Your mother was right: “Become an accountant and you’ll always make a living.”
Take a look, for instance, at the latest jobs report from the U.S. Department of Labor, which showed the overall economy lost 533,000 jobs in November – but it also showed gains for CPA firms against non-CPA accountants and bookkeepers.
Small business formations actually accelerated in the last two recessions.
It’s more evidence that the CPA profession is counter-cyclical. But can it happen this time?
You don’t need hundreds of hours of CPE to get started. All you need is a client. Just one client.
Crosley
So says Gale Crosley, business development adviser to CPA firms at Crosley + Co. [Click here to buy her book.]
“Instead of trying to find a company that wants to be an early adopter,” Crosley says, “find a client with a need.”
Start by looking through your client list for U.S. companies that are foreign-owned. Make sure they understand the conversion to convergence is coming and offer them advantaged pricing to get started.
Crosley advises the same strategy for XBRL.
He philosophy is simple, and tried-and-true for most CPAs: Find a client with a problem, and fix it.
If you don’t have a client who needs IFRS or XBRL, ask the bankers or lawyers you know who work with foreign companies.
And if you don’t have any idea how to get started, find someone who does.
Meanwhile, keep your passport handy. The world’s getting smaller, faster.
IFRS is coming. GAAP is dead. Get on board or get run over.
Metzler
Jim Metzler, AICPA Vice President for small firm interests, says even local firms and sole practitioners need to know about International Financial Reporting Standards.
For decades, changes in the global marketplace — and particularly in international accounting standards — had little direct impact on CPAs in smaller firms.
“That’s no longer the case,” Metzler says. Today “the United States is heading toward convergence with international accounting standards.”
(More at Small Firms Can Meet Clients’ IFRS Needs.)
Will this calm the first storm of the tax season?
Intuit Inc. has announced that customers using its TurboTax desktop software products can now prepare and print multiple returns at no additional cost.
“We’re responding to changing market conditions and customer feedback,†said Dan Maurer, general manager of Intuit’s consumer division.
Intuit expects this decision will result in a deferral of approximately $70 million of revenue from Intuit’s second fiscal quarter to its third fiscal quarter.
See earlier posting with the full TurboTax announcement: TurboTax Price Hike Stirs Outrage
See comment from Intuit VP Bob Meighan
In the end, was it because of race?
The California Board of Accountancy has reportedly voted to drop a controversial proposal to allow out-of-state accountants to practice without registering their qualifications with the state. Did the proposal die because it contained a 150-hour rule that some considered discriminatory to low-income students, especially Hispanics and African-Americans?
Unlike in many states, in California non-accountants are a majority on the board.
The new accountancy bill was a major priority for the nation’s CPA profession.
Meanwhile, the latest state to mandate the change is Pennsylvania, where on July 10 Gov. Rendell signed a bill amending the state CPA law to require 150 credit hours and one year experience. It goes into effect Jan. 1, 2012.
Does public accounting mean public disclosure?
Barry Melancon, president and chief executive officer of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and a member of the Paulson advisory committee, thinks some public disclosure of revenues and partner pay policies “seems to be an appropriate first step.” (At CFO.com)
Auditing geek Mike Ramos at TheEyeShade.com says:
Not sure where I come down on this.I think I need to look at the issue a little more. On one hand, my instinct is for greater transparency in general. But I definitely sympathize with the firms’ presumed argument that they are a partnership, and why should they have to submit audited financials.
My question for Mr. Melancon and others who are pushing for accounting firms to file audited financials with the PCAOB: how does this serve the public interest? Convince me.
