Paving the Way to Career Happiness and Success

For many years, I had what I now call an "accidental career."  I didn't put much thought into why I was moving up the ladder, I just climbed because that's what I was supposed to do.  It’s no surprise that I soon found myself unchallenged and feeling like I wasn't making a difference.

When I stopped to evaluate, I realized that the power was mine to make a change. It was time to find out what would happen if I put my whole heart and soul into something. So I quit my job and started a business. I spent my life savings trying to figure it out. Ultimately I learned more about business, life and myself than I ever could have on the safe road.

Celebrate Memorial Day: Serve a Veteran

Now that you’re back to work after this year’s Memorial Day celebrations, you and your colleagues may be looking for additional ways to say thanks to the men and women who protect the U.S. and its interests. Good news! There is an exciting opportunity for CPAs to use your talents to do just that.

It is all part of the Veteran Fast Launch Initiative, a combined effort of the AICPA and SCORE. The program connects veterans who want to start and grow their own businesses with CPAs from across the country. The aim is to help veterans, their spouses and families succeed as small business owners. Practitioner volunteers provide up to five hours of time at no charge to veterans.

10 Skills for Mapping Your Journey to Partnership

Do you have firm partnership in your sights? If so, good for you! Although there is no “one size fits all” approach for a senior manager to become partner, there are steps CPAs can take to strengthen their skills, expand their knowledge and develop personal characteristics that can bring them closer to achieving their goal. Beyond working hard to stand out, here are some things we did that helped us better position ourselves to become partners at our firm, Lattimore Black Morgan & Cain, PC. You may want to consider these tips as you set out on the road to partnership.

Let’s Chat About Business Valuation

I’m not going to pretend I have extraordinary insight into the economy, but I do know that February was a very strong month for IPOs and that signs are pointing to an increase in mergers and acquisitions. These two trends, combined with the fact that business valuation is already one of the fastest growing ‘niche services’ among Accounting Today’s Top 100 firms in both 2012 and 2011 means that this is a great time to learn more about the AICPA’s Accredited in Business Valuation Credential.

 

In addition to the increase in M&As and IPOs thus far this year, valuation professionals said they expect to see increased demand for shareholder/partner disputes, contractual disputes and family law as well as in bankruptcy, insolvency and reorganization in the next two to five years, according to the 2011 Forensic and Valuation Services Trend Survey.

An Introduction to Pinterest

Pinterest, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

Have you had a chance to try out Pinterest yet? You should! If you are a visual person, this image-driven platform may really hit home for you like it does for me.

 

What is Pinterest?

Pinterest is a fast-growing niche social networking site that has generated a lot of buzz and media coverage. With over 15 million users, Pinterest is the fifth most visited social media site in the US, and generates more referral traffic to other websites than Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn combined.

What’s the Difference Between Winning and Losing?

3 Tips for Ensuring You’re Coaching a Winning Team

I’m a sports fan. And I’m the mother of two athletic teenage boys. I’ve watched a lot of ball games over the years, and I’d like to think I’ve learned a little bit about coaching. Recently, I watched a basketball game where the home team lost, but should have won. 

Why do I think they lost?  Coaching.

Despite the team’s collective talent, the coach allowed selfish play and poor execution without consequence.  More importantly, he failed to adjust his strategies to counter the opposing team's strengths. Occasionally, talent alone suffices in order to win a game. Most times, however, how that talent is deployed makes the difference between success and failure.

Use Social Media, Don’t Let It Use You

The AICPA’s Forensic and Valuation Service Conference, held Nov. 11 through 13, involved several sessions that were taught the “un-conference way.” These sessions were unconventional in their approach and involved peer-to-peer interactive learning. One un-conference session I attended was Tom Hood’s “Getting an ROI from Social Media via ROA (Return on Attention).” Tom is the CEO of the Maryland Association of CPAs and is considered a top thought leader in accounting.

From the moment we entered the room, we were thrown headfirst into the world of social media, as Tom encouraged us to sign into the gosoapbox event. Tom kicked off the session with a survey of attendees’ social media habits. In our group, 11% did not use social media at all and 71% viewed social media as a time sink, a valid concern for professionals who already have very demanding schedules. 

Becoming a Better Expert Witness

Earlier this year, the AICPA Forensic and Valuation Services Conference was held in Orlando. In the past, forensic services and valuation services held separate conferences; this year, in recognition of the fact that many CPAs perform a combination of these services, the two events were joined. As many as eight concurrent sessions were available to attendees on topics including basic, advanced and practical forensic and valuation issues; practice management and marketing; and litigation issues. 

As a CPA who performs primarily valuation services for litigation, two issues of particular interest for me were expert testimony and the cost of capital in business valuations. Ron Seigneur moderated a panel of three attorneys in a session titled “What Do Lawyers Really Say About FVS Experts?” This session was a great look into what attorneys are looking for in an expert and how expert testimony can be most effective. 

Twitter Delivers the Full Picture of a CPA Conference

Perhaps I sound like a broken record...

But believe me, if you attend conferences and aren't on Twitter, you are missing out. Case in point: the Digital CPA Conference last week. I got to the hotel in Washington D.C. (ahem...I mean Maryland. Right, Tom Hood?), logged in to my computer and discovered Twitter was already all aflutter with #DigitalCPA activity. If you know me, you know this made me very happy!

Follow a conference hashtag for the inside scoop.

By following and participating on a conference hashtag, you get to see the full picture of what's happening. People are sharing their favorite quotes, new ideas, what they are learning and my favorite... pictures.

5 Tips for Aspiring Women Leaders

Last month, I had the pleasure of attending the very first Women’s Global Leadership Summit, organized by the AICPA Women’s Initiatives Executive Committee, along with sponsors AICPA Private Companies Practice Section, the American Woman's Society of Certified Public Accountants and the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants. What an inspiring experience with a group of accomplished, empowered women. Women from all areas of accounting gathered to talk about the business case for creating inroads for women leaders in the profession, best practices for onboarding, preparing and maintaining female leadership and the effectiveness of establishing mentorship and advocacy programs. 

I know many of my peers are striving to stay ahead of the complexities of the profession, build a solid reputation and balance work and family in an increasingly challenging environment. I came out of the Summit feeling energized that more women are assuming leadership roles in accounting.  I thought: “What advice do I wish I had heard from my peers and role models when I was just starting out in the profession?”

Here’s what came to mind:

Does Your Organization Invest in its Employees’ Training and Skills Development?

Organizations around the globe face extraordinary challenges when navigating through the current global economy. To thrive in the long-term, organizations must constantly innovate, evolve and transform.

One of the most critical factors that determines an organization's fate in this environment is the quality of its human capital and the way it manages its talent pipeline.

A recent report from the AICPA and CIMA showed that while most companies understand the importance of human capital, they do not appear to have the right systems, processes and information in place to manage talent effectively. Think about your organization for a minute. Does it invest in training and the development of talent and skills? Or does it view training as a compliance tool?

Catch Them When You Can

It seems that the corporate world is rife with fraud these days, and as CPAs on the financial front lines, it’s up to us to protect the public from these crimes.

Just last week prosecutors in the high-profile fraud case against former Nortel executives gave closing arguments, telling a Toronto courtroom three former Nortel executives knowingly breached accounting rules to manipulate financial records and reap millions in bonuses, keeping the now-insolvent tech firm's investors and the public in the dark.

You think it won’t happen to you.

Many years ago, as a first year staff auditor, I was assigned to the audit team of a not-for-profit organization. One of my areas was cash, but after going over budget by many hours, I still couldn’t get the general ledger balance to reconcile to the bank statements. I was convinced that I just didn’t know how to do a proper bank reconciliation, but if they just gave me some more time, I would figure it out.

Accounting Offers More Career Opportunities: If You Know How to Find Them

USA Today recently reported that service businesses are leading an uneven job recovery. In the service sector, accounting firms have regained 87% of the jobs they lost, in part because of the growth of start-up businesses, new financial rules and U.S. companies expanding globally.

Salaries of accounting graduates are continuing to rise. In an April 2012 report on the starting salaries of the college class of 2012, the National Association of Colleges and Employers said the median salary of accounting majors was $47,800, up 2.8% from the 2011 median salary. The overall average salary of new graduates was $42,569, up 4.5% from 2011.

Long term, employment of accountants and auditors is expected to increase 16% from 2010 to 2020, or about as fast as the average for all occupations, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Over that ten-year period, accounting employment is forecasted to increase from 1.22 million to 1.41 million jobs.

These statistics point to continued growth in the job market for CPAs, but where will CPAs find job and career opportunities?

The Importance of Communications in Accounting

Hi! My name is Joseph Farco and I’ve recently completed a summer internship with the AICPA. I assisted the Communications and Media Channels team in the New York office. While working with the AICPA has not only allowed me to learn more about numerous issues facing the profession, it also has helped me develop one of the most important skills for any business professional: communications.

From a young age I always knew I wanted to go into business, because I visited the New York Stock Exchange once a year on Kids’ Day. How was I allowed to go to this event on a yearly basis? Well, my father has worked on the floor of the exchange since 1980. His desire to see me do well in life combined with my annual visits to the NYSE, fueled my fire to go into business. This led me to mostly business electives in high school which included two college level accounting classes. I was surprised with how much I enjoyed those classes and I became interested in learning more about accounting. My passion for mathematics led me to embark on a journey to Seton Hall University, where I graduated in May 2012 with a BS in Accounting. My future plans are to pursue an MBA in Finance and eventually sit for the CPA Exam. My long term goal is to one day open up my own practice.

While the focus of my internship has not been entirely on accounting work, I’ve learned a number of lessons that could be used on a daily basis in the “real world.”

In the News: Accounting Firms Regain 87% of Jobs Lost During the Recession

This week’s ‘In the News’ post comes from the AICPA and CPA/SEA Interchange conference in St. Louis. I’ve been learning a lot at the sessions and having a good time networking with my colleagues at the state societies and sharing ideas and information. There has been a lot going on in the profession recently and I’ve been trying my best to stay on top of it all. I’ve highlighted a few of the more interesting articles I’ve seen in the past week and shared them with you below. If you see something that you think was particularly important, send me an email or let me know in the comments section.

Wise Advice from the New Kid

What’s the best advice to give virtually anyone starting a new job? Corey Cines, blogger with the AICPA’s This Way to CPA website, wrote “From Backpack to Briefcase: How I handled the jump into Public Accounting,” to offer his tips for starting life as a firm newbie. It’s excellent advice for any young CPA looking to build a foundation in accounting. Not only that, Corey’s great advice also applies to anyone transitioning into a new role or a new organization.

Asking “dumb” questions, staying positive and practicing stress relief: these are just some of Corey’s gems for getting the lay of the land.

We asked several AICPA CPAs on staff what advice they wish they had gotten when they first entered the accounting workforce. Here are some tidbits:

 

Moments of Obligation: A Call for CPAs to Join the Financial Conversation

I’ve always been attracted to the “serving the public interest” element of our profession. As an auditor I didn’t see myself so much as a policeman enforcing the rules, but rather as the surrogate for the investors and creditors who had limited access to information about a company’s finances and operations. I knew that these nameless, faceless third parties trusted me and that no matter what, I could not break that trust, for it was the cornerstone of the profession.

“Moments of obligation” are those moments or events when you feel yourself pulled down a path that leads you to work that will benefit others. At various points in my career, I’ve made more conscious decisions about pursuing paths to give back to the community. Of course, thousands of CPAs make decisions every day to contribute their skills, experiences and—perhaps most importantly—their credibility to efforts aimed to benefit the public good.

5 More Steps to Get Ahead in Your Career

Since so many of you were interested in Friday's post, 6 Steps to Get Ahead in Your Career, I decided that I should share some other career strategies also adapted from a recent presentation by author and career coach Donald Asher. 

6 Steps to Get Ahead in Your Career

What’s the difference between a CPA's salary of $45,000 and $90,000 per year? Skillset. The difference between someone's salary being $90,000 and $200,000 per year, however, is not a difference in skillset, but a difference in how they manage their careers. Here are some steps—adapted from a recent presentation from author and career coach Donald Asher—which you can take to advance your career.

The Brand YOU: Your Bio

Personal branding is about promoting what makes you unique and what allows you to stand out from the crowd. A major piece of branding is creating your professional “bio” or biography. That bio is, after all, a specific place to capture your “story” …. so it is personal.  

For many CPAs, your bio is likely already on the web and accessible by anyone and anywhere. Since it is so accessible, it presents a nice branding opportunity – to spread your message about the value you provide and the opportunities you want to attract.

When reviewing your bio, consider three Cs of personal branding – Compelling, Consistent and Clear:

Behind the Scenes with Volunteers on Making the CPA Exam

Passing the U.S. Uniform CPA Examination is one of three crucial requirements to obtaining licensure for one of the most respected professions in the world, the other two being education and experience.

A great deal goes into ensuring the CPA Exam is of the highest quality. A team of more than 75 dedicated volunteers, sitting at the top of the CPA profession and representing areas such as small and large firms, education, government and non-profit, work in collaboration with the AICPA’s professional staff. These volunteers serve as members of the Board of Examiners, the oversight volunteer board for the CPA Exam, and its seven sub-committees, covering such topics as content, scoring and state board of accountancy communications.

The AICPA Communications and Media Channels team had an opportunity to speak with two AICPA volunteers on how their experience has benefited the CPA profession and their careers:

• Wendy Perez, CPA, current chair of the Board of Examiners, retired Ernst & Young partner and past president of the California Board of Accountancy; and
• Mari DeVries, CPA, chair of the CPA Exam’s Content Committee and member of the Board of Examiners, managing shareholder of DeVries CPAs of Arizona, P.C. and past president of the Arizona State Board of Accountancy.

Creating a Professional Development Plan

Do you have a current professional development plan in place or are you typically rushing to earn CPE credits before your license renewal deadline?

The best way to ensure you are making the most of continuing education is through professional development planning, an often-overlooked and under-practiced activity. As a professional, consider integrating a professional development plan into all stages of your career planning. As CPAs, once we earn our license, we commit to lifelong learning. Many of us have the first few years of our professional development courses mapped out for us, but ultimately each of us are responsible for determining what we need to learn and for managing our own CPE activity. We must take part in webinars, conferences, or course work to meet these mandatory CPE requirements. However, beyond the requisite credit hours, what we focus on and learn is entirely up to us.

Make the Most of Your Professional Development

Lifelong learning is critical to an accounting career. Forty hours per year may not be adequate to keep you abreast of all the changes in the standard setting landscape or provide enough information to fully understand the impact of pending tax legislation—but continuing education can be an integral part of that process.

Continuing professional development enables you to build upon your knowledge and further develop skills in areas related to your professional practice. Over the course of a 40-year career, continuing professional development can make a huge difference in your skill set...if it is the right kind of education.