8 Tips for Profitable Brainstorming

A few simple rules can guarantee success.

by Rick Telberg

Creativity is a management issue. Indeed, it must be when it can lead to new ideas that push businesses forward and increase productivity and profitability.

The kind of creativity that leads to those gains for organizations and clients can be taught, nurtured and enhanced, or, in other words, managed. Creative problem solving is not limited to “creative types.” Any firm or department that wants to leap forward, innovate or simply refresh their energy after busy season can benefit from the techniques. Read more

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Posted on July 29, 2007
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How NOT To Use PowerPoint by Comedian Don McMillan

Just for fun…

Thanks Vik! At PersonalBrandMarketing.com Read more

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Posted on July 29, 2007
Filed Under BSG [CPA TRENDLINES] | Leave a Comment

If You Think You Work Hard…

…don’t tell your clients. They may work as much or more. How hard do most CPAs work? Join the study. Get the answers.

by Rick Telberg

If you think balancing work and life is hard on CPAs, think again.

While accountants and finance managers may log long hours during busy season, many small-business owners are logging those hours all year.

To be sure, overworking isn’t good for anyone. But it may be more the rule for Americans rather than the exception.

Indeed, about half of the nation’s small business managers find themselves doing work-related tasks at times they’ve reserved for their families. The same number say they make business calls and check e-mail while driving.

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Posted on July 22, 2007
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CPAs, Tick This: Engagement Boosts Earnings

Staff motivation translates into business success.

How does your office rate? Join the survey; see the answers.

by Rick Telberg
On Careers

The best firms to work for may also be the most successful.

New research findings from the Gallup Organization reveal that among publicly-traded companies, those with the highest proportions of “engaged” employees increase their earnings more than twice as fast as companies with low proportions of engaged employees.

Moreover, the study quantified that companies in the top-quartile for employee engagement have 18 percent greater productivity levels — and 12 percent higher profitability — than the bottom quartile companies. That all translates to 2.6 times faster growth in earnings per share.
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Posted on July 18, 2007
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EXECUTIVE PREVIEW: Employee ‘Engagement’ among CPAs

Staff motivation translates into business success.

See the story, CPAs Tick This: Engagement Boosts Earnings.
How does your office rate? Join the survey; see the answers.
Add your comments, by email.

See the story, CPAs Tick This: Engagement Boosts Earnings.
How does your office rate? Join the survey; see the answers.
Add your comments, by email.

Read more

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Posted on July 18, 2007
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AICPA Launches New Corporate Taxation Publication

New e-newsletter focuses on tax developments, new legislation, strategies, hiring and technology solutions to help CPAs better manage complex tax issues for their companies or organizations.

The latest addition to the AICPA Insiderâ„¢ stable of electronic newsletters, AICPA Corporate Taxation Insider makes its debut on July 26 with an initial readership of over 70,000 members. Bay Street Group LLC provides strategic guidance and editorial direction for the AICPA’s Insider family of e-newsletters.

The focus will be on tax developments, new legislation, strategies, hiring and technology solutions to help CPAs better manage complex tax issues for their companies or organizations. Reader polls, original research and expert analysis will be regular staples of this thought-provoking new AICPA e-newsletter.

Regular contributors will include Jan Skelton, J.D., LL.M and Professor Lester B. Snyder, University of San Diego School of Law.

Skelton is a principal in the Federal Tax Practice of Deloitte Tax LLP and is the author and video moderator of the AICPA continuing professional education course “Section 199: Benefiting From the Production Activities Deduction.”

Snyder is on the law faculty at the University of San Diego and is a specialist in tax law, tax policy and tax reform. For nearly 20 years, he was editor-in-chief of the “Journal of Real Estate Taxation.” A Ford Fellow at Columbia, he was the first professor-in-residence in the Tax Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and the architect and chair of the University of San Diego’s national tax conference on Emerging Changes in the Tax Law. His new book, “Double Take: Unequal Taxation of Equals,” (Vandeplas Publishing, 2007) was published in June. Read more

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Posted on July 18, 2007
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What Clients Want: Mostly, ‘More’

But when do you say ‘Enough!’? Join the study. Get the answers.

by Rick Telberg
At Large

CPAs do a lot of things in the course of their accounting work, from audits to tax prep to business advice to mopping up the tears of those who have been brave and foolish enough to venture into the jungle of American entrepreneurialism.

But in a certain way, all of these functions boil down to one: Satisfying your clientele.
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Posted on July 16, 2007
Filed Under Uncategorized | 3 Comments

CFOs Prowl for Payroll Solutions

About one in three may be looking to change systems. How do CFOs choose a new payroll vendor? Join the study. Get the answers.

by Rick Telberg
For the Finance Executive

For a long conversation, ask a corporate finance manager or CFO how he or she feels about his or her company’s payroll system. We got an earful when we did that in our online survey.

“One thing — that’s too tough,” Angela Robinson, a CPA financial manager with Flaherty & Collins Properties in Indianapolis, Ind., responded when asked in our ongoing survey to identify what needs to be improved with her office’s payroll system. She finally boiled her down wish list to better response time and accuracy from vendors’ customer support operations. Several other respondents echoed the same two concerns.
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Posted on July 11, 2007
Filed Under BSG MARKETPLACE - Products, Services and Vendors | 1 Comment

CPAs Want More from Payroll Vendors

Ease-of-use, customer service top wish lists. What do CPAs want in a payroll solution? Join the study. Get the answers.

by Rick Telberg
At Large

Whether they are offering payroll as a client service or running that process in-house for their firms, CPAs expect more and better from their payroll software and services vendors.

More ease-of-use and better customer service, including updates with tax rate and regulation changes, lead the list of payroll issues most important to professionals in public practice, followed not far behind by cost, of course. Also near the top of the list are security, flexible reporting and integration of payroll with human resources programs and with other payroll-related business operations, according to data streaming into the current survey.
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Posted on July 9, 2007
Filed Under BSG MARKETPLACE - Products, Services and Vendors | Leave a Comment

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