OUTLOOK & ANALYSIS

Partners Have Love-Hate Relationship with Leadership

By

Aquila leadership context modelBy Robert J. Lees, August J. Aquila
and Derek Klyhn
Creating the Effective Partnership

Regardless of their ownership structure, most firms either operate as partnerships or would prefer to operate as partnerships.

The tensions between being a business and the loss of the values and ethics of being a partnership feature strongly in our research.

But accounting firms are different from their corporate counterparts in a number of ways, which impact their functioning and, therefore, their leadership. READ MORE →

CPA Firm Mergers: 18 Categories of Data to Divulge — Carefully

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Dices cubes with the words SELL BUY on financial downtrend chartBy Marc Rosenberg
CPA Firm Mergers

Think of it as a second date. The first meeting was simply a “getting-to-know-you” encounter. But now the prospective merger participants, buyer and seller, are getting serious. They need to take the next step and exchange key performance indicators and financial and operating metrics.

There are at least 18 categories of data that need to be considered, each with it’s own peculiar in’s and out’s.
READ MORE →

5 Ways Gender Bias Plays Out at CPA Firms

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business meeting of a woman and two menThe harmful impact of gender bias on women’s careers.

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

Gender bias reflects entrenched beliefs and assumptions about women based on stereotypes about appropriate roles and behaviors for women.

Unconscious thoughts about the kinds of work women are and are not suited for, especially if they are mothers, remove highly qualified women from consideration for leadership opportunities and positions.

Ida O. Abbott, Sponsoring Women
Abbott

MORE ON SPONSORING WOMEN FOR LEADERSHIP: 3 Reasons Why Men Don’t Pick Women Protégées | Men Advance 2 to 1 over Women without Sponsors | 18 Ways Sponsors Can Help Their Protegees | The 6 Market Advantages of Women-Led Firms | Beyond Mentoring: Why Sponsoring Women for Leadership Matters

In the past, working women suffered overt discrimination and explicit bias. They were told outright they were not “fit” for certain jobs, were too emotional and unreliable to be given responsible roles, and were taking the place of men who needed to support families. Sometimes the bias was ostensibly intended to “protect” women and occasionally it was hostile. But it was out in the open and women understood the barriers they faced. READ MORE →

Digital Fax Has Benefits You May Be Ignoring

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fax machine in office on table closeup on a background of office cabinet3 ways to maximize your system.

By Roman H. Kepczyk
Quantum of Paperless

Accounting firms striving to capture all data in a digital format need to go beyond paper and include fax and voicemail systems as well.

At leading firms today, 66 percent of firms have a digital fax system that integrates with email for digital delivery, 37 percent are using video calling, and 27 percent use instant messaging.

Kepczyk
Kepczyk

MORE ON TECH SPENDING: Wireless Is Hot, and Here’s How to Handle It | How Safe Is Your Internet Lifeline? | New Tech Tools for the 24/7 Accounting Firm | The Single Best Defense Against Computer Viruses | When to Adopt Microsoft’s New Office Apps | What Windows 8 Means for How Accountants Will Work in the Future | How to Choose the Right Backup System | How to Know It’s Time to Scrap Your Old Server | Where Laptops Rule at CPA Firms Today | Step 1 in Building the Paperless Firm: Scanners | How Many Computer Monitors Do You Need?

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 re-scanned and emailed to the recipient. While this is a step toward digital delivery, today’s digital fax systems deliver a digital image to the recipient via email so they can access them within their email.

To maximize your systems, consider: READ MORE →