Horton Business Services

Executive Summary:

Horton Business Services is a company that handles commercial and residential financial needs.

Though they are an effective business located in the owner's home, problems occur just as any business.

Due to the small amount of space and the quantity of paper work, large cardboard boxes containing critical

information filled the office . Important W-2 Tax Forms and current Tax Returns were shifted around on

the floor; meanwhile, file cabinets stood empty and/or filled with out of date documents. Utilizing space and

allowing finance executives greater accessibility, the old documents were organized and moved into a

storage area and replaced with the more important W-2 Forms and current tax returns. Within a week, the

employees worked more effectively, and clients felt more comfortable having more floor space to

communicate.

Business Outline:

Horton Business services is located on 169 Fortson Road in Athens, Georgia.

It was founded by Charles Horton over fifteen years ago. This financial service is a sole proprietorship that

seeks to aid businesses in their financial endeavors. Horton Business Services is a service that renders

professional accounting services for their clients. These include payrolls, taxes and filing with the local and

national government. Horton Business Services has grown from a small business to a thriving business with

over 150 clients in the span of fifteen years. These clients range from large business, small businesses,

fraternities, sororities and government institutions. Their newest client, secured in June of

this year, is the Chamber of Commerce in Athens. Horton Business Services is responsible for the

payroll for the Athens Chamber of Commerce. The average revenue of Horton Business Services clients is

$300,000 a year. Charlie Horton, the sole proprietor of Horton Business Services, graduated from the

University of Georgia in 1959. While attending the University, he was actively involved in the fraternity

system as a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. He is an intricate part of the business community

of Athens. He is a member of the rotary club as well as a member of the prestigious Gridiron society. Being

involved in such organizations enabled him to establish his business in Athens. The actual location of Horton

Business Services is in the basement of his own home. He does this for two reasons. One, this saves him

unnecessary expenditures on rent and other business expenses. Secondly, Charlie Horton is pro family. He

has eight grandchildren and he wants to be involved in their lives as they grow up. Established in the a small

town like Athens, Horton Business Services attracts customers through word of mouth. He has no fancy

marketing or sales strategies. He hopes that his honesty and professionalism would grow his business. This

philosophy has worked for the past decade.

PROBLEM:

The problem we found at Horton Business Services was that 1996 tax return forms were found sitting around

the office taking up walking space, as well as foot space for the employees. The fact that alot of forms were in

boxes on the floor including W-2 forms and payroll reports, created more cramped space for the employees

and clients. When an employee complained that there was no room for her feet because of all theboxes on the

floor, and thus, taking up space within the workstation, a solution neededto be created. Therefore, we found

that something needed to be done about the filing system. This would create more foot space for the

employees, and also walking space for the clients when they came in. Because clients do come into the office,

having boxes everywhere on the floor was not conducive to the business, and therefore, created a cramped

working environment. As a result, the best solution to this problem was to correct the filing system in order to

remove the boxes and create more walking and foot space.

Solution:

After we discovered certain problems that existed within the company we took action to work together and

implement a solution. The first issue we had to deal with was to take the boxes that were scattered on the floor

and pull out all of the green file folders. The second problem we dealt with was removing the 1980s tax returns

thatwere in the filing cabinets. The third step was to box up all of the 1980s tax returns. The fourth hurdle was

alphabetizing and labeling the 1980s tax returns to store away. The last part of completing the job was to place

all of the more recent W-2s and 1996 tax returns in the filing cabinets and labeling them.

boxes of 1980s tax returns are no longer needed and, therefore, the green folders could be used elsewhere. The

manila folders were kept with the older files. This would save the company money and would allow space for

more storage.

more of the 1980s tax returns. We removed the 1980 tax returns to make space for the more recent W-2s and

1996 tax returns. The tax returns were boxed up along with the other W-2s. All of the 1980 tax returns were

alphabetized and labeled. We then placed the 1980 returns in a back storage area along with the older W-2. This

would allow for more organization,space, and less time locating if they are needed. The filing cabinets were now

ready for the 1996 W-2sand tax returns. We placed the newer returns alphabetically and labeled them. We also

placed labels on the outside of the filing cabinets to correlate with the files that were inside. This allowed the

employees to find the newer files more easily and save time.

Measured Improvement

Improvement is difficult to gage quantitatively in such a short period of time. It would take at least several

months to effectively determine any improvement in efficiency and overall company organization. However,

preliminary responses from employees at Horton Business Services indicate satisfaction with improvements in

office space, more easily accessible files, and overall improved aesthetics in the workspace.

From left to right: Beth, Bryant, Jonathan, Slate, and Heather