Kerkering Barberio & Co Reviews

Pros

Dick Goble and his Team, the largest CPA firm on the Southwest Coast of Florida, location in Sarasota, Florida, 37.5 work week during off season and co-workers. Bagels and donuts on Fridays. Lunches on Satrudays during tax season. Lunches ordered for us during tax season. If you are hesitate about working for this size firm, don't be because once you get in, you will see that it is not one big firm. Each shareholder has his own practice and is usually on a team with another shareholder. It is sort of set up like Executive Offices if you will.

Cons

Favoritism seems to be a problem everyone is talking about lately, long hours during tax season but what do you expect in public accounting, safety is an issue coming in early during tax season either up the stairwell or the elevator in downtown Sarasota as well as leaving late. The jail is just across the street and the homeless hangout around the building and in the stairwells. Cameras should be installed in the stairwells and more security provided. We should always be kept informed of incidents that happen in and around the building that concern our safety. It has become known that we are not always notified of incidents that have occurred in the building, that have to do with safety. The management team learns of these and decides if it’s worth telling us or not. Anything to keep employees safe and aware of their surroundings is worth telling no matter how small or big! The security in the building is very much lacking and parking garages, stairwells and elevators are just not safe at the hours we work during tax season. There should always be a human security person patrolling the garage during tax season from arrival until the last person leaves the building. Some teams have fun and some do not. No one to talk to about problems or concerns in the workplace. Someone said make an appointment with Dick Goble that he listens and is fair, but can we?

Advice to Senior Management

Favoritism is not limited by management to just some “special” employees and "admin" immediate team, but some shareholders too.

There are a lot of problems that could be avoided Mr. and Mrs. Shareholders. Season is coming up and employee morale is very much down and needs a boost.

We are not children; do not need to be micromanaged. We know when our time needs to be put in, and notifying us at the end of the month is understandable so you can close the books. We know we are being watched; we are college educated and are not stupid. I do not believe there is anyone here that would intentionally swindle KB out of hours they did not work, but I do know there are people that do not put down all of their time for fear of putting too much time on the time card or working too much overtime or banking too much time. We are pretty honest people if though we feel insignificant around here.

Pros

Top accounting firm in area. Best auditors and CPA's in Florida. We have the best dedicated employees and they ARE SMARTER THAN 5TH GRADERS! Come join one of our teams. We have a beautiful location in downtown Sarasota, Florida with bayviews. We have flexible hours and a 37.5 hour work week. 8:30 - 4:30 or a 7.50 hour per day (hours to fit your schedule). Laugher is very contagious here. Cake is not scarce either. Guaranteed to gain 10-15 pounds your first year. Always smile because someone is always around with a camera and they are ruthless. Warning, the pictures are posted on our network for all to see so you better smile or pose. We try to have fun and keep the stress at minimum. We dress up for Halloween, we play putt putt down our long hallways, we have hat days, unique shoe days, earring days, food auctions, etc. LOVE THE GAS GIVE A WAYS. (Have them at a certain time in the breakroom where all can be involved in the drawing). If you want a career in a professional, reputable and fun accounting firm come join us.

Cons

Really none on KB's part. The parking garage is murder. Time at work starts when you enter the garage not when you get to your desk. People backing in a parking space while on their cell phones. Cut out EOM and have more gas give aways. More security during tax season. GO GATORS!

Advice to Senior Management

Chief Operating OffIcer does his job well.
The managing shareholder, which is also over the great auditing team, does a great job and he is the BEST! Thank you as we don't know what we would do without you. Thanks for all your help and understanding and allowing us to manage work and our personal life. We could not be able to do it without you or at any other place of employment. We appreciate it. Thank you again.

Pros

Your career will grow. CPE provided in-house and paid. Overtime and your can bank your time to have more time to take off to be with your family. We have in-house Toastmasters. In our building, we have a spa, gym, pub, restaurants, executive center, a bank and of course the best accounting firm in southwest FLORIDA. We have Lunch and Learns given by our employees or we bring others in. We have Bagels every Fridays. Managment orders lunch for us everyday during tax season anything to make it less stressful. Lunches are provided every Saturday during tax season. Fun events during tax season to clear our heads. This is not a boring place to work but a great place to build a career. Management will glide you through the best career ever. Employees very seldom leave except to retire. We have a great location in downtown Sarasota, on one side of us, we have the courthouse, tax collector, jail, police station, Checkers and Pulix and on the Main Street side, we have the Movies, YMCA, restaurants, nail and hair salons, bars, banks, smoothie shops, Cold Stone Ice Creamery (yummy), and much more. We even have ice cream parties and yes it's Cold Stone! We have cake once a month for that month's employees birthdays. We should have relay races down our long hallway to run off some of this fattening food. This is just a fantastic place to work. We are currently having gas give always because of the high gas prices. Everyone here is very nice to work around. Come join us and call to see of we have a position for you (941) 365-4616.

Cons

The dreaded parking garage, you go around and around and around and around and around and around. You have to be very careful that you don't hit a person walking because you can't see them walking to the elevators and you can't see cars making the turn as the pillars are in the way. Then you have to wait for people backing into a parking space and then you have wait even longer for the people backing in talking on their cell phones. People have had their cars hit by the security gates when they work. Being that we downtown, we should always be concerned about security, so be careful coming early in he mornings be it in the stairwells or the elevators and the same late at night. We do have homeless people sleeping on our park benches, in the front courtyard. I do beleive employees should leave in 2's late at night. No one should ever leave someone in the building a lone. Look how large our office is and the places someone could hide.

Advice to Senior Management

Our COO does a superb job.
Our managing shareholder gets a gold star for a job well done. How well does other team members know your shareholder?
May we please get 1 item in the soda box that is not soda like fruit punch, lemonade, etc. for non-soda drinkers.
Also, may we have bagels and donuts everyday during tax season for the sugar, we need it. I am sure all would pitch in. Thank you.

Pros

Excellent professional opportunities with a heavy focus on work/life balance. Proven recognition of women as shown at the number of female partners , managers and staff. Opportunity to focus on specific areas of tax and audit due to the size of firm. Substantial number of firm events ,some of which include family. Salary and personnel reviews are timely and professional. Excellent in-house CPE but availability of outside CPE as needed to strengthen professional skills.

Cons

You have to be comfortable working in a large firm environment. Additional hours required during busy seasons, which is a requirement for most CPA firms.

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to all staff. Continue to communicate clearly on all issues.

Pros

Best reasons for working at KB are the people. The people are friendly and willing to help out one another.One example is when an employee got hurt recenlty and had a lot of people inquire about the employee and offer to help out the employee and the family and many people posted messages on the Internet in support of the employee. the employee got better and the firm had a party for the employee with cake and a big card and everyone was really reliefed that the employee was back at work. Thats why its one of the best reasons to work for KB.

Cons

some of the downsides of working at KB is that sometimes there is too much gossiping going on. People should not start rumors or say things about other people that are hurtful. Gossiping is bad in any place to work including this place.

Advice to Senior Management

No real feedback.

Pros

You can bank your overtime hours. Dual monitors best thing since sliced bread. Once you have them you can't go back to just one. Our technology is great but our phone system is old. My team is great as we all get along and help each other. We sort of have a morning and night shift during tax season and it works out well. We try to get together after work a few nights, during tax season to relax, we do get together the afternoon of April 15 and celebrate. After tax season last year, we went on a cruise and had a great time. We have a great location in downtown Sarasota. Sodas are provided. Can we get some juice or lemonade back there and take something away? Not everyone drinks sodas. Can Bern come back? We have someone at our firm now that is qualified and everyone seems to like but not sure she would be given up or she would be interested.

Cons

Too many meetings. Meetings are coming out of my ears. Long hours. Unappreciated. Shareholders don't always stand up for you. White noise drives people crazy in cubicles, it needs to be turned down as that is why people now have ringing in their ears. Management does not care because they have offices. It does not work any way, as you can still hear people. Turn it off, it will save energy, we have turned GREEN right? Good, loyal employees are hard to find.

Employee Morale Among the most important things that can be done to improve upon a business’s chances for success is to beat poor employee morale in the workplace and motivate team members at their jobs. By failing to prevent or repair poor employee morale, there is a high risk of employee burnout and overall dissatisfaction. This is an extremely expensive way to do business because it leads to poor productivity, gossiping, and increased absences from work and good employees leaving the Firm. Poor employee moral is something that should be managed as soon as it starts to show - that is, if it has not been prevented in the first place. The reason for this is that it is extremely contagious. Rarely is poor employee moral limited to a single individual. Never make an employee do anything they do not want to do out of their job description. If their job description does not include public speaking do not make them get up in front of a crowd and speak unless they volunteer. Do not make them speak about themselves unless they volunteer the information as some employees are very private. Do not make them attend meetings that are not job related. It is therefore important that signs of poor employee moral be watched for very carefully among all employees. Such symptoms can include frequent absences, increases in the number of errors, decreased productivity, decreased quality of work, apathy, sulking and moping, not working as many hours, not expressing their concerns anymore, not going to lunch with co-workers and not participating in hallway conversations, not laughing, not volunteering, not looking up when people pass by, and just a clear change in personality. Remember that poor employee moral is not the cause of these problems, but it is instead a reaction to another part of the workplace that is not functioning at its best. Therefore, if the problem is to be solved, the reason for the poor employee morale must be identified.

Nonetheless, the number one reason is management followed by favoritism, and promotions.

Possible causes include:
Senior Management
Favoritism
A negative event within the workplace, such as a firing, downsizing, or other dramatic and unwanted change. The promotion of an unpopular or new employee or a promotion when there were other candidates for the position who were overlooked. Arguments or other forms of tension among staff members or between staff and management.

Other possible causes of poor employee morale include:

Unstable financial health of the company
Overworked or a consistently heavy workload
Feeling unappreciated or underappreciated for the work done
Conditions of the workplace
Demanding, rigid supervision. Being micromanaged. Management too involved because they have nothing else to do.
Need to justify higher salaries; new people come in making a lot more. Then when you feel you should be making as much as someone that has been there 20 years the reason they give you is because they have been there longer! Same with days off, why does that person get to have Fridays off and that person can’t? Different answer, different day, depends on who you ask.
If you back off, employees will do the right thing.
Unsupportive, no compassion toward family life, depends on who you are.

Once the cause of the poor employee morale has been identified, it is time to take steps to improve it as soon as possible. If the cause cannot be identified alone, it may be necessary to hire a consultant who can root out the problem. However, it is important to remember that there is a very easy way to find out the source of some of the poor employee morale issues, which is simply to ask some of the employees. Address the issue seriously, but without tension. Allowing the employee to feel comfortable to express him or herself. By finding this information directly from the person experiencing the poor employee morale, it will ensure that the precise problem is being addressed. Furthermore, it will help to show employees that the management truly does care about the issues that are bothering them, and their input for resolving the situation. Whispers around the office seem to be favoritism and shareholders are oblivious of decisions that are being made that could affect the future of the company.

Advice to Senior Management

As you say to us, "sometimes you don't like what you hear, but it is what is best for the Firm".

Pros

It is the best place I ever worked, thye do alot of things for their employees, they recognize the good things people do. They are always concerned about your well being and your family. They will always be there for you either for work or your personal life. John is a great COO, he will do anything for anybody even if it means getting dirty, he just doesn't boss people around.

Cons

I don't have anything that I can say that is negative

Advice to Senior Management

Keep up the good work

Pros

Good work, good people, good location. That says it all. Where else in the world could you drive to work past a beautiful coastline, view it during lunch, then go back to it after the day is over. Attitude is key. Most of the people who work at KB have a great "can do" attitude. They work as a team.

Cons

The parking lot is rough

Advice to Senior Management

You are doing a great job

Pros

Opportunity to work with many different clients. It is good working with a wide variety of people with diverse backgrounds but management walks by and thinks you are talking about personal things. Location. Your team members (some). Software seems to be kept up to date. Good computers but if they break down and no matter how busy you are, during tax season, management gets priority.

Cons

Lack of recognition, the company is more interested in who you associate with, what lip service is given to eminence and how you manage not to upset the heirarchy. Some Management think Managers are beneath them and do not have a problem showing such action. Work / life balance is an issue. Only partners are treated with any respect when it comes right down to it. People that have had cancer, heart attacks, major surgery, etc,. are not treated as you would think, these people feel quilty enough and is all management can see is dollars going out the window and insurance going up even higher, You should probably know a partner or be a relative that way you will be protected. Favoritism is a huge issue here. Otherwise, it's a great place to work. Come in, stay in your little cubicle, do your work, keep your mouth shut and you'll do just fine and perhaps get promoted. You might even get employee of the month.

Advice to Senior Management

Reduce your egos and know the employees of Kerkering Barberio are human beings and have feelings. We are not asking for a pat on the back just a little respect. Enough with the meetings already. Performance Evaluations need to be evaluated. Why are they given? Because it's the law or so you will have something in writing that we were not perfect and proof when we are fired and grounds not to pay unemployment. They are only the opinions of our supervisor and we are basically not allowed to change anything. After all they are already filled in. Why don't we get a raise with the evaluation, why do we have to wait 8 months later? A change may be needed at the top.

Pros

Co-workers, Some Shareholders, Technology, Dual Monitors, Bagels on Fridays, Flexibility with time off, Overtime, Banking Overtime and Being sure you are on the appropriate team. Downtown Sarasota with Bay Views. Having an exceptional Tax Manager. You can laugh in some parts of the building.

Cons

Favoritism is a huge problem with management. Based salaries are "based" on overtime but then you get questioned when you work overtime. Salaries are low. They talk out of both sides of their mouths: They will say when you are hired later usually your salary is higher ( if hired in 2008 your salary would be higher than the person that was hired in 2007). So that would mean you would be making more than some people that have been there for a long time. So then if you say, well I have been here longer and that person should not be making more - then the story changes even though you are doing the same work or even more. It's not fair, it depends if they like you and want to to keep you. Security is a problem in the building with the homeless either early morning or at night. Same rules do not apply to all.

Advice to Senior Management

Being Micromanaged constantly. Favoritism is so obvious in the middle of the building. The receiptionist is their watch dog! Can we please come and go in peace? Take a look at change HERE or some good people are going to walk.