You Hired Me to Do What I Do, Not What You Do

Posted on November 12, 2012 by Rob Nance

Accountants, marketers, those who love sales, those who hate sales, accounting firm partners, people who create, people who feel that they don’t have a creative bone in their body, those who can’t stand authority and also those who do everything in their lives that they are told…read this quote and think about how it applies to your work life:

“I’m not here to sell things. That’s what other people do; I’m creating them. If it doesn’t work out, I’m sorry; I’m just doing what I do. You hired me to do what I do, not what you do. As long as people don’t tell me what to do, there will be no problem.”
–Neil Young

*****
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Happy 67th birthday, Neil.

The Nation’s Battleground: O-H-I-O

Posted on November 5, 2012 by Rob Nance

As an Ohio resident, regardless of who wins the elections on Tuesday, all of us in our house will be thrilled that the relentless marketing efforts in our state will have ceased. It’s been overwhelming, unlike any other election season. I’m not even talking about TV ads and all that of which can be controlled; it’s the telemarketing, huge amounts of direct mail, the people coming to the front door at the house, etc., that’ s mind-numbing and downright irritating as hell.

Given how presidential candidates hopscotch all over the country–inefficiently campaigning, in my opinion–I would never donate to any presidential candidate. Wouldn’t it make more sense to have a strategy of spending two or three days at a time canvassing Ohio, then do the same in Florida, then a couple of days in another state? And we wonder why our government is not a model of efficiency? It makes no sense to be jumping around in multiple states each day; they need to plan a lot better, which would result in tremendous travel expense savings. You don’t have to be a Harvard MBA or CPA to understand that this is wasteful.

Speaking with my 14 year-old son about the election and the accounting profession, I mentioned an article written by thought leader Gary Boomer. My son then remarked, “Gary Boomer? What a sweet name!” Perhaps Gary can use this story in the introduction of his next conference speaking engagement. In the meantime, I might just write in “Gary Boomer” when I vote tomorrow.

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Interview with a Michigan Man

Posted on October 29, 2012 by Rob Nance

During my long stretch of being immersed in the accounting profession, I’ve met so many great, smart, fun, interesting people. I now give you the privilege of “meeting” Joel Ungar, CPA, CFE. Joel’s a partner in the Detroit-area firm of Silberstein Ungar, PLLC. Joel is also an iShade Faculty Member. Enjoy.

Q: Your small firm seems a bit unique having a franchisor audit practice, doing SEC audits and also having a host of development-stage clients with no revenues. Was this by design?

A: The franchisor audit practice and the SEC audits–definitely by design. We are a niche-focused firm, and know what we do well. We have far more real-world franchising experience than most other CPA firms, so audits of franchisors is a natural for us, as we can and do add value to franchisors by having understanding franchising–not just by understanding how to audit a franchise. And, yes, that is an important distinction. While we do work with some pre-revenue development-stage, the bulk of our SEC audit practice is made up of entrepreneurial companies with opportunities for growth and revenues from $1 million-$200 million.

Q: With the public accounting firm sector being very active these days with mergers and acquisitions, does that tempt a firm like yours that is purposely trying to stay at a small and manageable size?

A: We have looked at merger opportunities but so far have passed. There’s a reason why we are who we are and why we are not a big firm, and we’re cognizant of those reasons. We enjoy the freedom and we don’t want to be bogged down with a lot of administrative functions or managing hundreds of people. That said, if an opportunity arose that would make sense for us, for our clients, and for our staff–well, we never say never.

Q: How does your firm recruit talent? What are the common characteristics in people who have been successful employees?

A: We use a mix of advertising (Monster, LinkedIn) networking and talking with recruiters. Our successful employees: good personality, able to think on their feet, play well with others, willing to work hard, understand client deadlines, ability to travel, and they are able to accept responsibility in a fast-paced environment. The ability to “play well with others” is especially important–we spend a lot of time with each other, be it at our office, clients, and airports, and we work better when we get along well.

Q: What advice might you bestow upon today’s university accounting student or those accountants who are new to public accounting?

A: I remember sitting with a roommate just before I graduated from the University of Michigan and said to him “I can’t believe they let us do this for four years.” They should enjoy the experience! The obvious is to get the accounting knowledge. I like candidates to have good technology skills (still haven’t found one who knows more than me) and can write a coherent sentence. If their plan is to be in public accounting long-term, they should also develop skills essential to being a partner–networking and business development. I don’t think that is on the curriculum but it can make the difference. And even though I work in a small firm, I always tell students that if they get the opportunity to work with a Big 4 firm that they have to give it serious consideration. I was in Deloitte’s Detroit office for over six and a half years–21 years later it still pays dividends. I also wouldn’t suggest taking up winter sports. My partner Ron Silberstein’s advice: Marry rich.

Q: You’re obviously very happy doing what you’re doing, but if you had to be a completely different type of accountant, what might interest you?

A: I’ve been in both public accounting and in industry. I like the varied experience in public much more than what you get in industry. While I enjoy auditing, I also enjoy technology; I’d enjoy something that is based on emerging technology that requires use of my accounting knowledge and skills. Bonus would be if I didn’t have to lug a laptop through an airport–that day is coming.

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Change is Inevitable; Growth is Optional

Posted on October 22, 2012 by Rob Nance

Being the 250th post here in the iShade’s Curator Comments lab, I chose subject matter that everyone can use. The chances that you won’t benefit from reading this celebratory blog post are about as likely as seeing a Toyota Prius sporting Romney, pro-life and NRA bumper stickers.

Attending the recent Ohio Society of CPAs Columbus Accounting Show, I attended the Growing and Exiting Your Accounting Firm CPE session conducted by Norbert “Nobby” Lewandowski. Nobby ran a successful firm for a long time, but is now an author and national public speaker advising public accounting firms on growth issues. A former Pittsburgh Pirate and college roommate of Lou Holtz, Nobby held the crowd’s attention with sage advice on improving your CPA firm. The grandfatherly fellow spoke on partner-in-training programs, tracking clients for marketing purposes and also quite a bit on leadership issues. Enjoy the gems below.

Three Rules of Success
1. Do what is right.
2. Do the best you can.
3. Treat others like you want to be treated.

Three Universal Questions Everyone Asks
1. Can I trust you?
2. Are you committed to excellence?
3. Do you care about me as a person?

Nine Challenges for Leaders to Measure Progress
1. Raise the bar (of your performance)
2. Create accountability at all levels
3. Re-establish common sense
4. Create a corporate vision that everyone can “see”
5. End the mindless mantra of litigation threat
6. Stop trying to grow by reducing
7. End executive compensation plans that reward mediocrity
8. Communicate as a consumer
9. Make the choice (superb performance or mediocrity)

Seven C’s of Leadership
*Confidence
*Consistency
*Character
*Competence
*Communication
*Charisma
*Compass

What is National Meet the Firms Week?

Posted on October 15, 2012 by Rob Nance

How is the World Wide Web a bit like an English pub? Some say that both are “great equalizers.” In an English pub, CEOs sit next to ditch diggers hoisting pints, with neither party knowing what the other person does for a living–or caring what they do for a living. Two humans, two pints, a handshake, a conversation and it all works. On the Web, Sally’s Book Store that does $50,000 in annual revenue can look just as appealing as Barnes & Noble. The playing field begins to level…

Not all firms and university accounting students have the same capabilities when it comes to recruiting and job seeking. Clearly. Students at the University of Texas and firms such as Deloitte have an obvious edge in this regard than, say, a small rural university and a firm of eight people. What is helping to narrow that gap for firms and students? National Meet the Firms Week. Taking place October 29-November 2, it’s a very interesting creation—and exciting opportunity for all in the accounting profession.

CollegeFrog is the driving force behind this event. Speaking with James Hosman, Chief Operating Officer, he had this to say about National Meet the Firms Week:

1) How is today’s accounting position recruitment environment different from, say, five years ago?
Unfortunately for the industry, it has not changed much over the last fifty years, much less five years! For years, accounting students and firms have used the same process, which is to attend two or three on-campus Meet The Firms events and recruit exclusively from those students. A firm typically limits itself to the students it meets at these two or three events it attends. National Meet the Firms Week provides an online platform for students to meet firms from across the state and country. Students also will have access to valuable career advice from industry leaders through webinars every day. Firms will be able to recruit from schools that they may not have had the ability to visit due to time or budgetary restraints. The industry is rapidly moving to more efficient and effective ways to find talent, like online recruiting. The viral growth of this event is an example of this trend.

2) What excites you most about NMTFW?
The fact that any firm or student can participate. Firms and students are not limited to schools within their geographic area. Firms tell us all the time that they want to be able to recruit the best talent available, including if a student grew up nearby but went away from school. A firm has no way to find this “hometown” student today.

3) Students have many opportunities to connect with firms—what is unique
about NMTFW?
National Meet the Firms Week is more efficient and effective than conventional methods. A student can submit his or her resume, transcript, extracurricular activities, awards, honors and work experience without leaving the comfort of a home, dorm room or office. It also allows the student to make an impression on significantly more firms than with the conventional methods.

4) What advice would you give to today’s university accounting majors?
Explore all your options before you accept a position with an accounting firm. You may find that the firm you ultimately accept a job with is just around the corner in your college town but give yourself the opportunity to explore firms that you have not heard of. There are a wide variety of firm cultures, firm sizes and areas of expertise that may be able to offer you customized work experience. One of the webinars we are having during Meet The Firms Week is a career path session. Students will learn about all careers available with an accounting degree, whether it’s with a firm, inside the industry, or in a different niche.

5) Will NMTFW help level the playing field for smaller firms—or for those
firms that don’t have access to a host of universities?
Absolutely. Leveling the playing field is one of the goals. There are a lot of great firms in the United States that students don’t know about because 98% of firms are not able to attend more than 2 or 3 on-campus events. Also, many firms are overshadowed by the largest firms or they don’t have marketing budgets to advertise on a local, regional or national level. Firms of all sizes are excited about the event because at the end of the day, they can cast their net much further online than they can in person.

The Snowball Runneth Down Thy Hill

Posted on October 10, 2012 by Rob Nance

Bill Carlino recently mentioned an accountant who has shunned e-mail all of these years. When I read this piece, my mind got to thinking about how much this guy has missed out—or has he? That’s up to you to ponder. It might also depend upon how much you enjoy fishing, calligraphy and going to the post office.

As Bill pointed out, 295 billion e-mails are sent every day. I might add that at this point in time, in one day, enough information is consumed by Internet traffic to fill 168 million DVDs. That’s roughly the same amount of plastic that AOL used to mail out each week, I think. Also, my blog, Bill’s blog…and two million other blog posts are written each and every day. I don’t think the folks at AOL could have foreseen these types of Internet usage
numbers when they first starting mailing out those plastic CDs.

Imagine what your work life and personal life would be like right now if e-mail never existed. While it doesn’t mean that your time would have been spent churning butter, without a doubt, we all know our lives would be markedly different than they are right now.

Now Up to Bat, Mr. 10,000!

Posted on October 5, 2012 by Rob Nance

Should Chad Allen buy a lottery ticket? So this CPA, CITP Audit Manager in Kansas starts with his new firm this week and what do you know, to give his accounting life more firepower he joins iShade…and then receives a phone call from iShade’s Executive Director, Lisa Benson, telling him that he’s iShade’s 10,000th member! I’d like to see this guy’s fortune in his cookie the next time he goes out for cashew chicken.

To celebrate this crowning achievement, we have bestowed a generous gift card upon Chad, which he will put toward the purchase of an iPad for his wife. Brilliant.

Speaking with Acord Cox & Company’s newest employee and prize winner, I asked him why he decided to enter the field of accounting to begin with. As with many professional accountants, Chad’s answer was “to work on the health of the business and to help others understand it.” Of course, when I asked him what career he would like to have if he couldn’t be an accountant, his answer was the same as mine: professional baseball player. Obviously, both of us struck out on that mission. A more realistic answer, though, yielded “attorney or engineer, something like that where I could help people get done what they need to get done.”

Today’s young accountants quickly became a topic of conversation for us when I asked him about his experiences in recruiting accountants over the years. Commenting on today’s new college accounting graduates and young professionals, he noted that it’s exciting to see them create new efficiencies. “The good things they bring to the table,” Chad remarked, “they just pick up ways of doing things…they’re great with technology.”

Base hit. May your wife enjoy the iPad.

Clarke Price’s Accounting World, Part II

Posted on October 3, 2012 by Rob Nance

Clarke Price, President & CEO of The Ohio Society of CPAs, commented at a recent Association for Accounting Administration meeting: “If there was one term I could strike from the profession’s vernacular it would be ‘busy season.’ We give ‘busy season’ this mythical proportion—all businesses have ‘busy seasons.’” No kidding!

Six key priorities for The Ohio Society of CPAs:
*Provide knowledge solutions and refine the information safety net strategy
*Enhance OSCPA’s influence and drive the state and national agendas for the CPA profession
*Serve the needs of the various generations
*Promote the importance of the CPA exam to candidates and employers
*Facilitate discussion of alternative standards and prepare members for the change
*Prepare members to navigate the tsunami of changing standards and regulations

How does this match up with your state CPA society?

No One Told You When to Run, You Missed the Starting Gun

Posted on October 1, 2012 by Rob Nance

Time is our common commodity. Some spend it wisely; some let it get the best of them. Speaking with a colleague this morning who now works from home instead of going into the office every day, she commented that she can’t believe how much more productive her work day has become. A friend of mine who works at a large accounting firm also recently told me of his geographic work change, stating that he’s now working from home 2-3 days a week. It’s more of an adjustment for him, one which you might say “the jury is still out.”

When it comes to vacation time, maybe you’re one of those people who can’t truly disconnect from the office—or maybe you don’t think about the office during days off. Either way, according to Robert Half International, 51% of CFOs say they don’t check in with the office at all when on vacation. This statistic is up from 26% in 2010. With that large of a gap in only two years, color me skeptical.

What wastes time at work? Excessive birthday cakes with accompanying songs? A recent study didn’t have that one on the list, but it did have these five gems below.

Top 5 Business Time Killers:
1) E-mail
2) Procrastination
3) Social networking
4) Meetings
5) Surfing the Internet

I would write more, but I need to schedule a meeting about using e-mail, social media and shopping online simultaneously. I’ll do it tomorrow.

When to Take a Stand

Posted on September 28, 2012 by Rob Nance

Google turned 14 years old this week. Coincidentally, my son is also 14 years old. While these events are certainly unrelated, they both created change–in a good way.

Surprisingly, Google was initially called ‘BackRub,’ which sounds a bit crazy now that we’re all accustomed to the name ‘Google.’ However, I’ll bet there were plenty of people at the company who questioned the space-age, quirky name of ‘Google.’ Somehow, the decision-makers stuck to their guns.

What’s going on at your company or public accounting firm that might seem a bit “out there,” but requires a firm stance because it’s what you believe to be right?

‘BackRub,’ really?

iShade's Curator Comments

Accounting Profession Insight & Observations by Rob Nance

Tag Archives: humor

You Hired Me to Do What I Do, Not What You Do

The Nation’s Battleground: O-H-I-O

Interview with a Michigan Man

Change is Inevitable; Growth is Optional

What is National Meet the Firms Week?

The Snowball Runneth Down Thy Hill

Now Up to Bat, Mr. 10,000!

Clarke Price’s Accounting World, Part II

No One Told You When to Run, You Missed the Starting Gun

When to Take a Stand

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