Tougher clients take tough positions.
by The Corporate Executive Board
The most successful client companies have taken a stronger line with audit fee negotiation in the past year but without jeopardizing good auditor relationships. They succeed by being open and communicating guidelines early on in the relationship, which is a recurring theme in the six ways to strengthen your hand in negotiating with external auditors:
1. Use an integrated Sarbanes-Oxley/Financial Statement audit. This is now significantly less expensive both in absolute fees and hourly rates, as noted above. Some clients have told us that their auditors are unwilling to negotiate an integrated fee but most confirm success with all Big Four auditors. READ MORE →
In fact, it’s not what you say; it’s what you radiate that counts.
Arnold Sanow
by Arnold Sanow
http://www.arnoldsanow.com
Many studies show that much of the message that people perceive from you comes from your body language and tone of voice.
To get your associates, employees and clients to like you, trust you and respond to you favorably you need to be sensitive to the messages your body is conveying.
Many people when trying to persuade, motivate and influence others are at a disadvantage because they think their verbal skills are all that matter. Little do they realize that people are consciously or unconsciously perceiving what you are saying by observing your body language.
To get an “almost unfair” advantage in your business or organizations and exploit your opportunities, follow the S.O.F.T.E.N. strategy to make yourself more approachable, likeable and trustworthy:
READ MORE →
Still, most firms don’t “get” it.
via Chief Learning Officers
Organizations with strong learning culture have 37 percent greater employee productivity, are 32 percent more likely to be first to market and are 17 percent more likely to be market leaders in their segment, according to Bersin & Associates’ 2010 study High Impact Learning Culture.
The same research shows that most companies do not understand this area well, despite the opportunity to drive tremendous performance improvements with almost no additional expense.
The challenge is that a company’s learning culture isn’t “owned” by any one organization — not learning and development, not HR, not a specific business leader. The research shows, however, that leadership and management play a major role in influencing culture. Thirty-two of the top 40 best practices are directly owned by executives or line managers, not L&D.
But how do you get their support for learning and development programs? Read more…
Prolonged recession undermines employee loyalty.
While the economy is slowly recovering, a fresh analysis by Hewitt Associates, the human resources consulting and outsourcing company, shows employee engagement and morale in the workplace are not.
Almost half of organizations around the world saw a significant drop in employee engagement levels at the end of the June 2010 quarter, the largest decline Hewitt has observed since it began conducting employee engagement research 15 years ago.
READ MORE →
But CCH’s ProSystem fx and Intuit’s Lacerte lead in market share.
via www.JournalofAccountancy.com
Market Share: Firms With Six or More Preparers (2009 data)
Of the 17 products identified for the survey, Drake and Thomson Reuters’ UltraTax CS were in a virtual tie for first place for the highest overall rating.
Drake scored highest, a 4.44 on a scale of 1–5, just a nose ahead of UltraTax CS at 4.43.
Market Share: Firms With Five or Fewer Preparers (2009 data)
The results repeat the 2009 survey in which Drake and UltraTax also tied for top spot in loyalty, and Lacerte came in third, while GoSystem trailed the rest of the field.
The AICPA noted a rise in the percentage of respondents who disliked the price of their packages and a rise in the percentage of respondents turning to chat for technical support.
Meanwhile, vendors are moving as fast as they can to migrate their products to the cloud amid stiff doubts from practitioners.
Before they were famous, and sometimes after, too… these celebrities were accountants.
- John Grisham, author of A Time to Kill, The Firm and many other exciting novels, received his undergraduate degree in accounting from Mississippi State University.
-
Mick Jagger: Can't Get No Bank Reconciliation!?
Before he was lead singer in the Rolling Stones, Mick Jagger studied to be an accountant at the London School of Economics.
- Singer Janet Jackson studied to be an accountant.
- J Walter Diemer, an accountant for the Fleer Corporation in the 1920′s, tinkered with gum recipes in his spare time and created a chewy, rubbery substance better known as bubble gum.
- Funny man Bob Newhart started out in accounting.
- Former Texas Rangers Manager Kevin Kennedy, a CPA, did his players’ tax returns to make extra money when he managed in the minor leagues.
- Track sensation Marcus O’Sullivan passed the CPA exam.
- Tim DuBois, known as “The Singing Accountant,” wrote the Alabama hit “Love in the First Degree,” the Jerry Reed hit, “She Got the Goldmine, I Got the Shaft,” and the Vince Gill hit, “When I Call Your Name.” He is currently the President of Arista Records in Nashville.
- Luca Paciolo wrote the first book on double-entry accounting in 1494. He is frequently referred to as the father of accounting. He’s still a hot commodity today.
- When Hernando Cortes landed in the New World, he brought horses, soldiers – and his accountant, Alonso de Avila. As a reward for excellent service, de Avila was made the first mayor of Veracruz, in what is now Mexico.
- J. P. Morgan got his first Wall Street job as a junior accountant. Five years later he founded his own company.
- Ray Wersching, the ex San Francisco 49er field goal kicker, was a CPA during the off-season.
Have more? Tell us in COMMENTS.
Lisa Tierney
Think virtual networking.
By Lisa Tierney
TIERNEY Coaching & Consulting
Establishing a presence on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn is more about social marketing than sales. If you have a business, you should have a Facebook page. You should be LinkedIn. But understand the reasoning before you get started.
First things first: know that you most likely are not going to get a new client by simply establishing a presence on social media venues, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. These media are more about social marketing than sales. Think virtual networking. If you have a business, you should have a Facebook page. You should be LinkedIn. But understand the reasoning before you get started. It might result in a very different approach than originally thought.
READ MORE →
