440,000 Small Businesses Set to Adopt Vista

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So, What Are YOUR Plans?

New York (AMI-Partners) - AMI’s 2006-07 survey of the United States SMB market reveals that 7% of Small Businesses and 17% of Medium Businesses expressed an interest in using Vista by years end.

This portends to a sizeable addressable market opportunity of 447,000 SMBs.

The AMI study concludes that the following factors will drive Vista adoption the most across SMBs:
– Natural PC Lifecycle - Currently SMBs replace their PCs every 3-4 years.
– Drive to Standardize OS’ for Security Purposes - Approximately 40% of SMBs cite standardizing their OS’ as a top IT priority in 2007.
– Rising Demand for Enhanced Mobility Applications/Support - Mobile workforce penetration is currently 53%, up 37% from last year.
– Leverage Enhanced Networking Functionality - Networking SW investment expected to grow with a 5 year CAGR of 7%. Read more

Posted on January 31, 2007
Filed Under BSG MARKETPLACE - Products, Services and Vendors | Leave a Comment

Strategic Marketing: 5 Essential Steps for CPA Firms

What it takes to be competitive

Our friend and colleague Bruce W. Marcus takes note of a study performed by Suzanne Lowe and Sally Glick, and reported in Accounting Today.

Surprise! Surprise! Few firms had any formal performance measurement system for marketing leaders. No surprise, really, when you consider the state of management systems at CPA firms in general.

So how do measure a marketer? It begins by measuring the firm’s focus on five critical processes.

Read more

Posted on January 30, 2007
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CPAs Tackle Tough Issues With New Ideas

Innovation emerges as strong driver in professional success.

What are the toughest problems? Join the poll. See the results.

by Rick Telberg
At Large

Accounting has been an exceptionally busy profession in recent years, but contrary to that old cliché, CPAs are never too busy to think.

Indeed, as we tread deeper into this new century, CPAs are cranking their gray matter into gear, brainstorming with colleagues and reaching out to consultants to find new and better ways of doing business. More than likely they are trying to find innovative ideas for managing staff, balancing work and life, dealing with clients and making more valuable use of technology, according to the responses we’re receiving to “The Big Lesson: Get Creative.” Read more

Posted on January 28, 2007
Filed Under BSG [CPA TRENDLINES] | 2 Comments

PR for CPA Firms: People Who Don’t Understand Today’s Journalism

When the 5W’s don’t work anymore

by Bruce W. Marcus
The Marcus Perspective
It seems that every time Marcus asserts that the world of journalism has changed, he gets berated by some old time journalist turned public relations professional… More… Read more

Posted on January 28, 2007
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Intuit Study: Face of Small Business

10-year Forecast by Intuit and Institute for the Future Redefines the Face of Entrepreneurs

MOUNTAIN VIEW - [Intuit News Release]- The face of small business will dramatically change as seasoned baby boomers, kids fresh out of high school, mid-career women, “mompreneurs” and new immigrants come together to create the most diverse pool of entrepreneurs ever. Read more

Posted on January 26, 2007
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9 Profit Drivers for Your CPA Firm

Do You Have the Character Traits to Succeed?

Gerald Riskin of Edge International recalls the handful of DNA markers that can predict success or failure. Read more

Posted on January 26, 2007
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Genworth Hangs out ‘CPA Wanted’ Sign

The shy and retiring need not apply.

Genworth Financial Investment Services Inc. plans to hire 325 registered representatives this year, a 14% increase, according to Investment News. The Schaumburg, Ill.-based company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Richmond, Va.-based Genworth Financial Inc., is targeting certified public accountants for its hiring spree. About 80% percent of Genworth’s reps are accountants. Read more

Posted on January 24, 2007
Filed Under BSG FINANCE PROFESSIONAL | Leave a Comment

So, Who Said Tax Season Was Supposed To Be Easy?

Tax pro Robert D. Flach doesn’t make it easy to do business with him.

There’s a note on the Flach website that says he won’t answer the phone, but you can leave a message on his machine. “I never answer the telephone without first screening the call via my answering machine - so don’t hang up because I may be listening (except on Wednesdays)!” On Wednesdays, he doesn’t answer at all.

He must be doing something right. He’s been at it 35 years and says he goes on vacation from April 16 to January 14, when he also turns off his phone. So don’t try to call him then, either.

But he does seem to find time to keep blogging as “The Wandering Tax Pro,” and on his “New Jersey Tax Practice Blog,” must-read for New Jersey practitioners. Read more

Posted on January 24, 2007
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National MAP: Mergers Down. Partner Pay Up

Partner comp averages $186,000, up 16%

New York (from the AICPA) – CPA firms are experiencing strong growth with 76 percent reporting an increase in firm size in the last year, according to the just-released National Management of an Accounting Practice Survey conducted by the Private Companies Practice Section of the AICPA and the Texas Society of CPAs. Read more

Posted on January 22, 2007
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Two Things You Don’t Know About Client Satisfaction

CPAs have some ideas about client satisfaction that just aren’t true. Tax season is the best time to get it right.

by Rick Telberg
At Large

“Selling?” First of all, CPAs don’t “sell.” Or do they?

And if they did, they’d call it “practice development,” wouldn’t they?

Welcome to the real world. Successful CPAs are selling and they’re doing it all the time. Many of them just don’t know it. Or they don’t know how they’re doing it.

And you’re certainly too busy to sell, market or conduct “practice development” during tax season, right? Wrong again!

Tax season is, in fact, the once-a-year opportunity to show clients and potential clients who you are, what you do and how well you do it. And, to the prospect, how you sell is how you work. In professional services, the prospect first buys you, then the service. Read more

Posted on January 22, 2007
Filed Under BSG BUSINESS BUILDER | 1 Comment

The ‘Auditor’ Defined: In the Un-Wiki

‘Tis the season

A lot funnier than your standard Wikipedia

The entry for Auditor at the UNcyclopedia.com (”the content-free encyclopedia that anyone can edit”)…

“An Auditor (auditor sapiens) is a unique mammalian species, first bred in the 1960s by crossbreeding garden variety accountants with serial killers. They were noted for their hard working attitude and quickly became a “fad breed” later in the decade before their dangerous side was well known. Today, most live a lonely existence in offices, separated forever from humanity.” More here….

See also Accountant…

[A hat tip to Toronto accountant Marisa for the joke of the day!]
Read more

Posted on January 20, 2007
Filed Under BSG FINANCE PROFESSIONAL | 1 Comment

Follow the Crowd? Or Follow an Expert?

Celen

Do we learn more from advice or by observing the actions of others?

In a study (PDF download) that has ramifications for CPAs and consultants, Columbia University Professor Bogachan Celen compares how we acquire information. He studies investors, but the dynamics are the same for many business decisions. Investors often ask their friends, colleagues or experts for advice before buying a stock or investing in a mutual fund. So which tack is more productive? “The findings showed that people tend to take advice more seriously than simply watching others,” Celen says. “The nature of asking for advice makes people pay closer attention, and they therefore learn faster.” That may be good advice. Of course, you could wait to see what others do. Read more

Posted on January 19, 2007
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What They Don’t Teach in College

CPAs learn accounting, auditing and tax. But how do you make a living?

by Rick Telberg
On Careers
Get the free report: “What Do Clients Really Want?”

Back in school, you probably learned what you need to know to hang out your shingle, but did they teach you to blow your horn?

Because in case you haven’t noticed, you aren’t the only CPA on the block.

Fully half of surveyed corporate financial officers figure they just might switch auditors this year, according to our research. On one hand, that means you’d better be clinging tightly to the clients you have. On the other hand, it means there are a lot of potential clients out there looking for a new CPA firm.

These corporate financial decision-makers who our studies show tend to be CFOs more often than owners or CEOs, aren’t likely to notice the CPAs who have their noses to their respective grindstones. They’re going to notice the ones who are marketing themselves. Read more

Posted on January 18, 2007
Filed Under BSG FINANCE PROFESSIONAL | Leave a Comment

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