EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE EFFORT TO CREATE EXCITEMENT rewards modest expenditure with a generous payoff, fostering a pleasant, energetic workplace and making clients look forward to your visits. An exciting business will grow more than one that isn’t. SEMINARS, WORKSHOPS AND CONFERENCES are an important opportunity to learn and network. Motivational
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Firm practice management
How to Be Careful and Still Be Clear
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY IN AN EFFORT TO SIDESTEP POTENTIAL LIABILITY, CPAs may obscure rather than clarify important information presented to clients. The types of documents least affected by professional standards are the ones that are most important for practice development. A CPA WHO SPEAKS AND WRITES PLAIN ENGLISH develops a reputation
Pay Your Staff for Performance
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY INCREASING THE PRODUCTIVE, efficient, billable use of each staff member’s time well into the 1,500 to 2,000 hour annual range is the key to a firm’s bottom-line improvement. ANY FIRM THAT BILLS AND COLLECTS less than an average of 2.4 times base salary for staff time should
The Downside of Good Times
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY A PRACTITIONER FOUND ONE RISK OF A STRONG economy is that small business clients may loosen their internal controls, discovering fraud or theft only long after it has happened. THE MOST VULNERABLE ARE PRIVATE COMPANIES in the $10 million to $30 million range because they are large
A New Standard of Tax Practice
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE AICPA HAS ISSUED EIGHT STATEMENTS on Standards for Tax Services as enforceable standards for AICPA members. Effective October 31, they replaced the advisory Statements on Responsibilities in Tax Practice. COMMENT LETTERS RAISED QUESTIONS ABOUT the necessity of enforceable tax practice standards. The strongest argument for enforceable
CPAs Add HR to the Mix
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY STAFFING IS EVERY COMPANY’S NUMBER ONE problem, and CPAs are in an excellent position to offer human resources (HR) consulting services to clients in need of financial professionals. HUMAN RESOURCES OUTSOURCING IS GOOD for clients that don’t feel they need a full-blown HR department. It can help
The SEC’s Proposed Auditor Rule Threatens Our Profession and the Public.
SEPTEMBER 2000 VOLUME 190, NUMBER 3 Editorial Staff Publisher/Editor-in-Chief Colleen Katz Executive Editor Barbara J. Shildneck Managing Editor Elizabeth Uva Senior Editors Katharine W. Coveleski Peter D. Fleming Michael Hayes Raj Rangarajan Robert Tie Cynthia Waller Vallario Stanley Zarowin Assistant Editors Sarah Cobb Vincent Nolan Contributing Editors Maria
Golden Business Ideas
Marketing by Database Most businesses have a powerful marketing guru at their disposal—and they probably aren’t even aware of it. The guru is any staff person who is savvy about the use of databases. Most businesses have some of their customer information on computer—probably in the accounting software database—and they
Making It—As a Consultant.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY NOT EVERY CPA FIRM that tries its hand at consulting can report financial success, and although there’s no such thing as a single universal cure for an unhealthy consulting business, the one that comes closest is strategic planning. IF CONSULTING FIRMS WITH LOW PROFITS have one thing
For Better Direct Mail
full-color mailer with a tired approach is no more a promotion than a Volkswagen Beetle painted red is a Ferrari. Think creatively to grab your readers’ attention; focus on a key idea; and make it worthwhile. “Mailings that offer a special promotion encourage a response,” says John Schulte, executive
Confronting Retirement
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ALTHOUGH MOST CPAs HAVE their own personal retirement accounts, a surprising number of practitioners don’t have formal retirement plans for their businesses. AS RETIREMENT PLANS ARE DEVELOPED, senior partners may have doubts about whether their successors can honor future obligations, intend to stay with the firm or
Overnight to India
t sounds like magic: Send your back-office chores away at night and find the finished work waiting with your e-mail in the morning. Believe it or not, some CPA firms are doing it: e-mailing tasks to accounting and programming personnel in India, where the workday begins just as Americans head
Profitable Communication
hat a difference a decade makes: Just 10 years ago, most managing partners didn’t consider marketing key to their business plans. Now firms not only employ marketing professionals but also expect them to deliver value beyond traditional functions. Yet many firms need to realize that one area still requires their
Practice Management
CPA Firms Profit From Alliances, Says Survey CPA firms short on time and staff, but eager to meet their clients’ varied and extensive needs, are building up their service offerings and profits through alliances with organizations savvy about investments, insurance and regulatory compliance. This is according to a 1999 survey
Start Your Own Firm
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY IF YOU PLAN TO START YOUR OWN FIRM, it is imperative that you take steps ahead of time to ensure you start off on the right foot. WORK FOR A SMALL PRACTICE BEFORE you leave a large firm. Learn the profession, sharpen your skills, and learn how to
Sophisticated Web Design
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY MOST CPA FIRMS HAVE STATIC WEB SITES with fixed content. Practitioners can not easily change this data without prior knowledge of a Web programming language, such as html. DATABASE-DRIVEN WEB SITES allow practitioners to change Web content without knowing a Web programming language, thus saving CPAs the cost
Tips for the Valuator
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY FOLLOWING BASIC TENETS will provide business appraisers in both industry and public practice enhanced understanding and skills to comply with business valuation standards. FIRST, FULLY UNDERSTAND THE NATURE of each BV assignment. CPAs WHO OFFER BV MUST CONFORM with several standards on professional competence, due professional care, planning
Is Business Appraising for You?
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY BV IS A VERY CHALLENGING BUSINESS that requires an unusual set of skills. CPAs SUCCESSFUL AT OFFERING BV tend to: — Function well under intense pressure. — Communicate well, both orally and in writing. — Integrate quantitative and subjective data coherently. — Be unfazed by ambiguity and uncertainty.
Measuring Public Companies
PRACTICE DEVELOPMENT/BUSINESS VALUATION Skills you need to value businesses. Is Business Appraising For You? BY ELIZABETH DANZIGER EXECUTIVE SUMMARY BV IS A VERY CHALLENGING BUSINESS that requires an unusual set of skills. CPAs SUCCESSFUL AT OFFERING BV tend to: — Function well under intense pressure. — Communicate well, both
Lawyers and CPAs: How the Landscape Is Changing
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY FIFTY STATES AND THE American Bar Association currently prohibit lawyers from sharing fees with nonlawyers, such as CPAs, effectively barring multidisciplinary practices (MDPs). The ABA’s rule-making body, the house of delegates, shows signs it may reverse this ruling and allow lawyers and CPAs to share fees and be
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