How You Can Think Like a Visionary

Unlock the creative energies of people around you.

by Rick Telberg

Anyone who thinks CPAs don’t need to think outside the box probably isn’t a CPA. From audit firms to finance departments, you’re in a business. And any business, to remain a business, needs to grow and adapt.

Both growing and adapting demand creativity—new directions, new solutions, sometimes even solutions to problems so new that no one has even recognized them yet. Every finance or accounting organization, whether on the cusp of innovation or in the slough of the tried-and-true, can do something better.

And if you think your outfit can’t do anything better, then you definitely have some thinking to do. Not just thinking but creative thinking.
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Posted on October 31, 2007
Filed Under BSG [CPA TRENDLINES] | 1 Comment

Accounting for Accounting: A History

One of the best essays on the history of accounting can be be found at the website of the Association of Chartered Accountants in the United States.

It begins like this…

Unlike most other modern professions, accounting has a history that is usually discussed in terms of one seminal event – the invention and dissemination of the double entry bookkeeping processes. But a view of accounting history that begins with Luca Pacioli’s contributions overlooks a long evolution of accounting systems in ancient and medieval times.

More fundamental is the question, why should we care about the history of accounting at all? Certainly a glimpse back into this period helps illuminate our past generally, and it is the sort of winding, twisted path that makes for an entertaining story. But perhaps the most compelling reason is to help explain the phenomenal growth that the profession of accountancy has enjoyed worldwide since the first royal charters were granted to the Society of Accountants in Edinburgh less than 150 years ago.

Read the rest here… Read more

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Posted on October 31, 2007
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Outsourcing: Is the Debate Over?

Is outsourcing a problem or an opportunity? Join the study. Get the answers.

by Rick Telberg

Outsourcing finance and accounting work, sometimes to providers in foreign countries, is producing revolutionary levels of cost savings and service improvements. But some parts of Corporate America have been slow to cash in.

While outsourcing is a primarily a Fortune 1000 type of issue, both the largest and smallest companies are losing major competitive advantages by failing to embrace offshoring F&A operations.

In fact, AMI-Partners, a market research outfit, is wondering if outsourcing is “losing steam” in the United States. AMI analysts figure that about 60 percent of medium-sized businesses, those companies with 100 to 999 employees, have opted in one way or another for business process outsourcing. That’s strong. But that’s also the same level of penetration as three years ago, without improvement since.
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Posted on October 30, 2007
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Can Morale Drive Profit?

Many CPAs think so. How does YOUR office rate? Join the study; get the benchmarks.

by Rick Telberg

New workplace research provides some healthy food for thought for CPAs and finance professionals—particularly for managers of firms and accounting departments interested in their own profitability and in retaining superior employees.

The Gallup Organization reveals that companies with the highest proportions of “engaged” employees increase their earnings more than twice as fast as companies with low proportions of engaged employees.

Moreover, Gallup shows 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. But only about 29 percent of employees are actively engaged in their jobs, according to Gallup.
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Posted on October 28, 2007
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EXECUTIVE PREVIEW: Home-Based Accounting Practices

Join the survey here.

Read the article: Rick Telberg/At Large, “Home-Based Accounting Practices Thrive.”

4 Key Findings:
97%: CPAs who know colleagues with “on-the-side” practices.
26%: CPAs who say they currently “moonlight.”
27%: CPAs working full-time in a home-based CPA business.
61%: Working in their home-based business year-round,” not just during busy season.

8 Top Problems for Home-Based Practitioners:
45%: Meeting clients, colleagues in a professional setting.
48%: Overcoming isolation from peers.
39%: Managing time effectively.
21%: Obtaining enough admin/support personnel.
18%: Backing up file and preparing for disaster recovery.
15%: Have the right mix of technology resources.
12%: Resolving equiment/technology breakdowns.
6%: Maintaining IT security & privacy.

10 Essential Strategies for Success:
69%: The right technology setup.
85%: The right attitude and self-discipline.
66%: A quiet, dedicated work space.
51%: Experience and maturity.
47%: Time Management: Balancing the need for new business vs. getting the existing work done.
35%: Good communications with co-workers, clients.
31%: The appropriate kind of work or tasks.
23%: Get out of the office and meet new people.
15%: Regular face-to-face meetings.
5%: Ccorporate culture of support.

Join the survey here.

Read the article: Rick Telberg/At Large, “Home-Based
Accounting Practices Thrive.”

Send in your comments
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Posted on October 27, 2007
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SNAPSHOTS: FICPA, Ft. Lauderdale, Sept. 2007

Scenes from an exhibition, er, exhibitor hall…

… at the Florida Institute of CPAs Accounting Show in Fort Lauderdale, September.

More photos at Flikr/Trendlines…. Read more

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Posted on October 27, 2007
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SURVEY RESULTS: TAX SEASON 2008 ‘VALUE-ADD’ STRATEGIES

It all begins with personal attention…

Join the Tax Season 2008 Study Group.
Benchmark your practice. Get the best ideas. See the trends… all season long.
Take the survey; get the results.

It all begins with personal attention… More tables and verbatim comments…
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Posted on October 26, 2007
Filed Under BSG RESEARCH | 3 Comments

keep looking »