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.
Read more

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

Posted on October 31, 2007
Filed Under BSG [CPA TRENDLINES] | Leave a Comment

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.
Read more

Posted on October 30, 2007
Filed Under BSG [CPA TRENDLINES] | Leave a Comment

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.
Read more

Posted on October 28, 2007
Filed Under BSG [CPA TRENDLINES] | Leave a Comment

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
Read more

Posted on October 27, 2007
Filed Under BSG RESEARCH | Leave a Comment

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

Posted on October 27, 2007
Filed Under BSG [CPA TRENDLINES] | Leave a Comment

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…
Read more

Posted on October 26, 2007
Filed Under BSG RESEARCH | 3 Comments

CPA Salaries Rise as Competition for Skilled Professionals Persists

Robert Half releases “2008 Salary Guide”

MENLO PARK, CA (Robert Half International) — Starting salaries for accounting and finance professionals are expected to increase an average of 4.3 percent in the coming year, according to the just-released 2008 Salary Guide from Robert Half International. Public accountants, financial analysts and internal auditors are projected to see the largest gains.

RELATED:

Read more

Posted on October 24, 2007
Filed Under BSG FINANCE PROFESSIONAL | 4 Comments

Hot Growth Fuels CPA Hiring Outlook

Accounting staff rosters surge with demand. How does your turnover rate compare? Join the survey; get the answers.

by Rick Telberg

Thanks to a surge in new-business formations, shifting financial laws and regulations and increased demand for assurance services, CPA firms and finance departments appear to be beefing up their staff rosters.

More than half of the CPAs in our soundings say their workplaces will be expanding staff levels over the next 12 months. The leading reason why: growth. Although some 55 percent expect growth, another 40 percent of respondents say their staffing levels are expected to remain the same, and only about 5 percent forecast a decrease in the number of employees.
Read more

Posted on October 22, 2007
Filed Under BSG [CPA TRENDLINES] | Leave a Comment

SURVEY RESULTS: Morale and Turnover

How Engaged Are Your Co-Workers?

Executive Preview
(Early data, final results may vary)

Selected Highlights:
– Most CPAs say they work with highly committed and engaged colleagues.
– Most, too, say their offices are experiencing a chronic staff shortage.

Read more

Posted on October 20, 2007
Filed Under BSG RESEARCH | 2 Comments

AICPA/BSG Study Finds Advertisers Underestimate the Power of ‘Latent Response’

 

 

Marketers missing up to 55 percent of online ad response

NEW YORK (AICPA.org) – U.S. spending on online advertising is growing at more than 20 percent per year and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of approximately 15 percent through 2010. However, marketers are missing more than half of all responses.

In fact, 55 percent of follow up to online ads appears to occur up to 30 days after the ad has appeared, according to “Beyond the Click, Maximizing Advertising ROI in B2B E-Newsletters,” a new online advertising study by the electronic media group of the American Institute of Certified Public and Accountants (AICPA) and Bay Street Group LLC.

Download the AICPA press release: Marketers_Missing_up_to_55_Percent_of_Online_Ad_Response2.pdf

The executive summary, which includes additional notes on the research and the “Top 10 Recommendations to Marketers,” can be viewed at http://www.aicpalearning.org/profdev_news.asp?id=10360.

Read more

Posted on October 19, 2007
Filed Under BSG RESEARCH | Leave a Comment

Quote, Unquote: Loretta Doon

Doon

“The face of the accounting profession is increasingly female,” noted
Loretta Doon, CPA and CalCPA’s CEO. “More than 60 percent of new
licensees in California are women. Yet men still dominate the leadership
positions in accounting firms as well as corporate financial and
accounting departments.” Read more

Posted on October 19, 2007
Filed Under BSG [CPA TRENDLINES] | Leave a Comment

True Grit: The Essential Character Trait for CPAs

Do you have what it takes to succeed? CPAs share their secrets. Take the survey; join the discussion.

by Rick Telberg

It takes more than hard work and talent to succeed as a CPA in today’s world. It takes character.

Maybe “character” is an old fashioned word these days, but it seems to apply. CPAs hold a special place in the world. And with it, they bear a certain responsibility that should never be forgotten or ceded. To succeed as a CPA, you need it too.

“Never compromise your integrity,” advises Keith B. Campbell, a CPA and certified fraud examiner who runs a forensic accounting practice in Gulfport, Miss. “Be ready and willing to walk away from a client, an engagement, or even a job, rather than violate the core values you hold.”

Almost three in four CPAs identify integrity and good character as among the most important ingredients in a successful CPA career in our study on the employment landscape. It ranked second to people skills as the most often cited element of success and was identified by equal percentages of CPAs in public practice and those in other parts of the profession (business and industry, nonprofits, education and government).

“Knowing the right thing is most important, that entails ethics, not being opinionated and building relationships honestly,” says Gerald Gregor, senior staffer CPA in the government sector in Nutley, N.J.

George Gulisano, a senior executive with a small public practice firm in Coral Gables, Fla., emphasizes that “integrity is a cornerstone of the profession. In today’s corruption-filled culture, CPAs must steer clear of conflicts of interest and help reverse the public’s perception that CPAs as a profession are not capable of exercising independent oversight.”

A public practitioner, who also performs corporate controller work, says that accountants coming out of college must ask themselves, “What is your priority (purpose): money or ethical work product?”

Practitioners’ emphasis on integrity and ethics as career success factors jives with our previous report about a survey of certified fraud examiners. The survey found that 76 percent believe that financial fraud is more prevalent today than in 2002, before enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley accounting reform law, and only 3 percent believe that fraud is less prevalent today.

In our studies, practitioners also note that integrity is closely intertwined with the number one factor in career success: people skills.

Sonia Lukow, who works at a small public practice in Farmington, N.M., advises starting accountants, “Be confident when speaking to clients, yet be completely accurate in the information provided. If you don’t know the answer to a question, don’t just give a guess. Research everything you don’t understand. Establishing a reputation for integrity and accuracy will help create a solid client base.”

Integrity is also intertwined with being open to learning from others on the job. Joe Eckelkamp, managing partner of Eckelkamp & Associates in St. Louis, Mo., advises, “Try to learn something from every boss you have—whether it’s what to do or what not to do—and be prepared for the inevitable showdown between ethics and job security that everyone faces sometime in their careers.”

David Lingler, a senior executive with the Cassady & Schiller firm in Cincinnati, Ohio, points out the upside of working with high integrity: “…no one can take that from you, only you can lose it.”

Or, as John Wayne says in Stagecoach, “Well, there are some things a man just can’t run away from.”

YOUR TURN: Do you have what it takes to succeed? CPAs share their secrets. Take the survey; join the discussion.

[Copyright © 2007 Bay Street Group LLC. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. First published by the AICPA.] Read more

Posted on October 18, 2007
Filed Under BSG [CPA TRENDLINES] | 1 Comment

keep looking »