CPA Success

Like us? Vote for us!

The presidential primaries are still months away, but the really important voting starts now.

We're talking, of course, about The Mobbies.

Short for "Maryland's Outstanding Blogs," The Mobbies are an annual contest run by The Baltimore Sun.

This year, CPA Success appears in the "Best Uncategorized Blog" category -- which, coincidentally, is one of the most awesome oxymorons I've ever encountered. If we receive enough votes, we'll also be considered for the "Best Overall Blog" award.

• Vote for CPA Success here.

Voting runs through Nov. 10. You're allowed to vote once every 24 hours, so vote early, vote often, and tell your friends!

Let's put CPAs on top of the Maryland blogging honor roll.

Why I blog as a CEO (and why you should, too)

What is leadership in the new normal? And what does it have to do with social media?

That was a discussion we had last week at MACPA's Beach Retreat in Ocean City, Md. The conversation started in a group of 24 spread across two continents and included two leading business authors, and it went to a potential audience of 45,600 in one day!

I had to document this serendipitous case study of exactly what we were talking about. (See my SlideShare presentation below and embedded links.) Notice how we used a series of social media tools to communicate, share and learn from our network -- SlidesShare, YouTube, a blog, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Tom Peters started off the conversation by saying leadership hasn't changed in thousands of years. 

Emmanuel Gobillot agreed and added that tools, expectations and challenges have changed.

Joe Boutte weighed in by saying that leadership is the only constant in change and a primary success factor.

What started as a great discussion quickly evolved into a case study that illustrates why I believe every CEO should think about blogging and tweeting. 

Blogging, Twitter and other social media tools are powerful communication and connection tools that can be added to the CEOs toolbox. As Tom Peters said, they have pluses and minuses, but he is a great example of how to use the tools for sharing and refining insights. (Check out his blog and Twitter account, as well as his interview about blogging with Seth Godin.) 

As Emmanuel Gobillot said to sum it all up:

"To work out what are the enduring truths and what are the changing elements. On the basis that human beings evolve at an incredibly slow rate I would agree with anyone who says past leadership models are still relevant to today's challenges but given that most were developed pre-Internet (computers even) and pre-global interconnected economies, I would also challenge anyone who argues they should not be contextualized."

Social Media & Leadership for CPAs - a Case Study

View more presentations from Tom Hood

As leadership changes from command and control to connect and collaborate, leaders need to understand the powerful new social media tools that can help them. After all isn't business and leadership really all about people and relationships?

That is why I blog and you should too!

What do you think?

Want leadership skills for the new normal? Don't miss the upcoming MACPA's Leadership Academy, Sept. 18-20 in Towson, Md.

The four most important words in business

What are the four most important words in business?

"What do you think?"

That was how we ended yesterday's PIU / town hall meeting with members of the Marriott Corporation's global finance and accounting team. It is also a favorite quote (and major point) of Tom Peters. It is No. 58 in his latest book, The Little Big Things: 163 Ways to Pursue Excellence (highly recommended).

"What do you think?" is exactly the purpose of our roadshow / PIUs / town halls -- to go out to where our members are and discuss their profession, discuss what is on their minds, and talk about what we see.

Then we use these insights to guide our thinking with our board and our services -- Connect. Protect. Achieve!

We covered developments in six major areas (see my presentation below):

1. Economy
2. Globalization
3. Technology
4. Workforce / demographics
5. Regulations and standards
6. Leadership: Is it changing?

We also took an opportunity to have a discussion about the CPA Vision and asked for members' input about whether it is still relevant and what they think about it. Those are the CPA vision charts they are standing in front of in the photo above. (We did this at our MACPA Summit in June.) Overall, they thought it was still relevant and saw themselves in it on a 4+ (on a scale of 1 to 5).

What were the insights from yesterday? Lots of talk and feedback about social media as a tool to keep ahead of change; leadership (yes, they thinks it is changing); generations in the workforce; and the realization that we are facing a tsunami of laws and regulations in the CPA profession (and beyond). Comments like "thought-provoking," "engaging," "inspiring," "informative," "fresh," "visionary" and "fun" were made on the feedback forms. I had fun and always learn a lot at these sessions.

Speaking of social media, Marriott is a perfect example of how social media can be used to communicate inside and outside the company. They use Twitter and YouTube, and their CEO, Bill Marriott, is a prolific blogger. Many on the finance team keep up with the company through Bill's blog. Check out his post about social media and Marriott.

Here are a couple of my favorite social media resources:

• CPA Learning 2.0, our own self-guided online learning resource for CPAs and social media
• CPA Trendlines (latest developments in the profession) and on Twitter
• Financial Reporting Blog (Financial Executives International and Edith Orenstein) and on Twitter
• CPA Letter Daily on Twitter
• Journal of Accountancy on Twitter
• Even the SEC, FASB and FAF are on Twitter

Here are some of the books featured in our professional issues update:

• Leadershift, by Emmanuel Gobillot (and he is on Twitter)
• Drive, by Dan Pink (also on Twitter)
• Grown Up Digital, by Don Tapscott (also on Twitter)
• Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? by Seth Godin

Two of my favorite leadership blogs are Seth Godin (and on Twitter) and Tom Peters (also on Twitter).

Join us at our upcoming town halls as MACPA goes on the road again.

And don't forget CPA Day in Annapolis to help us be seen and heard by our legislators (and two hours of free CPE).

I am hoping some of the folks from Marriott will add comments to this post -- maybe one of the authors, Bill Marriott, or any readers out there will tell us ...

What do you think?

Here is a copy of my preso from yesterday:

MACPA Professional Issues Update - Fall 2010 Edition

View more presentations from Tom Hood.

 

CPAs: How to jumpstart your social media strategy

If you ignore social media, will it go away?

We think the answer is an emphatic, "No!" (See Bill Sheridan's interview with Rick Telberg.)

And we think that is the wrong question. The right question is, how can we harness the power of these new, mostly free tools to help us as CPA professionals?

That is why we had a special four-hour session at the MACPA's Beach Retreat in Ocean City, Md. (Here is a copy of my presentation and pictures.) This post is for the brave participants who wanted to go deeper into the tools and how they might use them (and for all of you who are starting to think about this phenomena a bit more).

Note how we used social media to connect and share all of the content and information (Flickr for photos, Slideshare for presentations, blog, and Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn).

Here is how to get started:

1. Educate yourself. Use our free, online, self-directed learning program for social media (15 minutes a day for 35 exercises) -- www.cpalearning2.com.
2. Create your digital footprint. Create profiles on Facebook, LinkedIn and Google.
3. Start listening. Use Google Reader or Bloglines to begin reading thought leaders in your profession or areas of interest. (See Week 6 on RSS and newsreaders.) 
4. Continue listening. Create your Twitter account and follow your profession and areas of interest. (See Thing 18 and follow us on Twitter -- MACPA, Bill Shreidan, Tom Hood.)
5. Start publishing! Create a blog (Typepad, Blogger. Tumblr) and record your thoughts. (See Week 2: Create your blog.)
6. Share. Recognize and promote the people you find interesting. Remember to be authentic, show some of your personality, and provide value first and foremost.

Want more? Join us for the MACPA's Technology Conference and AccountingWeb Live on Sept. 13-14, where you can lear about social media and mingle with the AccountingWeb bloggers' crew.

Some resources to get you started:

Join our MACPA online communities:

• MACPA Facebook group
• Business Learning Institute (BLI) group
• MACPA LinkedIn group
• Coming soon: iMACPA -- a community platform specifically for MACPA members

Read our blogs:

• www.cpasuccess.com
• www.bizlearningblog.com
• www.cpalegislativeinsider.com
• www.cpaisland.com

Our Twitter lists:

• CPA Thought Leaders
• Business Thought Leaders

Recommended books:

• The Corporate Blogging Book, by Debbie Weil. (She was our blog coach who got us started! www.twitter.com/debbieweil)
• Crush It!, by Gary Vaynerchuk (www.twitter.com/garyvee)
• The Power of Social Networking: Using the Whuffie Factor, by Tara Hunt (www.twitter.com/missrogue)

Articles mentioned:

• Social Networking Affects Brains Like Falling in Love (FastCompany)
• How Twitter Can Make You a Better (and Happier) Person (Tony Hsieh, Zappos)
• HBR article: Empowered (from Josh Bernoff and Ted Schadler)
• My interview with the Journal of Accountancy
• How to Leverage Social Networking (from the Journal of Accoutancy)

Sample social media policy for CPAs:

• MACPA's Social Media Policy that ties in the AICPA Code of Conduct and MACPA core values

Social media: Passing fad or valuable tool?

Remember when the Internet was first discovered (I won't say by whom) and e-mail was starting to replace fax machines?

Many businesses worried it would be a tremendous waste of time for their employees and said it would be a passing fad. They worried people would be watching porn or shopping all day and e-mailing the latest jokes to family and friends.

Fast forward to today. Every business deems the Internet an indispensable tool. Most would say they cannot survive without the Internet, a Web page and e-mail.

Well, that is where we are with social networking and business, according to The Economist magazine in a just-released special report on social networking.

The report, titled "A World of Connections," makes a strong business case for social networking that I have not seen before from the mainstream business world. Could this be the real tipping point for business adoption of social networking and Web 2.0?

If you need your people to collaborate or connect with customers and suppliers, or connect with others in your organization, then you need to rethink social media. I agree with Sir Tim Berners-Lee (founding father of the Internet and author of Weaving the Web) in his statement in the special report: "The ultimate goal (of the Internet) was to come up with something that, first and foremost, would make it easier to collaborate with one another."

Here are five major benefits that The Economist report says that social media (via the Web) has created:

1. Trusted online venues where real people can meet up using their real identities.
2. New ways for firms and organizations to reach their customers and those who influence them.
3. Reduced friction in labor markets by allowing employers and prospective employees to find each other and connect.
4. Faster information flow and communication inside companies and organizations.
5. A "free and immensely powerful set of communication and collaboration tools to everyone on Earth who has access to a broadband internet connection."

Business is about people, which means business is social. This report makes the point that businesses need to rethink social networking from a whole new vantage point. This should provide good ammo for anybody trying to make the case for social media inside their organizations. Well done!

Read the special report, A World of Connections

Then sign up for our webcast on March 5th 12:30om - 2:20pm (EST)

See our resources and presentations about social media:

Articles:

• Making Social Media Work for You (video interview with Journal of Accountancy)
• How to Leverage Social Networking (from the Journal of Accountancy)

Slideshare presentations:

• How Social Networking and Remote Conferencing Transformed MACPA
• CPAs and Social Media: Passing Fad or Valuable Tool?
• Leadership and Social Media

Courses:

• Social Media Strategy and Quickstart: MACPA experts help you get started quick
• Web 2.0: Less Hype, More Help -- a course you can bring in-house

CPA Success: One of 75 best business blogs of '09

What a year! BusinessPundit.com has named us to their list of the top 75 blogs of 2009.

We were one of two in the accounting category, along with our friend and fellow blogger, Francine McKenna. at re: The Auditors.

This follows us being nominated as part of the Maryland's Outstanding Blogs (or Mobbies) awards, where we placed third. Our sister blog, CPA Legislative Insider, placed 10th.

We are also pleased to announce our new strategic alliance to provide content for Monster's LedgerLink site.

As Bill said yesterday, we are honored and humbled to be recognized by these groups. We also want to let you know that the real recognition we want is from you, our readers. We hope we are providing some value to you, a useful tip, key insight, or timely analysis and heads-up. As we get ready to close the book on the first decade of the new millennium, let us know what you want more (or less) of in the new year, and let us know how we have helped you so we can continue to improve.

• Follow us on Twitter -- @BillSheridan, @TomHood, @macpa
• Join  us on LinkedIn
• Become a fan of the MACPA on Facebook.

Thanks again!

How to increase your intellectual capital, and 3 books you must read

CPAs are knowledge workers, right?

What if I told you that you could be increasing your personal and organizational's intellectual capital right now and for little or no cost (other than some investment of time)?

Interested? Read on ...

Social capital is a powerful piece of your intellectual capital that can be increased greatly if you apply some basic principles.

This is true if you are a professional, a business, or organization trying to make a difference and stand out amid all of the noise.

The secret lies in this basic formula:

IC = HC + SC + Struc C

SC = Whuffie + Trust (agent) + Social Media

First, let's make sure you understand social capital. There are three types of intellectual capital, according to Ron Baker at Verasage:

• Human capital (HC) -- your people and their knowledge
• Social capital (SC) -- your network of customers, suppliers, partners, relationships, alumni (see also Whuffie)
• Structural capital (Struc C) -- your systems, processes, databases, and explicit knowledge

Social capital is the easiest to leverage with all of the new social media tools available (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, blogs).

First, you need to begin using these tools and increasing your connections and knowledge.

Next, you need to understand the power of leverage, using social media to build your "Whuffie." Here is Tara Hunt's definition from her book, The Whuffie Factor:

"The sum of the reputation, influence, bridging capital and bonding capital, access to ideas and talent, access to resources, potential access to further resources, saved up favors, accomplishments (resumes, awards, articles, etc.) and the Whuffie of those who you have relationships with."

Then add the advice of Chris Brogan. Here are his six secrets of Trust Agents:

1. Make your own game. (I say be distinct or extinct.)
2. Be one of us (authenticity matters).
3. Use the Archimedes effect (leverage and link everything).
4. Be Agent Zero in multiple networks (the strength of weak ties).
5. Be a Human Artist (help shape others).
6. Build armies -- promote larger interactions.

Read Chris's post in its entirety.

You are on your way to being an intellectual capitalist!

Resources:

• Use our free self-guided social media learning tool
• Join us via webcast from noon to 1:40 p.m. EST on Dec. 10 for Social Media: Passing Fad or Valuable Tool

Read these books and start leveraging your social capital now:

• The Whuffie Factor, by Tara Hunt(Twitter @missrogue) and her blog
• Trust Agents, by Chris Brogan & Julien Smith (Twitter @chrisbrogan) and his blog
• Mind Over Matter, by Ron Baker(Twitter @ronaldbaker) and his blog

Is it time to pay attention to social media?

I know you are not looking for one more thing to add to your plate, but this could be an investment that can save you time and help you or your firm or company actually make money.

How, you ask?

1. Getting you found via SEO (that's search engine optimization).
2. Getting you noticed: Clients and prospects will recognize you easier and know what you are about.
3. Reinforcing your culture and training your team via powerful communications.

I am finding many examples of sole practitioners, small firms and large firms making effective use of social media tools to get noticed, build their brands and find new ways of getting clients. If you aren't at least looking at these tools, you may be falling behind.

In the chart above, you will see that these tools are now amplifiers and accelerators of the savvy firm or small business marketing strategy (the number one issues facing CPA firms now).

My top three tools to get started:

1. Blogs: Start reading with a blog reader (Bloglines or Google Reader, for example) and set up a blog.
2. Twitter
3. Facebook and / or Linked in to build your community

Come to our Technology Conference on Dec. 7, 2009 to see our next live session on social media or ask about our Social Media Quick Start: Developing and Implementing a Social Media Strategy for Firms. (Send an e-mail to pam@macpa.org for info about this hands-on coaching program.)

Check out my presentation that I just made to our Maryland managing partner group at their request, and from my two sessions at the CCH User Conference. The presentation is also online here.

CPAs & Social Media - Passing Fad or Valuable Tool?

View more documents from Tom Hood.

So, what do you think: Is social media a passing fad or valuable tool?

How are CPAs using social media?

Want to get on the front page of the Wall Street Journal with your story? Just use free social media tools like Facebook and Twitter.

That is exactly what Verasage value pricing evangelist Dan Morris says happened when he got published on the front page of the Wall Street Journal.

Dan says, "I think today demonstrated the value of the social networks (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and their ability to spread the word.  Encouraging others to read our materials and help us with our mission to Bury the Billable Hour." See Rick Telberg's post about it, "CPA credits Facebook, Twitter for Wall Street Journal front page story."

Then there is the Maryland story about Naden/Lean and how Twitter launched a CPA firm into the top Google rankings.

And our own story at the MACPA. See my interview with Rick Telberg about Why CPAs Twitter (and other social media uses) and join us by completing the first social media survey for CPAs. Rick presented the results of his survey at our Maryland Business and Accounting Expo in June.

We hosted a Maryland Tweetup last February, which featured some of the top social media gurus in the CPA profession (see our photos on Flickr). Pictured are Chris Jenkins, Tom Hood, Bill Sheridan, Jeff De Cagna, Edith Orenstein, Francine McKenna and Rick Telberg. Most of this crew plus a couple of others were also featured on a panel at the Expo. See videos of their session: Part 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

If you are worried about the disadvantages of social media, check out this recent study from Melbourne Australia that concludes Twitter, Facebook, and office Web surfing can actually improve productivity.  

Resources:

Here are two interviews I did with the Journal of Accountancy on social media and CPAs:

How to leverage social networking

Social media tips (video)

Accounting for Second Life

We have created a special program to jump start your social media efforts. Contact Pam Devine if you are interested in details and the dates of upcoming sessions.

Still not convinced? Come see my session at CCH's User Conference on Tuesday, Oct. 27 at 10:30 a.m. at the Gaylord National Harbor, Maryland, where I will talk about "Social Media: Passing Fad or Valuable Tool?"

Back to the future: MACPA and technology

Remember the beginning of the Internet? Do names like Prodigy, Compuserve and AOL bring back memories? Or 2400 baud modems?

The year was 1996 and Barry Ricewas asked to do a road show for the MACPA's seven chapters to promote this new "technology" that would greatly affect the way CPAs do business. That is Barry in the middle with me and the MACPA's COO, Jackie Brown, holding the handouts from that 1996 era. He remembered that we were one of the first state CPA societies to have a Web site and one of the first to have a computer lab.

Barry, a professor of accounting at Loyola University in Maryland,.was featured in the CPA Vision Project as one of the pathfinders in the CPA profession with the use of technology in teaching. He truly saw early on significance of technology to us as professionals. (See Barry's pathfinder profile on the CPA Vision Web site).

He pioneered collaboration via his still-active listservs, Accounting Educators using Computers and Multimedia (AECM) and the CPAs-L Listserv. His passion for teaching and technology has earned him awards and recognition. He was the MACPA's outstanding educator and was recognized by the CPA Vision Project, AAA and Loyola for his contributions to accounting education.

Did I mention that he was one of my favorite accounting instructors at Loyola?

But he did not come to talk about himself. He came to reconnect and see where he could help by volunteering. He also came to tell us he was proud at how far we had come in the use of technology. He loved hearing about our blogs and our efforts to connect with the young generation (and even us older CPAs) using the latest social media tools like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and even YouTube.

The big ah-ha for me is that technology continues to shape the way we do business as CPAs and the way accounting is taught in schools. In fact, when you think about how much has really changed, we have adopted an amazing number of changes in the last 12  years. That gives me confidence that we can continue to deal with the ever-increasing amount and pace of change being thrown at us.

• What are CPAs doing online? Complete the first survey by Rick Telberg here.
• See my earlier post on the state of accounting education.
• Edith Orenstein at FEI mentions us in her post Social Media, YouTube and Us.

Thanks, Barry, for making us take the trip back to the future!

Visit the MACPA on Facebook:

• The MACPA's main page on Facebook
• New / Young Professionals Network page
• Business Learning Institute page
• CPA Careers page
• Tomorrows CPA student Web site

And be sure to check out our other blogs:

 

• New CPAs
• CPA Legislative Insider
• CPA Island
• CPAs in Second Life