CPA Firm Laptop Stolen

hmw-logo.jpg500 Names At Risk.

Hough, MacAdam & Wartnik, a local accounting firm in North Bend, Ore., has reported a laptop stolen from a staffer’s car, igniting concern among clients and client employees.

Coos Bay County officials say the missing computer may have contained employees’ names, Social Security numbers and other personal information, which had been used in recent audits.

Read the full article, here…

The accounting firm gets scathing criticism, here…

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Posted on April 29, 2008
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Recession Tips from the Pro’s

Accounting professionals share their best ideas.

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Rate your firm: Leader or Laggard? Join the discussion.

by Rick Telberg

If the United States economy isn’t already in a recession, it might as well be. The subprime meltdown has frozen credit markets. Home prices are in crisis. Consumers are buttoning up their wallets and most CPAs have turned pessimistic on the business outlook.

In times like these, business turns first and foremost to accountants for advice and support. And it appears that accountants and business advisors are well positioned to help.

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Posted on April 28, 2008
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Elton John… Accountant?

elton-john-120x160.jpgWith a Broadway show opening this fall, Sir Elton talks about the musical’s inspiration.

“Billy Elliot” is based on the successful 2000 movie about a young boy who longs to dance but lives in the bleak coal-mining area of Northern England. His story is set against the backdrop of a bitter miners’ strike.

John tells the New York Daily News: “At the end of the film, Billy’s father sees (his son) dance at Covent Garden. My father really never got to do that when I became successful later on in my career. So I kind of missed that.

“I was always trying to please my father, but he really never got what I wanted to be and disapproved of it completely. He was a product of the war and wanted me to have a safe job in a bank or an accountancy firm. And that wasn’t for me.”

Oh well, that’s accountancy’s loss.

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Posted on April 24, 2008
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CPA Firm Benchmarks: Marketing and Business Development

red_pencil_survey.jpg New data shows firms are seeking niche opportunities.

CPAs have made great strides in the art and practice of sales and marketing. But, according to at least preliminary results, the profession still has a long way to go in adopting robust business development practices.

The good news is that most firms appear to be embracing some form of niche marketing. The bad news is that most accountants remain dissatisfied with their firm’s activities.

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Posted on April 22, 2008
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Turning Recession into Advantage

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A recession may be exactly the right opportunity for a firm to add new revenue and build market share.

What’s working for CPA firms today? Join the survey; get the answers.

by Rick Telberg/At Large

With the economy slowing, lending in crisis and the surge in SarbOx work ebbing, many CPA firms across the country will be encountering one of the toughest business environments in years.

Marketing budgets may be the first to get the axe. But if a firm has the resources, a recession may be exactly the right opportunity for a firm to add new revenue and build market share, according to Jean Marie Caragher, president of Chesapeake, Virginia-based Capstone Marketing, which is now marking its 10th year of providing strategic planning, retreat facilitation, training and marketing director recruiting services to CPA firms.

“To ensure smart spending in a slow economy,” Caragher says, “CPAs should focus on current clients, develop niche specialties, work their networks and ask for referrals.”

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Posted on April 21, 2008
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Should You Stay? Or Go?

Wait! First ask: What you can do to improve your current situation.

people_management.jpg(Click to enlarge table.)

Carolyn Cohen (who holds both a Canadian CA certificate and an MSW degree and runs a training and human resources consulting practice in Toronto) writes in CAmagazine:

Leaving your current position prematurely may be as bad as remaining in a job past its expiration date. For the impulsive people out there or those who think that what they don’t have is better than what they do have, take a few things into consideration before rushing into anything...

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Posted on April 20, 2008
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Accountants and Auditors – Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2008-09 Edition

U.S. Department of Labor | Bureau of Labor Statistics | Bulletin 2700 Read more
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Posted on April 19, 2008
Filed Under BSG [CPA TRENDLINES] | 4 Comments

B2B Growth Strategies for a Down Economy

B2B media luminary shares some tips.

Via http://www.aicpalearning.org, Hank Berkowitz writes:

When it comes to B2B e-newsletters for financial professionals, no discussion would be complete without checking in with Rick Telberg, President of Bay Street Group Research in Dobbs Ferry, NY. Arguably the most widely-read journalist and analyst covering the accounting profession, Telberg is the co-author of a new research report: Beyond the Click: Maximizing Advertising ROI in B2B E-Newsletters.

Request a FREE copy of the executive summary of the report, here.

CPA Marketing Insider (CMI): Rick, it sounds like you’re not a big fan of using clicks to measure the success or failure of online ad campaigns, especially in e-newsletters.

Rick Telberg: Correct. I’m just not seeing much of a correlation between advertisers who are continually renewing their campaigns in their favorite media properties and the clicks they’re getting from those campaigns. Several media partners I’ve talked with note that some of their longest-standing clients fall into the middle and even lower tiers in terms of raw click-through rates they’re seeing.

CMI: With marketing departments and ad agencies stretched so thin these days, can media partners really expect their advertisers to develop creative specifically for their own publications and Web properties?

Telberg: I’d flip that around. Read more

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Posted on April 17, 2008
Filed Under BSG MARKETPLACE - Products, Services and Vendors, BSG RESEARCH, BSG [CPA TRENDLINES] | Leave a Comment

Crisis on the Horizon

A call to arms for accountants.

piggy-bank.jpgJames Reeves writes: “Some politicians and economists, generally Republicans and including McCain advisor Jack Kemp, will tell you we can grow our way out of the deficit problem. And I’ve personally felt pretty closely aligned with these so-called supply-siders over the years. But I’m aligned with CPAs too. And when the Comptroller General of the United States, with all he knows from 10 years on the job, tells us that growing our way out is impossible, and if we don’t act it could bankrupt America, I’m not going to doubt him.”

So what can we do?

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Posted on April 16, 2008
Filed Under BSG [CPA TRENDLINES] | 1 Comment

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