CPA Trendlines

Malpractice Liability: Eight High-Risk Clients and How to Avoid Them

Client screening is the first step in an effective loss control program.

By via OSCPA

“Time after time,” says Hunter Colby at Camico, the professional liability insurer, “claims specialists hear the same words when they first contact policyholders to discuss a new lawsuit: ‘I can’t believe this client is suing me!”

Of course, they also add: “They were always slow to pay, and I had so much trouble getting the information I needed from them. It was never worth the aggravation. I should have gotten rid of them years ago.’”

Colby, a claims specialist with 20 years’ experience, says CPAs can take a few simple steps to avoid trouble early. READ MORE →

21 Hot Ideas From Accounting Marketers

Is social media marketing the answer for tight budgets?

by Rick Telberg

There’s nothing like an economic downturn to remind accounting firms that sales and marketing are essential parts of doing business.

Until recently, many an accounting firm’s biggest problem was finding enough warm bodies to handle all the work that just came waltzing in the door. Today, accounting firms are dealing with clients in distress, over-leveraged staffing pyramids and the prospect that they actually may need to go find new business again. READ MORE →

[VIDEO] MACPA takes CPA meeting to new level with hyper-local business outreach

MACPA CEO Tom Hood explains it all on local Baltimore Fox News show.

Maryland CPA association talks about creating trade show that mixes CPAs and local clients and prospects.

I’ll be presenting on Tuesday on how CPA are making money (yes, actually making money) on social media. But there’s six big key notes and 60 more breakouts.

If you can’t make it in person, follow it all on Twitter #MDBIZEXPO. Or here: http://www.mdbizexpoblog.com/

[VIDEO] Rappin’ CPAs: The Tax Men – Tax Dat A$$

Love that ten-key bling! (NSFW)

It’s what happens when West Coast rap gets locked up in the cubicle jungle.

Credits: myspace.com/taxdat — Tax Men is a multi-faceted hip hop inspired group from San Diego, California. Focused on combining the professional intelligence of finance with the ingenuity and creativity of hip hop, the Tax Men are an acquired taste for the modern music lover. Check us out, we tear shit up.

h/t Mark Lee.

Bruce W. Marcus: How To Survive On Just The Basics Of Marketing

With cutbacks at firms across the nation, professional services marketers are focusing the basics.

Here are the first four steps to doing it right, from Bruce W. Marcus, a legend in the business.

1. Pare down your marketing activities to focus on practice development. Yes, it’s true that traditional marketing activities that build reputation and name recognition build a foundation for building a practice, but those activities of themselves rarely get clients.  Good for the firm ego, and as a foundation for practice development, but a long way from the bottom line.
2. Focus on the prospective clientele. Here is where target marketing rules.
3. Sit down with the partners who are decision makers and determine the two or three or four (no more) practices that offer the possibility of being more recession proof  than the others in the firm. This is not to say that the other practices should be ignored – but when you are talking survival, you fish where the schools of fish are – not the strays.
4. Working with the partners serving those practices, determine  which services within each practice are the likeliest to be saleable to the target audience. And to produce the largest revenue.

More at Strengthening the Thread.

Accountants Rank Soft Skills as More Important for Leaders Than Technical Skills

Doing More With Less, Motivating the Workforce and Pursuing Growth Opportunities Rated Top Priorities for Leaders in Difficult Economic Times

via PRNewswire

Accountants have strong opinions about what constitutes leadership in this economy, according to a new survey by Ajilon Finance, a leading specialty finance and accounting staffing firm, and the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA). The survey, which polled over 700 accountants as part of IMA’s Inside Talk Webinar Series, found that leadership priorities change depending on whether the economy is good or bad but that certain workforce activities and initiatives remain non-discretionary investments at companies, such as training and development and workforce flexibility.

Among key findings, the survey found that leadership priorities change depending on the performance of the overall economy.

In good economic times, accountants say the top three most challenging decisions for leaders to make are:

1. recruiting and retaining top talent (47%),
2. pursuing growth opportunities (42%) and
3. maintaining a competitive edge (42%).

In contrast, the top challenges facing leaders in poor economic times are:

1. productivity, or doing more with less (49%),
2. motivating the workforce (44%) and
3. pursuing growth opportunities (33%),

Other key survey findings include:

Soft Skills Beat Hard Skills: According to the survey, one-third (33%) of accountants feel an ability to inspire and motivate is the most important quality of leadership in the 21st century followed by communications skills (15%) and people management skills (13%), all soft skills. In contrast, accountants said that hard skills such as global knowledge/expertise, financial acumen and keen decision-making were more rewarded leadership qualities at their organizations.

Training still a non-discretionary expense: Despite the downturn, workforce training remains an important investment for many companies with 31% of survey respondents saying training is a non-discretionary expense at their companies. Other non-discretionary expenses include: workforce flexibility (27%), succession planning (26%), leadership development (25%) and enhancing the company’s brand (25%).

Accountants Say They Need Time, More Than Anything Else: When asked what they need most to be effective leaders, most accountants (29%) said more time. Only 14% of respondents said more money and 13% said more influence over others.

“Although leadership priorities change depending on the state of the economy, taking leadership in your career and your life is important no matter what your role,” said David Adams, vice president of training and development at Ajilon Finance. “Whether it involves finding ways to cut costs in your own department, using your access to marketplace research to provide support for new business or just being a cheerleader in your office, there are numerous ‘soft skills’ finance professionals can employ to demonstrate leadership in their jobs today. And, while soft skills are very important, it doesn’t mean a leader should be soft. The trick is finding the right balance in motivating your staff to perform at the highest levels both individually and as a team.”

Don’t Blame the Economy: More than Half the Fortune 500 Born as Start-Ups in a Downturn

Silver lining in hard times?

According to a new study by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, challenging economic times can serve as the rebirth of entrepreneurial capitalism, leading to the creation of much-needed new jobs.

The study, “The Economic Future Just Happened,” found that more than half of the companies on the 2009 Fortune 500 list were launched during a recession or bear market, along with nearly half of the firms on the 2008 Inc. list of America’s fastest-growing companies. The report also suggests a broader economic trend, with job creation from startup companies proving to be less volatile and sensitive to downturns when compared to the overall economy.

“You can see the story of the American economy in these numbers,” said Carl Schramm, president and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation. “History has demonstrated this time and again: new firms create new jobs and fuel our economy. Policies that support entrepreneurship support recovery.”

The study points out that while recessions often create widespread economic grief, they also can encourage potential entrepreneurs, acting “as an extra spur to founding a new company, if the founders perceive their prospective competition might be weakened.” Rising unemployment can benefit new enterprises: entrepreneurs may view unemployment as an opportunity to start a company, and seize the advantage provided by the ability to tap into a larger pool of potential employees.

“While startups may not begin with the intention of reaching the Fortune 500 list, they’re hard at work under the radar,” said Dane Stangler, senior analyst at the Kauffman Foundation and author of the study. “These companies may remain invisible to most of us, or they may one day grow into household names. Either way, they’re steadily recreating our economy—generating jobs and innovations.”

Stangler said companies that reach the Fortune 500 and Inc. lists demonstrate the strength and flexibility of successful entrepreneurial enterprises.

“We imagine the Fortune 500 to be giant dinosaurs lumbering across the landscape,” Stangler said. “That’s not the case. The turnover and churn on the list is remarkable. Successful, big companies have to be entrepreneurial, and they are.”

FREE DOWNLOAD: The Economic Future Just Happened (PDF, 21 pages)