21 awesome ways to show appreciation

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 →

is business too good for your own good?

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.

read more →

25 magic words for career success

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 →

firms at strategy session find their ‘rock stars’

top talent strategy session
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
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
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
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.

read more →

accounting hiring outpaces economy, hits new record

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 →

eight strategies for managing and motivating ‘challenging’ employees

sandra wiley, coo, boomer consulting inc.
sandra wiley, coo, boomer consulting inc.

what you need to know before a confrontation.

by sandra wiley
boomer consulting

many of us know all too well past or current employees and co-workers we’d term “challenging.”

slackers, space cadets, power grabbers, loners, drama queens and kings, and challengers. we talked about them on 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 here.

to get the performance you want from the person, you must change the cycle that they have developed.

read more →

slackers, space cadets, drama queens: managing and motivating ‘challenging’ employees

sandra wiley, coo, boomer consulting inc.
sandra wiley, coo, boomer consulting inc.

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.

read more →