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outlook & analysis

soloists drive mobile tech trend in accounting

smallest practices find new profits in going virtual as larger firms would prefer to cut staff and delay tech upgrades.

soloists gone mobile

卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 exclusive

if you’re a sole practitioner, there’s a 4 in 10 chance you’re reading this outside the office – at home, on the bus, maybe while waiting in line at the dmv, according to the accounting firm operations and technology survey.

related: accountants find power and freedom in mobile tech  |  how firms are adapting to the new mobile workforce  |  new client opportunities with mobile apps  |  cloud & mobile technologies drive change in tax and accounting

the new survey of almost 300 professionals shows that 44% of sole practitioners report they work out of the office more than a quarter of the time, placing them in the vanguard of the mobile workforce trend. in fact, 5 percent use no office at all, reporting instead they work virtually – maybe from home, car, a client’s desk or even a starbucks. (though we suppose those grande mocha light frappuccinos add up.)

read more →

management

are bad clients driving you crazy?

angry businessman on the phone16 ways to tweak your compensation systems to get and keep the right clients.

if your partners are putting up a fight to keep clients who should be let go, take a look at your compensation system. it’s not just about billable hours.

august aquila, creating the effective partnership, suggests 16 tweaks to your firm’s compensation system. while the list is not exhaustive, it does provide criteria that firms can consider beyond revenue. read more →

outlook & analysis

survey: how accountants keep up with tech trends

top strategy: compare with peers.

卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 exclusive

the pace of change in technology is leaving accountants so dazed and confused that about half of all practitioners say merely “keeping up” is one of their biggest technology-related problems. cost comes second.

accountants are so fed up with the staggering pace of developments that you couldn’t pay them enough to try a new software product “while drinking umbrella drinks on a beach at vendor expense,” according to randy johnston and leslie garrett, writing in the new accounting firm operations and technology survey. they caution, however, that “if you dislike change, you’re going to dislike irrelevance even more.”

the survey reveals the top tactics accountants are employing to stay up to date and make informed decisions – starting with keeping close tabs on their colleagues and competitors. read more →

mergers & acquisitions

6 steps to handle staffing problems in a merger

and the top 8 questions every staffer will ask.

aquila
aquila

by august aquila
creating the effective partnership

to get your employees’ commitment to the merger, they must understand how it impacts them personally and see the opportunities for themselves.

let’s assume that the announcement for the upcoming merger or sale is handled properly. in other words, it was not leaked or there were no rumors on the street. you can be sure that once the announcement is made, employees start thinking about one thing — how does this event affect me? this is about self-preservation; it’s an emotional and psychological question that everyone will ask themselves. read more →

outlook & analysis

where laptops rule at cpa firms today

three top laptops in firms today, from left: for the bookkeeper, for the auditor, for the partner.
three of the leading laptops in accounting firms today, all business-class dell latitudes. from left, for bookkeepers, the e6430 14-inch; for auditors, e6540 15.6 inch; and for partners, e6330 13.3 inch.

also: save up to 26% on your hardware spending with four smart strategies.

by roman h. kepczyk
quantum of paperless

kepczyk
kepczyk

getting the right mix of mobility is critical for firms today. today’s rule of thumb is that everyone who works out of the office one day or more per week should have a laptop as their only machine.

laptops should be scheduled for replacement every three years, whereas desktops are often functional for a fourth year. in firms that utilize workstations only as “dumb terminals” via tools such as citrix, windows terminal server and workstation virtualization (vdi) in the future, the functioning life of a desktop computer can be five or more years. read more →

leadership

new times call for new cpa firm metrics

how to fine-tune your management dashboard for effectiveness, innovation and growth.

dreamstime_xs_9983601.jpgby august aquila
creating the effective partnership

don’t kid yourself – it’s a new world out there. accounting firms need to become more transparent. partners and employees need to truly understand the firm’s vision and value proposition. they need to see how their daily actions move the firm toward its goals. mission and vision can no longer be vague, fluffy statements that mean nothing to your clients, employees and partners, and prospects.

this new environment requires firms to actually implement their goals by looking at specific objectives and measures. performance and execution are the key operatives. the old measures, by themselves, won’t do the job anymore. they are still valuable, but new measures are needed today. firms no longer compete with the firm down the street in terms of mere marketing. they now complete in how they manage the practice, treat their employees, win employees’ hearts and minds and provide a true learning environment.

what would it be worth to you if you had a system which could measure your business development and management efforts?  in short, measure how well you are implementing your firm’s strategy? read more →

outlook & analysis

step 1 in building the paperless firm: scanners

fujitsu fi-6110 desktop scanner
fujitsu fi-6110 desktop scanner (click for more)

survey: 78% of firms scan at the front end – and it’s not just an admin job.

by roman h. kepczyk
quantum of paperless 

one of the keys to optimizing accounting firm production processes is capturing information at its “root” source – the moment data enters your firm, regardless of the format – mail, fax, email or on a flash drive.

ideally, documents would be delivered already in a digital format such as email attachments or preferably through a portal, but the reality today is that a significant portion of accounting firm source documents arrive from clients in a physical paper format. your firm will need to develop processes to efficiently scan, name and store these documents.

the best firms start with the right scanners. scanners come in three flavors, capturing data at three levels: production, workgroup and individual.

read more →

outlook & analysis

6 reasons why cpa firms fail in innovation

the compensation trap that turns winners into losers.

by august aquila
creating the effective partnership

the focus on most cpa firms is on billable hours. while there is nothing inherently wrong with this focus, it has become the overriding focus of firms.

there is nothing wrong with making money today, but what about building for the future? with “today” being the dominant focus, what is the encouragement to cpas to innovate?  in most firms there is no alignment with innovation and compensation.

you will never have innovation unless you allocate some time and reward to making it happen. read more →

outlook & analysis

8 steps in cpa mentoring

to develop and nurture talent: it’s more than just lunch.

molly sargent
sargent

unfortunately, even the best-intentioned mentoring initiatives can easily fizzle in the early stages, before delivering value to the participants and the organization at large, according to molly sargent of rowayton, conn.-based professional impressions consulting.

sargent has trained and coached thousands of financial professionals and client-facing executives in professional image, presentation skills, business etiquette and sales effectiveness. since 1985, she has helped major accounting firms and fortune 500 companies, including aetna, american express, at&t, citibank, goldman sachs, jpmorgan, key bank, mastercard, pricewaterhousecoopers and prudential achieve breakthrough results.

with so much to gain, how can your firm initiate mentoring in a way that is successful and sustainable? read more →

outlook & analysis

new survey says: keeping good talent a global issue

like a bead of pearls: when one leaves, a lot follow. join the survey. get the results.

in the 2014 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 talent management survey we’ve been asking accountants to identify their primary business objective and the most critical factor needed to achieve it.

good staff, many said. perhaps not surprisingly. but we’ve been bowled over by how widespread and universal the sentiment is. read more →

leadership

how does your firm measure up?

take gallup’s 12-question leadership test.

after using many different varieties of opinion survey, the gallup organization came to the conclusion a few years ago that the responses to just 12 questions can show why one organization, division, department or any other managerial unit is happier and more profitable than another.

on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being “no, or rarely,” and 5 being “yes, mostly,” how would you score? read more →