Rita Keller, an award-winning and widely respected voice to CPA firm management, is uniquely positioned to help CPAs and their teams face rapid and significant change.
“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.” – Stephen Hawking
If you are not a young CPA – I hope you share this blog post with young CPAs. There is so much more to becoming a successful CPA than just knowing how to do the work.
“Everything you want is out there waiting for you to ask. Everything you want also wants you. But you have to take action to get it.” Jack Canfield
Great news for your future CPAs. In case you haven’t heard, continuous testing for the CPA Exam has been approved.
Be sure you are constantly encouraging your new hires to take the Exam! Here’s some information released by the Ohio Society of CPAs:
Soon CPA exam candidates won’t have to wait until the next testing window to retake a section, thanks to a revised NASBA rule.
In April the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy approved the Uniform Accountancy Act Model Rule 5-7(a)(2) rule, stating “…a Candidate can retake a Test Section once their grade for any previous attempt of the same Test Section has been released.” The news was announced in the May board report.
“It’s one of those things that everyone has always wanted,” said Laura Hay, CPA, vice president of The Ohio Society of CPAs. “It’s just now the administration and technology have all caught up.”
Most states, including Ohio, will have to change their rules to permit the revision, but Hay predicted most states will be in favor, and it will be a question of resources and how quickly they are able to make the change.
For future test-takers, this means saving valuable time on that 18-month countdown that begins once candidates pass the first section. According to the AICPA website, with the current system, if you take a section of the exam on July 20, you would have to wait until October to take the next section, despite receiving your score on August 6.
The plan is to roll out continuous testing by July 2020.
“Holidays – any holiday – are such a great opportunity to focus on bringing the family together.” – Lidia Bastianich
Many firms do actually close their office on Fridays during the summer months. I was curious about how many additional firms were going to close this year on Friday, July 5th and treat their team to a four-day weekend.
I surveyed firms of all sizes all across the country. Replies came from Ohio, Vermont, Georgia, Connecticut, Oregon, Maryland, North Carolina, Illinois, California, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Texas, Missouri, Tennessee, Virginia, and North Dakota.
“Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.” – Mother Teresa
I work with a lot of smaller firms. They are always looking for ways to stay competitive and to take advantage of as much technology as possible. Sometimes small firms assume they can’t compete with what the big national and regional firms are doing.
In a recent article via The Journal of Accountancy, Samantha Bowling, CPA, CGMA tells the story of how her 15 person firm is using artificial intelligence to identify high-risk transactions as part of its auditing process.
One line caught my attention. It is an important issue for small CPA firms. Do you still have servers on site? Bowling says, “We used to have seven servers on-site. Now everything is in the cloud. We used to be able to remote in to our servers before, but it was slow. The remote access is much better in the cloud. It’s night and day. I’m excited because I’ve never had access to this much technology.”
Just because you are a small firm doesn’t mean you have to think small! Read this article!
Here’s a recent press release from the AICPA.
AICPA to Oversee New Internet Domain for CPAs
.CPA Will Enhance Trust and Branding of Profession in the Digital World
LAS VEGAS (June 10, 2019) –The American Institute of CPAs is in the process of being awarded the .cpa domain and is currently in a contract execution phase with the Internet’s global governing body, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). The AICPA’s role in administering .cpa will provide a defined global domain for CPAs worldwide to connect with their clients with increased trust, security, and verification.
The Internet, like most things, is evolving. ICANN is charged with developing important future drivers for connection in the digital world. As part of this mission, it has expanded the top-level domain structure to aid navigation on the Internet and support trusted and value-based entities and communities. To supplement traditional top-level domains such as .com, .edu and .org, ICANN has approved more than 1,200 specialized domain extensions – including Amazon’s .aws, Google’s launch of .app, as well as those for other well-known businesses, governments, and institutions, such as .vanguard, .barclays, .kpmg, .mlb, and .nyc.
“By overseeing the .cpa domain in collaboration with other global CPA organizations, the AICPA can help promote CPAs’ visibility and protect their professional standing online,” said Barry Melancon, CPA, CGMA, the president and CEO of the AICPA. “We also want the public to have confidence that someone using a .cpa domain address for email or a website is affiliated with the CPA profession.”
The new domain extension will be available to CPAs and their firms and will signal a clear connection to the profession. For example, Firm Name, LLC, could have a website address of www.firmname.cpa. Jane Smith, an employee at that firm, could have an email address ofjsmith@firmname.cpa.
“Today, there’s a lack of authentication and growing mistrust of online information,” said Erik Asgeirsson, president and CEO of CPA.com, the AICPA’s technology subsidiary. “This is why many leading companies and communities, such as Amazon, KPMG, and the banking industry are moving to restricted top-level domains. We’re looking forward to bringing this important new capability to the profession.”
More details on registering a domain name will be available later this year. For additional information and the opportunity to sign up for notifications, please visit https://domains.cpa.com
“Do your job and demand your compensation – but in that order.” – Cary Grant
Compensation and performance issues for the partner group in a CPA firm are always topics that CPA firm leaders want (and need) to know more about.
This month you have the opportunity to learn more about these topics via CPA Leadership Institute. Gary Adamson of Adamson Advisory will conduct the following three webinars in June:
Partner Compensation Methods and Trends – June 12, 2019 – 1:00 to 1:50p
Partner Compensation – How it Can Be Linked to and Help Create a Culture of Accountability and Unity – June 19, 2019 – 1:00 to 1:50p
How to Maximize Performance of Best Practices in Partner Admission, Transition and Buy-out – June 20, 2019 – 1:00 to 1:50p
You are the managing partner of a CPA firm. You are the PIC (partner-in-charge) of audit, tax, consulting or an office of the firm. You are a COO or Practice Manager. What do your employees call you? Don’t you ever wonder what they call you behind your back? Do they say you are a good boss?
You might think Steve Jobs was a fearless leader yet he’s described as egotistical and abrasive. Not exactly in line with the title: Good Boss
Jim Henson, on the other hand, by all reports was a Good Boss (his employees did call him “fearless leader”).
A good boss, like a good teacher, empowers their employees. This is easy to say and very hard to actually do. Most of us have egos that get in the way.
As for Henson, no one ever saw him angry. Far from lazy, he worked harder than anyone in his company. He rarely slept. He was not fearful. Never afraid to try something new.
Instead of miserly. Henson was generous, going well over budget in order to give others the time and space to create.
I routinely encounter accounting firm leaders who are miserly (only spend CPE dollars on technical education, won’t send their firm administrator to a conference that could bring huge pay-back to the firm, won’t spend any education/training dollars on their administrative team and support team, etc.).
Read this full article about Henson on Fast Company. It contains so much information to absorb and contemplate. How do you stack up?
“One common thing about great achievers is that they keep asking useful questions every day. They ask questions like; “What do I want and what do I need to do to get it?”
―
Over the years, I have had the following conversation with many firm administrators, marketing directors, HR directors, IT directors and others working in an accounting firm.
Rita: “Are you going to attend (fill-in the blank) conference this year?”
Team member: “No, I won’t be able to go. It is too expensive and my partners would never approve it.”
Rita: “Did you actually ask them?”
Team member: “Well, no. But I know they would never allow it.”
Please don’t assume. Prepare your case and then present it to the managing partner. Explain the benefits for you and the firm. Networking with people in your position at other firms and attending presentations by well-known CPA profession leaders has a pay-back much bigger than the expenses incurred.
Don’t delay – just ask!
From a recent AICPA survey:
When asked to choose the top three benefits that would most help them achieve their financial goals, young adult job seekers top two choices focused on the traditional benefits of health insurance and paid time off. Interestingly, student loan forgiveness was the third most cited option.
|
Young Adult Job Seekers |
|
|
Benefit |
Chosen in Top 3 by: |
| Health Insurance |
54% |
| Paid Time Off |
45% |
| Student Loan Forgiveness |
41% |
| Working Remotely |
38% |
| 401(k) Retirement Fund Match |
36% |
| Tuition Reimbursement |
25% |
| Pension |
15% |
| Paid Parental Leave |
13% |
The full results of the survey conducted by MAVY Poll on behalf of the AICPA, along with further analysis, are available in a free Employee Benefits Report on the AICPA’s 360 Degrees of Financial Literacy website.
