Rationalizing a broken system and recapturing two-thirds of lost value.
Dan Gaffney
With CPA firms and corporations rushing to staff up with a suddenly warming economy, finance and accounting employment agencies are booming. But it can’t last. Sooner, rather than later, the internet will change everything.
Dan Gaffney, a CPA, CIA, CISA and a 20-year audit veteran, in both public accounting and in corporate, is positioning himself to take advantage of the paradigm shift. He’s out to revolutionize the finance and accounting temp business.
His Chicago-based incubation-stage start-up, Vouchedin.com, is seeking to do to short-term staffing placements what Monster did to newspaper classifieds and what Apple did to the recording industry: leverage the internet to cut out the middleman, re-channeling profits to both the worker and the employer. It could change a big part of the accounting profession as well. – The Editors READ MORE →
Daniel Burrus, considered one of the world’s leading technology forecasters and business strategists and author of six books including “Flash Foresight: How to See the Invisible and Do the Impossible,” was the opening speaker at the 2012 CCH User Conference held this week in my new hometown of San Diego.
Given the rapidly changing world in which we work, Burrus challenged us to look into the future to determine those hard trends (those that will happen whether we want it or not) and soft trends (those trends over which we have control) that will impact our business. Then, he encouraged us to use flash foresight – the ability to trigger a burst of accurate insight about the future – and to use it to produce a new and radically different way of doing things. READ MORE →
New analysis of trends and case studies in social media’s role in recruiting staff. The use of social media for recruiting in CPA firms is growing, especially with the need for accountants who are tech savvy, says social media analyst … Continued
If your staff recruiting effort is overlooking social media, then some of the best candidates may be overlooking you.
New college graduates are embracing social media as a job-search tool, according to a new study. Approximately 41 percent of 2012 college graduates in the market for a job are using social media to help them land one.
Surprise: Hard work and knowledge aren’t Number 1. Neither are skills or knowledge.
by Rick Telberg
Above all else, the essential ingredient for career success as a CPA is not what you might think.
It’s not knowledge or ability; although you can’t be a CPA without either. It’s not hard work or integrity. But you won’t go far without them. In one word: It’s about “clients.” READ MORE →
CPA firm decision-makers hammer out the best clues to identify partner-potential professionals and how best to recruit, develop and retain them at a strategy session in Milwaukee.
Hint: It’s not about how smart they are or hard they work.
By Rick Telberg
How do you spot the hidden rock stars on your staff?
And what do up-and-coming tax, accounting and finance professionals need to know to get ahead in today’s profession?
Rick Telberg leading the strategy session
These aren’t idle questions. Many firms and individuals are struggling with these issues right now. But don’t take it from me. Just listen to the decision-makers from a dozen firms I met with in a Milwaukee hotel recently. The mission: Learn how to deal with a looming new staff shortage. Some took away solid action plans. “Our firm,” said one, “is trying to develop our rock stars and this showed me we need to be doing more.” Another said, “Excellent! It gave us the details and the ‘how-to.’”
Green Team's top talent indicators notes
Interestingly, the Milwaukee group’s conclusions and recommendations closely parallel our related research findings. So we can be fairly certain that we’ve obtained some of the profession’s favorite strategies.
You could probably adapt one of our methods for your firm. In Milwaukee, we divided the group into two teams, the Green Team and the Blue Team. After some preliminary coaching, each team hammered out a list of the top five talent indicators – the clues in an employee’s behaviors and attitudes that demonstrate the highest likelihood of the best ROI for a firm’s time, energy, and money in training, coaching and mentoring. Then the group filled several flip chart pages with their lists and hashed them out with each other. After identifying the key indicators, we moved on to identifying the best strategies for recruiting, grooming and retaining top talent.
Blue Team's top talent indicators notes
By far, the top predictive indicator across all firms is the trait, “They are always trying to improve.” It comes in a few flavors or variations. For instance, the Green Team at the Milwaukee strategy meeting favored a passion for “continuous learning.” The Blue Team preferred, “They do ‘extra credit’ – things that the partners wouldn’t normally expect from someone at their level.” But they add up to the same thing.
2011 finishes at new high. Average hourly earnings across all employees in the accounting and bookkeeping slipped slightly in the latest month, but rang in a solid gain year to year. With more than 970,000 workers, the Bureau of Labor … Continued
Now running at new high. Hourly earnings at CPA firms are running at an all-time high, according to new data available to CPA Trendlines. On average, earnings reached $31.20 per hour in 2011, up about 3.2%, for all employees. For just non-supervisory … Continued
If your staff recruiting effort is overlooking social media, then some of the best candidates may be overlooking you.
Surprise: Hard work and knowledge aren’t Number 1. Neither are skills or knowledge. 
