Top 10 Employers for Asian Americans

Diversity Inc.’s Top 10 Firms for Asian-Americans is out and some of the biggest names in accounting made the cut.

Deloitte came in at number four among the 352 companies that participated in the magazine's competition this year. Deloitte’s workforce is 20 percent Asian and 27 percent of its new hires were Asian, as is 9.5 percent of its board. Deloitte also made the Top 10 for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered employees and people with disabilities.

PricewaterhouseCoopers was number six. Nearly 15 percent of its workforce is Asian, nearly 18 percent of new hires were Asian, as are 9 percent of its top 10 percent of earners.

Accenture took the number eight slot, with 14 percent of its managers being Asian and 15 percent of its U.S. management promotions going to Asians.

Finally, Ernst & Young was ranked number nine after reporting that 16 percent of its U.S. employees were Asian, as were 20 percent of new hires.

L.I. Firm Adds Staffing Unit

Long Island's Marcum & Kliegman is getting into the recruiting business, seeking to spin off the experience it's gained in hiring for its own needs into a business that can make multiple millions a year on its own. Its new unit, M&K Executive Search, expects revenue of $1 million during its first 12 months in operation, says Long Island Business News. Working with Marcum & Kliegman accounting clients, the firm has posted jobs in New York, Massachusetts, Florida and California, and is working to expand its reach.

Accounting firm launches staffing arm [Long Island Business News]

N.Y./N.J. Firms Bulk Up Offerings Through Associations

A number of CPA firms in the New York/New Jersey area are joining together in alliances that allow them to access expertise they might not ordinarily have. These non-profit associations illustrate a new tactic in facing today's shortage of accountants.

Here's our story.

Truth in Advertising

We've said it before, but it seems worth saying again: Always tell the truth on your resume.

Job hunters should be forgiven for feeling like they are criminals before they even get to the interview. But increasingly, employers are looking to protect their reputations and deflect any liability if they unwittingly hire a crook or a fraudster. So job offers routinely come with a big string attached—passing a background screen.

PricewaterhouseCoopers recruiters thought they had bagged a terrific job candidate until a check found he hadn't attended the college where he said he had earned his undergraduate degree.

"We gave him a chance to provide documentation," said Jennifer Allyn, a human resources manager for the accounting giant. "He said he was in some dispute with the school and concocted a whole story that made no sense."

The company rescinded the offer.

Honesty always best policy when writing up your resume [Chicago Tribune]

Spanish Ability Aids California CPAs

California's fast-growing Latino population is pumping up demand for Spanish bilingual CPAs in the state. One Latina CPA in Los Angeles reports that new clients "sometimes pick me out of the phone book," correctly inferring from her name that she speaks Spanish.

Here's our story.

Three Mississippi Firms Join BKD

BKD, LLP, Springfield, Missouri, is acquiring three Jackson, Mississippi accounting firms: Smith, Turner & Reeves, P.A.; Johnson, Bruce & Host, PLLC and Shearer, Taylor & Co., P.A. Together, the firms have $10 million in annual revenues and 70 staffers, including 12 partners.

Peder Johnson, managing member of Johnson Bruce & Host and Jon Turner, managing partner of Smith, Turner & Reeves, will be co-partners in charge of the BKD Mississippi practice, after the merger, which is effective June 1st.

The combination creates the second largest CPA & advisory firm in Jackson and the third largest in Mississippi, BKD says.

BKD has $318 million in net revenues, 1.900 employees including 230 partners and 27 offices. It's the largest U.S. member of Praxity, AISBL, a global alliance of independent firms.

Bummer

Goldman Sachs is moving its fund accounting jobs out of the Cayman Islands for other locations around the world. Here are the details.

Green Accountants Wanted

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to curb greenhouse gases in California includes 211 additions to the state's payroll - accountants among them. The jobs seem to be low-level - SFGate.com calls them "accounting technicians" - but it's a story worth keeping an eye on if you're on the West Coast and are looking for opportunities in what's certain to be a growing sector.

Here's the item from SFGate.

Good Times for Mississippi Accounting Grads

Accounting students in Mississippi are riding strong job market, with the slowing economy presenting few bumps. Mark Wilder, dean of the University of Mississippi's Patterson School of Accountancy, told the Mississippi Business Journal:

"While we have received some feedback that the economic slowdown will translate into fewer future jobs, we haven't seen much evidence of that to date," he said. "The recruiting process has changed on our campus over the past few years in that there is a strong focus on hiring students to do internships during the spring semester of their senior year. These students typically receive full-time job offers at the end of the internship."

Mississippi State University and the University of Southern Mississippi report similar conditions.

"This year really looks good," said Rusty Anderson, director of Career Services (at USM). "So many industries want them (accounting grads), including banks and healthcare - that's part of the demand. About one-fourth will go to work in firms, 35% to 30% will work in other industries in accounting related jobs and others will use the degree to go into other fields."

The whole story's here, via redOrbit.com.

'Authenticity' Serves Women Executives Well

Women who rise to the upper levels of business follow the same recipe for success as men as they combine vision, intellect, guts and hard work with their ability to influence others. They also add another ingredient: authenticity.

Read Dona DeZube's story.

Another Mommy Track

Sue Shellenbarger in The Wall Street Journal sees a new trend for women taking time off to have children: "The rise of the mommy 'SWAT team.'"

The acronym, for "smart women with available time," is one mother's label for all-mom teams assembled quickly through networking and staffing firms to handle crash projects. Employers get lots of voltage, cheap, while the women get a skills update and a taste of the professional challenges they miss.

The story: Smart, accomplished professional women take time off from work to have children, but still want to keep their skills fresh. So, they band together, forming teams as necessary to tackle assignments across a range of business specialties.

Skilled workers taking temp projects isn't new, of course. What's different about these teams is that they're available on short notice because the women are usually at home; they tend to work cheap because their main motive is to keep their skills fresh; and they're often extraordinarily well-qualified, having left the work force voluntarily when their careers were on the ascent.

Here's the full article.

Duff & Phelps Launches Tax Advisory Service

Duff & Phelps launched a Strategic Tax Advisory Services practice, which will be co-led by new Managing Directors Joseph Schmidt and Catherine Hunter. Says the firm:

The Strategic Tax Advisory Services practice provides advice on procurement processes related to capital investments captured within a company's supply chain. The new practice consists of a multidisciplinary team focused on optimizing the net present value of capital investments through property tax savings, business incentives, sales and use tax credits and reductions in federal and state income tax. In addition to ensuring appropriate assessments are made, these services help companies mitigate tax audit exposure, improve compliance with Sarbanes Oxley and enhance stakeholder value.

Schmidt will be in the firm's Atlanta office, joining from Deloitte Tax LLP, where he was tax director and a member of the National and Multistate Restructuring practice. Hunter joins the firm's Dallas office from Kells Group, where she was a Founding Partner. Previously, she'd worked at A.T. Kearney.

Here's the announcement.

Vaden Joins up With Dcosimo in Nashville

Nashville-based entertainment and sports accountant Mike Vaden, CPA, has created a new business management practice with regional accounting and business advisory firm Joseph Decosimo and Company, PLLC.

Decosimo/Vaden will target entertainment and high-net-worth clients by offering royalty accounting, concert tour accounting, tax planning and compliance, investment analysis, catalog valuation and financial management.

Vaden will be principal and director of Decosimo/Vaden. He brings along 10 employees, including Tax Director-Entertainment Services Jennifer Lane and Business Management Tax Supervisor Vicki Bracey, who are serving clients out of the firm's new Nashville office located at Roundabout Plaza. Decosimo's team from the firm's Brentwood location, led by principals Flynn Doyle, Ken Lowery and Ronald Williams, will work from new Music Row offices. The combined practices will have approximately 25 professionals and staff.

Decosimo ranks among the Top 100 CPA firms in the nation, with more than 250 professionals and staff with offices in Nashville, Chattanooga, Knoxville and Memphis, Tenn.; Atlanta and Dalton, Ga.; Cincinnati, Ohio; and Grand Cayman. It's associated with MooreStephens International Limited, which has approximately 600 offices in 93 countries.

Back Office Jobs for Hyatt

A new shared services center in Moore, Okla., for Hyatt Hotels and Resorts plans to hire 100 full-time employees between now and the rest of the year.

The company expects eventually to employ 300 people (at the center), with a total annual payroll of more than $6 million, "Probably in two to three years,” said Jim Melvin, vice president, Hyatt Shared Service Center.

Here's a story from the Oklahoman.

Back Office Securities Jobs in Boston

Securities firms in Boston are looking for accountants (and others) to work in operational and back office roles. As Jonathan Berr writes on eFinancialCareers:

Finding candidates, though, isn't always easy. They require specialized sets of skills such as international tax and accounting, notes Alex Cook, head of the asset management practice at Conley & Co. in Boston. "Trying to find international tax experience along with the other skill sets you are looking for can really be a tough proposition," he tells eFinancialCareers News. Such jobs pay between $300,000 and $500,000 for candidates with 10 to 15 years experience, he says.

And:

Lower-level jobs also are available. Ryan Sutton, a regional vice president at Robert Half International, sees strong demand for credit analysts, product accountants, hedge fund accountants, and portfolio accountants. “We're seeing strong demand for back office (people) in Boston," Sutton says. "They are still hiring accounting and finance specialists, especially in the specialized space.… As demand increases, and since quantities of applicants are still tight, salaries are still increasing."

Stu Coleman, the general manager of the Winter, Wyman Companies' Financial Contracting New England group, has plenty of temporary-to-permanent positions at the entry level, including fund accounting jobs which pay between $18 and $22 per hour. Permanent jobs in the area pay $38,000 to $42,000 per year. Available compliance and reporting jobs pay $25 to $45 per hour on a temporary basis and $50,000 to $90,000 on a permanent basis.

Though the pay may seem low compared with other jobs, they aren't dead ends, Coleman says. "(Companies) are allowing people to use this as an entrance to the organization," he explains.

Here's the full story.

New CFO at Domino's Pizza

Domino's Pizza appointed Wendy A. Beck as executive vice president and chief financial officer. She had been CFO, senior vice president and treasurer of Whataburger Restaurants, a Corpus Christi, Texas-based chain of more than 700 outlets in Texas and 10 other states. She'll be based at the company's headquarters in Ann Arbor. Previously, Beck has worked at Checkers Drive-In Restaurants, and home healthcare firm Lincare Holdings. Beck has a bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of South Florida, and has been a CPA since 1992. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Women's FoodService Forum.

Here's the full story, from PRNewsire via Yahoo News.

Breaking Through the Wall

The ability to reach a prospective employer directly can be vital to your job-hunting efforts. Your prospects increase dramatically if you can talk to a person, instead of "Human Resources."

Read our story.

Moves at Arch Coal

John Drexler is the new chief financial officer of Arch Coal, Inc., a St. Louis-based coal company. John Lorson has been named chief accounting officer. Gregory Szczepan succeeds Lorson as corporate controller.

Here's a story from the St. Louis Business Journal.

Support for Subprime Litigants

Is the market for forensic accountants going to get even tighter thanks to a flood of lawsuits filed over the subprime credit crisis? A whopping 181 subprime mortgage-related cases were filed in federal courts in the first quarter of 2008, a rate that’s close to surpassing the filing rate seen during the savings and loan crisis of the early 1990s, says First Navigant Consulting, Inc., Chicago. Someone is going to have to provide the accounting analytics to both sides of those cases, but who?

“These are complex claims,” says Navigant Managing Director Jeff Nielsen. “They generally involve the mortgage origination and securitization process, as well as securities that have been issued that are backed by mortgage collateral, so there’s an over-arching complexity to just the industry and the processes at issue here. With that backdrop, my opinion is that--depending upon where the litigation goes, and if the litigation matures-- the demand for forensic professionals is going to be substantial.”

Expertise is going to be a commodity in hot demand. “It’s not only the hard skills in terms of finance, accounting and economics, but also the deep industry knowledge and the knowledge of these products. Those are the individuals that are going to be best positioned to assist with these issues and shed light and unwind [transactions and deals] in a way that people can understand what are inherently complicated questions,” he says.

But wait. Wouldn’t those be the same people that led the industry down the rosy path and into the quicksand? “You can have extensive knowledge without having been at the center of it when the problematic loans were being made and the securities were being issued,” Nielsen says.

So if you can answer questions such as: was the risk management system adequate, were there strong internal controls in place, and if you can value illiquid securities and cogently discuss related reporting and policy issues, and you have a believable explanation as to why you weren’t part of the problem, the legal profession is going to be anxious to talk to you.

Chicago CPAs and Accountants in Demand

Recruiters and accounting firm insiders report a strong demand for accountants and CPAs in public accounting, the corporate market, and financial services and alternative investment firms in Chicago. "If you're an accountant in the Chicago area, it's a great marketplace," says one of them, Dave Falardeau of 10k Financial Recruiters.

Here's our story.

Older Workers in Demand

The Internal Revenue Service is among the government agencies seeking job candidates over 50. It's among the newest members of the AARP's s National Employer Team. Deborah Russell, director of work-force issues for AARP, says more employers see the value of mature workers - including their lower turnover rates - and are coming to recognize older workers are a viable way of filling talent gaps.

Older workers looking more glamorous to recruiters [Dow Jones via the Seattle Times]

And, A New Appeal for Older Workers? [eFinancialCareers]

Internal Opportunities

If you like accounting but are tiring of the public side, John Brausch, chair of the board of regents for the Institute of Certified Management Accountants, tells the Hartford Courant there are plenty of opportunities in management accounting.

The attraction: "Accountants in industry are much more concept-based than rules-based," he says. "Those who are certified earn about $10,000 more per year than their peers and, of course, longevity breeds higher salaries."

Despite Job Forecasts, Some Industries Are Looking [Hartford Courant]

Offshoring Grows

Here's a somewhat sobering item from Canada's Financial Post: Some accounting firms in Canada are learning the value of offshoring - from their colleagues in the U.S. Gary Marcus, a partner at the Toronto chartered accounting firm Horwath Orenstein, told the Post, ""We found the U.S. was getting into it very deep, primarily from the processing of U.S. tax returns."

Welcome to the growing world of finance and accounting outsourcing. What started out with billing, invoicing, general bookkeeping, accounts payable and receivables is now including tax preparation, even audit services.

According to NASSCOM, an Indian trade body representing the outsourcing business, high-end accounting work now accounts for 30% to 40% of the market.

Accounting ripe for outsourcing [Financial Post]

Not Fading Away

Jon Jacobs wrote a terrific piece for eFinancialCareers:

Candidates imprisoned in the over-50 career ghetto might draw inspiration from an unusual source: the Rolling Stones.

I'll let it speak for itself. Read it here.

On Becoming a CFO

If your aim is to become a CFO, Leslie Stevens-Huffman interviewed two in California about their career paths.

Forget everything you've heard. The road to the CFO's chair doesn't always pass through public accounting firms and big company detours that could leave you stranded, staring at spreadsheets in your cubicle for decades. Here's some advice from two CFOs about how to break into the management game.

Here's her story.

Three Good Reasons to Pay Taxes

Well, what to do with the story of Wesley Snipes, movie star, tax evader, and soon-to-be federal prisoner. A judge yesterday sentenced him to three years in jail for failing to file tax returns - the maximum sentence. I suppose it'd be a career story, if I was blogging about film careers. (Use your jail time wisely to evaluate your next big feature.) It's sure a tax story, if only a little one. Maybe it just confirms that tax accountants have plenty to do. Whatever. If you haven't seen any of the reports - and I don't see how you could have missed them - here's one of the tamer versions. (Google's only showing something like 700 news stories about it.)

CPA to CFO, By Way of Law School

Richard Ramos started as a CPA, went to law school, and now is CFO of Martiz Inc., which provides a variety of services to corporations. CFO magazine has a good case study of an unusual track to the chief financial officer's chair:

…while working on what he calls a KPMG "swat team" for an international client that was acquiring a number of U.S. businesses, a new idea gelled. The work involved interaction with M&A attorneys, and Ramos began to observe that the legal and financial aspects of the projects fit together snugly, like puzzle pieces. How attractive would he be to corporate employers if he added legal training to his accounting background?

Plenty, he figured - enough that his new long-term goal became to one day land a CFO job. All that stood in his way were three years of law school, then practicing law for a few years, then finding a corporate job, then working his way up to CFO.

Fast forward less than six years, and it was mission accomplished — with the help of a shortcut. Not only did Ramos take a most unusual route through law school on his way to a CFO chair, he achieved an even rarer feat: His very first corporate title was CFO.

How he got there is in the story. Worth reading, if you want to be a CFO.

Rare Career Path: CPA, JD, CFO [CFO]

Bonadio & Co. Adds Space for Acquisition

Rochester, N.Y., firm Bonadio & Co. has added space to its nearby Amherst office ahead of a possible acquisition. Buffalo Business First says the firm is eying an unidentified area firm, and has added enough space for up to 15 more people. Philip Mann, a Bonadio managing partner, said the firm wants to grow its nonprofit practice and high-level tax consulting in Amherst.

Rochester CPAs eye Buffalo acquisition [Buffalo Business First]

Gregory Sharer & Stuart Hires New COO

Leslie Pelley, a former business journalist, has joined Gregory Sharer & Stuart PA in St. Petersburg, Fla., as chief operating officer. For the past 25 years, she's worked at manufacturers and non-profits - including the Poynter Institute, the not-for-profit owner of the St. Petersburg Times.

Leslie Pelley joins accounting firm Gregory Sharer as COO [Tampa Bay Business Journal]

For CFOs Fired After Restating, Few Reprieves

When companies fudge their reporting, the employment market as well as the financial market exacts a toll on the CFO, a new academic study found.

CFOs of companies that restate results not only are more likely to be fired, they are also much less likely to find another job as a CFO within four years after termination. That's the gist of a study of 167 restating companies by professors Denton Collins of the University of Memphis, Austin Reitenga of the University of Alabama, and University of Arkansas faculty members Juan Manuel Sanchez and Adi Masli, summarized in CFO Magazine.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act is part of the reason. Since Sarbox, just one in six CFOs (17 percent) fired by restating companies found new employment at the CFO level or higher within four years, the professors found. Before Sarbox, that figure was 37 percent. (However, the percentage of fired CFOs who found new work of any kind dipped only slightly after Sarbox, from 54 percent to 47 percent.) The odds of getting re-employed as a CFO at a public company were even lower.

The professors write:

Firms are less willing in the post-Sarbox period to hire a former CFO with a tarnished reputation. This appears to be consistent with the intent of the legislation to increase executive accountability….The reputational effects of being implicated in an accounting misstatement can be potentially devastating to the subsequent career path of the executive.

Restating: The Career Killer [CFO]

Q&A: Krista McMasters of Clifton Gunderson

What does it take to reach the top in public accounting? JobsintheMoney News asked Krista McMasters, who recently became the first woman named to chief executive officer at a Top 25 public accounting firm, to share her best advice for those who want to follow the trail she's blazed at Clifton Gunderson in Milwaukee.

Dona DeZube conducted the interview. Read it here.

We're Slipping

Manpower just released a study about the most in-demand fields and accounting and finance has slipped to number nine (it was number five last year).

The Manpower survey of nearly 43,000 employers across 32 countries and territories asked which positions were the most difficult to fill due to lack of available talent.

The results were:

2008 Hot Jobs

1. Skilled Manual Trades
2. Sales Representatives
3. Technicians
4. Engineers
5. Management/Executives
6. Laborers
7. Administrative Assistants/PAs
8. Drivers
9. Accounting & Finance staff
10. IT Staff

What’s behind the drop? “Our anecdotal insight is that other jobs could have become more in demand and edged out accounting,” answers a Manpower spokesperson. “Or, it could be due to the downturn of the economy and financial institutions being impacted.”

Not to worry, though, as long as your occupation makes the list, you’re in good shape. “Accounting and finance staff are still very much in demand because they’re in the Top 10,” she points out.

Play Leapfrog, Not Catchup

A candidate's present compensation can hurt their chances if it's too high, but won't help if it's low. So beware of sticking with the same employer over a string of single-digit annual raises which could eventually leave your pay below the market average.

That's one message of a Wall Street Journal column that explains how employers decide what to offer and explores what it takes to get an above-average package in today's tough market. Although writer Sarah E. Needleman ranges over a number of industries, much of the column's advice can apply to finance.

A few key points:

• If you're underpaid, you'll probably need to job-hop two or more times to catch up with the market average. That's because a candidate's current compensation is the most important determinant of a new employer's offer. And it gets worse: being cheap labor won't even make you a more attractive candidate, according to Chicago recruiter Rick Slayton, president of Slayton Search Partners.
  
  
• A 10 percent pay boost is currently the upper end of the premium a candidate should expect for making a lateral move. If jumping to a higher level of responsibility, the premium is 15 - 20 percent.
  
  
• Even in today's soft labor market, employers will pay up for people with particular skills that are "in short supply and are critical to a business's bottom line." Those candidates can also obtain perks like flexible schedules and work-from-home arrangements that were once limited to established employees.
  
  
• If you have a unique background, "Make it easy for an employer to spot" by highlighting it in your résumé and cover letter.
  
  
• Because responsibility and title aren't necessarily synonymous, be sure you know the details of a position's responsibilities when evaluating its pay. "You have to make the job bigger through something you bring to the table in order to justify a larger pay package," David Wise, senior consultant at Hay Group, told Needleman.
  
  
• Many employers are more willing to grant a one-time signing bonus than raise their initial salary offer. Sign-on bonus arrangements tied to performance, with a clawback provision if agreed goals aren't met, are increasingly popular.

Tough Times Don't Mean Tough Luck on Salary [WSJ's CareerJournal]

'Fairness Opinion' Expertise Sought in N.Y.

New York and New Jersey CPAs with fairness opinion expertise are in hot demand. Just what's driving the boom, and what skill sets are needed to get into this growing area of accounting?

Here's our story.

Quitting Time?

The busy season's over, which means some people may be about to make their move and jump to another firm. I stumbled across this post by blogger Monica O'Brien today, in which she argues against giving two weeks notice to your current employer before you depart for the new one.

So my suggestion is to shorten the two week notice to about three days. This is ample time to wrap up assignments, which if you are truly a good employee you would have mostly done while on the job hunt anyway. This is enough time to plan a nice lunch with your team, say goodbye to the people you most care about, and not have to explain yourself to the people you probably won’t see again. And above all, this is enough time to avoid the awkwardness that comes when everyone in the room knows you are leaving your current job.

I've got to say, this is lousy advice.

I'd point out giving three days notice is a fine way to alienate the partners in your current firm, who are going to have to scramble rather than plan a transition. If you're leaving clients behind, they'll be less-than-thrilled to be given such short shrift, and that's something they're going to pin on you, more than your old firm. Your employer, after all, isn't the one giving such short notice. I suspect your co-workers may feel left in the lurch if there are projects you were involved in. And if you have an in-house mentor? Something tells me that relationship will be pretty much gone.

I don't argue with Monica's description of how an employee feels once they've made the decision to jump. When you've accepted an offer from a new firm, you want to get on with it. But her discussion is all about her own desires and assumptions, and doesn't really consider how her current employers will react. It's important not to burn your bridges, and leaving too quickly might make you feel relieved in the short term, but it could haunt you over the course of several years.

And ask yourself this: How would your NEW employer feel if someone left them so suddenly? They may look at your actions and say "Hmmmm."

Why Two Weeks Notice May Be Too Much Notice [Twenty Set]

E&Y Shakes Up The Landscape Overseas

Ernst & Young will integrate its 87 national practices in Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa into a single unit, which it calls the "EMEIA Area." At the same time, its Far East partners have approved a similar integration of units in 15 countries and territories.

The Financial Times calls the reorganization "the biggest shake-up of the professional services industry since the collapse of Arthur Andersen."

The 3,330 partners in the affected firms must agree on the changes, and votes are scheduled in May following a roadshow by senior executives. E&Y plans fully to merge its 45 European partnerships into a single legal entity – a practice made possible by recent changes in European regulation but still subject to voting by each partnership. Firms elsewhere will be formally combined where laws permit.

Jim Turley, global chairman and chief executive, said: “The moves reflect the increasingly global nature of our borderless business environment, which is changing the expectations of both our clients and our people – and which requires nothing less than a truly global approach.”

The change will also lay down a challenge to rivals PwC, KPMG and Deloitte to step up their own integration efforts or devise alternatives. Although they are global brands, the four are, in fact, networks of largely autonomous national firms, which has sometimes led to patchy quality.

The head of E&Y's UK practice, Mark Otty, has been nominated to be the EMEIA Area managing partner. David Sun and Jim Hassett will be co-managing partners in the Far East Area.

Here's E&Y's press release, and the story from the FT.

Duff & Phelps Moves into D.C.

Duff & Phelps has opened a Washington, D.C., area office by purchasing Dubinsky & Company, a Bethesda, Md., firm specializing in dispute and litigation support, fraud and forensic accounting, valuation and expert services. Bruce Dubinsky, the firm's president, becomes a Duff & Phelps managing director.

The firm says the acquisition complements its existing dispute and legal management business, which Managing Director Dan Peters calls "a growing area." The company said the acquisition provides a platform on which it can build out its services in the Washington area.

Dubinsky & Company has particular expertise in providing expert witness and forensic accounting services for companies in financial services, Duff & Phelps says. Its clients include law firms, corporations and U.S. government agencies.

Here's the press release.

It's Getting Tough for Everyone Else to Find Work

Accounting and finance workers are getting a bit nervous about the economy, even though there’s no evidence of a hiring slow down in their sector of the job market.

The Mergis Group’s Accounting and Finance Employee Confidence Index, which measures overall confidence among U.S. accounting and finance workers, recently hit its lowest level since its inception in 2005, according to data that Mergis will put out on Monday.

Fifty-six percent of the just over 400 professionals surveyed believe there were fewer jobs available during the first quarter of 2008, up 15 percentage points from the previous quarter. Only 14% said there were more jobs available, with the remaining 30% thinking the volume of jobs was about the same.

Overall, 66% of accounting and finance workers said the economy is getting weaker (no surprise), and the amount of workers who said they were likely to look for a new job in the next 12 months rose to 35%, up from 28% at the end of 2007.

“Given the volatility within this sector over the last few months, the continued decline of the Accounting and Finance Confidence Index is not surprising. Workers are starting to be concerned with the current economy, but in reality we are seeing a host of positive hiring trends,” said Jack Causa, senior vice president and group executive for The Mergis Group, which is Spherion Corp.’s professional placement subsidiary.

“In our business, we are continuing to see positive growth in this sector, especially for those with hard-to-find skills such as tax, financial reporting, corporate auditing and accounting for derivatives,” said Causa. “This growth, coupled with the U.S. Department of Labor projection that candidates in accounting and finance have the best job prospects of any industry in 2008, suggests that 2009 should be just as robust.”

At some level, accounting and finance professionals know he’s right. A whopping 82% said they were "not likely" to lose their job in the next 12 months. And, if they did decide to move, 58% were “confident” in their ability to find a new job while only 19% were “not confident.”

Of course I'm confident that if you want to find a really great job, it's waiting for you here.

More Hiring Managers Look at Online Networks

Nearly two-third of executives (62 percent) say online networking sites like LinkedIn will become useful in finding candidates in the next three years. (I'd argue they are already, but that's just me.) Thirty five percent say they'll use social networking sites, like MySpace or Facebook, to find candidates in the next three years. This all comes from a survey by Robert Half International.

There's nothing really new in these numbers, but the survey does reinforce a general trend that has online networking becoming more and more of a mainstream recruiting tool. It also reinforces the idea that you should remember potential employers may be looking at the pictures, thoughts and what have you that you post on these sites. Though some people maintain social networking sites should be, in effect, out of bounds when it comes to making work-related decisions, that's not reality.

Here's the whole press release, if you're interested.

San Francisco Firm on Fast Track

CPA job seekers on the look-out for firms on the rise take notice. Burr Pilger and Mayer took top honors as California's fastest growing accounting firm in 2007. In a state with firms like Armanino McKenna, Holthouse Carlin & Van Trigt, and Novogradac & Co. posting 20 to 30 percent gains - or more - that's no small feat.

Here's our story.

Finding the Top Firms

WebCPA has posted its Top 100 highest U.S. revenue-generating tax and accounting firms.

The Big Four were ranked:

#1 Deloitte & Touche $9.85 billion in net, up 12.33%,
# 2 Ernst & Young $7.56 billion in revenue up 9.74%,
#3 PricewaterhouseCoopers $7.46 billion in revenue up 7.81%,
#4 KPMG $5.36 billion in revenue up 11.58%.

Some smaller firms had outstanding revenue growth, including Burr, Pilger & Mayer, San Francisco, where revenues rose 51.56% and Kearney & Co., Alexandria, Va., where revenues were up 52.25%, according to the 2008 Accounting Today Top 100 Firms list.

The ranking also shows the number of offices the firm has, as well as the number of partners, professionals and total employees.

That led us to wonder if perhaps job seekers could use the ranking as a job-finding homing device by targeting the firms that had the highest percentage change in revenues and the lowest percentage increase in staff.

We ran that theory by Bill Carlino, editorial director for Accountants Media Group and editor-in-chief of Accounting Today, who gently burst our bubble.

When asked if our homing device would work, he answered, in true editorial fashion, “Yes and no.”

As all accountants know, size is relative. “For example, there may be a firm ranked lower down that had a higher percentage increase in revenue,” Carlino pointed out, “but their increase may be measured in thousands of dollars, than if say, KPMG had a much smaller percentage increase in revenue that may in fact be several hundred million dollars.”

Size counts in hiring, too. ”In sheer numbers, the Big Four (KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young and Deloitte) and the firms just below that (Grant Thornton, BDO, RSM McGladrey) always hire hundreds and even thousands of entry-level people each year,” Carlino said. “So, percentage-wise, that would probably be [your] best bet in landing a job.”

We sought a second opinion from Steve Mayer, the managing partner who presided over the nearly 52% revenue increase at Burr, Pilger & Mayer. About half of his firm’s nearly $16 million in revenue growth was organic, while the rest came through mergers and acquisitions, meaning the firm likely picked up the accounting employees associated with the acquired firms.

Mayer attributes the firm’s success to a commitment to three tenets: offer full services, have fun, be socially committed.

“Every time I interview someone or talk to a new client we talk about those three things,” he says. “We end up getting good people. And, we have low turn-over -- 5%. If you take out the people who leave because they have a baby or move out of the area, it’s less than that.”

In the past three years, he’s started hiring employees from outside accounting, including economists and bankers (who make up for what they don’t know about accounting by what they do know about relationship building).

“We try to hire people who are good, nice and smart, who excelled in whatever job they were in,” Mayer explains. “When you have these different types of people you grow consulting and open windows of opportunity because bankers have contacts that are not the same contacts we have.”

Our conclusion: Job homing device or not, the Top 100 makes interesting reading that’s useful in identifying potential employers.

Roundup of the Week

Our roundup of hires and moves is online. See it here.

Merger Perspective

Tzinberg, Goldenberg & Dowdy of Glen Carbon, Ill., mergeed recently with Stone Carlie of Clayton, Mo. Afterwards, Partner Charles Tzinberg was interviewed by the Belleville News-Democrat. It's not ground-breaking, but it's an interesting discussion.

Glen Carbon CPA firm's merger brings opportunities [Belleville News-Democrat]

Sterling Axes 'Accounting-Related' Jobs

PNC Financial Services is cutting between 325 and 425 jobs from the ranks of Sterling Financial Corp., most of them accounting-related. PNC, which acquired East Petersburg, Pa.-based Sterling less than two weeks ago, said most of the positions duplicate work already done by existing PNC employees. Sterling owns a number of banks in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware. PNC purchased Sterling in the wake of a $200 million fraud scheme committed at a former Sterling unit.

PNC will cut up to 425 jobs at Sterling [Lancaster Online]

Call Me Anything I Want

Would you jump to a new firm if it agreed to give you any title you wanted? Like, say, Chief of the Known Accounting Universe? Don't laugh. More companies are dangling "chief" titles as lures to keep current leaders onboard as well as to entice new employees.

Here's our story.

After you've read it, check out this little site to pick your very own title.

Going Out Tonight?

It occurs to me: If you're reading this today, you must be really well-organized. So, if you're in the area of Marshall, Mich., go take advantage of Winston's Pub's (in Schuler's Restaurant) annual tax party. What's a tax party? It's where you don't may sales tax on food or drinks, and dinner's priced at - wait for it - $10.40.

Attention accounting professionals and grieving tax payers [Battle Creek Enquirer]

Forensic Firm Hires on Long Island

Forensic accounting and computer firm Kessler International is adding staff at its office at Port Jefferson Station, on Long Island. Though the firm hasn't specified how many additions it made, it cites "an increasing demand for forensic accounting and computer forensics services locally on Long Island" as the reason for the move. Kessler's staff includes accountants, former state prosecutors, law enforcement agents, attorneys, certified forensic CPA's, certified internal controls auditors, undercover investigators and researchers.

Here's the press release.

Boston Campus Recruiting Steady - For Now

Campus recruiting at Boston-area business schools doesn't appear to be dramatically impacted by the economy's recent turmoil.

Here's our story.

Dan McCure Heads Sutherland Global FAO

Dan McCure has become head of Finance & Accounting Outsourcing Services for Sutherland Global Services, a Business Process Outsourcing firm based in Rochester, N.Y. He's responsible for FAO unit's operations as well as developing new services. He joined from Perot Systems, where he headed the Finance and Accounting BPO Services. Before that, he was with Accenture. A CPA, McCue graduated with a degree in accounting from Southeastern Louisiana University. He's based in the Dallas area.

Here's a press release.

Diversity in Michigan

Clayton & McKervey in Southfield, Mich., gets a nice mention in a Crain's Detroit Business story on diversity:

Southfield-based Clayton & McKervey P.C. has seen its diverse staff help grow new business. The accounting firm has built a multilingual staff, with 13 to 15 languages spoken among its 65 employees. And, the firm holds cultural training. About nine to 12 months ago, the firm hired a Russian-born CPA, which ultimately led to a new Russian client. “We have had this happen with Chinese and Mexican clients as well,” said Kevin McKervey, shareholder in charge of international services.

The whole story's pretty interesting.

Companies must set goals for diversity [Detroit Business]

Q&A With Deloitte & Touche Vice Chair

The Chicago Tribune has a brief Q&A with Tom Flanagan, vice chairman of Deloitte & Touche, based in Chicago. Read it here.

Q: Did that marketing education make a difference in your career?

A: When I joined Touche, I immediately started incorporating marketing strategies into my assignments. I focused on how to serve clients better and market to specific industries.

It's a quick read.

Auditing firm executive Tom Flanagan reviews road to success [Chicago Tribune]

Tech-Risk Experts Needed in New York

Considering the nature of business today and the growth of legal and financial reporting requirements, it's not surprising technology risk professionals are needed by many corporations. The demand is especially critical in the New York and New Jersey area, which is good news for some CPAs.

Here's the story.

It's Challenge Time

From Marketing Maven Maria:

JobsintheMoney is giving away a $1,000 American Airlines Gift Card to one lucky winner... and who doesn't need a vacation after tax season?

Test your knowledge and compete against other finance professionals in the JobsintheMoney Accounting Challenge.

You just might win a $1,000 American Airlines Gift Card!

Take the challenge here.

Defense Accounting Agency Pressured to Diversify

About 3 percent of the staff of the Defense Finance and Accounting Service's Rome, N.Y., are minorities, and that's not sitting well with local leaders.

About seven minority candidates have been offered jobs at the firm since January, company officials said.

But the Rev. Erwin Shepphard said “no real” progress has been made since the last meeting.

“They blame the system. Race is a part of it,” he said. “It is no more than another tactic to hold down the minorities.”

After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, security concerns were heightened, and many firms now require security checks, officials said. These can take months because of under-staffed federal offices, officials said.

“The system does not discriminate,” said Roy Higgins, director of the local office at Griffiss Business and Technology Park.

But such answers weren’t convincing enough for some applicants.

Leaders: DFAS should hire more minorities [Utica Observer-Dispatch]

Weekly Roundup is Here

Our weekly wrapup of hiring and promotions is online. Read it here.

Negotiating Tips

When you get a job offer, express gratitude but don't be shy – you'll have nothing to lose and much to gain by negotiating details of your package. And don't let a softening economy scare you into calling off a job search or lowballing your salary target. That's the word from Bettina Seidman, a long-time career management coach and outplacement consultant.

Her tips on negotiating a variety of issues beyond base and bonus - including a few you might not have thought of - are in our story here.

An Inside Look at International Assignments

Ever wonder what it’s like to do a temporary overseas assignment? Chicago Business recently ran a feature detailing the experiences of a handful of KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers accountants who took short-term international assignments.

KPMG’s Mark Brusius says he’d traveled a lot before he accepted a temporary posting to Kochi, India, but still worried about all sorts of things. "My concerns were around normal, day-to-day things — food, health care, transportation," he told the paper. He went anyway, figuring "good or bad, it is only three months.”

A KPMG middle manager shares his take on Amsterdam (his family worries about legalized drugs and prostitution), while a PwC senior associate talks about working in Sydney, Australia (her mother worries she’ll like it and stay).

Our conclusion: Parents of accountants worry too much, so don’t listen when they tell you it’s dangerous to work outside the U.S. An overseas assignment is a great career development tool.

How Accountants See Jobs in Non-Profits

Compared to the rest of the people working in the non-profit sector, accounting and finance professionals are more likely to be male, have an MBA and work in middle management.

That's according to a survey from Commongood Careers in Boston, a retained search firm focused on non-profits.

Here's the story.

Debate Goes On in California

More on the measure in California that would ease restrictions on out-of-state CPAs working there.

The (state accounting) board and an association representing the profession want to return to a system of allowing out-of-state accountants to provide many services without notifying the state or paying a fee.

Not so fast, says a consumer advocacy group that closely monitors the accounting board. Considering recent accounting scandals, California consumers need the protections created by the 2004 bill more than ever, the Center for Public Interest Law says.

The center sees the attempt to reverse the law as part of a nationwide push by the accounting profession to loosen oversight that increased after the Enron scandal, which brought down accounting powerhouse Arthur Andersen.

Read all the way to the end and ask yourself: Are you troubled?

Bill targets California's accountant regulations [Sacramento Bee]

Big Four Make the Diversity Top 50

Diversity Inc. is out with its 2008 Top 50 list and all four of the Big Four have made the grade. PricewaterhouseCoopers snagged the number four spot, while Deloitte and Ernst & Young came in 16th and 17th, respectively. KPMG clocked in at number 49.

To make the list, a company has to have at least 1,000 employees and someone in human resources willing to fill out a diversity survey with nearly 200 questions.

While you’re at the Diversity Web site, you might want to check out their specialty lists, including Top 10 company lists for Latinos, Asians, African-Americans, people with disabilities and executive women.

There’s even a Top 10 company list for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered) employees, which Deloitte, E&Y and PwC also made, just FYI. None of the Big Four made the Top 10 for African-Americans’ or executive womens’ lists.

Accounting at Lehigh

Lehigh University's accounting program got some good press in BusinessWeek, apparently (I looked for the item, but couldn't find it.) That led the school's newspaper to profile the accounting department. The money paragraphs:

"While 99 percent of all students, regardless of major, find what they're looking for after graduation," said Donna Goldfeder, director of career services; "Lehigh seniors, who major in accounting, usually find jobs for post-graduation before any other major."

Goldfeder said this was because of Lehigh's relationship with recruiters, particularly (from) PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst and Young, Deloitte and KPMG.

Accounting department ranked No. 1 in magazine [Brown and White]

California Firms Leverage Growth

Fast growth has been a common theme among California accounting firms. In Accounting Today's annual survey of the country's largest firms, four in the Golden State were among the 20 fastest growing. Revenues at Burr, Pilger & Mayer, Armanino McKenna, Novogradac & Co. and Holthouse Carlin & Van Trigt each rose by at least 23 percent.

Here's our story.

From College to the Real World: Start Early

When it comes to getting their toes into the waters of the real world, the sooner college students start, the better. Bentley College Sophomore Leadership Program is an example of an effort to facilitate the transition from student to professional, early on:

Mostly designed for students interested in accounting, finance, and information technology, a number of noteworthy employers like the Big Four accounting firms (Deloitte, Ernst &Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and KPMG) actively recruit the best and brightest students from all over the country to spend a couple days with them, acquiring leadership skills for success while also networking with firm employees.

Do these programs work?

Many students and recruiters say the difference can be these leadership programs which not only introduce you to a firm, but help you make networking connections that could potentially result in an internship offer at the end of the three days. Of course, not taking part or being accepted into a program does not mean that an internship with that firm isn't possible. However, it is just the little things like this that help you to stand out and get noticed.

Big Four accounting summer leadership programs inevitably pay off for sophomores [The Vanguard]

Weekly Roundup

Our weekly roundup of promotions, hires and moves is only. See it here.

Awards for Diverse Accounting Students

The AICPA Foundation plans to provide $400,000 to diverse accounting students. During this academic year, 137 students received awards under the program, says AccountingWEB.

Qualified students must be enrolled in a full-time undergraduate or graduate accounting program for the 2008 – 2009 academic year and intend to pursue the CPA designation upon graduation. Applicants must have a 3.3 overall and cumulative GPA and have successfully completed at least thirty semester hours of college coursework and a minimum of six hours in accounting courses. This scholarship is available only to students who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents and who have an ethnic minority background.

Details are here.

Master's Program at Western Washington

Western Washington University's College of Business and Economics and Department of Accounting will unveil a new Master of Professional Accounting program tonight.

Scheduled to begin this fall, the program is designed to help students improve their accounting expertise and develop the skills required for licensure in Washington state. In addition to taking the Graduate Management Admission Test, students must have earned a bachelor's degree with an accounting emphasis and have a minimum 3.0 GPA.

Applications for the fall semester are due May 1, and can be accessed here.

Despite Crunch, Hedge Funds Hire Accountants

Discussion of hedge fund careers usually focuses on portfolio management, where top performers enjoy rock-star status and routinely pull seven- or eight-figure incomes. But funds' need for additional bodies actually is strongest in supporting roles - like accounting.

Here's our story.

Is IFRS vs. GAAP Already Over?

America needs to stop obsessing over accounting rules minutia and learn to trust accounting professionals to follow standard accounting principles. That’s the gist of what PricewaterhouseCoopers U.S. Chairman and Senior Partner Dennis Nally said in a speech last week at the Union League Club in New York.

Instead of crying over the way that the rest of the world used to use U.S. GAAP because they wanted access to our capital markets, we should be looking at why 100 countries already allow the use of principles-based International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), he said.

“The fact that our present system is characterized by a set of very detailed rules—which inhibit making sensible judgments-is, in my opinion, an important reason why U.S. GAAP is not appealing outside the U.S.,” he said. “Our system has created too much confrontation and suspicion around the key relationship underlying any effective capital markets, and that is the relationship between companies and investors.”

As it turns out, “the notion that financial reporting is grounded in mathematical certainty is a common misperception,” he added.

With remarks list that, we thought you might want to read the rest of his speech, which PwC has posted on its web site (look for the IFRS comments starting about half-way through the text).

Climate Change and You, the CPA

The U.S. hasn't signed the Kyoto accords, but it's a reasonable bet that we'll begin paying more attention to climate change sometime after, say, Jan. 20, 2009. In other countries, accountants are mulling the impact climate accords may have on business. This from the CEO Forum in Australia:

Aligning fiscal policy, accounting and corporate reporting - the traditional pillars supporting the operation of global capital markets - will be critical for the effective operation of a carbon-constrained economy. Until the accounting treatment of the AETS (Australian emissions trading scheme) is clarified, the challenge for corporate Australia is how best to communicate to the capital markets the implications for shareholder value of a carbon-priced environment.

I'm sure we're not the first to make this observation, but a new specialty is taking shape.

Climate change: accounting and tax implications [CEO Forum]

Help Your Uncle Mop Up

In the banking world, clean-up follows crisis, just as surely as night follows day. So if you’ve been jilted out of commercial, investment or mortgage banking accounting, you’ll find Uncle Sam is staffing up.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) says it’s going to pick up 69 temporary employees and 69 permanent staffers in its division of resolutions and receiverships over the next few months. Those jobs will be based in Dallas, Texas, which became a hot spot for workouts during the late 1980s.

An FDIC spokesperson said they’ll be re-hiring retirees with experience, as well as new employees. Those who know that RTC stood for Resolution Trust Corporation and those who think they’d enjoy unwinding institutions to recapitalizes the deposit insurance fund can check for current openings and register to get emails here.

It stands to reason that the FDIC won’t be the only player in the federal sector in need credit crisis clean up help. You may also want to check in with The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Federal Reserve, the Federal Housing Administration (where mortgage volume has exploded) and the government-sponsored mortgage enterprises, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Detroit Firm's Focus is Over the Horizon

Clayton & McKervey serves only middle-market entrepreneurs who want to expand globally. Such focus makes it easy to train employees, but harder to find the accountants it wants: Those who already know both IFRS and GAAP.

Here's our story.

Weekly Roundup is Here

Our latest wrapup of hiring and promotions is online. Read it here.

Interview Horror Stories

Mary, a hiring manager in Florida, posted some of the trials she's had to endure as an interviewer as a comment to our story on things not to do during an interview. They're too good not to share here:

I have interviewed probably over 1,000 people over the years. I have been amazed at some of the crazy things people do or say. Here are some memorable ones:

I had several interviews scheduled at a nice hotel lobby (I was traveling to another state to hire and train a branch manager) I walked into the lobby and asked was anyone there for the interview. (someone from the home office had scheduled the interviews and had told them that I would be arriving from location and they would need to introduce themselves and provide me with a resume) Only one gentlemen immediately stood up and introduced himself. I greeted him and sat down and began the interview. 15 minutes later another guy stood up, came over to our table, interrupted the interview and told me off for interviewing out of order. Then he came back again 10 minutes later and interrupted me again, very rudely. Yet he still insisted he wanted to interview. Needless to say he wasn't hired.

People who bring up their sex lives during an interview for retail management.

People who try to bring someone else in the room while they are interviewing.

People who yell or even curse at support staff before or after an interview.... and still expect to be hired.

One guy leaned back and propped his feet on the table during the interview.

One guy didn't realize I was the interviewer and insulted me before he was called to the room. I sent him away.

One guy intervewed very well. I offered him the job and had the discussion regarding salary. He made a request to start at a salary that was at the top of the scale for that position. After discussion with my VP, I agreed and made him an offer at that salary point. He readily agreed and wanted to start right away. However, the next day I received a phone call from the receptionist at the corporate office. He had called and ask to speak with the male who had scheduled the interview, because he wanted to discuss his salary with him. (Incidently, the male was a parttimer who came in to do phone work.) He felt that as a guy he could obtain a salry bump (before working a day) by bypassing me. I decided to rescind his job offer immediately.

and the list could go on for hours..LOL

Six Things Not to Do During an Interview [JITM]

California Firms See Hiring Throughout 2008

Three of the country's largest and fastest growing firms - all California-based - say they anticipate adding both entry-level and experienced accountants during the remainder of the year. Armanino McKenna, Stonefield Josephson and Holthouse Carlin & Van Trigt each expect to hire at least 20 new CPAs in 2008, including multiple accountants with at least two or three years experience.

Read our story.

One Heck of a Holiday

Would you take a 20% discount on your salary if you knew it would lead to a one-year paid vacation after five years on the job? That’s the deal St. George Bank in Australia offered its 9,000 workers, according to a story from News.com.au.

Only a half-dozen employees took that offer. Another more popular program provides 10 weeks of vacation in exchange for a pay discount. About 500 employees have signed up for that.

Maybe the employees don’t expect they’ll still be there in five years. Maybe the employees don’t expect the bank to will still be there in five years -- can’t you just see an acquisition leading to an HR professional saying, “You think we owe you how much leave?” Or maybe, none of the employees know what they’d do with a whole year off.

Changing Landscape?

The way international accounting firms present themselves - as separate, loosely affiliated firms with no real responsibility for each other's actions - may have to change, writes Floyd Norris in the New York Times.

Some courts are cutting through the legal barriers - as one appeals court did in Florida this week - even as the big auditing firms find it necessary to impose controls and international coordination on their various affiliates. The firms need to assure that international accounting rules are interpreted the same way in London as they are in Frankfurt and Tokyo, no matter how many legally separate partnerships are involved.

The bottom line, he says: Accounting firms may have to change the way they're structured.

Global or Local? For Accounting Firms, It All Depends [NY Times]

Show Up, Show Off, Get On The Team

Globalization and increased regulation are making business more complex and causing multifaceted challenges for large and mid-sized businesses. To face them, more companies are creating cross-functional teams that include professionals from a variety of disciplines. This means opportunity for candidates who can be effective team players as well as great technicians.

Here are some tips.

Wanted: People People

Hiring managers and career experts often stress how essential communication skills are for advancement in accounting and finance. So, can it be a blunder to assert in a job interview that you're a "people person" and not a "numbers person"?

Bill Kennedy posed that question recently in his "Energized Accounting" blog on AccountingWeb. His starting point was a March 14 Toronto Globe and Mail story that ran down a list of "boneheaded" interview gaffes. One of them was "An accountant who insisted she was a 'people person' and not a 'numbers person.'"

That isn't necessarily a bad thing, in Kennedy's view – or ours. Of course, any accountant's first responsibility is getting the numbers right. But the idea that a "people person" accountant is a square peg in a round hole, strikes us as an outgrowth of the outdated stereotype of accountants as green-eyeshade types who churn out obscure reports and don't influence an organization's broad mission or strategy.

Kennedy writes:

Looked at from a broader perspective, the accounting profession needs more people people, i.e. accountants who focus on getting the message across to other people. I agree that getting the numbers right is our first priority, but what good are accurate financial statements if their message is not understood by the organization’s stakeholders?

Even in a highly technical area like accounting systems (Kennedy's own specialty), "we need good trainers, planners, implementers and project managers, all of which require excellent communications skills," he notes.

Accountants can be People People [AccountingWeb]

Weekly Roundup

Lots of hiring's going on in the Baltimore-Washington area. Details are in our weekly roundup.

A Note on Networking

Debra Feldman, a job-search consultant who operates as The Job Whiz, writes with some words on networking. Even if you're not looking for a job, it's important to maintain and develop the relationships that could lead you to a new position one day. (Debra notes that over 70 percent of new hires stem from personal recommendations - not the Internet, not a headhunter, not other means.) She suggests:

Design and build a network tailored to your career objectives. Establish connections to hiring decision makers, industry thought leaders, respected academics and other authorities in your field who frequently are asked to recommend candidates for openings in your industry.

Once you are connected, nurture the relationship emphasizing two-way communication. Networking is not a transaction-based experience but a long term investment developing meaningful and credible relationships. Maintain your networking contacts regularly through written correspondence, telephone communication and inperson meetings so you stay top of mind. Of course, it’s awkward to reach out when you are needy; that’s why it is important to stay in touch by exchanging ideas, information, and leads outside of job searching mode.

She's got some other interesting articles on her Web site, including an interesting take on "being a passive candidate."

CPAs Eyes Jobs as Recruiters, Consultants

For many New York-New Jersey CPAs, saying goodbye to the 80-hour work week entails leaving their corporate, Big Four or regional firm to pursue jobs at small consulting firms, specialized recruiters, and others.

Here's the story.

Deadly Accounting

Nothing makes your nice, quiet accounting job seem like a good idea faster than reading about someone with a deadly accounting job.

Portfolio.com writer Adam Piore’s profile of PricewaterhouseCoopers forensic accountant Al Vondra starts with what may be the greatest opening sentence ever used in an accounting story: “People don’t normally try to kill you for doing their taxes, but forensic accounting is a whole different ball game.”

If consulting for the U.S. Justice Department in Cleveland really is as exciting as Portfolio.com makes it sound, it’s probably time for someone to follow John Grisham’s lead and write a best-selling accounting thriller.

Get the plot for your first novel by reading the full story at: http://www.portfolio.com/careers/job-of-the-week/2008/03/10/Forensic-Accountant-Al-Vondra

Not Here... But There

The Israeli accounting firm Kost, Forer, Gabbay and Kasierer - Ernst & Young (Israel) is reportedly mulling lay-offs because of the turmoil in the U.S. financial markets, though the firm denies the rumors. Who knows whether or not it's true. It just struck me: When's the last time you saw a headline about layoffs from an accounting firm?

Top accounting firm faces possibility of lay-offs [Globes Online]

Social Networks and You

You may not find your next job by hanging around on Facebook or LinkedIn, but you sure can raise your professional profile.

Here's a Story.

Weekly Roundup

Our roundup of promotions, new hires and mergers is now online. Click here.

Focus on Mobility

The AICPA is focusing on easing mobility laws that allow CPAs to practice in multiple states. The group's president, Barry Melancon, told WebCPA the issue is "a priority for us and we're putting a lot of resources into it." To date mobility bills are in place in 12 states, and legislation in 22 others. Melancon also said the AICPA is encouraging more colleges to expand their accounting educations programs.

AICPA Advances CPA State Mobility [WebCPA]

Few Women See Financial Workplace Gains

Nearly all women in working finance believe they are paid less than men for the same work, and most don't feel they've made much progress when it comes to issues of parity.

Here's the story.

IRS Was First on Spitzer's Trail

The investigation that led to New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's troubles began not with prosecutors, not with the FBI, but with investigators in the Hauppauge, N.Y., offices of the IRS. Writes William K. Rashbaum in the New York Times:

The rendezvous that established Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s involvement with high-priced prostitutes occurred last month in one of Washington’s grandest hotels, but the criminal investigation that discovered the tryst began last year in a nondescript office building opposite a Dunkin’ Donuts on Long Island, according to law enforcement officials.

There, in the Hauppauge offices of the Internal Revenue Service, investigators conducting a routine examination of suspicious financial transactions reported to them by banks found several unusual movements of cash involving the governor of New York, several officials said.

The investigators working out of the three-story office building, which faces Veterans Highway, typically review such reports, the officials said. But this was not typical: transactions by a governor who appeared to be trying to conceal the source, destination or purpose of the movement of thousands of dollars in cash, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

And people say IRS work isn't glamorous.

Revelations Began in Routine Tax Inquiry [NY Times]

Corporate Options Abound in N.Y., N.J.

Accountants in the New York-New Jersey area are fast becoming well-respected experts in business issues beyond accounting, and are gearing up for choice spots in the boardroom.

Read the full story.

We Got Another Challenge for You

How well do you know finance and accounting rules and trivia? Our marketing department - always looking for ways to make friends - is offering a chance to test your knowledge and compete against other finance professionals in the JobsintheMoney Accounting Challenge. You could win $1,000. "Hurry," exhorts our Marketing Director Maria. "The Challenge ends on February 22nd!" (You'll need to register for JITM to participate.)

Check out the accounting challenge.

Wanted: Middle Managers

A new report says accounting firms continue to face a particularly acute shortage of mid- and senior-level staff.

Here's the story.

Next: Deloitte Branded Diapers?

How bad is the recruiting crunch? It's so bad Deloitte - along with some industrial and technology companies - is develop high school curricula, packaging it up and distributing it to high school classrooms around the country. Says today's Wall Street Journal:

In a recent class at Abraham Clark High School in Roselle, N.J., business teacher Barbara Govahn distributed glossy classroom materials that invited students to think about what they want to be when they grow up. Eighteen career paths were profiled, including a writer, a magician, a town mayor -- and five employees from accounting giant Deloitte LLP.

"Consider a career you may never have imagined," the book suggests. "Working as a professional auditor."

The curriculum, provided free to the public school by a nonprofit arm of Deloitte, aims to persuade students to join the company's ranks. One 18-year-old senior in Ms. Govahn's class, Hipolito Rivera, says the company-sponsored lesson drove home how professionals in all fields need accountants. "They make it sound pretty good," he says.

The point of all this? To get kids into "the pipeline" that, hopefully, one day gushes with newly minted accountants.

High Schools Add Classes Scripted by Corporations [WSJ]

P.S.: Marketing Crazed Maria gets credit for our headline

Weekly Roundup

Our roundup of accounting mergers and promotions is online. See it here.

A Note from San Francisco

eFinancialCareers says college recruiting trends indicate a healthy job market for financial professionals in San Francisco, at least for now. Although the story focuses on investment and securities professionals, it does contain this note:

Tech companies such as Google and Apple are continuing to hire people with financial backgrounds. However, these companies haven't been immune to the economic downturn. Shares of both, which were high-fliers last year, have slumped by more than 30 percent in 2008.

"Hiring from high-tech companies in the Bay Area remains strong," says Adam Zoia, managing partner at Glocap, a New York-based executive search firm whose clients include private equity funds, hedge funds and investment banks. "There is an ongoing shortage, particularly of accountants and other operational staff, and the market for A-caliber investment professional talent remains tight nation-wide, apart from in select areas which have been hard hit by the recent credit market turmoil."

San Francisco Remains Strong for MBAs [eFinancialCareers]

More to Work Than Work

There's always discussion about how Millennials, Gen Y'ers, whatever you want to call them view work in a way that's different from us older folks. You know, they want balance and fulfillment and all that. We all complain about it, because we're jealous. In any case, Liza Porteus Viana in Portfolio magazine has a great piece on the subject, focusing on some financial refugees who turned to creating Web services.

Says Marian Salzman, a trendspotter and executive vice president at J. Walter Thompson, of Millennial workers: “I don’t think they loathe their jobs. I think they loathe the demands the job puts on them.” A 2004 Northwestern Mutual survey of 1,700 recent college grads found that 73 percent said how they spend their time on the job is more important than how much money they make, while 70 percent said money is not the best measure of success.

Escape From Corporate America [Portfolio]

CFOs See Slowdown in Hiring

Chief financial officers expect hiring activity in accounting and finance to slow during the second quarter, with the great majority seeing no change in their hiring levels at all.

Here's our story.

New Chief of NABA

The Washington Post has an interview with Gregory Johnson, the recently installed executive director of the National Association of Black Accountants.

When you look at the number of African American CPAs in the country, by one estimate there are approximately 6,000. That's about 1 percent of all CPAs. That tells you mentors and role models are probably not there. How many moms have suggested to their kids, become a doctor, become a lawyer? Our motto is "lifting as we climb." We need to work on awareness, what the profession is about, and through that create opportunity for this generation.

Tackling Accounting's Long Racial Division [Washington Post]

North-South Gap in California Salaries

If you're an accountant looking to earn more in California, consider this advice: Head north.

The story's here.

Top Accounting Firms

In case you haven't seen it, Financial Week's list of the country's top accounting firms is here.

All told, these companies employ more than 124,000 CPAs who perform work for 7,814 public company clients. The biggest part of their aggregate revenue stream by far is audit and accounting services at $21.2 billion (57%), followed by tax services at $9.4 billion (26%) and management consulting services at $4.3 billion (12%).

The List: Top Accounting Firms [Financial Week]

The Freelance Life

The accounting shortage is giving CPAs who'd rather not settle down a chance to pursue their trade without giving up their independence. Writing in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune, Neal St. Anthony looks at the freelance accounting life through the eyes of "veteran accountants and financial analysts" Emmy Perrizo and Debra Deanovic. "No longer are they hostage to reorganizations, a new manager's whims and extra work on nights and weekends just to hang on to their rungs of the corporate ladder," he writes.

"I can count on myself and I don't have to worry about doing some work or some job that I don't want to do," Perrizo said. "In a permanent position, there are fewer options. I had more seniority in some of these consulting positions than anybody on the staff."

These two women work through placement agencies to choose tax, merger, foreign or other projects of their liking, lasting for several months to more than a year. Demand has never been higher in the Twin Cities and nationally for veteran financial analysts, accountants and even information technology professionals at some companies, according to a study released Friday by Robert Half, the placement and recruiting firm.

And, the kicker, to me:

And Salo, another Twin Cities firm that places financial professionals, last month commissioned research with the Minnesota Society of CPAs that revealed that there will be a shortage of about 7,300 accountants in the Twin Cities within several years.

Carrying CPA credentials, these bounty hunters in demand [Star-Tribune]