Citrin Cooperman’s 5 Big Secrets for “A Great Place to Work”

Crain’s NY ranks best CPA firms to work for.

Joel Cooperman

Joel Cooperman

Citrin Cooperman & Co. was also ranked first among accounting firms in the mid-sized category, which included companies with between 150 and 499 employees.

Winners were chosen based on the results of an employee-driven survey conducted by Crain’s New York Business in partnership with Quantum Research. According to Crain’s New York Business, it is the first study ever conducted to determine the most desirable companies to work for in New York City.

The other winners among CPA firms are:

Citrin Cooperman’s five top strategies: Read more

Posted on November 30, 2008
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Gallup: Accountants ‘Top-Rated’ for Honesty, Ethics

Among Americans, 38% rate accountant ethics as above average or high to very high.

Nurses have no peer in the Gallup rankings today. But they are followed by pharmacists, high-school teachers, and medical doctors, all with close to two-thirds of Americans rating them highly. Just over half of Americans consider the honesty and ethics of clergy members and the police high or very high.

Fewer than half of Americans rate accountants as highly ethical. But they are much more likely to be viewed positively than negatively.

Read more

Posted on November 26, 2008
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Have You Fired a Client Lately?

Why you can’t afford that difficult client — and what to do about it.

by Rick Telberg
At Large

Invoices that are paid late or not at all, phone calls on Christmas day to calculate year-end numbers, unrealistic demands and even fraud… Most every accountant has their own story of clients who are more than just difficult.

Let’s face it. We love our clients. That’s why most accountants are in the business. But some clients are just, honestly, nightmares. Accountants have a name for them. They are the clients from hell.

Difficult clients are a problem to firms of all sizes. To be sure, small firms can be most vulnerable to one or two difficult clients. Larger firms generally have procedures in place to manage client acceptance and grading. But I’m also seeing firms of all sizes that are tightening up their client acceptance processes and systematically shedding their “D” clients so they can focus on their “A” clients.

RELATED (Updated Noon, Nov. 25, due to popular demand for the how-to and what-to-do):

What’s YOUR best tip for firing a client? Tell us in comments here…

Read more

Posted on November 24, 2008
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When Conservative Politics Clashes with Conservative Accounting

Right-leaning politicians and pundits have taken aim at “fair value” accounting.

Who knew that that transparent financial reporting was a leftist conspiracy until now?

R. Emmet Tyrrel in The American Specator is only the latest to urges:

Suspend the accounting policy of “mark to market.” Because of this policy banks and lending institutions have had to mark down their assets, thus devaluing on their books the capital that they have available to lend out. Many of these institutions have healthy cash flows. Yet because they are faced with (hopefully temporarily) devalued assets they are hindered from making loans, and the consequence is the lending freeze that has put the economy into recession.

And there’s the move afoot to roll back Sarbanes-Oxley, which Krupo wrestles into submission here.

When will we ever learn? Politics and accounting don’t mix.

Posted on November 22, 2008
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The Billion-Dollar Secret CPA Market

SURVEY: One-third of all CPAs are working at home, on their own.

By Rick Telberg
CPA Channel Marketer

With the economy lurching downward and tax season approaching, small-office and home-office professionals should be prime targets for CPA channel marketers this year.

In every recent economic slowdown, the ranks of the part-time and the second-jobholders swell as workers seek to maintain or even expand incomes. CPAs, as independent white-collar professionals, are uniquely positioned to weather a recession by taking on “extra” work.

Today, more than one-third (34%) of accountants are already moonlighting in “side” practices or home offices, according to a Bay Street Group survey of 796 accountants and CPAs.

Read more

Posted on November 22, 2008
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33 Tech Trends CPAs Need to Know

What are YOUR top tech issues?

The AICPA has released a survey, asking members to prioritize into its annual list of  “Top Ten Techs” the technology issues that will have the most impact in 2009.

How many of these are you ready for… ?

  1. Audit Process Improvement — This initiative is about auditing, process documentation, and the utilization of appropriate tools for continuous monitoring and collaborative auditing. Strategies include continuous auditing, management control systems, continuous control monitoring, and remote auditing.
  2. Business Continuity Management and Disaster Recovery Planning — Business Continuity Management and Disaster Recovery Planning are the holistic processes organizations use to mitigate the risks to systems and people when unexpected events occur and include the maintenance of a documented plan that is periodically tested. This process includes identification, prioritization, and documentation of key systems, associated risks, and individuals responsible for ensuring the maintenance of these key systems.
  3. Business Intelligence — Business Intelligence solutions supply information to decision makers at all levels using tools such as dashboards, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), data warehouses, and proactive alerts. Read more

    Posted on November 21, 2008
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    The Recession-Proof Accountant

    CPAs flock to at-home offices to battle downturn. Is it the right move for you?

    by Rick Telberg/On Careers

    If past recessions are any guide, the number of CPAs launching solo or side practices should surge in the next few months. But is it the right strategy for you?

    The practitioners I hear from who are already working at home give it a double thumbs up. Still, the work-at-home accounting practice is not for everyone. It requires the right focus, self-discipline and an appropriate home-office setup.

    Don Weinstein has seen the trend before. Even now, as vice president of strategy and marketing at Automatic Data Processing Inc., he notes that small business has generally been faring better than large business. And franchising is expanding. Indeed, CPAs can be very competitive.

    Read more

    Posted on November 20, 2008
    Filed Under BSG [CPA TRENDLINES] | 15 Comments

    Look Who’s Bullish Now

    Some astute firms are seizing once-in-a-lifetime growth opportunities.

    Tell me: What should CPAs do?

    by Rick Telberg

    The credit markets are frozen. The stock market is crashing. America’s auto makers face insolvency. Job losses are mounting. Consumers are catatonic

    Some days it seems as if the wheels are falling off the economy at home and abroad.

    So why are some accountants so bullish? The fact is that a number of strategic-minded accounting firms are investing aggressively in mergers, acquisitions, talent grabs, global expansions and capital restructurings.

    Read more

    Posted on November 17, 2008
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    New Survey Results: Clients From Hell

    Some new polling data indicates that 93% percent of accountants surveyed have at least “a few” clients they would like to fire.

    How many of your clients would you like to fire?
    Most of them: 1%
    Some of them:13%
    A few of them: 77%
    None of them: 7%

    Still, 9 in 10 accountants have terminated a client and many have done so at least once in the last year.

    When was the last time you fired a client?
    Never: 10%
    More than a year ago: 28%
    Within the last 12 months: 33%
    Within the last 30 days: 22%
    Within the last week: 7%

    More:

    Posted on November 17, 2008
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    ‘Good’ Isn’t Good Enough Anymore

    When times get tough, the tough get better.

    Is your firm ready? Join the study; get the answers.

    by Rick Telberg

    How do you rate your firm? Let us count the ways…

    Actually, we counted seven ways, or rather seven qualities by which one can rate an accounting practice or finance department: leadership, technology, learning organization, business development, workplace morale, client satisfaction, and strategy execution.

    After tallying 1,748 responses in a succession of online surveys and one-to-one interviews over the last six months, it’s emerging as pretty clear that in most ways, most professionals rate most shops as mostly pretty good.

    But “good” may not be good enough in today’s tough business environment.

    To be sure, there are critical - and critically important - differences between leading firms and lagging firms. And we’ll get to those at another time.

    NEW LEADERSHIP STRATEGIES THAT WORK: Is your firm ready?

    Click here to join the survey, get the answers

    (Free. Confidential.)

    Read more

    Posted on November 10, 2008
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    Web 2.0? Watch next for Government 2.0

    If you’re still having trouble grasping the relevance of Web 2.0, look no further than the Nov. 4 elections. They served as Web 2.0’s coming-out party in the world of politics, and what a debut it was.

    Bill Sheridan explains it all.

    Next question: How will Web 2.0 Government work?

    Posted on November 9, 2008
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    Savvy CPAs Seek More Tech Upgrades

    If you have the feeling that your office is not as up to speed with technology as it needs to be, you may have plenty of company.

    by Rick Telberg

    There seems to be a consistent sense of frustration among accountants - in both public practice and in business and industry - that their organizations are falling behind the technology curve and shrinking their bottom lines by failing to move fast enough to the newest efficiency-enhancing systems.

    To be sure, the CPA profession is among the most technologically advanced professions in the American economy. But sometimes senior management’s unwillingness to address technology issues can be the biggest hurdle. And with the economy in crisis, finance and accounting workplaces could suffer.

    Read more

    Posted on November 6, 2008
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    Look to Small Biz to Lead the Economic Recovery

    You’d think the small business market must shrink in a recession. But you’d be wrong.

    And it can be a fatal mistake, according to Warrillow & Co. researchers.

    The net number of small businesses actually grows during a downturn. The number of start-ups actually increases compared with previous years.

    The reason: Read more

    Posted on November 6, 2008
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