one of the key ways to improve client and workplace relationships is by showing appreciation.
“too often” leo buscaglia, the author, once said, “we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”
we can extend appreciation anywhere and everywhere — at home, at work, at school, and wherever you want to acknowledge those who make your life brighter.
here are a few ideas that might work for accounting firms: read more →
if your staff recruiting effort is overlooking social media, then some of the best candidates may be overlooking you.
new college graduates are embracing social media as a job-search tool, according to a new study. approximately 41 percent of 2012 college graduates in the market for a job are using social media to help them land one.
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 →
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?
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.’”
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.
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 →
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
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
here are just seven types of difficult co-workers. you may know more.
by sandra wiley
anyone who has managed a team has most likely stumbled across a challenging employee. identifying the challenging behavior is easy; finding ways to change the behavior and motivate the team member so they exhibit superstar qualities is the true challenge.
why are they so difficult? why do they continue the unpleasant behavior, even when they are told that it needs to change? because it is working for them! this is behavior that has worked for them before, and allows them to get what they want.
what recession? more accountants with jobs … ever.
by rick telberg
in the same jobs report that drove the nasdaq to an 11-year peak, the accounting and bookkeeping sector recorded more people employed in the industry than ever before.