Monthly Archives: July 2015

Let’s Get Radical about Content

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Content is king and context is queen.

By Jody Padar
The Radical CPA

Most professionals speak and/or tweet above their audience. They don’t realize whom they’re talking to.

MORE ON RADICALISM: Each Social Channel Has a Language | Get Ready for Radical Transparency | 5 Radical Ways to Be Social AND Strategic | How I Got Started Being Social | How Social Media Transforms Firms to their Core | Six Competitive Advantages for The Radical CPA | Radical Customers Are On Their Way | 5 Radical Transparencies; Are You Ready? | 4 Questions Radical Firms Must Face | Being Radical Is All About Your Customer | Being Radical Starts with Being the Change | The Roots of ‘Radical’ CPAs | The First 3 Questions I Should Have Asked Before Starting My Own Practice

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When you’re producing content, it has to be driven at the consumer level, not at the other professional level.

Most CPAs talk above their customers. Some companies get it right. READ MORE →

Accountants Worldwide Report Business Challenges

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Chart about nations' business risk aversion

Everyone wants their government to get out of the way.

While U.S. accountants certainly rank high in entrepreneurial spirit, with 49 percent calling themselves risk-seeking in the Sage Accounting Index, they were tied by Brazil and edged out slightly by their Canadian counterparts at 50 percent, with the Spanish topping everyone at 58 percent. The four countries also ranked lowest in risk aversion from 27 to 31 percent.

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Firm Culture Is Inevitable; Make It Work for You

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Martin Bissett
Bissett

BONUS CHECKLIST: 5 ways to make sure the firm’s people believe in both themselves and the culture.

By Martin Bissett
Passport to Partnership

Cultural issues are dynamic, very broad and unique in each firm. As such it is a challenge to summarize them accurately and comprehensively.

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MORE ON THE PASSPORT TO PARTNERSHIP: 12 Ways to Determine Your Competence | What Competence Really Means for Partners | Sailing Through the Seven C’s to Partnership | Passport to Partnership: New Research Shows Wide Gap between Partners and Partners-To-Be

From our research, however, the wise choice for anyone wishing to get their passport to partnership appears to be to study

  • their firm’s existing culture,
  • that of its senior individuals and
  • that of those who have the ear of those senior individuals

to understand not only the route to partnership, but the terrain that they need to cross too.

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Protect Your Protégée from Flextime Saboteurs

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Woman sitting at office desk looks at her watchFlexible scheduling can benefit everyone, but some people don’t see it that way.

By Ida O. Abbott
Sponsoring Women: What Men Need to Know

A talented, ambitious woman who works less than full time or takes extended family leave is extremely vulnerable to being derailed professionally.

Whether because she is “out of sight/out of mind,” or because people doubt her commitment, she may be disregarded for promotions or high-profile projects.

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MORE ON SPONSORING WOMEN FOR LEADERSHIP: ‘Soft Skills’ Advice Needed, Too | Use Others to Promote Your Protégée | 8 Ways Sponsors Can Highlight Opportunities | 17 Ways Sponsors Can Help Protégées | 3 Ways to Derail Sponsorships | 4 Reasons Women Hold Themselves Back | 4 Ways Sponsors Can Help Women Seek Power | Bias About Women with Families Lingers | Judged on Performance, Not Potential? Must Be a Woman | 3 Ways Men Are Favored in the Workplace | Women Need Promotions, Not Just Advice | Mentor or Sponsor? How to Distinguish Roles | 4 Ways Women Leaders Improve Firms | CPA Firms Must ‘Man Up’ and Get Women On Board

A sponsor can ensure that she has access to those opportunities and support when she accepts them. He can make the difference between this woman staying on track and ascending to top leadership posts or leaving the company for another job. READ MORE →

Unified Messaging Boosts Security

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Three people speaking by videoconferenceProductivity? You can have more of that, too.

By Roman H. Kepczyk
Quantum of Paperless

Firms should strive to capture all data in a digital format at its “root” source. This goes for services such as the firm’s fax and voice mail systems as well. Traditional inbound faxes are usually printed from a fax machine and then hand delivered to the recipient’s desk. In some cases this image is actually rescanned and emailed to the recipient.

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MORE ON TECH SPENDING: When Is the Last Time You Renegotiated Your Internet Rates? | Remote Access Boosts Productivity, Requires Planning | Get Ahead of Your Software Updates | Blame Accounting Vendors: Accountants Stuck with Outdated Versions of Microsoft Office | Ready or Not, Here Comes Windows 10 | Back Up and Check Your Backup | Cloud Computing Can Cost Less | Laptop-Only Workers More Common | Scanners Allow Data Capture at the Source | In PC Monitors, More Is Better

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Class-Action Lawsuits Return with a Vengeance

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Filings and Share of Accounting Cases, 2015-2014 (Cornerstone Research)
Filings and Share of Accounting Cases, 2005-2014 (Cornerstone Research)

Weak internal controls at the heart of a surge in new cases of accounting fraud.

The number of accounting class-action lawsuits is returning to historical levels as the SEC focuses on accounting fraud the markets react against restatements. READ MORE →