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How to avoid giving free advice to prospects
I’m reminded of the old sex education message: Just say ‘no’! As professional advisers we are all used to prospective clients seeking free advice. As I’m no longer in practice and as a frequent blogger I have very different perspective now. So here is some free advice from me. When a...
Radio 4: A Brief History of Double-Entry Book-keeping
Readers may be interested in this Radio 4 series starting tomorrow Monday 8 March. There are ten episodes to the series so thank goodness it’s only a ‘brief history’! 8 Mar 2010 15:45–16:00 BBC Radio 4 Episode 1 1/10. Jolyon Jenkins traces the religious roots of some accounting practices. 9 Mar...
Save time with a travelling meeting room
This is a first. A friend of mine, Tom Ball, is the brains behind a unique idea that could be of use and interest to many professional firms. Hence the reason I’m blogging about it. AllABoardroom is a meeting room and bar aboard a customised bus. They removed the seats and...
What do you say when you’re asked for referrals?
Accountants are often seen as the ideal people to to ask for referrals. After all, accountants in practice will often act for dozens of clients, many of whom are targets for other complementary suppliers. This means that accountants are routinely approached by financial advisers, will writers, software developers, marketing consultants and...
Graduates are too expensive as accountancy trainees
Last week Personnel Today reported that PwC is launching a new graduate assessment route with less reliance on degrees. In effect this is PwC stating that they will cease to be seeking only those with top degrees. About time too in my view. Some years back when I was a partner...
What do you say when you ‘Keep in touch’?
Whether we use online ’social’ networks or we focus on the more traditional communication methods, we know we have to ‘keep in touch’. If we don’t do this we will be forgotten. When I was younger I used to think that my sparkling personality, wit and conversation would be sufficient to...
www.Big4.com's Blogs
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Big Four Accounting Alumni Blog by and for ex Accenture, Andersen, BearingPoint, CapGemini, Deloitte, Ernst, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers professionals...
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Golden Practices Blog
Oscars Results Reflect Today's Marketing Climate - Content Reigns
Some interesting backstage comments followed the Oscars on ABC News/Entertainment made by Kathryn Bigelow (Best Director for Hurt Locker) on the quality of the 2010 Oscar nominees. She said, "This has been a really extraordinary......
Will Phishing Repel Brands From Twitter?
Will business use of Twitter perish? Various rounds of phishing schemes have pelted Twitter users over the last couple years. Usually this means someone you know had their account hacked and you receive a DM......
25% off Facilitation Edu from Int'l Assoc of Facilitators
Take note! If you're a member of a membership organization that "recognizes a greater need for facilitation in businesses, nonprofits, governments and other civic dialogues" you could receive 25% off of conference fees. Off the......
A Little Valentine's Day Accounting Humor & Playing on Second Life
My first foray into Second Life was to collaborate on the first ever accounting video filmed entirely in SL. It was a blast visiting CPA Island to work with the fun and talented blogging and......
"What's the ROI of Social Media?" Is the Wrong Question
MODIFIED 4pm: Asking "What's the ROI of social media?" is akin to asking "What's the ROI of a telephone?" or "What's the ROI of a computer?" or "What's the ROI of e-mail?" First, these are......
Negativity and Social Media - Are You Turning People Off?
Are you a turn-off? There's a risk of this if you hang out on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn—especially if you use the "status updates" features within these tools. If you are a negatively-oriented person, it......
NJSCPA Exam Cram Blog
Anxiously Awaiting Score Release
Hi All, So I've been through this way too many times than I care to admit. Waiting until that day when I no longer see the message "Score Not Found" on the NASBA website. Although I've been met with disappointment......
Hi everyone, As of right now, I am waiting in limbo....judgment day is coming, though. I took AUD on January 11th (which was my third part) and I took BEC on February 13th. I am waiting for both scores. I......
Hello Everyone, I have been missing from the board for some time. I apologize for staying away, its been due to work. Its that time of the year where we work the most. I would resume my studies soon, and......
Hi All, So I've had a chance to come down from the high of emotions I felt on Friday after seeing my score. The passing score was great, because for the first time in a while, I'm not forcing myself......
3 Down... Waiting on the Final
Wow! One word says it all. I can't remember what this felt like the first two times. In fact, I had just accepted seeing bad news every time I logged onto the score page at Nasba. Everyone here knows the......
CPA Letter Daily
Report: Lehman concealed debt while collapsing
As it slid toward failure, Lehman Bros. -More- New: The Rebirth of Roth: A CPA's Ultimate Guide for Client Care — Help your clients benefit from the opportunity to convert to Roth IRAs - regardless of their MAGI or filing status - with this comprehensive guide. Covers current Roth investment regulations, investment...
FHA will need taxpayer bailout, professor tells lawmakers
The Federal Housing Administration will need a government bailout because it did not take into account the consequences of jo -More- ...
IRS criminal investigations rose 10% in 2009
The Internal Revenue Service initiated 4,121 criminal investigations, up about 10% from a year earlier. -More- ...
Sen. Dodd plans to offer his version of regulatory reform
Sen. -More- ...
Foreclosure avalanche is possible as serious delinquency increases
The U.S. -More- ...
Boosting inflation won't make paying debt easier
Boosting inflation isn't an effective policy to eliminate ballooning U.S. debt. The theory suggests that a weakened U.S. -More- ...
Accounting News and Notes
Award Winning Alpharetta/Atlanta CPA Reminds Taxpayers That Personal Income Tax Returns are Due April 15, 2010 The initial due date for personal returns is April 15. For returns not filed by that date both the IRS and GA allow for a six month extension. Please be reminded that there are no...
Award Winning Alpharetta/Atlanta CPA Asks Does Your CPA Think “Outside the Box?”
Award Winning Alpharetta/Atlanta CPA Asks Does Your CPA Think “Outside the Box?” Ensuring That You Pay Your Lowest Legal Possible Tax. As a Atlanta Christian CPA I believe I have several key responsibilities including: 1. Keeping Your Tax Bill as Low as Legally Possible. 2. Planning for Your Financial Future/Retirement. 3.Think Outside the Box. 4....
Atlanta CPA Takes Christianity Into the World…What Does Being a Christian CPA Mean
Atlanta CPA Takes Christianity Into the World…What Does Being a Christian CPA Mean www.HisCPA.com Frequently as Believers we make sharing a faith hard, while Jesus said that Christians would be known by their love. Whether you are Baptist, Episcopal, Methodist, or Presbyterian we are all united by our faith in Jesus Christ....
Atlanta CPA Provides Tax and Business Tips to Atlanta Business Owners & Entrepreneurs
Atlanta CPA Provides Tax and Business Tips to Atlanta Business Owners & Entrepreneurs The largest and most burdensome administrative responsibility for a business owner is payroll. Whether you have one employee or a thousand, both the IRS and your state has a myriad of payroll reports and deadlines for which you...
Tucker/Alpharetta/Atlanta CPA on Effective and Directed Communication to Address Atlanta IRS Tax Problems and Back Taxes Dealing with the IRS in addressing tax issues requires several things including first a good CPA who is well versed in tax law, has a proven and well documented record of success in dealing with...
Atlanta/Gwinnett/Fulton CPA Addressing Tax Issues Successful Tax Representation for Atlanta Taxpayers for Decades… The IRS/Tax Representation Series This is the Fourth article of the IRS & Tax Representation Series. Always be sure to tell the truth in all tax matters, audits and Offer in Compromise. Frequently I get questions that lead to...
Small and medium business website reviews from experts at InfoSourcing Inc
Russian movie viewers can now flock to Moscow Flix website for renting russian DVD's
Russian movie viewers can now flock to Moscow Flix website for renting online DVD's, this website offers latest and greatest movies from Russia. Renting is easy 4 step process and you are ready to surf through their inventory in russian language ocassionally in English only version is also available.Domain Name:...
Characters Inc, popular children's website review
Characters Inc Website ReviewTime to review a very attractive and pleasing website for children's.Domain Name: CharactersInc, children characters is what you can except from the domain name. Having your business industry/brand/manufacturer name as part of your domain is always worthy it.Ratings: 5 *****Look and Feel: The website captures the look...
Initial discussion for this website could be found on forums.smallbusinesscomputing.com website and we decided to review their website.E-Commerce website:Firstly you don't feel this is an e-Commerce website, first instance you feel it is more of information based with regards supplement. It doesn't meet the basic navigation for shopping needs, there...
Mycles & Mycles Website review
Interesting website, it had all the right ingredients to cook but it tasted different when it was served for dinner.Domain Name: Mycle & Mycle, significes the brand equity of the owner and having a domain to stress that brand stands out here, good thing to have.Ratings: 4 ****Look and Feel:If...
First week of April 2006 I choose to review LouieLighting.com website for its performance, SEO and overall look and feel.Domain Name:LouieLighting.com, domain name clearly says to shoppers/visitors about the business of this site and what they can expect from this website "lighting products". Having your business industry/brand/manufacturer name as part...
TSCPA Governmental Affairs
Why conventional wisdom was wrong
Last week we ran an item on the apparent error in conventional wisdom as applied to the Republican primary for governor; the large turnout did not benefit challenger Sen. Hutchison. Now we know why. The Texas Observer has very interesting......
House Ways and Means to discuss taxation of accounting and auditing services
On March 25, 2010 the House Ways and Means committee will convene in Austin to hear testimony on a number of sales tax exclusions, including accounting, auditing and management consulting services. Under current law, sales tax is applied to all......
CPA Sen. Kip Averitt (R-Waco) announces his resignation from the Senate
In a Monday press release, Sen. Kip Averitt announced his intention to resign from the Senate at noon on March 17, 2010. The move was expected since Averitt won the race despite withdrawing from the campaign before the election, as......
Conventinal wisdom proved wrong
Before the Republican primary, conventional wisdom according to many pundits - including me - said that the larger the voter turnout, the better chance for Sen. Hutchison to beat Gov. Perry. The fact is that the Republican voter turnout was......
No real surprise that Perry and White won their respective primaries. The good news is that we don’t have six more weeks of negative political ads for unnecessary runoffs. The bad news is it looks like the general election campaign......
From a stunning upset for Railroad Commissioner to a win by a CPA not even running, CPA candidates did some winning in Tuesday’s primary elections. Midland CPA and TSCPA member David Porter pulled the upset of the day by defeating......
Beancounter Ramblings
This is an important question to ask yourself when you incur losses. If the IRS determines that your business is indeed a hobby, they can come back and prevent you from deducting your losses on that business. The most common example of this that I hear is the guy who...
Millionaires Flee From Tax Increases
On Wednesday, I blogged about how North Carolina’s Amazon Tax actually resulted in lost revenues to the State. The WSJ.com has an interesting article today, Maryland’s Mobile Millionaires, about how nearly a third of all of Maryland’s millionaires have vanished the state after it passed a tax increase on them...
NC’s Amazon Tax Will Worsen Short-Term Budget Problems
The Tax Foundation released a special report on Monday that indicates that the “Amazon Tax” laws signal business unfriendliness and will worsen short-term budget problems. Currently, four states (North Carolina, Colorado, Rhode Island and New York) have some form of a law that require Companies that have “affiliates” in their...
IRS: $1.3 Billion in Unclaimed Refunds (Plus a Rant on Tax Cheats)
The IRS recently announced that there are approximately $1.3 billion in unclaimed tax refunds for the 2006 tax year for an estimated 1.4 million taxpayers. Many taxpayers have not filed because they didn’t have enough income to require them to file a tax return – even though they had taxes withheld...
Who are You? – Time to Focus on Your Choice of College
This month’s guest post is courtesy of Bill Hughes, a Professional College Planner located in Lake Wylie, SC. The parent who believes that the college admissions process is a game is intent on figuring out first the rules, then the unwritten rules, and especially the deep secrets of this new...
Does your Price Match Your Worth?
I just read a great post over on Chris Brogan’s blog that discussed Price Points. Apparently, quite a few of his other readers were shocked to find what he charges for a day of his time – $22,000. Chris went on to give some direction at how he sets him...
CPA Trendlines
Teresa Mackintosh: The Client of the Future for Accounting Firms [VIDEO]
Demographics Shifts Aren’t Just about Staffing. Clients Are Changing Too. When it comes to bridging the generation gap, most accounting firms focus on what it means for their staff and their own firms. But there’s another dimension to the demographic shifts that are bringing Gen X’ers and Millennials into positions of influence...
Top 7 Most Clicked CPA Links This Week
What accountants and finance executives are reading AICPA INSIDER: Top Secrets of a CPA Start-Up http://ow.ly/1fNGo How do accountants define “success?” http://ow.ly/1eZUh John Jantsch: It Is Make a Referral Week! http://ow.ly/16KiPh Do You Know the Top Seven Growth Areas for CPAs? http://ow.ly/16J2pG Jim Boomer on Accountability: The Lifeline of Firm Success http://ow.ly/16KZB6 The Accountant in...
CPA Net Income Per Partner Surges 16%
(What recession?) The surprising thing about AOMAR’s CPA Firm Practice Management Survey 2010 is that there were so few surprises. The study turned up very few significant changes between 2009 and 2010. Of course, it’s possible that the major metrics could lag a year and show up in next year’s...
Sandra Wiley: Keep Recruiting [VIDEO]
Even in a down economy… Even when you don’t think you need the staff, great talent can attract new business you never expected. Here’s a tip from Sandra Wiley’s presentation “Moving Human Capital From Paralysis to Growth,” Recorded Aug. 16, 2009, at the pre-conference session of the Boomer Technology Circles™ All-Circle Summit....
Are “Amazon Tax” Laws Backfiring on States?
So Says The Tax Foundation via The Tax Foundation Citing significant budget shortfalls and the inability to collect sales taxes on many Internet-based transactions, a number of states are considering the adoption of “Amazon taxes.” Such laws, nicknamed after their most visible target, require retailers that have contracts with “affiliates”—independent persons within...
Recession Flattens Accounting Firms in ‘09
No fee growth across all sizes of firm By Marc Rosenberg, CPA The mantra in 2009 was “flat is up,” which meant that CPA firms would gladly settle for 2009 revenues that simply held firm at the 2008 level, given the full brunt of the recession. According to a survey we conducted...
Deloitte LLP
As the Initial Public Offering (IPO) market gains momentum, more organizations are evaluating the option of becoming a publicly traded company, and the processes associated with an IPO. Access this... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] ...
Hospitality Vision: U.S. Performance Review
Deloitte's Tourism, Hospitality & Leisure practice reviews a ranking of the top-performing U.S. markets and examines key cities with the highest growth in revenue per available room, average daily... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] ...
M&A Integration: Fast or Slow?
Since an integration plan usually identifies the desired end state early on, why delay the process of getting there? When is faster better? When does patience pay off? [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] ...
Reducing Financial Reporting Risk
Deloitte’s new white paper helps CFOs reduce financial reporting risks. The paper distills the evaluation into three major components: People and organization, process and policy, and systems and... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] ...
A New Breed of Brand Advocates: Social Networking & Consumer Engagement
Deloitte’s Consumer Products practice conducted a study to examine the issue of brand advocacy and how consumers engage with their favorite brands given the emergence of social networking. Learn more... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] ...
R&D Tax Incentive Opportunities for Life Sciences Companies
In an era where life sciences companies are rapidly witnessing industry consolidation, global expansion, off-shoring of manufacturing and clinical trials, and increased scrutiny of the R&D process,... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] ...
Accountants Round Up
"Accountancy Profession Becoming ‘Closed Shop’ For Rich"
By Paul Grant: Breaking into the accountancy profession is becoming increasingly difficult for those from low income families, according to a government report. The study into social mobility found that top professions are being closed off to all but the......
"Financial Reporting Complexity: Can It Be Reduced?"
By Dan Meyer: The Global Accounting Alliance, a group of accounting standard-setting bodies from throughout the world, recently met in New York to discuss complexity in financial reporting. They found some agreement on the desirably of simplifying financial reporting but......
Accountants Round Up is Retiring
Dear loyal readers, it is time for ARU to bid you farewell after this week. We greatly appreciate your readership and trust over the past few years and it has been enjoyable to serve you with a collection of emerging......
"EU: Banks Using Looser Accounting Rules"
By Brussels (AP): European banks are increasingly using looser accounting rules to report a higher value in their 2008 accounts for complex investments that depreciated during the financial crisis, EU market supervisors said Wednesday. Rules which required assets to be......
"Accounting Not To Blame For Financial Crisis"
By Mario Christodoulou: Accounting rule makers should remain independent from `undue commercial and political pressures', a group of recognised leading financial experts has warned in a report which defends accounting standards as `not a root cause of the financial crisis'.......
"Financial Services Careers: Rising Tide of Regulation"
By Nick Huber: It’s shaping up to be the year of regulation as well as recession, with the government introducing a new regulatory framework in response to the banking crisis. Earlier this month the government unveiled its long-awaited financial white......
Big News Network.com Custom Stories
Doda water crisis, a cause of worry for locals
The acute water crisis in the Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir has added to the worries of local residents, who have been forced to face numerous problems due to it....
Hamilton rubbishes claims that Pussycat Doll girlfriend ordered him to sack dad
British Formula One star Lewis Hamilton has dismissed reports that his Pussycat Doll girlfriend ordered him to sack his dad Anthony as manager....
Malaysian Indian businesses in dire need of 100,000 foreign workers
Malaysian Association Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MAICCI) President K.K. Eswaran has said the Malaysian Indian business community is facing an acute foreign workers' shortage because of the government's restrictive policies....
Lord Swaraj Paul repays 38,000-pound 'admission-of-guilt' expenses
In order to clear his name from a House of Lords investigation into an MPs expenses scam, Indian-born Lord Swaraj Paul has voluntarily repaid the controversial amount of 38,000 pounds that was at the centre of the probe....
Another Take That star, Howard Donald, exposed as a 'love rat'
After Mark Owen, it is now the turn of his fellow Take That member Howard Donald to be exposed as a love rat following reports he bedded a married Dutch beauty while dating his girlfriend....
Brits 'among the least likely to suffer from food sensitivity reactions'
Britons are some of the least likely people to have problems with foods such as apples, peaches, shrimp and wheat, says a study....
AccountingCoach.com Q&A
Accrued income is an amount that has been 1) earned, 2) there is a right to receive the amount, and 3) it has not yet been recorded in the general ledger accounts. One example of accrued income is the interest earned on a bond investment. To illustrate, let’s assume that a...
Subchapter S refers to a section of Chapter 1 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. A subchapter S corporation, which is also referred to as an S corporation, is a corporation that does not pay the income taxes on its income. Rather, the owners of the S corporation are responsible for...
What is the purpose of the cash flow statement?
The purpose of the cash flow statement or statement of cash flows is to provide information about a company’s gross receipts and gross payments for a specified period of time. The gross receipts and gross payments will be reported in the cash flow statement according to one of the following classifications:...
What is included in cash and cash equivalents?
The term cash and cash equivalents includes: currency, coins, checks received but not yet deposited, checking accounts, petty cash, savings accounts, money market accounts, and short-term, highly liquid investments with a maturity of three months or less at the time of purchase such as U.S. treasury bills and commercial paper....
Why does the internal rate of return equate to a net present value of zero?
Internal rate of return and net present value are discounted cash flow techniques. To discount means to remove the interest contained within the future cash amounts. If the net present value of an investment or project is more than $0, the project is earning more than the interest rate used to...
How do you calculate the payback period?
The payback period is calculated by counting the number of years it will take to recover the cash invested in a project. Let’s assume that a company invests $400,000 in more efficient equipment. The cash savings from the new equipment is expected to be $100,000 per year for 10 years. The...
NewsGator Daily
Chat With Our Very Own SharePoint MVP
Dan Larson, one of NewsGator's rockstar developers, who's been named a Microsoft MVP for three years running, will be available to answer your SharePoint-related questions, along with other Microsoft MVPs, on Monday, March 15th at 9am PDT in the Microsoft......
NewsGator Named One of KMWorld's 100 Companies that Matter in Knowledge Management
NewsGator was recently named to KMWorld’s 100 Companies that Matter in Knowledge Management. This is the second year in a row that NewsGator has been afforded this honor and recognition, and it’s one we’re proud to have again received. NewsGator’s......
Enterprises Get Boost By Integrating Social Tools
Are you prepared for SharePoint 2010? A recent article by CIO highlights two NewsGator customers, Accenture and Edelman, who currently use NewsGator Social Sites on Microsoft SharePoint 2007 to improve the communications, efficiency, and productivity of their organizations -- and......
Upcoming Event: Community Best Practices -- Air Force Webinar
Would you like to drive higher adoption of your organization’s online communities? Do you struggle with engaging users in your social network? Then learn from the best – the United States Air Force. Then sign up for NewsGator's upcoming event,......
NewsGator Unveils iPhone and iPad Clients for Microsoft SharePoint
Today NewsGator released two new important Enterprise 2.0 tools: SharePoint’s first native social iPhone client and social computing’s most sophisticated microblogging suite. The iPhone client, and a companion client for the soon-to-be-released iPad, provide on-the-road users with direct access to......
Join NewsGator at the Virtual Enterprise 2.0 Conference 2010
If you've been following your blog recently, you'll know that NewsGator submitted 5 speaking session proposals for Enterprise 2.0 Boston, which is taking place in June of this year. But you don't have to wait until June to interact with......
AccMan Pro
iXBRL – the final nail in the spreadsheet reporting train wreck?
iXBRL is only a matter of weeks away and panic has set in. On AccountingWeb, Excel expert Simon Hurst makes a valiant effort at seeing if he can make Excel produce a valid set of iXBRL tags. In telling words he says: If you use tax and accounts production software then...
Courtesy of of Thomas Finn Given how badly some companies treat employees, (and they all claim the contrary – right?) I’m surprised we don’t see more of this kind of thing....
Google Apps Marketplace: ready for prime time?
Is Google Apps Marketplace ready for prime time or is this another example of Google’s perennial beta program? Google Apps Marketplace opened yesterday to great fanfare. At one point I was receiving around 10 emails an hour informing me of new services being added into the platform. Naturally, the first place...
Put on your sunglasses: Brightbook
Yesterday I received an email asking me to look at Brightbook. I haven’t and I won’t. Check the image above from the website. Fortunately I have spectacles that darken in sunlight but even that wasn’t enough to prevent me from wanting to close the link almost the moment I saw...
RightNow’s CSA – a game changer?
RightNow’s CSA announcement from last week could be a game changer for SaaS and on-premise providers alike. The above video sets out my thinking behind last week’s Customer Service Agreement (CSA) announcement by the company. At the time, I wrote a short analysis over at ZDNet. The above video is...
Define your success by understanding what clients REALLY want
Rick Telberg’s CPA Trendlines has a survey that should get any professional thinking. Entitled: How Do Business Owners Define Success? It draws inspiration from a recent business owners’ survey. Rick says: Accountants often define success in terms of revenue, net income, or maybe client service. But the Enterprise Council on Small...
Accounting News
How to Protect Your Business against Fraud
The amount of fraud being perpetrated against businesses is getting worse, both in terms of the number of instances and the amount of money that is being lost, and some of that can be attributed to worsening economic times, according to research....
An Instant Tax Refund? Brace for Fees
Refund anticipation loans, or RALs, are of an ultra-short duration: typically seven days to two weeks....
$25K reward for info on missing woman
The family of a missing Moncton, N.B., woman is asking for the public's help to find her and is now offering a $25,000 reward for information....
The MathWorks Announces Release 2010a of the MATLAB and Simulink Product Families
The MathWorks today announced Release 2010a of its MATLAB and Simulink product families....
Lehman Misled Investors on Leverage, Fuld Was `Negligent,' Examiner Says
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. used off-balance-sheet transactions to understate its leverage in late 2007 and 2008, deceiving shareholders about its ability to withstand losses, a bankruptcy examinera s report said....
Strategic Finance put into receivership
The plug has been pulled on Strategic Finance. Receivers were called in today ending the moratorium arrangement that had been in place since December 2008....