Accountants Round Up

"Five Years Under the Thumb"

By Economist Staff: For the leaders of corporate America it has been five long years. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, widely known as SOX, was signed into law on July 30th 2002 by George Bush, who called its tough new rules the "most far-reaching reforms of American business practices since Franklin Roosevelt was president". The hope was to restore public confidence in American business, which had been badly shaken by huge corporate scandals, such as those which led to the bankruptcies of Enron and WorldCom.

The act created a new regulator for the accounting industry: the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.

Read complete article Five Years Under the Thumb
Source: CFO.com, 31 July 2007. © CFO Publishing Corporation 2007. All rights reserved.

"J.H. Cohn and Marden, Harrison & Kreuter Combine Services"

By AccountingWEB: J.H. Cohn LLP, the largest independent accounting and consulting firm in the Northeast, has combined its services with Marden, Harrison & Kreuter, CPAs, P.C. of White Plains, New York, effective July 19. The former Marden, Harrison & Kreuter will operate as Marden, Harrison & Kreuter, A Division of J.H. Cohn.

Read complete article J.H. Cohn and Marden, Harrison& Kreuter Combine Services
Source: AccountingWEB, 31 July 2007. Copyright © 2007 AccountingWEB, Inc. All rights reserved.

"Remember This Before Complaining"

By Patrick Lamb: How frequently do we complain?  We all do so a lot.  Sometimes we complain about things in the presence of our clients because they also are our friends.  And because we are lawyers, are complaints are spiced-up and witty.  Next time, maybe not so fast.

I received an email today from my brother-in-law, a retired Naval officer, which has given me pause to think further about complaining.  Here is the story relayed in his email.

Read complete post Remember This Before Complaining
Source: In Search of Perfect Client Service, 31 July 2007. © 2007 Patrick J. Lamb.

"Is It True That the Big 4 Aren't Promoting Women?"

By Richard Murphy: The FT has reported a survey by Accountancy magazine that shows the proportion of women at the Big Four accountancy firms who were made partners this year dropped by a third from 2006 in spite of efforts to attract and retain women in senior roles.

Analysis by Accountancy magazine to be published this week shows that of those promoted this year, only 14 per cent were women, down from 21 per cent last year. Chris Quick, Accountancy's editor-in-chief said:

One of the major problems is that women tend to start families at around the same time they are thinking of partnership.

Read complete post Is It True That the Big 4 Aren't Promoting Women?
Source: Tax Research UK, 30 July 2007. © 2007 Tax Research LLP.

"13 Reasons to Be That Guy"

By Scott Ginsberg: That Guy is...

Somebody who reminds everybody of nobody else.

Call it personal branding. Call it USP. Uniqueness. Remarkability. Whatever.

Read complete post 13 Reasons to Be That Guy
Source: Hello My Name Is, 30 July 2007.

"SEC Okays Controls Rule, Pledges to Eye Auditors"

By Sarah Johnson: The Securities and Exchange Commission has adopted a new auditing rule to replace the standard largely blamed for the costly and excessive work that arose out of the internal-controls provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. At the same time, the SEC staff promised to closely monitor how auditors put the rule, Auditing Standard No. 5, into effect.

The commissioners' unanimous vote was expected, following the joint work the SEC took with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board to replace Auditing Standard No. 2 with the new rule.

Read complete article SEC Okays Controls Rule, Pledges to Eye Auditors
Source: CFO.com, 26 July 2007. © CFO Publishing Corporation 2007. All rights reserved.

"Does Your Networking Generate Goodwill?"

By Tom Kane: It should. You sure don’t want to be perceived as one who has a “what can you do for ME” approach to networking. For business development purposes, that is not a reputation any lawyer wants to be tagged with.

Trey Ryder’s current “Law Marketing Alert” (free sign-up here) has a feature article by Signe Dayhoff who tells us (part of which I agree with) that when you join any organization you should go the extra mile, and as a result build goodwill that will produce results down the road.

Read complete post Does Your Networking Generate Goodwill?
Source: Legal Marketing Blog, 27 July 2007. Copyright © 2007, Kane Consulting, Inc.

"Will Foreign Accounting Standards Fly Here?"

By Sarah Johnson: Should U.S. companies be allowed to use international financial reporting standards? It's a question the Securities and Exchange Commission — prompted by the growing use of IFRS by other countries — will formally pose over the next three months.

On Wednesday, the SEC commissioners agreed to release a list of questions to explore what might happen if the regulator gave companies the choice between U.S. generally accepted accounting principles and the International Accounting Standards Board's version of IFRS.

Read complete article Will Foreign Accounting Standards Fly Here?
Source: CFO.com, 26 July 2007. © CFO Publishing Corporation 2007. All rights reserved.

All in the Family

By Lyle K. Benson, Jr.: It shouldn’t come as a surprise that CPA practices often reflect society’s basic institution—the family. Whether crafting the finer points of a generation-skipping trust or simply advising parents on paying their children an allowance, a family office practice, as it has long been known, can be perhaps the most personal of personal financial services. While single-family office services for high-net-worth individuals have more often been provided by other financial services professionals, CPAs are increasingly getting into offering such services, often by modifying the concept to accommodate a select few in a multifamily office.

Read complete article All in the Family
Source: Journal of Accountancy, July 2007. © 2007 AICPA.

"What Differentiates the Rainmaker?"

By Bob Weiss: Our anecdotal observations in law firms over the past two decades about what differentiates top rainmakers who generate enough work to keep themselves and associates busy from lawyers who struggle to generate enough business to fill their own time every year have been confirmed by a national survey.

In short, the rainmakers "speak, join and party."

Read complete article What Differentiates the Rainmaker?
Source: Law Practice Today, July 2007. © 2003-2007 American Bar Association.