Accountants Round Up

"Job Fears Recede As Firms Prepare To Ride Out Recession"

By Kevin Reed: Most top 20 firms say they will resist slashing staff levels and continue to recruit graduates as the recession deepens, suggesting that they have learned from mistakes made in previous economic downturns.

Although they cut just over 1,100 jobs in the last 12 months, staff numbers this year are expected to remain broadly unchanged, according to an Accountancy Age survey of the firms’ HR strategies and recruitment policies.

Read complete article Job Fears Recede As Firms Prepare To Ride Out Recession
Source: AccountancyAge, 19 February 2009. © Incisive Media Ltd. 2009 Incisive Media Limited. All rights reserved.

"Fraud On The Increase As Recession Takes Hold"

By Judith Tydd: Finance directors need to ensure their internal controls and risk management systems are robust as experts predict the level of corporate fraud will escalate as the economy worsens.

Last year, company managers, employees and customers were tried in UK courts for £300m worth of fraud, three times more than in 2007, according to Big Four firm KPMG.

Read complete article Fraud On The Increase As Recession Takes Hold
Source: AccountancyAge, 12 February 2009. © Incisive Media Ltd. 2009 Incisive Media Limited. All rights reserved.

"Accountants Given Green Reporting Guidance"

By Rachael Singh: Accountants are being encouraged to improve their knowledge about environmental reporting as companies and public bodies face growing pressure to reduce their carbon footprint.

The climate change bill, which requires the UK to reduce emissions by 80% from 1990 levels by 2050, brings green policies into the corporate mainstream.

Read complete article Accountants Given Green Reporting Guidance
Sourc: AccountancyAge, 12 February 2009. © Incisive Media Ltd. 2009 Incisive Media Limited. All rights reserved.

"Strict Liability Provisions Could Penalize You!"

By Harvey Coustan: Last September, the Internal Revenue Service published temporary regulations interpreting the “strict liability” provisions of Code Section 6707A, which penalizes the taxpayer’s failure to disclose reportable transactions. The temporary regulation verbiage doubled as the text for the proposed regulations.

Read complete article Strict Liability Provisions Could Penalize You!
Source: INSIGHT Magazine, Illinois CPA Society, January/February 2009.

"The Cost of Auditor Independence"

By Sarah Johnson: Hiring a public accounting firm to provide both internal and external audits, a practice that was banned by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, actually reduced companies' accounting risk, researchers claim.

The knowledge of a company that an external auditor gained from internal auditing lowered the chances of publishing misleading or fraudulent financial results, according to preliminary findings by professors at Brigham Young and Texas A&M universities.

Read complete article The Cost of Auditor Independence
Source: CFO, 12 February 2009. © CFO Publishing Corporation 2009. All rights reserved. 

"Financial Crisis Group Debates Accountants' Role"

By WebCPA staff: An international group of accountants, regulators, bankers and business luminaries met to discuss the impact of the financial crisis and the implications for financial reporting.

The meeting in New York on Friday was the second involving the Financial Crisis Advisory Group, whose members were announced in December (see Financial Crisis Group Attracts International Cast). The participants addressed a number of issues, including fair value accounting and the various approaches taken by the accounting standards boards.

Read complete article Financial Crisis Group Debates Accountants' Role
Source: WebCPA, 13 February 2009. © 2009 WebCPA and SourceMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

"Going Beyond Client Referrals—The Next Best Thing To Grow Your Practice"

By AccountantsWorld: If you've been keeping yourself current with basic business trends, you know traditional marketing methods just don't work as effectively as in the past. The response rate from direct mail is dismal and fewer prospects let their fingers do the walking. The only thing that's going north is an ever increasing number of prospects that are making their mice click to find what they want on the Internet.

The indisputable reality is that today online marketing has become the next best thing to client referrals. It's a new ball game now.

Read complete article Going Beyond Client Referrals - The Next Best Thing To Grow Your Practice
Source: AccountantsWorld. © Copyright 1999-2008 AccountantsWorld, LLC. All rights reserved.  

"Design and Operate a Referral System - part 2"

By John Jantsch: A few days ago I covered the Design the Referral System part and today I want to finish up with the Operate part - after all, a system design is an academic exercise until you put the process into action.

Equally important to the design is the way that you systematically and automatically integrate your referral system into the everyday customer and network interaction. I can’t tell you how many business owners admit that they don’t get more referrals because they simply don’t think to ask for them. By designing the ask into your day to day routine, it’s more likely that it will get done.

Read complete post Design and Operate a Referral System - part 2
Source: Duct Tape Marketing, 17 February 2009. Copyright 2003-2009 Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing. All rights reserved.

"Recession Prompts Financial Executives To Rethink Retirement"

By AccountingWEB: Executives may be spending more of their golden years on the job than on the golf course, a new study suggests. In fact, more than half (52 percent) of chief financial officers (CFOs) surveyed recently stated that they are delaying or reconsidering their retirement plans. The majority (62 percent) who intend to extend their working years attribute the change in plans to the economy.

The survey was developed by Robert Half Management Resources.

Read complete article Recession Prompts Financial Executives To Rethink Retirement
Source: AccountingWEB, 12 February 2009. Copyright © 2009 AccountingWEB, Inc. All rights reserved.  

"Design and Operate a Referral System"

By John Jantsch: This is part one of a two part post - today is Design the System - next is Operate the System.

For most, referrals happen accidentally as a result of doing good work or being in the right place at the right time. What if those valuable referrals could happen intentionally, as a result of doing work and putting yourself in the right place, with the right source, always at the right time.

Read complete post Design and Operate a Referral System
Source: Duct Tape Marketing, 12 February 2009. Copyright 2003-2009 Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing. All rights reserved.