Monty Python Meets Accounting [VIDEO]
Vocational Guidance Counsellor, a classic from the off-beat British comedy troupe.
career planning
What’s the Best Professional Advice You’ve Ever Received?
The New York Society of CPAs asked and members answered. Reflecting on my last 24 years as a CPA tax practitioner, I’ve received a lot of advice. Still, the best advice I’ve gotten takes the form of a quote: “Fail … Continued
The New Leadership Skills You Need to Make Partner in Today’s Accounting Firm
Technical skills alone aren’t enough.
by Rick Telberg
Rarely has leadership-level talent been so important to the CPA profession and yet, perhaps, so difficult to find.
“Technical knowledge used to be the only thing a firm really needed,” says Rex Gatto, a Ph.D. in organizational psychology and a personnel consultant to CPA firms.
“But now you have to have somebody who can communicate, mentor and coach,” he says. “Someone who knows how to build a team and a succession plan and work with others to make it happen.”
Are Your State Society Dues Worth the Money? [VIDEO]
Illinois CPA Society 2010 chair tells CPAs what your state society should be doing for you. Sara Mikuta, CPA and CFO of Leaders Bank in Oak Brook, Ill., says “the role of the state society is to make sure we … Continued
Partner Pay Off 3% on 1.4% Revenue Rise
Strong showing from midsized accounting firms through recession. The soon-to-be-released Rosenberg MAP Survey of over 400 mid-market CPA firms is expected to show average net income per partner of $354,000, down 3% from the year before. Marc Rosenberg, the creator … Continued
CPA Staff Confidence Hits Two-Year High
Finance professionals encouraged by economic rebound. The Accounting and Finance Employee Confidence Index, a measure of overall confidence among U.S. accounting and finance workers, increased 2.7 points to 53.3 in the second quarter of 2010, according to The Mergis Group, … Continued
Six Reasons You Don’t Want to Be the Boss
Life changes when you move up the ranks. After years of coaching partners and partners-in-waiting, Sam Allred of Upstream Academy knows a thing or two about what it takes to succeed as you climb the executive ladder at an accounting … Continued
Are You Missing Next Big Boom in Accounting and Finance?
IFRS represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity for accountants and the profession. Some firms won’t be ready.
by Rick Telberg
Many finance and accounting professionals, their firms and companies may be wasting a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity if they allow their capabilities to stagnate or their skills to go stale. Take, for example, IFRS, short for International Financial Reporting Standards.
In the latest stop-and-go story of the globalized rules, it’s, well, if not “stop,” then at least “maybe later than last we thought.” As a result, some firms and corporations are putting their IFRS hiring and training programs on hold.
But that’s a big mistake. For one thing, the worldwide demand for IFRS technicians will be “huge,” according to Craig Walker, accounting and finance practice director for the Mergis recruiting agency. “Bigger than SOX,” he says, referring to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which remapped the accounting and auditing landscape in 2002.