It’s a live online chat on human resources issues, folks! Type your questions and get real-time answers from an expert in the field, Sandra Wiley. Click the big Q&A below to find out more.
I don’t know who the guy is holding the big Q&A, but he’s kinda creepin’ me out.
Event sponsored by Halogen Software.
How much profit does your firm or company earn from each employee? According to a Sageworks and Deloitte survey, privately held companies earned $15,279 per employee last year.
The top three contributors to recent productivity gains?
1) Improvements to business processes
2) Technological improvements
3) More hours worked by employees
How does this barometer fare with your business clients?
“The longer I’m in this profession the more I learn from my peers than from my clients.”
Someone said this line during one of the pre-conference discussions of the Winning Is Everything conference, but I heard subsequent variations of this sentiment throughout the entire conference. Learning. It never stops in the accounting profession—and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
Another great way to keep learning from your peers? Get active in iShade. Being the best accountant, partner or consultant to your clients you can be requires constant learning. I don’t think anyone will argue that point.
From David Bowie’s song “Quicksand”:
I’m not a prophet or
a stone age man
Just a mortal with potential
of a superman, I’m living on
Let me ask you, have you reached your potential? I know I haven’t, but I keep working on it. Is Bowie right? Are we all mortals with potential of a superman?
Here’s one of the ideas that I heard at the Winning Is Everything conference last week. I think it’s a pretty darned good one.
Have partners read a business or leadership book in advance of a partner retreat. Each person reads a different book. The individual partners then take turns speaking about their book in front of the group for 15 minutes, creating hearty discussions that always tie back to firm issues, challenges and opportunities.
As a CPA, EA, controller or whatever role you play in the accounting field, you are regularly in a position to advise and counsel others on a variety of matters. Right, this isn’t news to you. You’re assisting clients, peers and staff using an array of tools from your accountant’s tool box most every day.
What about helping youth with financial advice? The AICPA has done a marvelous job with their “Feed the Pig” program. Here’s an idea: after busy season, visit some classrooms in local schools and talk about money management. You could even give the kids a summer challenge and then revisit the classroom in the fall to see how they performed. In addition to educating kids who need this knowledge, it’s great p.r. for your firm. If you accept my Curator’s Challenge, let me know!
As a bonus, here are a couple of interesting sites that have crossed my path recently:
Practical Money Skills (several games, including Financial Football)
The Great Piggy Bank Adventure
Is there an “open door” policy at your firm? Most likely, this has been expressed at your shop, but is it really a true “open door” or is it simply lip service? Quite too often, it’s the latter. As Sandra Wiley, COO of Boomer Consulting, works with public accounting firms she finds this to occasionally be the scene due to partners declaring they are too busy or some other reason.
At last week’s Winning Is Everything conference, Sandra Wiley engaged an audience on various topics and issues relating to human resources. “Everyone is always looking for good employees,” stated Wiley, “and being in professional services, talented people know that they can go out and get another job, so partners and firms need to be aware and proactive.” This is especially challenging, given that through her work with these firms, Wiley regularly uncovers that employees are being quiet about what they are feeling or thinking—and often leave the firm without processing that “open door” option (even if one truly exists).
The good news is that Sandra Wiley helps turn over these rocks with partners and managers. “We’re in a people recovery mode. The profession is in a much more positive posture now than during the last several years.” While the future does look promising, employee issues still always exist in terms of hiring and retaining the right people. Of course, on top of those challenges, Wiley foresees the rest of the decade battling the very difficult issues surrounding:
1) Healthcare costs, keeping people healthy, wellness programs
2) Performance management systems, holding people accountable (especially at the partner level)
“Firms are in the position of turning these challenges into opportunities. We have to treat employees well or they will leave. It’s time to get back to basics at so many firms, with benefits, pay, communications,” Wiley proclaimed. She’s seen a lot—the good, the bad, the ugly.
On the subject of technology, we all know that’s a state of constant change, making it all about as easy to control as pinning Jell-O against a wall. I asked Sandra what she might change if she could travel back in time five years; she easily replied, “I would spend more time counseling partners on mobile technologies.” Join the club!
As for smartphones, Sandra Wiley told me that more and more firms are going to a flat fee reimbursement policy, with a lot of firms getting out of the ownership business on such devices.
This Kansas-based professional is a sharp cookie. Do you have H.R. questions? If you don’t, you have some time to come up with some! Sandra Willey will be doing a Live iShade Q&A Online Chat on Thursday, February 2, 1:00-3:00P CST. The event is sponsored by the fine folks at Halogen Software. Get your questions answered and learn new perspectives! No gimmicks, no sales pitches, just free, instant opportunities to gather intellectual capital.
Tax guru, Eva Rosenberg, a.k.a., “TaxMama,” has etched a compelling piece on the Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich tax returns, titled “Mitt And Newt What Can We Learn For Our Clients?” You can read it in full on iShade here (after login):
http://www.ishade.com/group/78/thread/2774/view
Which firm does Romney’s return? PwC. There are more fun facts just like this one!
The links to the actual returns are included in Eva’s write-up. We welcome your thoughts
on the breakdown of these returns and also on Eva’s observations!
What defines “excellence” in your world? Having been inspired and educated last week at the hard-hitting “Winning Is Everything” conference, I can safely say that a wave of make-every-day-better-than-the-one-before-it has washed over me—and on most of my fellow colleagues who were there with me in Las Vegas. Improvement through first-class leadership and innovative, courageous management was the infusion piped into all of us. Over the coming weeks, you’ll be reading bits and pieces relating back to this conference, the public accounting firm partners and industry leaders with whom I met, plus insight and follow-up on post-conference initiatives.
Watching yesterday’s NFL games and also the truly amazing Kim Clijsters comeback at the Australian Open, it’s a breeze correlating the striving-to-be-one’s-best mantra to the sporting world. In the business world, however, the measuring sticks are different; but it’s still about motivating a team, being efficient, knowing when to strike and when to hold back, etc. Business and sports, to be certain, have their parallels; that’s probably why ex-NFL quarterback Tom Flick kicked off the keynote address.
Defining “excellence” most likely produces a varied response amongst every reader of this literary gem. I think we all pretty much know what it means, but it takes shape and form differently in each of our respective worlds. Whether you’re a sports fan or not, it’s obvious to see that Pennsylvania State University’s illustrious football coach, Joe Paterno, created excellence in every facet of his life. While it was certainly sad to hear of his death this weekend, what makes it all even sadder is the fact that the last several months marred a legendary man and his body of work. Paterno’s contributions outside of football will be felt by many for years to come. The Sandusky scandal will, in time, separate itself from the overall scope of Paterno’s life, leaving JoePa’s solid gold career, philanthropy and love of the university just where it should be: in a state of excellence.
On a recent Sunday morning at a nearby Starbucks, I had the privilege of having coffee with Joel Ungar. A small audit firm partner in the Detroit market, Joel has a sharp instinct and knowledge of business and accounting, plus he has a wry wit that is a pleasure. I am fortunate to know Joel.
Who are the people you feel blessed to know? Send them a note today.
Or a pack of Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls.
Can an accountant have too many golf shirts or computer monitors? I saw one CPA possessing five monitors at his desk and on his wall area (in addition to a TV). Any more than that and it’s a sickness, really.
Turns out a man can have too many T-shirts according to this Chicago Sun-Times column. Hogwash, I say!
Golf shirts and computer monitors: items on the Christmas lists of so many CPAs….
