowball into a neverending back-and-forth between you and the client, compounded if it begins to happen with multiple clients.?

Scope creep doesn’t just drain you of your firm’s capacity, it also chips away at your revenue, eating into your time and resulting in you writing off and absorbing those costs.

Getting wayward scope creep under control is something all firm owners and CPAs should prioritize as it’s one of the biggest cost sinks that firms experience across the board. Eliminating existing scope creep and preventing it from becoming a problem in the future requires a combination of process, procedural and people-centered strategies.?

How to Eliminate Existing Scope Creep

The first step to giving existing scope creep the boot is to assess what’s on your plate…and finish it. I know it can be a bitter pill to swallow but going back to an existing client and negotiating an ad-hoc fee for the additional work after initially accepting it without saying so upfront just doesn’t look good from a professional standpoint.?

Clients might feel confused, frustrated and even a little misled if you suddenly return with a surcharge fee or a request to discuss one. I know this can be daunting, especially if your team is currently grappling with a myriad of scope creep issues. Get them out of the way and while you do so, you can put up a red light to halt any incoming changes, amendments, and extensions before they become absorbed into your team’s capacity.

Contact your client or clients and let them know that any subsequent changes or amendments will be subject to a fixed or time-based fee that accounts for the out-of-scope nature of the work. You’ll need to decide what this fee will be, but remember that the higher you set your fee, the less likely the client will be to proceed with it, so setting it higher than your regular service pricing (whatever that might be) is an easy way to eliminate unnecessary scope creep.?

There’s a chance that doing this will entail a potentially hard or awkward conversation with clients. While it’s probably not going to be pleasant, it’s very necessary. Scope creep generally occurs as a result of delaying and putting off awkward conversations in the first place, so you’ll need to have them eventually and, ultimately, the sooner the better for your firm.?

How to Prevent Scope Creep From Reoccurring

Putting the breaks verbally on any more incoming scope creep may halt it momentarily, but it won’t prevent future clients from coming to you asking for the same thing, which will no doubt entail more awkward or uncomfortable conversations. To nip scope creep in the bud from the beginning, make sure your existing client agreements and project outlines have a clause on ad hoc or extra work.?

This clause or subsection should clearly outline the definition, limitations, and costs associated with ad hoc work or extensions to project scope and it’s best to check in with new clients to ensure they’ve read and understood the terms. The purpose of this is not to put them off or make them feel like they can’t ask for it, but that they understand the time and labor it involves, which helps to reinforce its value and, by extension, your firm’s.?

From there, once clients sign off, you’re contractually protected from unexpected and non-billable scope creep. To help reinforce it, take time to review project and deliverable outlines every few months with clients to assess if any unexpected additional work is still somehow creeping in unnoticed and iron out any uncertainty regarding clarity of scope on both the client’s and your part.?

Conclusion

George Bernard Shaw once said that “the biggest single problem with communication is the illusion it has taken place.”

The biggest weapon in your arsenal that you have to fight against looming scope creep spilling over into your organization is communication. Communicate your boundaries and expectations regarding scope of work and special requests from the beginning and continue to communicate them throughout the client relationship and you’ll start to see noticeable differences in your productivity and efficiency in no time.