Are staffers feeling trapped?
Confidence among U.S. accounting and finance workers dipped 0.3 points to 50.6 in the first quarter of 2010, according to The Mergis Group placement agency. Mergis called the dip “a slight hiccup” in confidence.
Highlights:
- 55% of accounting and finance workers believe there are fewer jobs available, representing
- a 15 percentage point drop from the fourth quarter of 2009.
- 32% of accounting and finance workers are not confident in their ability to find a new job, an increase of seven percentage points from the previous quarter.
- Fewer accounting and finance workers believe it is not likely they will lose their job in the next 12 months. Specifically 64 percent of workers believe it is unlikely, versus 74 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009. This marks the lowest level in the history of the survey.
Rick Richardson’s rules for smart CPA tech spending.
Richardson
In the AICPA INSIDER, Alexandra DeFelice talks to CPA tech guru Richardson (CPA, CITP, Ex-Ernst) about what CPAs need to know today about managing their current investments and preparing for the next wave. She provides Top Ten List of Tech To-Do’s for Accountants.
Six Things Accountants Can Do Today:
- Milk what you have much longer than you think you should.
- Never buy anything until the third version is introduced, allowing time for many of the kinks to be ironed out.
- CPA firms should invest 5 to 10 percent of gross revenues on technology (including hardware, software and training).
- Select one employee (not necessarily the IT director) to serve as a “technology ombudsman” to manage budgeting and spending.
- Assign the “ombudsman” to stay current on tech trends and brief others in the organization when new developments may affect the practice or clients.
- Allocate five percent of their chargeable hours to the assignment
And Four Trends to Watch:
- Cloud computing
- Client portals
- Mobile technologies
- Virtualization
