Let’s settle this debate once and for all. If a staff member rolls off to another engagement (due to finishing scheduled time), is he still obligated to help on the previous engagement (clear review notes of his areas, help with additional working papers, etc.)? If not, should it affect his performance if he does not help even though he was a great staff member? This question applies to staff members who have various clients during the year (6-8+ clients).

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If they have no allocated budget to work on things for the client than they shouldn’t be held responsible for that client. No hours? No work for that client. It should be that simple.

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It depends. I’ve seen so many situations recently where the managers and partners have been extremely slow on reviewing stuff. In those cases it’s not the staffs fault that are suddenly items to address weeks after they roll off the job. Also, at the staff level it creates inefficiencies to the extent that they can’t really learn properly if they are focused on 2 different things. It shouldn’t affect their performance because it is a product of piss poor planning. On the flip side my general rule is the first week after the staff rolls off it can be fair game because the likelihood of him having a ton of work to do on new client may be is low. Anything past a week I don’t reach out unless the staff or other managers are telling me that the staff needs work

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100% should be clearing their review points and seeing their areas to completion with the expectation that it's after their scheduled work. Ie I can't drop 15 review points and say clear them tomorrow. The should squeeze in an hour or two over the course of the week to do it

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As a senior I don’t really expect it. I’d like for them to be available to answer a few questions if I have any, but I just figure the onus is on me to go thru it again to make sure whatever was done makes sense relative to the entire engagement. I might just ping the staff to quickly share a shortcut or something to watch out for on other engagements. Unless it’s all under the same manager / partner, I really don’t feel like messing around with a staff’s schedule.

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They should close our their review notes but that's pretty much it unless the managers arrange some extra time

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They definitely aren’t obligated but people at these firm would like to believe they are. Not sure how they could use it against them during feedback. not overloading their schedule if they already rolled onto another engagement just doesn’t sound reasonable to me personally.

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What my firm used to do is budget 40hrs of work on new engagement which allowed 15-20 hrs to clear comments/help on previous engagements. If the work on prior engagements can’t be completed in 20hrs then they need to discuss with scheduling and let them hash out what work takes priority.

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It's nice for them to do that, but not an expectation at all. In other words, if they clear revues notes and carry WPs to completion after rolling off, they deserve brownie points on the engagement review. If they don't do those things, it shouldn't hurt their assessment.

It's not their fault if your team didn't schedule the job adequately. When they are scheduled on a different job, that should take priority. If you need their time, work it out with the senior/manager on the other job.

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I work at a mid tier firm where it’s common for managers to pressure staffs to come back and help out on the engagements after they rolled off. In an extreme case, I was asked to help out on a public client after I rolled off because the client provided the information late. Even after I told the manager that I was sick and had a doctor appointment, he insisted that I work until all assigned tasks are done by EOD and even cc’d the partner on the email. Never once ask if I am ok. For that he gets a slap in the wrist.

I would say that they should make sure that their areas get closed down. But I would also say that it depends on the timing of when they roll off as if it is early on in the engagement my expectations would be different

Depends, were the notes timely or left after they rolled off? If manager was late to review then manager should deal with the implications of that while being minimally disruptive, or go to the new team hat in hand and ask for the associates time. If the notes were in time and person just didn’t address, then it’s on the person and a performance issue.

Yes they should. Who the heck else is going to it? Its how it goes & the job needs to get done. Not very good teamwork to roll off & not look back.

Yes, but it needs to be reflected on your schedule as wrap up time. And this is your manager's job to make time for you.

Yes, that’s the way it should be but due to staff shortage in PA, most firms don’t have resources to schedule wrap-up time for each engagements. Instead, the staffs are forced to complete them whenever they can - at least that’s the case at my current firm.

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