HR Block 2005 Annual Report Download - page 18

business development capabilities that have begun
to create growth in our core services, and we believe
these capabilities will help sustain growth even if
the environment changes.
You’ve experienced tremendous growth with
risk management revenue up more than 200
percent. How much of this is due to businesses
responding to Sarbanes-Oxley requirements that
may be “one-time only” work?
The impact of SOX on risk management isn’t
going away. And while helping businesses meet
short-term compliance requirements accounts for
half of our risk management projects, we’re quickly
transforming our SOX business to annuity-based
internal audit services, which is really the essence
of our long-term risk management strategy.
Compared to our competitors, we’re in a good position
to meet the risk management needs of midsized
companies. We bring a deep knowledge of the financial
controls required by SOX and strong information
technology and internal audit professionals who
understand IT security and controls. Our work often
uncovers deficiencies in existing systems, resulting
in additional opportunities for business advisory
and consulting services.
Not only has SOX resulted in more risk management
work, most of our SOX projects during the past year
were for first-time clients who more closely match
our targeted client profile.
While H&R Block’s brand is a household name
in the consumer marketplace, RSM McGladrey’s
brand doesn’t enjoy as much recognition in the
business-to-business market. What are you doing to
address that?
RSM McGladrey consistently ranks as one of
the top accounting, tax and business consulting
organizations, right after the Big Four. During the
past year, through the development and launch of
innovative awareness-building strategies, we
achieved significant success in building brand
awareness among midsized business owners.
We logged 2.5 million “touch points” within our
targeted market and increased total awareness by
56 percent.
We linked all of the RSM McGladrey businesses
through integrated communication vehicles to
seamlessly present our unique value proposition
and to increase focused awareness of our broad-
based service offerings.
The centerpiece is our new monthly newsletter,
RSM McGladrey Advantage, sent to more than
65,000 CEOs and CFOs of midsized businesses. This
publication, together with a targeted campaign,
provides an opportunity for the marketplace
to obtain timely, relevant information that affects
its businesses, and in turn, introduces RSM
McGladrey’s capabilities.
Your industry is experiencing a shortage of
accountants, with a projected need for more than
40,000 accountants by the year 2012. What is your
business doing to attract and retain top people?
In a labor-intensive business such as ours, we’re
employing both an offensive and defensive strategy
to attract and retain the best and brightest talent.
On the offensive side, we’ve stepped up our campus
recruiting by targeting the best accounting universities
nationwide. This summer we’ll have more than 250
college recruits joining our organization. We’ve
utilized the Internet, search firms and employee
referrals to recruit 750 experienced hires during the
past year.
Our defensive strategy is the creation of a work
culture that listens and responds to the needs of our
people. Demonstrating that we value our people will
give us a competitive edge for attracting and retaining
the best talent.
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