Firms maintain headcounts 4% smaller than last year and 8% off pre-recession peak.
by Rick Telberg
While the rest of the U.S. economy shed 131,000 jobs in July, sparking fears of a double-dip recession, rosters at accounting and bookkeeping services remained unchanged from the month before at a seasonally-adjusted 893,200 workers. That’s the good news.
Accounting and Bookkeeping Services, Total Employment (by month, in thousands)
The bad news: July’s employment for the industry represented a 3% decline from the year-ago month, and, possibly, an acceleration in job losses because the 3% year-to-year decline in July followed a 2.8% year-to-year decline in June, 2.9% May-to-May, and 1.8% for both March and April.
READ MORE →
With email marketing emerging as the weapon of choice for business-hungry accounting firms, we figured some firms could use a few pointers
E-mail marketing giant MailerMailer’s latest E-Mail Marketing Metrics Report reveals the six key factors that determine whether or not clients and prospects open (and respond to) your e-mail newsletters and promotions.
Here are the study’s six key findings, based on a study of over 300 million business e-mails sent over two years:
1. E-mails with subject lines that are less than 35 characters are opened 3-4% more often than those with longer subject lines.
READ MORE →
Do you need to slow down to go faster?
In today’s world, it’s all about speed. Faster companies have an average of 40 percent higher sales growth and 52 percent higher operating profit than slower companies, according to the new book, “Strategic Speed: Mobilize People, Accelerate Execution” by three Forum Corp. consultants.
On average, the book notes, organizations abandon 50 percent to 70 percent of strategies because they fail to take hold in the organization or fail to achieve the desired results in the time expected. In other words, only 30 percent of strategic initiatives fully succeed, on time.
The book points out a surprising fact: You achieve strategic speed by focusing on people, but many leaders mistakenly pursue speed mainly by manipulating processes, systems, and technologies in a bid to become more efficient.
“Many leaders assume there’s a trade-off between speed and engagement, speed and learning, speed and alignment: When you want to go fast, there just isn’t time for all that ‘people stuff,’” the book says.
READ MORE →
Are you ready for massive staff turnover?
During challenging economic times, the relationship between employees and employers often is tested.
Frequently, leaders are forced to make decisions that broadly affect their workforces and alter what matters in the workplace.
Today’s business environment is no exception: According to Deloitte’s fourth annual Ethics & Workplace Survey, it appears that the recession has diminished two important forms of business currency — trust and ethics.
Highlights of the 2010 survey, conducted among 300 Fortune 1000 executives (VP or higher) and 754 full- or part-time employed U.S. adults ages 18 and older, include:
- One-third of employed Americans plan to look for a new job when the economy gets better.
- Of this group of respondents, 48 percent cite a loss of trust in their employer, and 46 percent say that a lack of transparent communication from their company’s leadership are their reasons for looking for new employment at the end of the recession.
- Additionally, 65 percent of Fortune 1000 executives who are concerned employees will be job hunting in the coming months believe trust will be a factor in a potential increase in voluntary turnover.
FREE DOWNLOAD: Click here to get the report (PDF, 24 pages)
Sales, profits, payrolls under pressure.
Dreary new economic trend reports from Sageworks and ADP are mirroring last week’s dismal findings from Intuit, SurePayroll and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
ADP’s monthly payroll survey shows American business added a paltry 42,000 jobs in July, continuing a six-month stall in hiring. At the same time, Sageworks, the financial analytics software maker, shows small business cost-costing was the only thing supporting margins.
READ MORE →
