We asked: What should small business do in an economic slowdown? Eva “TaxMama” Rosenberg answered!
By Eva Rosenberg, MBA, EA
Publisher, taxmama.com, “Where Taxes are Fun!”
…Just some quick ideas before I actually wake up and start producing today’s TaxQuip.
1) There are the obvious suggestions – start analyzing your comparative financial statements to see where your costs are highest – especially compared to the last 3-5 years.
2) Look at your vendor records and see which vendors you’re ordering from on a weekly or frequent basis.
a) Are too many orders being placed, for too many things the company doesn’t need all that much? i.e. frivolous orders
b) Could placing fewer, larger orders result in discounts?
c) Are you taking advantage of 2%/10 day payment terms? Or can you negotiate those terms with your larger vendors?
READ MORE →
Here are eight tips for minimizing the effect of a recession on a small business…
By Gloria Birnkrant
Partner, NSBN
1. Clean up your act now, before you start feeling the pinch. Be sure you are getting current and good financial information on how your business is doing. Waiting till the end of the year to see how you did will not do it. You need to know, as up to date as possible, how you are doing, month by month.
2. Take a look at your expenses and see where you may be able to cut costs, without cutting service to clients/customers. Clients/customers are hard to get and if lost, almost impossible to get back.
3. Secure your credit now. Credit is already very tight and will probably get tighter. READ MORE →
Talk the talk, and walk the walk?
Here are the early results for the CPA Tech Savvy survey:
- Our subscribers are generally on the leading edge of adopting new technologies, with the best software and equipment available.
- But they admit that they lag in follow-up training and long-term planning.
- Improving current systems is tops on their strategic wish lists, with “going paperless” and “improved efficiency” leading the agenda.
- And they’re looking to upgrade their critical hardware and apps: laptops, notebooks, printers and tax and accounting software.
The study remains open. Join the survey; get the results.
Drumroll, please… The stats…
What’s on your wish list?
Here’s one of our favorite comments so far:
If I could change anything about my company’s technology setup it would be management’s recognition of the value dual monitors, laptops, and faster reponse times with systems. We are consistently told by management we are in “high performance positionsâ€; however, there is nothing high performance about the equipment in our offices. (Most of us have better computer setups in our own homes than we do on our office desk). Since many senior managers are not hands-on when it comes to computers they don’t recognize the time and money loss that goes with less than “high performance†computers and systems.
Here’s another:
I would like to see our firm develop an ongoing strategic plan, with the commitment to continual maintenance and replacements. We tend to love the technology and are fine with making initial financial investments, but we need to realize that technology requires attention beyond that.
And:
Paperflow from clients to be more paperless, my own company’s ftp portal.
Of course, some people are never satisfied:
We have two monitors for everyone now. Let’s make it three a piece.
Join the survey; get the results.
My mentor in life was a social worker named Anita Hoolaway.
by James E. Kinsey
President/CEO, James E Kinsey CPA PC
She was special to me because she took a genuine interest in my well being. She made sure that I got into the classes that would assure me entrance into college and provided me with the help that I needed due to my visual impairment. Even after I enrolled in college, she continued to follow my progress and assisted me with obtaining financial support. She believed in me which gave me the confidence to seek a career change from business management to accounting which led to my obtaining the CPA licensure.
Over the years, I have provided internships to aspiring accountants whenever the opportunity presented. I provided this assistance because someone showed an interest in me beyond what was required.
(via LinkedIn)
Why aren’t more kids sitting for the CPA exam?
By Jay J. Moeller
Partner, Battelle & Battelle LLP
Everyone knows how easy it is to fall into the trap of procrastination. While the computerized exam is a great step forward, the continuous nature of it makes it too easy for candidates to delay sitting, and I venture most think they have very good reasons for delaying getting into the exam process. Add to the procrastination trap the reality that most firms are incredibly busy and have lost focus on the exam & aren’t pushing their staff, we have a ‘perfect storm’ of candidates not sitting for the exam.
Note: Jay has served on the AICPA’s Standards Settings for Uniform CPA Examination Committee and also is a question contributor to the Uniform CPA Examination.
How does your firm rate in the CPE race?
Join the Seven Keys to Success study; get the results.
By Rick Telberg/At Large
The global shift towards principles-based accounting standards, combined with the relentless pace of change in the world of business, is prompting many finance and accounting professionals to rethink their approach to continuing professional education.
CPE has already changed considerably in both form and content. In form, CPE can now be taken online or offline, in person or remotely, anytime and anywhere — 24/7/365.
But even bigger changes may be taking place in content, as global accounting and reporting standards evolve to a so-called principles-based regimen. At the same time, accounting firms and finance organizations are finding that the cookbook approach to continuing education, like the cookbook approach to accounting, needs to give way to a more sophisticated mix of knowledge and judgment.
READ MORE →
Is your home-office computer setup better than the one in your office?
We’ve launched a new survey, “Test Your Tech Savvy,” to gauge emerging trendlines in the important area of technolgy adoption and use among finance and accounting professionals. You can join the survey panel here, and, as always, you’ll get the topline results.
And the responses are already rolling in. What’s on your wish list?
Here’s one of our favorite comments so far:
If I could change anything about my company’s technology setup it would be management’s recognition of the value dual monitors, laptops, and faster reponse times with systems. We are consistently told by management we are in “high performance positions”; however, there is nothing high performance about the equipment in our offices. (Most of us have better computer setups in our own homes than we do on our office desk). Since many senior managers are not hands-on when it comes to computers they don’t recognize the time and money loss that goes with less than “high performance” computers and systems.
Here’s another:
I would like to see our firm develop an ongoing strategic plan, with the commitment to continual maintenance and replacements. We tend to love the technology and are fine with making initial financial investments, but we need to realize that technology requires attention beyond that.
And:
Paperflow from clients to be more paperless, my own company’s ftp portal.
Of course, some people are never satisfied:
We have two monitors for everyone now. Let’s make it three a piece.
What’s your view? Join the discussion here.
