Public Accounting is the same

I had a phone discussion yesterday with a colleague from a board that I serve in the non profit/mental health sector. My colleague is a manager/senior manager at Ernst & Young in Chicago and I was on the receiving end of what I've experienced a few times in my career from a Big 4 manager. Pure arrogance...

This manager was telling me that he can't participate on board calls for a non-profit we serve together, even though he volunteered and is the Treasurer...because he works until 8 every night. I told him it's a matter of priorities, and that he chooses to serve the firm, and not the board he volunteered to help.

I work independently, but he reminded me that he has paying clients and a boss to answer to. I told him those are excuses and the discussion eroded.

My takeaway...he's part of a very important firm and has an important job; and I don't understand. But, I've worked in Big 4 and I know exactly what he's trying to justify-he's trying to make an impression to get to partner level. I'm confident that I'm not the first to tell him to consider his priorities.

Remember...we all have choices EVERY DAY of our lives.

VouchedIn is moving toward launch May 2012

Well, we expect to formally launch VouchedIn next month. If you're reading this blog, we'd appreciate if you'd go to www.vouchedin.com and 'Join'. Then, send us an email to let us know how the join process works and any challenges you find with creating a profile.

We're excited to be talking with a talented and experienced recruiter to help us get the site in front of companies. We're confident that once people visit the site and realize the potential here, they'll find immediate value in using our service.

Thanks for visiting us!

VouchedIn is in prelaunch

We continue testing on the site. While it's live, there are many tweaks coming in the next week or so. Then we'll be asking Contractors and Employers to sign up, at no cost. The strength of the network will grow as more join!

VouchedIn will charge a fraction of the cost of recruiters; Contractors are pre-screened (Vouched) and Employers are pre-screened as well.

It's an exciting journey! We liken it to pushing recruiters for contract accounting professionals to the sides like travel agents of days gone by...

After all, it's not a relationship business, it's a Connection business...

VouchedIn is coming...

Today, we placed the pre-launch site on VouchedIn.com and will evaluate and start to get the word out. This is an exciting stage as we create the premier site for connecting contract accounting professionals with employers.

Better rates for Contractors
Greater value for Employers
Transparency in Rates between the Parties

Client service

I've been in business for three years now. I have great clients and colleagues. I've had one bad client experience where they don't pay their invoices and I had to cut the relationship.
What I learned from this:
- trust your gut feeling-I was cautious from the beginning with this ex-client
- be cautious when every employee has 'run out of gas' working with someone. This is a cover for bigger problems in a company.
- walk away from a contract with clauses for non-disparagement; there's a reason a person includes that in a contract.
- complete due diligence-including checking with the county courts for arrests or lawsuits. This was something that would have given me important information with the ex-client.

-And last, investigate, using the web-to find past business dealings that have gone poorly with the person.

In three years, to have one bad client is not a bad go of it...and I'm confident in the overall business cliemate for people and companies with integrity.

Wait to file your Form 1040 if you itemize

http://money.cnn.com/2010/12/31/pf/taxes/irs_filing_delay/index.htm?hpt=T1

The IRS is making changes that will delay processing of returns...

TaxDan tax help

Great site for individuals to find tax information at:  http://www.360taxes.org/

TaxDan not-for-profits

http://www.accountingweb.com/topic/tax/thousands-not-profits-could-have-tax-exempt-status-revoked is an interesting article to read relative to non-profits.

American Express Green Card and Plum

As a small business owner, I started using AMEX Plum for all of my purchases when I began the business in early 2009. I have used the green card for personal use for 20 years and always paid on time.

Recently, I was running late on the personal card and called to explain that I would be paying but needed time...and asked to be on a finance plan. I was told-we don't do that-you need to pay in full. After several calls, AMEX was paid in full and yet, the cancelled my account.

The Plum card was paid on time and often early-and yet AMEX cancelled that card too. I'm fed up with them-horrible customer service and trying to run people into the ground!

Live and Learn-working with recruiters

I have worked with recruiters over the past 20 years. As with any, there are good and bad.

I'm recently frustrated to understand more about their markup for project resources. A company may be paying $125 an hour, paying the person doing the work $25-$40 an hour. And, there's also enough margin to be able to provide a cut to other people in the middle.

It's a bit of a scam for companies and I hoped the access to information on the Internet would eliminate this...and it has to some degree.

Lesson for employers-know who you work with and try to cut out the middle men!

Advocate's Edge

From McGovern & Greene LLP

http://www.mcgoverngreene.com/advoedges/AE_pdfs/AE_sep-oct10.pdf

Verizon Palm Pre Plus spell check

I recently upgraded from a Blackberry 9630 to a Palm Pre Plus with Verizon. It took me several searches to find it-but the Pre doesn't have a good spell checker installed, which is unbelievable!

I finally found a great auto correct app that works similar to the Blackberry.
http://forums.precentral.net/homebrew-apps/193362-autocorrect-edit-7-28-a.html

Balancing services

Our services continue to grow at DGA. We're pleased to work with some very high caliber companies and CFO's and we expand through our marketing and networking efforts.

The risk services and process improvement business is our core and we will focus on strengthening our team and our service offerings.

Since the first quarter of the calendar year has been traditionally slow for our services, we're planning to begin a tax practice later this year-offering CPA quality tax preparation service at reasonable prices.

Our new website will launch in the next few weeks: TaxDan.com

Small companies and 404 compliance

With financial and regulatory reform underway, companies with market cap under $75 million won't need their auditors to sign off on the internal controls as part of SOx 404. However, management must still comply with meeting the requirements of their assertion as to the adequacy of ICFR.

And that means, that the public accounting firms need to cut their fees for SOx 404 assistance or let more agile and focused professionals and smaller firms do the work. CFO's are coming to realize they can save a lot of money on fees.

I recently talked with a CFO who is now paying less than 1/3 of what he paid last year-for virtually the same work!!

Pushing rates down for consulting firms

A colleague of mine recently asked me how I'm doing in business on my own. I said I'm doing okay and continue to build client base. I asked how he's doing and his response: great, except guys like you are pushing our rates down.

I find this to be a jab of frustration from the larger consulting firms. I don't have the overhead that the larger firms do, and provide a better level of service, at a fair price. The larger firms became accustomed to higher rates in the wake of SOx 404 and now they struggle to maintain compensation structures that don't fit the economy.

Here's my take: the model of the Big 4 and consulting firms is broken and it's time to make changes to fix this. Outsourcing work to India or the Philippines will reduce costs, but risk increases in trying to manage quality of service.

Seriously-is any partner's time worth upwards of $400-$700 on your engagements? I think not!

Consultants and their fees...

I ran across an article in CFO Magazine, June 2010 that I found to be on point. See http://cfo.com/article.cfm/14499509/2/c_14499796. 

There's no question in my mind that the larger firms are struggling with their fee structures in light of the overhead they have and the hangover from SOx 404 fees. So, a logical option is to staff projects with less qualified professionals-'NO YOU SAY'?  Yes-that will be inevitable. And in my experience, many of the best people have already left the firms and moved to industry or other roles.

Keep on keeping on...

To FTP

I'm working on a large due diligence project and had to find a way to transfer large files to my team. I set up an FTP site through my web host; GoDaddy.com.

Then I had to find ftp software that worked for me and for the team. I tried GoFTP and it was okay. Then tried SmartFTP and really like it. It's faster, easier to use and works well for the team.

Much better than flash drives and cd's!!

Forensic accounting projects

Leveraging my experience in litigation support and expert witness testimony, we've been asked to propose on a forensic accounting project for a condominium association. Looking forward to hearing from and working with the board, on behalf of the association.

Market seems to be improving

I'm seeing more activity on LinkedIn and other sites related to contract opportunities. I still know several great people that are out of work (in the internal audit space).

Internal audit is my strongest skillset-followed by forensic accounting and due diligence. Looking forward to the Forensic Accounting conference in Chicago next month.

Forensic Accounting

We will be presenting at the IL CPA Society's Annual Forensic Accounting conference on June 2, 2010. Currently preparing materials for our session on SAS 99 and internal controls.

Please attend the conference...more information is available at: http://www.icpas.org/calendar/ConferenceDetail.aspx?ccode=C36928