Why CPAs Twitter

Learn what CPAs are doing online: Join the survey; get the answers.

By Rick Telberg

While many CPAs are still getting used to the idea of blogs and instant messaging, many others are rushing to deploy the very newest, bleeding-edge technologies for operational productivity and client service.

CPAs and CPA firms are increasingly turning up in such venues as LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, and Plaxo. More and more firms are blogging, podcasting and even YouTube-ing for fresh recruits and for new clients. Individual professionals are expanding their career-management and client-referral networks at leaps and bounds. And now we’re seeing a rush to Twitter, the “micro-blogging” platform.

But what is social media? How do you use it? And why should CPAs care?

WHAT ARE CPAs DOING ONLINE?

Join the survey. Get the answers.

(Free. Confidential.)

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Spike in Internal Fraud Expected

Layoffs often reveal the culprits.

via Treasury & Risk

Now more than ever, CFOs and compliance officers must take careful measures to strictly follow financial risk management standards and ensure new employees have spanking clean records, says Peter Turecek, senior managing director at New York City-based Kroll Inc.

A new report from the global fraud and litigation consultant cites sharp increases in arbitration claims by investors seeking to recoup losses after Black Monday, Oct. 19, 1987, and following the market downturns of 1991 and 1992. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) reports that new arbitration cases rose 54% from 2007 to 2008 alone, according to Kroll.

Demand for litigation support and asset tracing work for companies with failed investments has increased and so has white-collar crime enforcement, says Turecek. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) pursued 115 enforcement actions related to securities offering frauds—as in Ponzi schemes—compared with 68 in 2007 and 61 in 2006.  An FBI official recently told Congress that the agency expects its fraud investigations at major corporations to jump from 38 cases to hundreds as the crisis deepens.