today's features

accountants in pop culture: myths, realities, and stereotypes – accounting arc

from “the office” to “parks and recreation,” listen in on how tv and movies shape our view of accountants.

accounting arc
with liz mason, byron patrick, and donny shimamoto.
center for accounting transformation

accountants are often depicted in popular culture in ways that range from humorous to downright exaggerated. in a recent episode of arc, hosts liz mason, cpa; byron patrick, cpa.citp, cgma; and donny shimamoto, cpa.citp, cgma, delve into these portrayals, discussing their favorite fictional accountants and the stereotypes that come with them. 

more accounting arc

patrick, vice president of client success at the b3 method institute, starts the conversation with “the office,” where characters like oscar, kevin, and angela offer a comedic take on the profession. “the beauty of ‘the office’ is in its exaggerated realism,” patrick explains. angela’s strict, by-the-book approach and kevin’s more laid-back attitude reflect common perceptions of accountants. “they were the butt of many jokes, but also some of my favorite accountants to watch,” he adds. 

read more →

perception, even your own, is reality

young businesswoman looking in mirror

you have to believe in yourself.

by martin bissett
 business development on a budget

“no man has the ability to step outside of the shadow of his own character.” – robespierre

as far as our potential clients are concerned, how they perceive us is how we really are to them, regardless of the truth of the matter.

more: eight questions that target personal accountability | how to prepare for partnership | five questions to help forecast your firm growth | do you deliver on your website’s promises? | five questions about facing challenges | be clear about your roi proposition | it’s time to prepare the next generation | who are you more committed to, your firm or your clients? | nine checkpoints before every prospect meeting | three questions about conversion | six keys to turning prospects into clients | don’t overlook internal communication | four reasons people struggle with communication | why firm culture matters for partners
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

because of this, it’s important to realize that when we are meeting a new potential client who has not been referred to us, it does not matter what the reality of our value proposition is; it matters how that potential client perceives our value proposition. therefore, to be effective in winning work, we must understand how we can positively influence their perception of us at each stage of the relationship-building process.
read more →

create more meaningful kpis

employees must understand what they’re working toward.

by jody padar
radical pricing – by the radical cpa

key performance indicators separate the signals from the noise. throwing timesheets into the trash is your opportunity to focus all your attention on what is most important to your firm’s continued success.

more: five areas to ground new metrics other than time | five reasons to ditch timesheets for good | productize services for consistent client valuedigitize clients for standardizationsix steps to creating a standardized practice | four ways automation pushes the paradigm shiftare you the key signal caller for your clients?value pricing requires defining your clientshow value pricing impacts your employees
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

good kpis are quantifiable measurements agreed to beforehand. they must be important to the organization as a whole and specific. here are a few examples you might consider adopting:
read more →

recently discovered antibiotic spares ’good’ bacteria

lolamicin defeated 130 drug-resistant strains of common gram-negative bacteria.

by rick richardson
technology this week

despite all the positive effects antibiotics have on the planet, one of the major drawbacks to their use is how they indiscriminately destroy both bad and good bacteria.

besides eliminating disease-causing invaders in the human body, a single course of this life-saving medication can have an “immense” effect on the gut and the microorganisms that live there, according to the national center for biotechnology information.

more: is nasa about to make air travel cheaper?startup creates legolike brick that can store air pollutionyour brain can store 10 times more than anyone thoughthow many ev charging stations will we need?google launches new private space featuremicrosoft discovers a security flaw impacting android apps | what is an ai pc, and should i get one?fool’s gold may not be so foolish nowai-engineered enzyme could be solution to plastic pollution | german researchers develop ev motor with no rare-earth magnets
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

certain bacteria or fungi may occasionally overgrow because of this influence. for example, following antibiotic treatment, women may have a 30 percent chance of acquiring a yeast infection.

researchers at the university of illinois in urbana-champaign are developing a remedy. lolamicin is a novel antibiotic that has been found to target selectively gram-negative infections, sparing other bacteria.

read more →

don’t take on audits in an industry you don’t understand

don’t try to wear too many hats. pick your specialty area and become a guru.

by alan anderson, cpa
transforming audit for the future

industry expertise is essential for businessmindedness. for me, the primary ingredient for building a successful audit practice is to avoid taking on work that you don’t understand. too many firms say they can audit any balance sheet, but that’s when they can get into trouble. many firms get sued because they made a bad business decision. they thought they could take on this unique industry and get it right. if you dabble in any industry, you will put your firm and yourself at tremendous risk.

more: four questions to make your firm more successful as a business | move to advisory and assurance with relevance | how ‘business expert cpas’ get their own business wrongsay adios to audit fee pressure | eight items to cover in the audit exit to deepen client relationships and prove value | know your three audit w’splanning lays the foundation of audit relevance | how do we drive relevance in audit? | before the audit: more than just planning | are you correctly identifying the relevance intersection? | lack of relevance drives audit commoditization
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

when the u.s. department of labor looked at the quality of employee benefit plan (ebp) audits, they found plenty of problems. that 2014 study found “a clear link between the number of employee benefit plan audits performed by a cpa and the quality of the audit work performed.” almost half of the firms the dol looked at performed only one or two ebp audits per year, and 75 percent of those had deficiencies. over half of those (56%) had five or more deficiencies.

read more →