management

the roots of ‘radical’ cpas

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young businessman thinking, software icons in thought cloudhow the ‘new firm’ was born.

by jody padar
the radical cpa

i started to use this newfangled payroll software that worked through the internet. back then they didn’t call it the cloud. it was just payroll software that used an internet browser. it solved my business problems of preparing paychecks, paying taxes and filing tax returns for my customers. the technology was paycycle, a cloud-based payroll software.

more radical cpa: the first 3 questions i should have asked before starting my own practice

paycycle (which has since been acquired by intuit) fundamentally changed my firm and my life. all of a sudden payroll became one of the most profitable areas of our firm. it also became a catalyst to selling and packaging our other core services.

it was the beginning of something bigger.

read more →

tax season urgency: it’s a bad thing

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six ways to eliminate stress and potential mistakes. by ed mendlowitz tax season opportunity guide urgency creates stress and pressure and leads to mistakes and improper perceptions of the quality of the work. planning and execution reduce urgency. one way … continued

the first 3 questions i should have asked before starting my own practice

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and the 3 questions you should be asking yourself today.

by jody padar
the radical cpa

i had just come off a really bad tax season.

this was about eight years ago now, and i knew there had to be a better way. i left a mid-sized firm, with seven partners and about 50 other employ­ees and i joined my dad’s firm — literally and figuratively. figu­ratively, because many of his technology and processes were “old school.” read more →

consistency simplifies tax season

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man talking to woman with checklistapply it to service, processes and standards.

by ed mendlowitz
tax season opportunity guide

one way to guarantee extra work is to have everything always done differently each time it is done.

more on tax season: 11 clear client instructions to make your tax season easier | 3 ways to build a tax season team | have fun this tax season | how to get paid faster this tax season

not establishing uniform procedures is bad business and unnecessarily consumes part of your life. consistency in performance reduces work and review time and creates a greater reliance on the staff people. read more →

walking the walk with a radical cpa

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broken chainget real. get up from your desk. go for a ‘gemba’ walk.

by tom hood
the radical cpa

i remember sending a video intro to jody padar’s first meeting of ic opportunities where i read a quote from the february 2012 edition of fast company magazine in which the editor, robert safian, intro­duced the concept of “generation flux” and it reminded me of jody and her tribe:

tom hood
hood

“in our hyper-networked, mobile, social, global world, the rules and plans of yesterday are increasingly under pressure; the enterprises and individuals that will thrive will be those willing to adapt and iterate, in a disciplined, unsen­timental way… generation flux is a term that describes all of this — the chaotic business era that we have moved into — as well as the people who are poised to thrive in this environment.”

so what is a “gemba walk,” you might be thinking? read more →

can accounting firms lead with work-life vision?

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and 5 practical ideas to implement measures to create real work-life balance at your firm.

work life balanceby hitendra patil
pransform inc. 

do you want employees who have:

  • greater engagement in their jobs
  • higher levels of job satisfaction
  • stronger intentions to remain with their employers
  • less negative and stressful spillover from job to home
  • less negative spillover from home to job
  • better mental health

aren’t these the things most accounting firms would want their employees to experience?

in a 2014 national study of employers conducted under the “when work works” project, families and work institute and the society for human resource management noted that employees in more effective and flexible workplaces are more likely than other employees to have such desirable traits mentioned above.

do you and/or your employees work 12-14 hours a day or 50-60 hours a week, don’t exercise, always feel tired, sleep poorly, eat junk food more often (mostly at your desk) and find it difficult to meaningfully engage with your near and dear ones? read more →

emerging breed of cpa rewrites the rules of the profession, smashes old business models

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pisano
pisano

‘generation flux’ embraces adaptability, flexibility, openness, decisiveness.

by gretchen pisano
the radical cpa

with a lifelong commitment to con­tinuous learning, cpas are some of the most willing learners you’ll ever come across.

today’s new generation of cpa embraces adaptability and flexibility, an openness to learning from anywhere, decisiveness tempered by the knowledge that business life today can shift radically.

read more →

social business: how new communication tools are revolutionizing the accounting profession

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william r. pirolli, cpa/cff/pfs, cgma email vcard bill is a partner with over 30 years of experience in public accounting. bill was formerly managing principal for the accounting firm of pirolli, deller & conaty.
pirolli

and yet, the heart of the cpa business remains a constant.

by william r. pirolli, cpa, cff, pfs, cgma
the radical cpa: new rules for the future-ready firm

at the heart of our profession are people… connecting with people. the human connection to the information we deal with is what makes our profession so personal and rewarding. it should always be at the heart of what we do.

the ways we connect have changed dramatically over time. while we all still use the telephone, fax, face-to-face meetings and the occasional written note, the invasion of facebook, linkedin, twitter, skype, youtube, instagram, cloud-based services and that smartphone or tablet you might be reading this on all serve to make our communications and services immediate, exponential and virtually limitless. read more →

and now, a few words about sex (and 14 tips)

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businesswoman and businessmanyour protégée may have concerns. you should anticipate them.

by ida o. abbott
sponsoring women: what men need to know

if you are concerned about the possibility of sex-related problems, consider the degree of risk involved and whether you are willing to assume it.

before you decide, consider

  • first that you might be exaggerating the risk, and
  • second that this is a risk that can be prevented and managed.

more on sponsoring women for leadership: your protégée needs your feedback |  9 ways to promote your protégée to others | 8 ways to help your protégée focus on career opportunities | how to start an effective sponsorship … and follow through | 3 roadblocks to women and men working together well | fear of sex and rumors inhibits sponsorship | why women resist networking and powerful role models | different standards, double binds challenge women | 3 reasons why men don’t pick women protégées | beyond mentoring: why sponsoring women for leadership matters

some men use these concerns as rationalizations to avoid sponsoring women for other reasons. don’t be one of them.

read more →

3 ways to build a tax season team

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happy multi-ethnic business team with thumbs up in the officeit’s a long season. make it a happy one.

by ed mendlowitz
tax season opportunity guide

if you have staff, have happy cheerful helpful people. don’t surround yourself with downers and naysayers.

also have team players. part of this is your firm’s culture. it takes work to get people to work together and to focus on doing what it takes to service the client fully, properly and timely.  everyone working together gets it done.

read more →

have fun this tax season!

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four young happy office employeesno kidding! here are 12 ways.

by ed mendlowitz
tax season opportunity guide

tax season presents exciting opportunities for accounting firms and their staffs. every moment should be enjoyed and appreciated.

following are 12 reasons:

1. tax season is profitable and accounting is a business where we try to maximize our earnings. sure, there is a great concentration of work in a short period with occasional pressure, but if handled properly, the work can be managed sensibly with tensions at reasonable levels. i also believe much of the pressure is self-induced by poor scheduling, inadequate quality control and the lack of uniform systems that are followed by everyone in the firm, particularly the partners.

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