BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : MARCH 27, 2000 ISSUE
FRONTIER -- FEATURES Backyard Bean Counter Cruising down a Phoenix freeway on a 75F day in early March, Carolyn Sechler has the top down on her convertible. Dressed in Tibetan T-shirt and Birkenstocks, the self-proclaimed ''old hippie'' is zooming toward a meeting with a prospective client of her virtual accounting firm. Sechler, 47, could never go back to a normal office. After 18 years working for a sizable Phoenix accounting firm, she has headquartered her own company, Sechler CPA PC, in a guest house behind her home. She has hired five full-time employees and 13 ''team members''--certified public accountants who work with her as contractors on individual projects. Everyone associated with Sechler CPA works from home. Technology ties them all together. ''It's a terrible waste of time for me to drive to an office,'' says Sechler. ''I would just make phone calls there to arrange meetings with clients that I'd have to drive out to see.'' She would rather commute 10 seconds through her backyard and make the calls with her dog at her feet and Stevie Wonder playing on the stereo. Yearning for a laid-back lifestyle may have inspired Sechler's virtual arrangement, but the discovery of a huge pool of people who prefer to work virtually has built her business. She has expanded by bringing on team members from as far away as Nebraska, Missouri, and Michigan. None of these accountants wanted to move, but each was attracted to Sechler's client base of lawyers and nonprofit outfits. Sechler asks only that those who join her use Microsoft Word and Excel, as well as Intuit's QuickBooks 99. Six months ago, most of the staff connected to the Internet with 56K dial-up modems. Today, all the employees except one have a high-speed Internet connection via cable modem or digital subscriber line (DSL). The accountants can tap into all the company's common files--whether spreadsheets, correspondence, or accounting ledgers, which reside on a company server at its Internet service provider. The ISP is also Sechler's client, with whom she barters accounting services for extra disk space. To help her group function as a real team, she schedules a meeting for the full-timers every other week at the University Club in Phoenix. This virtual lifestyle suits most of Sechler's employees just fine, but one young intern found the unstructured work environment hard to handle. The team made suggestions to help him focus better, but ultimately, the intern agreed he would be better off working at a traditional firm to develop solid work skills. Some clients have been so impressed with Sechler's virtual operation that they've taken her advice and gone virtual too when their leases expired. She helps them pick out the right software, but doesn't charge for the service. Sechler's just glad to have another convert. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP					RELATED ITEMS Remote Control TABLE: Managing the Challenge of a Virtual Workforce CHART: LAN Lubbers Backyard Bean Counter Tools of the Remote Trade TABLE: Let's Get Virtual INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online

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