career planning

18 Pieces of Today’s Best Job Advice

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Get certified. Apply early and often.  Join the survey; get the results.

By Rick Telberg

I’m looking over the early responses to our new CPA Careers survey and one stands out for its practicality and wisdom. This from a veteran senior finance manager at a Fortune 1000 company is, I think, 18 pieces of the best advice I’ve ever heard.

1. For the accountant who is not a CPA yet: If you’re not  a CPA already, make it a goal.

2. If you need hours, apply to every accounting firm that you could drive to or are willing to move close to.

3. Apply beginning in mid-April, after busy season, when accounting firms clean house. READ MORE →

Three and a Half Ways to Get Your Own CPA Practice

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And 11 good tips for once you do.

Here at CPA Trendlines, Ed Mendlowitz answers some of the toughest questions practitioners can throw at him. He’s the right one to ask. After more than 40 years in the business – building his own practice, running the firm, and eventually selling it to a major regional firm, WithumSmith+Brown, where he remains a senior partner and consultant to professional services clients – he has the answers. We’re happy to have him at CPA Trendlines. Send your questions for Ed here, or chime in with Comments below.

More from Ed Mendlowitz, The Practice Doctor Q&A: Novice Manager Needs to Know: How To Do It All? | Why No One Listens to You | Fun Reads for Busy Season  |  When NOT to Offer a Free Initial Consultation | Measuring Growth in Yourself, Staff and Partners  |  What Do You Think You’re Doing?  | Can You Teach Judgment?  |  Clients’ Calls At Home  | What You Need to Know before Expanding into Business Valuation |

Question: I am working for a CPA firm, but would like to start my own practice.  Can you give me some suggestions?

Response: Essentially, you have three options (four if you count my pet project, but I won’t belabor it).

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Novice Manager Needs to Know: How To Do It All?

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15 strategies for a first-time supervisor’s success.

Here at CPA Trendlines, Ed Mendlowitz answers some of the toughest questions practitioners can throw at him. He’s the right one to ask. After more than 40 years in the business – building his own practice, running the firm, and eventually selling it to a major regional firm, WithumSmith+Brown, where he remains a senior partner and consultant to professional services clients – he has the answers. We’re happy to have him at CPA Trendlines. Send your questions for Ed here, or chime in with Comments below.

Ed Mendlowitz CPA The Practice Doctor Q and AMore from Ed Mendlowitz, The Practice Doctor Q&A: Why No One Listens to You | Fun Reads for Busy Season  |  When NOT to Offer a Free Initial Consultation | Measuring Growth in Yourself, Staff and Partners  |  What Do You Think You’re Doing?  | Can You Teach Judgment?  |  Clients’ Calls At Home  | What You Need to Know before Expanding into Business Valuation |

Question: My boss asked me to call you.  I am a staff accountant with five years experience.  I am having a lot of stress trying to manage everything I have to do. I am juggling supervising people that I don’t know how to supervise, being managed less by those above me and having to figure out more for myself – including things I never did before or in industries I never worked on previously, keeping current with changes in accounting rules and taxes (since I am more like a generalist and clients ask me everything) never seem to have any free time, juggling my schedule because most of my clients are never ready when they say they will be and being accountable to my boss for everything I do plus what the staff working under me does. So how do I do it all? How can I prioritize all my responsibilities? READ MORE →

Fun Reads for Busy Season

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Be kind to your brain and your brain will be kind to you. Ed Mendlowitz answers some of the toughest questions practitioners can throw at him. He’s the right one to ask. After more than 40 years in the business … Continued

Measuring Growth in Yourself, Staff and Partners

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“Knowledge Gap” method uses a client-centric approach.

Ed Mendlowitz answers some of the toughest questions practitioners can throw at him. He’s the right one to ask. After more than 40 years in the business – building his own practice, running the firm, and eventually selling it to a major regional firm, WithumSmith+Brown, where he remains a senior partner and consultant to professional services clients – he has the answers.

More for CPA Trendlines PRO Members: What Do You Think You’re Doing?  | Can You Teach Judgment?  |  Clients’ Calls At Home  | What You Need to Know before Expanding into Business Valuation | Asking an Attorney for a Referral Fee  |  Are Partner Retreats Really Worth the Cost? | Audit Reports Without Doing the Work? | Should I Really Spend the Time Making Checklists? | What’s a Tax Practice Worth Today? |

QUESTION: I suspect that my partner has “maxed out” and cannot grow further which will retard our growth.  What can I do or how can I deal with this?

READ MORE →

What You Need to Know before Expanding into Business Valuation

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Here are at least 47 great money-making opportunities, but don’t overlook the difficulties in getting started.

Here at CPA Trendlines, Ed Mendlowitz answers some of the toughest questions practitioners can throw at him. He’s the right one to ask. After more than 40 years in the business – building his own practice, running the firm, and eventually selling it to a major regional firm, WithumSmith+Brown, where he remains a senior partner and consultant to professional services clients – he has the answers. We’re happy to have him at CPA Trendlines. Send your questions for Ed here, or chime in with Comments below.

Browse more from Ed here:   Asking an Attorney for a Referral Fee  |  Are Partner Retreats Really Worth the Cost?   |   Audit Reports Without Doing the Work?  | Should I Really Spend the Time Making Checklists?   |  What’s a Tax Practice Worth Today? |  Preparing to Sell Your Practice in a Few Years? 13 Things You Need to Know Today     |    10 Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Decide to Add Financial Services to Your Practice   |  Why Selling Your Practice Is Not a Retirement Strategy | Congratulations! You Bought a Tax Practice. Now What? | How Accountants Can Keep the Business When a Client Wants to Sell Theirs | 10 Reasons Clients Don’t Pay, and What To Do about It | 13 Reasons Timesheets Will Never Die

— Rick Telberg
President / CEO

QUESTION: I am exploring the business valuation credential as a way to expand our practice. I’m still (relatively) young to the profession and would (I think) love to expand into this niche area.

A few things: READ MORE →

Pay Raises for Management Accountants Show Scant Signs of Improvement

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A new salary survey of management accountants isn’t bad news. but it’s not great news either.

SEE THE SURVEY REPORT. GET THE INSTANT DOWNLOAD:
Click here for the 2012 management accountant salary survey. 

Accountants’ average total compensation held relatively steady in 2011, increasing 0.9 percent from $128,486 in 2010 to $129,591, according to IMA’s 23rd Annual Salary Survey, released this month in Strategic Finance magazine.

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