The OSCPA Professional Responsibility Strategic Interest Team (PRSIT) seeks to promote consumer satisfaction with Oregon CPA services within the framework of the OSCPA’s mission to serve its members. They accomplish this through the Client Relations Program.
The Client Relations Program has the following function:
Resolution of Disagreements Between Clients and CPAs Over The Cost and Value of Professional Services.
In seeking to reconcile fee disputes between clients and CPAs the PRSIT acts as a forum in which both parties are given an opportunity to voice their disagreements before a neutral person.
The PRSIT encourages both parties to listen to each other and to re-establish communications where they have broken down.
The PRSIT is not endowed with any formal powers. It cannot arbitrate or mediate disagreements by dictating solutions. It works solely through informal means of listening, helping both sides articulate their concerns and enabling them to discover creative ways of resolving conflict.
The PRSIT members receive special training in handling complaints and dealing with angry people. Members are required to respond to complaints on a timely basis. Forms and procedures have been developed to create a confidential record of each complaint and to ensure consistent handling.
The PRSIT encourages CPAs to use engagement letters, talk frankly with clients about fees (at the outset and at critical junctures of an engagement) and to clarify the services clients will receive so “expectation gaps” can be prevented.
The Oregon Society of CPAs Cheryl L. Langley, President E-mail: rhmranru@yuyti.cvt Phone: 1-800-255-1470 ext. 25
