CPA Success

It's a great time to study accounting. Here's why.

Talk about your win-win scenario.

A record number of accounting grads are jumping feet-first into a job market that finds nearly three-quarters of the largest accounting firms planning to hire more folks than last year. That's according to the AICPA's "Trends in the Supply of Accounting Graduates and the Demand for Public Accounting Recruits" report for 2011.

There's one potential sticking point, though:

"The report shows record numbers of accounting students and graduates," the AICPA reports, "but also hints at a potential challenge for the profession: Demand for new talent eventually could outpace supply."

Whoa ... anyone else get that funny déjà vu feeling besides me? Weren't we were dealing with major supply issues not long ago, too? Then came Enron, and a funny thing happened: CPAs became sexy. Everyone wanted to study accounting, and enrollments soared.

In the wake of a pretty nasty recession and the reforms that have come in its wake, will lightning strike twice? Time will tell.

In the meantime, there are things accounting students can do to make themselves irresistible to potential employers. Most of them involve building their business development skills. In this Journal of Accountancy article, Mark Koziel says students and young CPAs would be smart to focus on public speaking, recruiting, financial literacy efforts, volunteerism and internal training.

"Business development is a difficult thing to teach, and it’s unrealistic to expect the skills to come naturally to many CPAs," Koziel writes. "By having leaders set expectations for them upfront, younger team members will quickly realize that business development is a necessary part of their professional growth."

And graduates, if you're looking for a place to further your career, you could do worse than the mid-Atlantic region. Baltimore and Washington both made Kiplinger's list of "10 Great Cities for College Grads." Here's what Kiplinger had to say.

About Baltimore: "Charm City weathered the recession with low foreclosure rates, and income growth remains strong. Downtown Baltimore is in the midst of several multimillion-dollar development projects. It ranks higher than Austin, Denver and Atlanta in per capita income for downtown residents. And as many music fans know, few cities can match Baltimore for its innovative, eclectic art and music scene."

About Washington: "By 2012, Uncle Sam will make another 25,000 hires in the region -- paying more, on average, than the private sector. As in other large cities, well-paying jobs come with higher rents and living costs. But recent grads can look to eclectic neighborhoods like Adams-Morgan and Columbia Heights for cheaper rent. An abundance of free museums, concerts and other entertainment also lessens the cost-of-living sting."

So you're an accounting grad in the mid-Atlantic? That's pure gold, friend.

Are you a new CPA?
Join us for the MACPA's annual New CPA Swearing-In Ceremony, slated for 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 2 at the BWI Hilton. It's a tradition you won't want to miss. Get details and register here.

Thank you, heroes

"We can't all be heroes," Will Rogers once said, "for someone has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by."

Today is our chance.

On Memorial Day, our heartfelt thanks to the heroes behind this holiday. Take some time today to remember and reflect ... and to check out these related links to drive the point home.

• In Memory of Our Honored Dead
• Honor the Fallen
• Faces of the Fallen
• Legacy.com
• Map the Fallen

Claim your social space, and do it now

E-mail? Phone? They're so Nineties. If you want to stay relevant today, the ways you communicate had better include a health dose of social media.

And yet there's a gaping social divide between large and small companies. Communications firm Burson-Marsteller says 84 percent of the world's largest 100 companies are using social media, compared to about half of small and mid-size companies. "And only between a quarter and a third (of small and mid-size companies) use it in any structured way," reports CFO.com's Alix Stuart.

The challenge, then, is to get smaller companies up to speed on social media best practices. But where to start?

Michelle Golden has a few ideas.

Michelle, president of Golden Practices, Inc., and a thought leader on the social media front, says social tools offer smaller businesses some huge advantages in business development and brand management. The first step, though, is much more personal. CPAs who haven't already done so need to build their individual online brands ... and they need to do it now, before someone else does.

The reason, says Michelle, is simple: Everything is online today. We need to be, too.

"All CPAs should have a really solid LinkedIn profile and claim their Google profiles. Both of those things will help elevate your Internet presence," she said. "LinkedIn is a great place to start, for a couple of reasons. One, it's the only social media platform that was created directly and exclusively for business. Two, it gives you the ability to update your status, which is a little like Facebook. It lets you answer questions, which can feel a little bit like blogging. And it gives you a home page with a running feed of what your contacts have to say, which is very Twitter-like. So it gives you an introduction to the types of things that other social media tools offer."

The bottom line: Don't wait. In an online world, your online brand should be near the top of your priority list.

I spoke with Michelle about all of this and more at the Accounting Today Growth and Profitability Summit a while back. Here's what she had to say.

Want to learn more?
We'll be talking about social media and a whole lot more at the 2011 Maryland CPA Summit, scheduled for June 3 at the BWI Marriott. Get complete details and register here.

Are you creating value or selling time?

Earlier this year I got to sit and interview a visionary in a Top 100 CPA firm who talks about the firm's journey to implementing value pricing, the CPA Vision, and the impact of working this way on young professionals.

Take a minute to listen to my interview with Kurt Siemers, managing partner of Kennedy & Coe.

I have had the privilege of knowing Kurt since the late 90s as we worked together on the CPA Vision 2011 Project. This time I got to pick his brain at the Verasage Summit in Napa in early 2011.

Thanks, Kurt, for sharing your vision with us.

If you want to learn more, check out this webcast / virtual seminar by MACPA tomorrow: Implementing Value Pricing with Ron Baker in Second Life.

Some more resources on value pricing: 

• The book, Implementing Value Pricing: A Radical Business Model for Professional Firms, by Ron Baker
• The Verasage Institute, a think tank of value pricing gurus
• The Firm of the Future, from the Journal of Accountancy, November 2008
• Pricing on Purpose, from the Journal of Accountancy, June 2009
• Seven Keys to Success in CPA Firm Management

Trouble's brewing on the horizon. Pay attention.

Remember what Andrew Zolli says about leadership? The biggest reason great leaders fail, he says, is that they fail to detect the weak signals of disruptive change on the horizon.

As Exhibit A, I give you Anheuser-Busch.

In "Dethroning the King: The Hostile Takeover of Anheuser-Busch" (known here in St. Louis as "required reading"), Financial Times reporter Julie MacIntosh examines the internal culture and politics that led to the brewing icon's 2008 takeover at the hands of Belgian / Brazilian beermaking giant InBev.

Anheuser-Busch, of course, is best known as the maker of Budweiser. The company was an American corporate giant, at one point controlling 52 percent of the U.S. beer market and, perhaps more importantly, owning one of the most iconic and beloved American brands out there.

And that, writes MacIntosh, was part of the problem. For years, Anheuser-Busch CEO August Busch III was focused solely on crushing rival Miller and dominating the American beer market. He was so focused on that one goal, in fact, that he failed to ask a simple question: What happens next?

The answer, of course, would be found beyond American borders, but one of Busch's fatal flaws was that he failed to pay much attention to beer's expanding global market. As America's beermaking Goliath, he didn't really need to. But his rivals paid plenty of attention to the global market, buying or merging with foreign beermakers and gobbling up sizeable pieces of the global pie. By the time A-B noticed what was happening, it found itself shut out of the M&A action -- and ripe for a takeover.

It's an amazing story, really -- how a singularly American brand suddenly found itself under foreign control. In St. Louis, a city that in many ways is defined by its connection to Anheuser-Busch, it's also a heartbreaking one.

It's also proof that Andrew Zolli knows what he's talking about. Here's what he told me in 2010:

"Our normal metaphors about innovation are all about breakthroughs, change, things that are different, a radical reframing of an industry. The reality is that most innovative work is incremental improvement. It's about staying ahead of trends as opposed to reacting to trends.

"The challenge is that once you fall behind those trends, a bunker mentality can set in. At that point, you encounter an issue that I call 'cognitive similarity' -- people thinking the same way and making that bunker mentality worse.

"We need to begin to adapt to a world in which we engage the very top of the organization in a conversation about embracing a different kind of risk portfolio. That means having an established set of processes in place in which you have no expectation of return. You understand that you make investments not just for operational excellence, but for learning and adaptation. Those things are inherently uncertain, but if you begin to do them at a small or medium scale, they can yield tremendous benefits."

That's a lesson Anheuser-Busch learned too late, as evidenced by its new name -- Anheuser-Busch InBev.

How are you monitoring those weak signals of disruptive change?

In defense of Gen Y (a.k.a. the millennials)

"The only way we can go wrong is to discourage these kids. They are set to go. They're smart. They're motivated. They understand the problems. They are engaged." -- David Gergen, political analyst and former white house advisor

This quote was running through my mind as I left the closing ceremony of the Beta Alpha Psi honor fraternity at Salisbury University. I was there for two reasons -- to give an award for Outstanding Academic Achievement, and to receive an honorary induction into Beta Alpha Psi for my "efforts to advance the CPA profession." Some of us take longer than others to get into BAP. :-)

The award from the MACPA's Tomorrow's CPA program for students was awarded to Kathryn Koza (also president of the Beta Alpha Psi chapter and pictured second from left). I presented it jointly with Dr. Ken Smith, chair of the Accounting Department (pictured at the far right).

As I was inducted (see pics here), I pledged to uphold BAP's three personal attributes:

1. Maintain intellectual curiosity.
2. Maintain a high standard of personal responsibility (with integrity and honor).
3. Cultivate a genuine tolerance of attitudes, opinions and personal characteristics of others.

Hmmm ... don't these attributes apply to even the most seasoned CPA?

Spending the evening with these bright, hopeful, young professionals inspired me and gave me some new insights into their generation.

Strong core values: They do have strong values that are eerily similar to those of the "Greatest Generation." Under the leadership of Kathryn Koza, this chapter took on financial literacy in the community as a major theme and won second place in a national Best Practice Competition by Deloitte.

Collaboration and teamwork: This BAP chapter is a living example of how well these students know how to come together and get things done. It comes very naturally to this generation and we can learn from them as we enter the new "particpatory economy."

Technology savvy: Yep, they were "wired" with lots of technology, from smartphones to digital cameras, and they know how to use them to connect with each other and capture moments and events and share them quickly to spread the word. Did you know the average network of a graduating accounting senior is in excess of 1,500 contacts? How many did you have when you graduated?

As if to put an exclamation mark on my insights during this visit, I was treated to a tour of the new Perdue School of Business opening this fall by Dean Bob Wood, Ph.d., where I saw the future of education. My reaction was, "Wow!"

There was not a blackboard in the place! The building was wired for technology everywhere. Wi-fi, video and audio conference capability in almost every classroom. Flat-screen monitors in every classroom and spaces, even classrooms designed for collaborative learning. Breakout rooms and classes set up in pods show how important collaboration is to learning in the future and to this generation. I truly have seen the future of education. Thanks, Dean Wood.

I have hope for us as this new generation enters our profession and in a few years begins to take the reigns of leadership from us. I also think we can learn a lot from their new ways of working, and we should strive to bring them into our profession willing to listen to and respect their opinions.

Congratulations, Katy and your fellow BAP leaders, congratulations to all graduating seniors in accounting, and thanks to Dean Wood for the tour and your vision for the Perdue School of Business.

The convergence train keeps rolling ...

International financial reporting standards have come under renewed fire overseas, but the concept of convergence seems to be chugging along.

Efforts to converge existing international reporting standards with U.S. GAAP -- to improve them and eliminate their differences -- took another step forward when the Financial Accounting Standards Board and its international counterpart, the IASB, issued new guidance on how the use of fair-value accounting should be measured and disclosed.

Here's what AccountingWeb says about the move:

"The requirements do not extend the use of fair value accounting, but provide guidance on how it should be applied where its use is already required or permitted by other standards within IFRS or U.S. GAAP, FASB and the IASB emphasized.

"For U.S. GAAP, the update will supersede most of the guidance in Topic 820, although many of the changes are clarifications of existing guidance or wording changes to align with IFRS 13. The update also reflects FASB’s consideration of the different characteristics of public and non-public entities and the needs of users of their financial statements. Non-public entities will be exempt from a number of the new disclosure requirements."

It's an interesting development, considering that less than a week earlier the boards had announced that the target date for completing the remaining convergence projects would be pushed back from June 2011 to the end of 2011.

It's hard to get a good read on all of this. Some companies overseas appear to be souring on IFRS and convergence timelines are getting pushed back stateside, but international regulators keep moving toward their convergence goals. One step up, two steps back, a little do-si-do, and the IFRS dance continues.

I can't help but believe that in an increasingly global environment, reporting standards will become increasingly global as well. But what the heck to I know?

I want to hear from you -- particularly you folks who have had some hands-on experience with IFRS. What do you think? What's the best path to take at this point?

Want to learn more?
Don't miss the 2011 Maryland CPA Summit on June 3 at the BWI Hilton. Pete Margaritis, CPA, will offer an update on all that's happening on the IFRS front, and there'll be plenty more learning opportunities as well. Get complete details and register here.

Debt ceiling ... or retractable roof?

That debt ceiling didn't stand a chance, did it?

And now that the United States has blasted through the $14.3 trillion debt barrier, politicians get to play their games and figure out how we can keep borrowing money and not pay it back. "Like we've always done," I'm guessing. The whole idea of a debt "ceiling" is pretty laughable, after all. Congress has raised that ceiling 10 times in the past decade. It's almost as if there's no ceiling at all.

Anyway, to commemorate the occasion, let's take a look at just a few of the things a mere $1 trillion will buy you, courtesy of the folks at WalletGenius and CreditScore.net. My favorite: The Miami Heat could pay LeBron James $20 million a year ... for the next 50,000 years.

View a full-size version of the graphic here.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go balance my checkbook.

Want a better life? Smile.

I was told the secret to happiness, success, longevity, friendship, influence, power and health last night.

Wanna hear it? It's not terribly complicated -- just a single word, actually. And since I'm terrible at keeping secrets, here it is.

Smile.

One word. Five letters. All the power in the world.

In this TED talk, HealthTap founder and CEO Ron Gutman cites numerous studies that have produced some eye-opening results.

• Your smile offers clues about how fulfilling and long-lasting your marriage will be, how you will perform on standardized tests, and how inspiring you will be to others.
• Players who were shown smiling broadly on old baseball cards lived an average of 79.9 years. Those with no smiles on their faces lived an average of 72.9 years.
• Smiling is contagious. It's difficult to not smile when you see someone else with a genuine smile on his or her face.
• One smile can generate the same level of brain stimulation as 2,000 bars of chocolate. That same smile can be as stimulating as receiving up to $25,000 in cash.
• Smiling reduces the level of stress-enhancing hormones like cortisone, adrenaline and dopamine, and increases the level of mood-enhancing hormones like endorphins. It also lowers overall blood pressure.
• When you smile, you appear more likeable, courteous and competent to others.

"So," Gutman concludes, "whenever you want to tap into a super power that will allow you and everyone around you to live a longer, healthier, happier life -- smile."

Watch Gutman's talk in its entirety below.

XBRL: Lessons learned from early adopters

The final phase of XBRL implementation is fast approaching, and the SEC is trying to keep the next wave of filers ahead of the curve.

If you're late to the party, XBRL is a data tagging language that's supposed to save the world (or at least make it easier to understand) by delivering accurate, timely, transparent and standardized financial information. The SEC launched a three-year, phased-in mandate to get all companies to file their financial statements via XBRL.

The largest U.S. companies have been the canaries in the coal mine for the past two years. Their war stories are blueprints of sorts for the smaller companies, who are next out of the XBRL gate this year.

With that final phase on the horizon, the SEC has released guidance for smaller companies that are making the XBRL transition. According to Accounting Today, that guidance includes information about:

• Data quality: "Carefully selecting the best tags is likely to be the greatest contributor to the quality of an XBRL submission," writes Accounting Today.
• Viewing submissions: The short version: Use the SEC's "previewer," but don't trust it absolutely.
• Validation: Before you file, test, and test, and test some more.

The hardest part, though, might be wading through the XBRL myths that are scattered throughout the financial reporting landscape. Brad Monterio has taken a shot at it in a Business Finance article titled, "10 XBRL Myths Exploded." Among them:

• XBRL is just one more compliance burden imposed on my organization. Yes, you have to comply, but "all types of organizations can gain significant efficiencies" by using XBRL, writes Monterio.
• XBRL is only for publicly listed and / or large companies. The MACPA is using XBRL, and we're as non-public as you can get. You'll hear details about our XBRL journey at the 2011 Maryland CPA Summit on June 3.
• XBRL is only for financial reporting. Plenty of folks will disagree with that one. Take Nevada Controller Kim Wallin, for instance.

Read Monterio's list in its entirety, then give us your thoughts about XBRL.