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CPA BEST PRACTICES: HOW HAPPY ARE YOU WITH YOUR PAYROLL SYSTEM?

In this study, 699 accountants, finance managers and CPAs from all sectors of the profession were questioned in an online survey.

Of the respondents, 49% work in public accounting, 37% work in business or industry, 9% work in government, education or the nonprofit sector, and the remaining 5% are in other categories including vendors or service providers to the accounting profession. Some 64% are C-Level decision-makers and influencers.

The study gauges accounting practitioners’ satisfaction levels regarding the systems they use to handle payroll services, how those systems should be enhanced, the features important to payroll services delivery, and who will be the preferred providers of payroll services in the years ahead. (Note: Brand-specific information may be provided upon special arrangement with Bay Street Group.)

The study represents a broad-based barometer of the accounting profession’s sense about payroll services. It is designed to help CPAs better understand the issues underlying the quality of this deliverable, what their prospective clients expect from payroll services, and where the future opportunity lies in this business area. It should also provide the vendor community some direction on how to fine-tune their payroll products and services to meet the accounting profession’s evolving requirements.

FREE DOWNLOAD: CPA Best Practices/How Happy Are You with Your Payroll System?
[11 tables, 8 pages including summary analysis]

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ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE DECISIONS

EXECUTIVE PREVIEW
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• CPA Satisfaction • Buying Plans • Key Purchase Criteria •

EARLY TOP-LINE HIGHLIGHTS
• Data gathered from 559 respondents in an online survey.
– 75% are C-Class executives.
– 71% work in offices of up to 50 persons.
– 50% practice in public accounting and 36% in business or industry.
• 89% are currently less than “completely” happy with their current accounting software package.
• Over the next 18 months, 35% are at least “somewhat” likely to be considering a new purchase of accounting software.
• Most important criteria in selecting a new accounting package:
– Ease of Use
– Features and Functionality, and
– Vendor’s Long-Term Viability

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TAX SEASON 2007: TECH STRATEGIES
New Tech Investments Drive Profit Forecasts for‘Busy Season’

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KEY FINDINGS
The Key Strategic Issues professionals face this busy season, are:
• Going Paperless (Scanning, storage, etc.)
• Improved Client Service and Communications (online service and delivery)
• Improved Efficiency (dual monitors, software upgrades, faster internet connections)

Key New Investments are:
• Tax Software
• Printer/Scanner/Copier/Fax
• Laptop/Notebook
• “Going paperless” is the hot-button issue of the year.

Top “Concerns:”
• Client Privacy
• Viruses/Spyware/Malware
• Catastrophic Loss of Data

• Respondents are predominantly owners and senior executives from public accounting firms.

In a separate analysis, the professionals who are most optimistic and best prepared for the busy season are also more likely to be:
• Integrating and consolidating software applications,
• Strengthening their marketing strategies, and
• Adding new security and backup systems.

• Most are “on schedule” or “ahead” of plan in preparing for tax season.

Top lessons learned from last year, to be applied this year, include:
• Going paperless,
• Improved scheduling and
• Tighter management.

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STAFFING CRISIS: 10 SECRETS OF FIRST CLASS FIRMS

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CPA WORKPLACE ISSUES: RECRUITING & RETENTION
– 1 in 6 Firms Report Staffing ‘Crisis’
– New Study Identifies Key Factors at the Winning Firms

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PARTICIPANTS
•63% in public accounting; 25% in business or industry
•41% work in offices of 11-to-50 people, 18% in 1-10
•58% are senior, C-level executives, partners, or owners

KEY FINDINGS
Top performing organizations are less likely to report staffing problems, and they place greater-than-average emphasis on the following factors:
•Best Technology
•Relevance to Customer, and
•Challenging Work

MORE
•About 68% of respondents say the capabilities of their organizations are suffering due to staffing issues.
•16% say: “Crisis! We must turn away work because we can’t find people.”
•Despite the preponderance of C-Level managers in the survey, only 4% admit they may be part of the problem.
•Work/Life Balance may be as important as Compensation and Recognition as a critical success factor in staffing.

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POST-ENRON: CPAs FIND PROBLEMS IN BUSINESS INTEGRITY

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New Study: Does ‘Corporate America’ Get It?

Apparently NOT, according to finance and accounting professionals.

KEY FINDINGS
•87% of finance and accounting professionals say most members of the American public believe that, in general, American corporations still fail to comprehend their post-Enron expectations for integrity in business.
•And 72% of finance and accounting professionals agree with the public’s viewpoint.
•A sizeable number of finance and accounting professionals find fatal flaws in the governance of most major corporations.

The leading lapses include failures in these areas:
•Employees, shareholders, or citizens cannot raise issues without fear of retribution.
•The Board of Directors is ill-informed and not truly independent.
•Corporate Codes of Conduct are not comprehensively taught to staff and management; and are too often simply ignored by top executives.

•And the practitioner’s own company is not immune from problems in governance, although respondents are less likely to cite problems in their own company than they are to cite problems in corporations in general.

PARTICIPANTS
•57% of respondents practice in business or industry.
•50% work in offices of 100 persons or more.
•64% are C-level executives or senior management.
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The profession has long recognized an “expectations gap” with the public’s view of auditor liability. But in this report Bay Street Group discovers a “New Expectations Gap,” whose effects could be just as deleterious.

THE NEW EXPECTATIONS GAP

In this study, 1,799 accountants, finance managers and CPAs from all sectors of the profession were queried in an online survey conducted throughout most of 2006.

Of the respondents, 62% work in public accounting, which in this report are classified as “CPA Firms.” The rest, 38%, work in the business, industry, government, not-for-profit, education or vendor sectors, which in this report are classified as “Clients.” Some 75% are C-Level decision-makers and influencers.

The study makes important new findings in the discrepancies between the behaviors and opinions of CPAs and their Clients.

It should prove useful to both CPA Firms seeking to fine-tune their client acquisition and retention strategies, as well as to Finance Managers charged with engaging a CPA Firm and evaluating its performance.

Key data points in this “New Expectations Gap” include:

1. Client Satisfaction — CPA Firms grossly overestimate Client Satisfaction. Some 93% of CPAs believe half or most of their clients are sufficiently satisfied to recommend them. But only a bare majority of Clients (55%) would recommend their current CPA firm.

2. Identifying Decision-Makers — The overwhelming number of Clients believe they – as CPAs, finance managers, executives, and individuals – are the “MAIN DECISION-MAKERS” in the hiring of a new CPA firm. But most CPA Firms believe the owner is the key person. Only 17% estimated correctly that about half of their clients would be “Recommenders.” (Note: The trend holds true when all sizes of CPA Firms are compared against all sizes of Clients.)

3. Identifying Influencers — CPAs underestimate the importance of senior financial executives in the decision to choose a new CPA firm.

4. Client Base Stability — 38% of CPAs say their average Client tenure is “more than 10 years,” but only 25% of Clients would agree.

5. Marketing Tactics — The top three marketing tactics which CPA Firms plan to launch or increase are:
– Increasing Referrals,
– Networking and
– Website Upgrades.

But if Clients were writing the marketing plans, they might agree with making Referrals and Networking top priorities, but they would add Seminars. Of course it needs to be noted that Clients, as prospects, see and experience marketing efforts much differently than the marketers who can parse strategy and measure returns.

6. Criteria for Evaluating CPA Firm Performance — In choosing a CPA Firm, Clients are most concerned about:
– Service and Attentiveness,
– the Reputation of the Firm and the Quality and
– Accuracy of the Work.

The data should be studied by comparing and contrasting the responses of CPAs and Clients. A Gap Analysis showing the widest discrepancies in Behaviors and Attitudes can yield startling differences in perspective.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Complete data is available from Bay Street Group LLC for those interested in a deeper analysis. For instance, data may be filtered and cross-tabbed by size of CPA firm, by size of client company, by job title, marketing tactic, etc.

Contact: HS@BayStreetGroup.com, or (914) 674-4531.

All questions, comments, suggestions, critiques and ideas are gladly accepted and may be incorporated in future editions of this study.
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Entering the final quarter of 2006, CPAs’ economic outlook for the Year 2007 can be termed good and improving.

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DOWNLOAD THE FREE EXECUTIVE PREVIEW (pdf):
Outlook 2007 — The CPA Business and Economic Forecast for the Year Ahead

HIGHLIGHTS:
• In this study, 54% of respondents work in public accounting and 33% work in business & industry.
• 83% of respondents work in the small-business/small-office environment.
• 58% of respondents hold C-level decision-making positions.
• Another 23% hold senior staff and general management positions.
• 66% of respondents are positive about the business and economic outlook.
• 41% voice growing confidence, versus 24% reporting no change in their opinion and 25% reporting less confidence.
• CPAs are most confident about the prospects for themselves, their families, and their own businesses.
• Respondents are generally optimistic about the environment for revenue growth and profits.
• They are less optimistic about the climate for expansion, mergers and acquisitions, and cost of goods.
• Key problem areas going forward continue to be lack of available staff, affordable health insurance and government regulation.

DOWNLOAD THE FREE EXECUTIVE PREVIEW (pdf):
Outlook 2007 — The CPA Business and Economic Forecast for the Year Ahead

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The One-Day Program to Improve Prductivity and Profitability to Better Serve Today’s Client

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Developed by
Bruce W. Marcus
The Marcus Letter
And Offered in Partnership
with The Bay Street Group LLC
FREE DOWNLOAD: Get the full 12-page white paper.

INTRODUCTION
There is a disconnect between the dynamic contemporary world of commerce and the traditional practices of the professions. It’s generating an ever widening gap between law and accounting firms, and the business world they serve. It’s fostered by anachronistic practices, in which economic advantages and productivity that could serve both the firms and their clients are impeded by traditional practices that are not far removed from the wigs and robes and scriveners of the past.

The Clean Slate Project™ is a one-day exercise that asks participants – the firm’s senior decision makers and planners – to wipe clean the slate on which is written the firm’s practice structures and techniques, and then to build a virtual firm focused not on process, but on the tasks that must be accomplished to better serve the firm and its clients. The exercise then moves forward to establish techniques for making the virtual firm a reality. The aim is to build a streamlined firm with increased productivity, greater efficiency, greater openness to new ideas, and ultimately, a matrix for increased profitability.

Because no two firms are alike, the Clean Slate approach serves each firm in its own way, predicated on the firm’s own culture and view of how to manage itself and serve its clients.

Results:
• Increased productivity
• Greater efficiency
• Openness to new ideas
• Roadmap to new profits

FREE DOWNLOAD: Get the full 12-page white paper.

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FREE DOWNLOADS: Choose any or all of these FREE Executive Previews and Special Reports.
FREE! Technology Issues, Trends and Strategies in the Mobile CPA Workforce

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Prepared by
Rick Telberg, Principal
Bay Street Group LLC

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KEY FINDINGS
• 84% of respondents spend at least half their time working on a computer, with 48% spending “more than 80%” of their time on a PC.
• 89% spend at least one-quarter (25%) of their time working outside the office – i.e.: traveling, a client location, home office, hotels, etc.
• The most common pieces of mobile equipment currently in use are, in order, a mobile phone (92%) and a laptop PC (73%).
• The most often mentioned mobile device respondents are considering for purchase is a PDA, BlackBerry, Palm Treo or HP iPAQ (42%), followed by a new laptop PC (34%), and a new mobile phone (28%)

Learn More…

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YOU ARE WHAT YOU CHARGE
Pricing Strategies in the Accounting Market
A Bay Street Group Research Project
GET THE FREE EXECUTIVE PREVIEW HERE.

What do your prices say about you? If you’re not thinking about the value of your products and services, you’re not doing your job. Are you priced right?

LOOK INTO THE STUDY’S KEY FINDINGS AND TABLE OF CONTENTS.

***Cited in the August 2006 issue of Accounting Office Management & Administration Report (pdf)***

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ADVANCING ON THE RETREAT
By Bruce Marcus
A retreat can be a good time to relax, rest, and become reacquainted with your partners, even as it addresses the firm’s mundane housecleaning efforts. It can be a better time, and a great opportunity, particularly in this era of economic turmoil and technological change, for real accomplishment by recognizing new realities of the marketplace and professional environment, and calculating what must be done now to make the firm viable in the future.

INCLUDING: The Top 10 Issues You Can’t Afford to Ignore.
Go to the Download page now.

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THE DO’s and DON’Ts of CPA STAFF MANAGEMENT
by Rick Telberg

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Staffers Speak Out, Share Some Tips. But Are Managers Listening?
The finance and accounting profession, already facing a crisis in recruitment, is failing to utilize proper retention strategies, such as an enlightened system of mentoring, coaching, goal-setting and performance review and remediation. 45% percent of finance and accounting professionals surveyed would consider changing jobs because of the managerial atmosphere of their office.

What Managers Are Doing Wrong:
1. Managers wait until problem is out of hand to confront it. And by then it’s too late to handle it productively or with sensitivity.
2. The feedback is not confined to the facts, but ranges further afield.
3. It feels like a verbal attack on the employee.

INCLUDING: Verbatim comments from dozens of staffers.

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Click to Download PDF: ‘How Hard Are YOU Working?’

HOW HARD DO YOU WORK?
by the Bay Street Group

KEY DATA POINT: About two-thirds of finance and accounting professionals consider themselves “frequently” stressed or “at a crisis point!”

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MORE….

TRENDS AND ISSUES IN PERSONAL FINANCIAL ADVISORY SERVICES:
BSGPFPTrendsExecPreviewNov05_wbdr.pdf

SMALL-OFFICE/HOME-OFFICE STRATEGIES FOR PEAK PRODUCTIVITY:
 SOHOPreview.pdf

THE CPA’S TECHNOLOGY WISH LIST:
CPATechWishListOct05.pdf

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Posted at March 14, 2007
Filed Under BSG RESEARCH | Leave a Comment

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