CPA Trendlines

COMMENTS: Gatto and Kless Respond to “Ethics or Profits?”

Howard Wolosky’s guest commentary, “Are Ethics and Profits Mutually Exclusive,” has sparked some feedback by a couple leaders of the profession.

Rex Gatto, Ph.D. at http://rexgatto.com:

Howard: As always, you present interesting and thought provoking questions and insight. What has happened to our sense of integrity and loyalty? Do we focus on greed and competition or do we focus on what is in the best interest of our firm, community and nations? We need to find leaders who will go against the current events of the day to be role models for ethical behavior. It is difficult to turn around a nation that is going in the wrong directions but it can be done in our communities and cities and work upward. CPAs are trusted advisors who care and want to support their clients. Who are the inspirations leaders who are being inclusive rather than exclusive to pull a wounded economy and national together is the macro question. The micro question is can people in a profession such as CPAs provide the ethical leadership and direction that is needed. CPAs can and should provide ethical leadership while working with their clients, guiding them to do the right things. Ethics and profits can concurrently exist in a healthy and correct way.

Ed Kless at http://www.verasage.com and www.choosegreat.com:

The answer to your headline question is a resounding NO!

As George Gilder demonstrated in his 1981 masterpiece Wealth & Poverty, profits are an index of altruism – the other centeredness of the business. Oil companies have been highly profitable because they create great value for their customers.

What you are talking about if FRAUD. Fraud and 99% of all business do not go hand in hand. The most despicable thing that has come out of the past few months in the ever increasing belief that businesses and business people are all evil frauds. The overwhelming majority are not.

Recovery demands that we reverse the thinking on this. Regulation along will not do it. I am with you that transparency is absolutely needed. The reason is it turns us all into potential regulators.

No matter what laws are passed there will never be a governmental agency that can uncover all fraud. No should the elimination of all fraud by the goal, it is just not possible.

Life is risky! If zero risk is the goal, you should end your life now!

CPAs’ Four Best Marketing Ideas for Today

CPAs rally around a few tried-and-true business-getting strategies.

By Rick Telberg/At Large

There are three kinds of marketing: lousy, tried and true, and new.

Just because there’s a lot of overlap doesn’t mean I’m wrong. Some marketing doesn’t work or doesn’t work well. Then there’s the marketing techniques that have always been around, some of which work well and some of which yield an unsatisfying bang-to-buck ratio.

And there’s the new stuff, the new strategies that don’t yet qualify as tried and true. Among these strategies we’re bound to find ideas both good and bad.

But as we grapple with a faltering economy, the pool of clients is going to shrink a bit, and those businesses that survive are going to get pickier about how they spend their money. Marketing will become a more important factor in determining which accounting firms thrive. At that point, poor marketing means disaster, and the tried and true just might not be good enough.

Interested in what’s new in marketing for accounting and audit firms, we regularly survey our most dedicated readers and how they’ve been promoting their firms and developing new business. Some very interesting ideas have been coming back.

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COMMENTS: How to Motivate Gen Y

Finding and keeping good, young talent can be challenging for any business. And in today’s economy, the next generation can hold the key to boosting your bottom line.

Or, so we said in this post: Seven Ways to Get the Most Out of Your Millennial Workers

But Kel, the AccountingElf, left some good ideas too:

Wow. It was really interesting to read a summary like that, as I can really see a lot of those characteristics in my friends and myself. Especially the “feeling special” part. We have being well-rounded emphasized to us a lot, and so I think most people are confident that even if they don’t have the top grades, their other talents make up for it.

Feedback is important too. This may not be just my generation, but the work world is so different than what we are used to, that it can be hard to judge what we are or aren’t doing that is important. I think this ties into the big picture idea too- help your young employees understand the big picture and their place in it, and understand where they’re being evaluated. They will reward you by performing better in those areas.

And so did muunkky:

I like your points, but I think you’re being a bit soft. In order to really get the hearts of millenials you should actually listen to them and help them rethink the way you are doing business. Let them challenge everything about the current status quo and help them champion fundamental change in culture and communication.

Thanks for the comments!

Howard Wolosky: Are Ethics and Profits Mutually Exclusive?

Wolosky

“The Darwinian concept of the survival of the fittest has been substituted by a philosophy of the survival of the slickest.”

by Howard Wolosky / Guest Commentator

This Martin Luther King, Jr. quote still rings true.

It is particularly evident when you look at the alleged Ponzi schemes that we read about every day. Many of these individuals show a remarkable knowledge of how the financial marketplace works and are skilled at gaining prestige, obtaining political influence, and escaping regulators’ wrath. They also seemingly have an innate and sharply developed ability to manipulate individuals and entities to their advantage.

The marketing of adjustable rates and balloon mortgages with little down and no real credit checks coupled with the packaging of these mortgages into investments promising high return is the best illustration of where this philosophy of the survival of the slickest is taking us.

Martin Luther King was ahead of his time as now many are seeing the truth of that quote. This awareness, the developing community concept derived from the Internet, and the fact that the Internet ensures the uncensored widespread and quick dissemination of information, discussion, and debate, signifies change is coming.

Many in all levels of society including a few CEOs, consultants, and professionals are sensing a new business model is imminent in which ethics and profits aren’t mutually exclusive and in fact, compatible and necessary for a changing marketplace. To get buy-in from all the necessary stakeholders, businesses, not-for-profits, groups, and communities on the Internet, codes of conduct and responsibilities will have to be developed. There will also have to be actual transparency and demonstrated delivery of win-win to all the stakeholders.

CPAs, often identified as the most trusted advisor of businesses and individuals, can be one of the prime catalysts for this seismic change. Many firms are perfectly positioned, especially these very successful regional firms that have been “walking the walk” for a number of years. They created infrastructures, procedures, and safeguards to maintain quality and still experience sustained growth. Their focus is long-term, and most importantly, there is understanding that trust is constantly earned, and although profits might be the result, ethical means can always be utilized and makes business sense.

Howard Wolosky is former editor-in-chief of Practical Accountant and a WebCPA.com columnist.