SURVEY SAAVY
Sweet Charity
Firms that tout employee volunteer programs could have a leg up when it comes to recruiting young CPAs.
According to the 2007 Volunteer IMPACT survey by Deloitte & Touche USA LLP, 62% of Generation Y employees said they would prefer to work for companies that give them opportunities to contribute their talents to nonprofit organizations, but only 26% said their company mentioned volunteering during recruitment.
Moreover, 80% of the survey respondents identified themselves as volunteers, and 97% believed companies should offer employees opportunities to volunteer their work-related skills to nonprofits.
Source: www.deloitte.com. |
BUSINESS TRENDS
Self-Taught CPAs
Entry-level professionals are likely to navigate the career ladder on their own, according to a poll of more than 1,400 CFOs.
A majority (58%) of executives said it was uncommon for their company to assign mentors, either formally or informally, to new hires in their accounting and finance departments. Only 13% reported this practice to be very common.
Source: Accountemps, www.accountemps.com.
NUMEROLOGY
Recent CPA Exam Passing Rates
| Exam
Section |
2006, Q1 |
2006, Q3 |
2007, Q1 |
| AUD |
41% |
47% |
44% |
| BEC |
42% |
46% |
44% |
| FAR |
42% |
47% |
44% |
| REG |
39% |
45% |
42% |
(Percentages rounded)
Source: The Uniform CPA
Examination, www.cpa-exam.org. |
GOLDEN
BUSINESS IDEA
Avoiding the
Commitment Dip
Firms use thousands of dollars and work hours to make change initiatives a success—and then the bottom falls out. Or in this case, employee commitment to the change drops off, and all signs point to failure.
Richard Lepsinger, a human resources consultant and co-author of Flexible Leadership: Creating Value by Balancing Multiple Challenges and Choices, provides six tips for keeping employee support high following a change:
 Be forthright about the change and its impact. Open and honest communication makes change easier, so keep executives accessible to respond to employee questions and concerns.
Model behaviors that support the change. Lead by example so employees do not see both old and new sets of rules and behaviors, thus diminishing the credibility and importance of the change.
Don’t put your plan on auto pilot. Unanticipated problems and opportunities will undoubtedly arise after the change is in place, so expect to revise objectives and be ready to promptly communicate them to employees.
Set realistic objectives and milestones. Don’t set employees up for failure; as they reach attainable goals, they’re more likely to see the benefits of the change.
Don’t underestimate the resources required. Provide adequate resources for employees to complete both their regular jobs and their new duties associated with the change implementation.
Maintain enthusiasm and excitement. Continuously communicate the benefits to employees for the duration of the initiative (not just at kickoff) and offer a reward system for reaching objectives.
Source: OnPoint Consulting, www.onpointconsultingllc.com. |
BUSINESS TRENDS
Eyeing the C-Suite
Controllers take note: You’re eight times more likely to reach CFO status by internal promotion than outside hire.
Among
Fortune 500 CFOs promoted to their position, 33% were previously controllers, 19% were treasurers and 14% were senior financial generalists.
But in companies where the CFO was recruited externally, the position went to controllers only 4% of the time. Outside hires were most likely to be corporate or divisional CFOs (58%) or CEOs or general managers (17%).
According to executive search firm Korn/Ferry International, a controller’s key to CFO success lies in developing both financial expertise and participative leadership skills.
Source: Korn/Ferry International’s Navigating the Uncertain Road From Controller to CFO: The Leadership Imperative, www.kornferry.com.
NUMEROLOGY
Who Pays 401(k) Fees?
| 38% |
Participant via investment
product fees |
| 37% |
Plan sponsor |
12% |
Participant via direct charge |
| 5% |
Participant via additional
reduction to investment returns |
| 4% |
Direct fees paid by both
sponsor and participant |
| 4% |
Other |
Source: Investment Company Institute’s The Economics of Providing 401(k) Plans: Services, Fees, and Expenses, 2006, www.ici.org. |
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
CPAs Rock Out for Education
Washington state CPAs let loose after a long tax season at the second annual CPA Battle of the Bands, which featured performances from five Seattle-area accounting bands.
Participating groups included Disregarded Entity, Industry Audit Guys, Terminal Liability, and the University of Washington’s Beta Alpha Psi band, Facial Depreciation, which wowed the crowd with its songs “House of GAAP” and “We Will Audit You” (sung to the tune of Queen’s “We Will Rock You”).
After almost 200 attendees cast their votes, the Accounting Crows, from the Washington Society of Certified Public Accountants’ Bellevue chapter, took top honors. The winning band is composed of Pete Miller, CPA, CFE; Malcolm Edwards, CPA; Doug Cruickshank, CPA, J.D.; and Mike Monroe, CPA, ABV, who were all employees of Bellevue firm Clark Nuber P.S. during the May 19 event (for the evening, the group received permission to use the stage name of West Hartford, Conn.-based CPA band the Accounting Crows, who, according to Edwards, “have been out of the garage for some time”).
The event, sponsored by the South King County Chapter of the WSCPA, raised $2,000 for the accounting departments of the Des Moines, Wash., campuses of Highline Community College and Central Washington University.
—Tom Byrne, CPA |
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