business is good, but cpas say the workload never eases up.
by rick telberg
cpa across all areas of the profession this summer are confirming the best hopes and worst fears that the profession felt when the year was beginning. yes, business is up across all sectors and should continue to improve, especially for public practice firms, but there are not enough people to handle the work.
our readings are showing that two-thirds of cpas in all sectors of the accounting profession are enjoying better business than last year. asked to look 12 months into the future, roughly the same number expect their business conditions to be even better, although members in public practice are slightly more optimistic than members in business and industry.
marking the fourth consecutive month of decline, the bookkeeping and accounting industry contracted in june, shedding 4,200 full-time employees from may, ending at total employment of 954,800 workers and professionals, according to new data available to 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间. still, june’s … continued
surprise: hard work and knowledge aren’t number 1. neither are skills or knowledge.
by rick telberg
above all else, the essential ingredient for career success as a cpa is not what you might think.
it’s not knowledge or ability; although you can’t be a cpa without either. it’s not hard work or integrity. but you won’t go far without them. in one word: it’s about “clients.” read more →
cpa firm decision-makers hammer out the best clues to identify partner-potential professionals and how best to recruit, develop and retain them at a strategy session in milwaukee.
hint: it’s not about how smart they are or hard they work.
by rick telberg
how do you spot the hidden rock stars on your staff?
and what do up-and-coming tax, accounting and finance professionals need to know to get ahead in today’s profession?
rick telberg leading the strategy session
these aren’t idle questions. many firms and individuals are struggling with these issues right now. but don’t take it from me. just listen to the decision-makers from a dozen firms i met with in a milwaukee hotel recently. the mission: learn how to deal with a looming new staff shortage. some took away solid action plans. “our firm,” said one, “is trying to develop our rock stars and this showed me we need to be doing more.” another said, “excellent! it gave us the details and the ‘how-to.’”
green team's top talent indicators notes
interestingly, the milwaukee group’s conclusions and recommendations closely parallel our related research findings. so we can be fairly certain that we’ve obtained some of the profession’s favorite strategies.
you could probably adapt one of our methods for your firm. in milwaukee, we divided the group into two teams, the green team and the blue team. after some preliminary coaching, each team hammered out a list of the top five talent indicators – the clues in an employee’s behaviors and attitudes that demonstrate the highest likelihood of the best roi for a firm’s time, energy, and money in training, coaching and mentoring. then the group filled several flip chart pages with their lists and hashed them out with each other. after identifying the key indicators, we moved on to identifying the best strategies for recruiting, grooming and retaining top talent.
blue team's top talent indicators notes
by far, the top predictive indicator across all firms is the trait, “they are always trying to improve.” it comes in a few flavors or variations. for instance, the green team at the milwaukee strategy meeting favored a passion for “continuous learning.” the blue team preferred, “they do ‘extra credit’ – things that the partners wouldn’t normally expect from someone at their level.” but they add up to the same thing.
the tax, accounting and bookkeeping services industry is cracking a new record high in persons employed full-time.
the nation’s economy as a whole added 115,000 new jobs in april pushing the unemployment down by one-tenth of one percentage point to 8.1%.
but employers in the tax, accounting, payroll, and bookkeeping industries added 2,000 new jobs last month, marking the ninth month in a row of growth for public practice, according to 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 analysis. read more →
2011 finishes at new high. average hourly earnings across all employees in the accounting and bookkeeping slipped slightly in the latest month, but rang in a solid gain year to year. with more than 970,000 workers, the bureau of labor … continued
accountants may be winning the war for work-life balance. the number of average weekly hours worked for non-supervisory employees in the accounting and bookkeeping industry slipped to 33.2 in 2011, down from 33.4 and continuing a 20-year trend since 1990, … continued
now running at new high. hourly earnings at cpa firms are running at an all-time high, according to new data available to 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间. on average, earnings reached $31.20 per hour in 2011, up about 3.2%, for all employees. for just non-supervisory … continued
no men need apply? women have long outnumbered men in the accounting firm workforce, but a new 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 analysis suggests that the latest recession widened the gap. based on the latest data available, 584,300 of the people employed in … continued
business is good, but cpas say the workload never eases up.
surprise: hard work and knowledge aren’t number 1. neither are skills or knowledge. 
