The Next Big Thing: Are You Ready?

Diverse breed of new entrepreneur drives micro-biz trend

by Rick Telberg
At Large

I know what you’re wondering: What’s next? One minute, humankind is hunting and gathering; the next, we’re harvesting amber waves of grain. Then all of a sudden we’re building infrastructure and factories like crazy, but pretty soon everyone’s racing down the information superhighway.

So what, you wonder, is next?

Well, Intuit and the Institute for the Future have done some thinking on just that question, and what they see coming is yet another economic transformation. If you’re a finance or accounting professional, especially in a small-to-medium-sized shop, you’re going to like this one. It’s got small businesses popping up by the millions, all of them in need of someone who knows accounting, finance, payroll, and other aspects of business management and administration.

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Outsourcing: How to Do It Right

How the rent-versus-buy concept applies to the accounting profession

What do CPAs want in ERP? Join the study. Get the answers.

by Rick Telberg
At Large

If you or your company hasn’t yet confronted the question of shedding some operations and outsourcing them, then hold on; you will.

Outsourcing, especially finance and accounting outsourcing, is growing by leaps and bounds as businesses strip down to their core competencies and as alternatives spring up near and far. Outsourcing represents an opportunity for CPAs to add value in a variety of ways, ranging from helping companies make the right decisions to taking on the work themselves. The International Association of Outsourcing Professionals estimates that outsourcing is already a $6 trillion-a-year industry worldwide. And it’s not just an option for Fortune 500 companies. It’s been estimated that outsourcing by small businesses in the United States will become a $25 billion market by 2009.
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