CPA Trendlines

Sage Insights 2007: Readings from the Blogosphere

Sage Sketches In Roadmap To Common Components
Parses product lines into ‘strategic’ and ‘value,’ pledges Project 360 roadmap to common components, desktop.
Sage Software, which fields a sometimes-bewildering array of financial software brands is now prioritizing. On Tuesday a Sage executive listed both its “strategic” products, those upon which it will base its future. And, she enumerated its “value” line which will be maintained but not much more. The core strategic products are… more.

Insights NA 2007 is being held at the Gaylord Palms Hotel and Conference centre in Orlando, Florida.
The word ‘huge’ does not quite do the centre justice; neither does ‘monstrous’ as the centre is impeccably groomed and the facilities very good; so I’m going to go with ‘absolutely enormous beyond any real comprehension’ (apologies for the superlatives). The live ‘gators and terrapins where a particular joy, although I wouldn’t like to say this was the sentiment expressed by the Koi carp that share the artificial lake with them… more.

Insights 2007
This event is always a special event. But this year it is more special due to the recent reorganization at Sage Software. Bringing old walls down between small business and mid-business; front office and back office products should be a welcome move by customers and partners. This will serve our customers well and it should enable partners to foster an healthier eco-system. More… READ MORE →

Office Moods Can Spread Like the Flu

Catch a good feeling at work, or you can just fake it.

Meanwhile, what are the ingredients to success as a CPA? Join the study. Get the answers.

by Rick Telberg
At Large

Have you got a bummer or a grouch in the office? You know, one of those people always in a nasty mood? Or, perhaps worse, one of those perpetually chirpy people who carry emotional stilettos and aren’t afraid to use them on others’ ideas?

Bummers and grouches are as inevitable as taxes and death, but that doesn’t mean you have to suffer them gladly. Odds are these people don’t even know what the effect they’re having on others. They think their moods are so contained that no one else is seeing the dark secrets inside their skulls.

Not surprising, this is not true.
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PRODUCTIVITY: A Primer for the Competitive Firm

Click for Download

A New White Paper By Bruce W. Marcus
Offered by Bay Street Group LLC in Partnership with The Marcus Letter

For the full 12-page white paper, click here for an instant download (PDF).

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

In an environment driven by four key factors – competition, regulation, radically new technology, and shortages of talent — and in which the regulation of accounting and law firms is more stringent than ever before — survival becomes increasingly difficult.

For a great many firms these are boom times. Thanks to Sarbanes-Oxley and other such regulation, the profession is soaring. Too many other firms, however, are drowning under the same burden.

But boom times can be dangerous times. Growth for the successful firm can be too rapid and lead to burnout, and, as times change, to rapid deceleration. In the less successful firms, it can mean being unable to cope with the new regulation and its demands upon clients, and, in turn, upon the firms. These firms are too often being swamped, struggling for survival, or merging in shotgun weddings. Nor can many of these overburdened firms compete well in this dynamic environment.

Moreover, when today’s success is driven by conditions in the marketplace, then control of that success is in the arbitrary hands of outside forces, and not in the hands of the firm itself, further endangering continued success as the regulatory situation matures.

For the full 12-page white paper, click here for an instant download (PDF).
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New on YouTube… from TurboTax

The TurboTax video awards, 2007

Check it out….

Rapper Vanilla Ice introduces the $25,000 Grand Prize Winner: “Turbo Tax Rap — Aw Dip (The Audit Song),” by cpulfer

TurboTax-maker Intuit put together a video contest offering $25,000 to the person who created the best video about TurboTax. “And, yes,” AdRants reports, “it was hosted by Vanilla Ice. Come on. Don’t laugh. A guy’s gotta do something after a career in white-boy rap, right?”
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WEBCAST: The Mobile Professional

Upcoming Webcast: How Local Accounting & Tax Firms are Leveraging Smartphone Technology

May 8, 2007 — 2:00 PM EDT
Register for the Webcast

Attend this free live event for 1 hour of CPE credit and a chance to win a free Blackberry device of your choice!

Professional How Local Accounting & Tax Firms are Leveraging Smartphone Technology to:
■ Improve Client Satisfaction
■ Enhance Productivity
■ Recruit and Retain Staff
■ Sharpen Their Competitive Edge

Plus: The Smartphone Buying Guide… in new research conducted by Bay Street Group LLC, sponsored by BlackBerry

Join Executive Editor Gregory L. LaFollette, CPA.CITP, as he talks with Rick Telberg and Lyndon Burrell about how smartphones increase personal productivity, improve client service and satisfaction, increase billable hours, improve coordination with colleagues, and enhance work/life balance.

Moderator – Gregory L. LaFollette, CPA.CITP, Executive Editor
Greg is Executive Editor of The CPA Technology Advisor and Senior Manager – Tax & Technology Consulting with Eide Bailly, LLP. He is a frequent speaker to accountants on matters of technology and firm operation.

Rick Telberg brings a unique background and perspective to the accounting, tax and finance community. He is a veteran editor, publisher, media executive, analyst and commentator on the profession. As principal and founder of Bay Street Group LLC, Mr. Telberg develops and builds research, marketing, communications, e-commerce and custom publishing strategies and programs for accountants and the vendors who support them.

Lyndon Burrell is a senior marketing manager with Research In Motion, maker of BlackBerry smartphones. He is focused on helping professional services firms embrace wireless solutions that go beyond email, increase responsiveness, raise client satisfaction and increase productivity of the mobile professional.

We would like to thank BlackBerry for supporting this valuable, educational session for the accounting profession.

Register for the Webcast READ MORE →

BUSY SEASON LESSON: Your Best Investment May Be Yourself

Striving to be ‘the best’ pays off.

Join the study; get the benchmarks.

by Rick Telberg
At Large

Does it really pay to upgrade your technologies, to invest in talent and to coddle your clients?

Many tax and accounting practitioners still aren’t convinced that investing, time and money into their practices is worth the trouble. And they may be right. They may have practices that just aren’t healthy enough to merit new cash infusions, or they may be looking at exiting their practices too soon to reap the returns. But they are finance professionals, after all, and it should be safe to assume they’ve made some objective judgments. READ MORE →

Midsize Finance Organizations Stifled by Lack of Technology Innovation

New Research in Financial Performance Management Reveals Midsize Companies Must Make Better Use of IT Before Finance Organizations Can Become More Strategic

SAN MATEO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–In a new research study “Finance and Innovation in Midsize Companies,” Ventana Research reveals that finance managers in midsize companies want their organization to go beyond bean counting to a more strategic role in management.

Use of mainstream information technology (sometimes simply using what they already have) is critical to meet this business need.

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Virtually there: Accountants eye new efficiencies in IT

Virtualization controls tech costs by sharing resources.

By Rick Telberg
Hewltett Packard, HP Technology at Work, May 2007

You’ll be hearing more about “virtualization,” especially with the release of Microsoft’s Windows Vista operating system. Exactly what virtualization is depends on the context in which the term is being used. For the most part, virtualization refers to the process of creating a software emulation of a hardware platform.
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What’s Your Time Worth?

What’s your time worth?

How about your client’s time?

It’s worth considering when pitching or serving small business owners. Researchers at Warrillow & Co. asked 905 of them. The median response was about $100 per hour.

Given these findings, Warrillow says, it’s not a surprise that small business owners ranked “time and complexity to set up” among the top five reasons they decline to buy new business processes, including:
– Buying Internet search-based keywords
– Paying your company bills online
– Checking bank balances online
– Accessing business software applications over the Internet
– Obtaining customer service support online
– Accessing business email remotely

“If you’re trying to change a small business owner’s behavior,” says Warrillow, “make sure switching to your solution/company/service will save or make them money – at least as much money as their time to make the change is worth to them.” READ MORE →

In Whirl of Change, Speed Is the Edge

Dan Coughlin

Finance managers must master the art of accelerating business evolution.

by Rick Telberg
On Finance

Business has never demanded more from finance and accounting professionals. From technical knowledge to people skills, professionals are facing stiffer challenges every day.

It seems the most daunting challenge of all is change itself, and if change is the constant, then speed is the competitive edge. Or so suggests management consultant, Dan Coughlin, in his new book, “Accelerate: 20 Practical Lessons to Boost Business Momentum.” “My definition of ‘accelerate’ is to increase the rate of achieving desired outcomes in a sustainable manner,” Coughlin explains in this new manifesto.

We don’t have space here for all of Dan’s “lessons,” but a few are especially suitable for finance managers and accountants…

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