Survey Savvy
ore than three-quarters (77%) of American workers expect to keep doing some kind of work for pay after they retire, a new Pew Research study found—and most of them (60%) are more interested in keeping busy than in the pay. As for those already retired, they are less enamored of the workaday life; only 12% said they now have a paying job.The disparity highlights the fact that attitudes about retirement are in transition, the authors noted. The demographic of older Americans is changing as well: Retirees will comprise 21% of the population in 2050, up from 12% in 2000.

Source: Pew Research Center, “Working After Retirement: The Gap Between Expectations and Reality,” www.pewresearch.org .

BUSINESS TRENDS
The vast majority (81%) of investors, portfolio managers and securities analysts preferred receiving printed annual reports rather than electronic ones, according to an October survey by WithumSmith+Brown ( www.withum.com ). Among the managers and analysts, the sentiment was almost unanimous (94%).

Respondents said printed reports are easier to read, file for future reference, highlight, mark up and take notes on—and they’re surely more portable.

Nearly 79% of survey respondents agreed annual reports are an important tool in making investment decisions, and fully 90% said the reports should go beyond financial and shareholder issues to also include topics such as environmental sustainability and corporate governance.

Online Banking Drops Off
Forty-three percent of Internet users, or about 63 million American adults, did their banking online in December 2005—about the same as in 2004, after several years of steady increases. Researchers at the Pew Internet & American Life Project suggest the flat growth of online banking, even as overall Internet use climbed, is likely the result of public distrust of online financial sites.

Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project, www.pewinternet.org .

While 62% of the companies surveyed said they had document retention policies, only 31% of those companies said they actively enforced the policies.

When it came to monitoring computer hard drives for compliance, 69% of the respondents said they checked shared network drives, while only 45% monitored individual users’ hard drives. That raises liability and compliance concerns, the survey summary said, citing an earlier Gartner Group estimate that 80% of a company’s documents resided on users’ desktops.

Untouchable Offenders
Ninety-three percent of employees work with politically connected coworkers whose bad behavior or chronic poor performance should—but doesn’t—make them a target for termination, according to a VitalSmarts ( www.vitalsmarts.com ) online research poll.

Some tips for effectively confronting them:

Communicate respect. Communicating respect in the first 30 seconds helps others feel safe, which will help them listen to you.

Lead with facts. Replace, “I think you are rude to me in staff meetings” with, “In our last staff meeting, you cut me off when I was speaking and then rolled your eyes.”

Share natural consequences. For example, “I’ve heard you expressing frustration that people aren’t friendly to you. I think I know some reasons why and would be willing to share them if you’d like.”

Invite dialogue. Remember you are probably partly wrong about how you see things. After sharing your concerns, encourage the other person to share his or hers—and even to show you where you are wrong.

Hold the boss accountable. If the crucial confrontation fails, and if the situation is affecting the staff negatively, consider taking it to the manager. Use these same steps to help the manager see that he or she needs to deal with this errant employee.

A Sarbanes-Oxley Meditation

Lately the world has seen many a catastrophe,
Terrorist war, tsunami, flood and financial impropriety,
Ingenious accounting manipulations,
Debt hidden in trading positions,
Expenses booked as acquisitions.

Congress knew what it must do, so
Sarbanes and Oxley took the cue.
To shore up corporate responsibility
They made law to test internal control sufficiency.

To prove fiduciaries diligent,
SOX required tests to document
And make every internal control evident,
A nightmare compliance requirement.

What ensued was…
Paper proving every debit,
Paper proving every credit,
Paper proof of calculations,
Paper proof of estimations,
Copier breakdown lamentations,
Alas, a paper whirlwind.

But criminals still await their fate,
Legislatures promulgate,
Audit fees did escalate, and
Accountants toil very late,
Reaping a paper whirlwind.

—Dan Habbart, CPA

Time Pressures Rise
Nearly half (46%) of CFOs said time management was the greatest challenge for financial executives today, up from 36% five years ago, according to a survey by Robert Half Management Resources. Keeping pace with technology was second, with 22% of the response, vs. 27% in 2001. Keeping current with accounting regulations came in third, at 17%, up from 13% in 2001.

Help for Small Companies
“Too many small companies don’t have the resources or expertise to make the necessary structural changes on their own, and we need to make sure they compete on a level playing field.”

—U.S. Sen. John Kerry, who introduced legislation
aimed at making it easier for small companies to comply
with section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Cities Creating New Jobs
1. Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, Fla.
2. Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla.
3. Naples-Marco Island, Fla.
4. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas
5. Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, Fla.
6. Orlando-Kissimmee, Fla.
7. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va.
8. Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, Ark.-Mo.
9. Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach, Fla.
10. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif.

Source: Milken Institute, www.milkeninstitute.org , 2006.

States With Favorable Business Tax Climates
1. Wyoming
2. South Dakota
3. Alaska
4. Nevada
5. Florida
6. Texas
7. New Hampshire
8. Montana
9. Delaware
10. Oregon

Source: Tax Foundation, www.taxfoundation.org .

No ‘Irrational Exuberance’ for Sarbox
“O ne good thing: Sarbox requires the CEO to certify the financial statement. That’s new and that’s helpful. Having said that, the rest we could do without. Section 404 is a nightmare.”

—Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, during a
Massachusetts Technology Council meeting September 25, 2006.

Taking Things Literally
I was working on an audit of a local school system and needed to visit several area schools. When I arrived at one particular elementary school, I walked into the office, introduced myself and explained that I was working on the school’s audit.

Not sure where to go, I asked the woman behind the desk if she could please direct me to the school bookkeeper.

She very pleasantly asked, “You mean the librarian?”

—P. Jenice Saint, CPA

Directors’ Pay Up 14%
Median total pay for independent directors at the 500 largest U.S. companies rose 14% last year, according to a survey by compensation consulting firm Steven Hall & Partners. The new figures bring median compensation totals from $162,363 to $185,000.

Higher cash retainers for board service (up 11%) and committee chairmanship (up 25% to 80% depending on the committee) contributed to the increase. Total board pay for companies in the bottom half of the top 500 grew a surprising 19%. About a third (34%) of the top 1,000 companies have dropped board-meeting fees, which are generally $1,500 per meeting.

Source: Steven Hall & Partners, www.shallpartners.com .