SEC Chief Attacks Three IFRS “Myths”

Defends “the vital but sometimes overlooked field of accounting.”

Schapiro

Pledging global accounting convergence — someday — SEC chairman Mary Shapiro today sought to “re-affirm our dedication to developing a single set of high-quality, globally-accepted accounting standards.”

And she addressed three criticisms of the agency, which she called “myths:”

For the details, here’s the full text of SEC chairman Mary L. Schapiro’s  remarks at the CFA Institute 2010 Annual Conference, Boston, Mass., via videoconference:

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Posted on May 19, 2010
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Who Knew? There’s an IFRS News Widget for Mac Users

For your Macintosh and MacBook desktops, if you have one…

FREE DOWNLOAD – Get it here: Apple – Downloads – Dashboard Widgets – IFRS News.


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Posted on May 14, 2010
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How to Overcome the Fear of Tech [VIDEO]

Thomson Reuters’ Jack LaRue says many accountants may be intimidated by the rate of change in technology.

As a result, they do nothing.

Here, LaRue explains a simple first step to get started.

When Jack talks, people listen. He has more than 25 years of marketing and sales experience. Prior to joining Thomson Reuters, Jack headed business-to-business marketing at FTD, the trail-blazing florist delivery service. Jack joined Thomson Reuters in 1993 when his unit was still Creative Solutions. Eventually he rose to vice president of sales and marketing for the whole tax and accounting business of Thomson Reuters.

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Posted on May 12, 2010
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Chandra Bhansali Explains “The Cloud” [VIDEO]

Creator of famed Accountants Relief brings the latest technology to market.

Always on the leading of technology for accountants, the president of AccountantsWorld explains the cloud and SaaS computing in the simplest, clearest way we’ve ever heard. We caught up with him at the New York Accounting Technology Show.

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Posted on May 8, 2010
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XBRL, IFRS Gain Footholds

Despite the uncertainty about timetables and roadmaps.

In a Grant Thornton survey of senior financial executives, 26% say their companies are already using XBRL and 16% say they’re on board with IFRS.

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Posted on April 30, 2010
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[VIDEO] NetSuite Launches Mac-vs.-PC Parodies Against SAP and Microsoft

They were unveiled at NetSuite’s dealer conference, SuiteCloud 2010.

… and …

… and …

.. and then, from Australia, there’s …

The Bureau of the Endangered Species is a lighthearted look at why Enterprises should run their apps in the Cloud.

via NetSuite

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Posted on April 18, 2010
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Eleven Top Trends for Local Accounting Firms in 2010

With small accounting firms coming out of a tough tax season, Hugh Duffy figures this would be a good time to look ahead for the balance of 2010.

Duffy

Duffy, a practice development adviser, outlines his forecast at The Progressive Accountant, starting with…

The Top Three Economic Trends

1. The current recession has many small accounting firms on edge because the duration of this recession has been so long. Since 1854, the average length of a U.S. recession has been 17 months from peak to trough, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research. For perspective, the Great Depression lasted 43 months. Our current recession started in December 2007 and the end is not yet in sight. And when things improve, economists are saying it will be gradual. To compound this issue, there is still a liquidity crisis which makes it difficult for the small business market to pick up the slack and reverse this crisis.

2. Shift in type of employment. Small business employers are shifting from full-time employees to part-timers, freelancers, outsourced services, partnership arrangements and other forms of contingent workers.

3. Micro-Businesses will rise. As more and more skilled workers are on the sidelines and become disenchanted with the prospects for gainful employment, there will continued increases in micro-businesses (solo owners with no employees). This movement will be fueled by the Internet, low-cost of technology, and ease with which a home-based business can be created.

And these…

4. Top 100 firms will reduce overall staff levels another 3% to 7% this year.

5. Small accounting firms will dramatically increase use of Cloud Computing, SaaS, portals and hosted solutions.

6. Microsoft 7 and Office 2010 will fuel replacement of dated computer equipment.

7. The army of un- and under-employed accountants will create a new wave of small and solo start-ups.

8. Shifting away from staffing and retention, firms will drive sales, marketing and business development into high gear.

9. The march toward paperless accelerates and broadens.

10. With the bleak economic outlook, the trend towards home-based businesses surges.

11. Local non-profit membership organizations (networking type) will see continued declines in enrollment as networking tools (LinkedIn, Facebook) make it more efficient online and cheaper.

See the details at Top Trends for Small Accounting Firms in 2010.

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Posted on April 10, 2010
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Message to Accountants: Master the Pace of Change or Get Left Behind [VIDEO]

Thomson Reuters executive says time is running out for many firms.

Macro-economic, social, technological and demographic trends are combining to accelerate the rate of change for accounting firms. In this short clip, Teresa Mackintosh, senior vice president and general manager for workflow and service solutions in the Americas Professional Division of Thomson Reuters’ tax and accounting unit, explains why.

“We can’t take a decade to figure this out,” Mackintosh says. “If we don’t respond with urgency,  we won’t be there in a year, or two years, or three years.” It’s time to “take advantage of these underlying mega-trends,” she says.

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Posted on March 4, 2010
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Accounting Adds 9,400 Jobs in January

BLS reports workforce at seasonally adjusted 930,500.

January’s 930,500 roster represents a seasonally adjusted gain of about 10%, one of the largest month–to-month changes in recent memory.

January’s gain followed a 2,700-jobs gain in December, to 918,4000, a figure which remained relatively unchanged in the BLS’s monthly revisions.

On a not seasonally adjusted basis, January’s accounting and bookkeeping services payroll advanced to 1.035 million from, 925,600 in December.

Overall, the U.S. unemployment rate fell from 10.0 to 9.7 percent in January, and nonfarm payroll employment was essentially unchanged. Employment fell in construction and in transportation and warehousing, while temporary help services and retail trade led in job growth.

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Posted on February 5, 2010
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