OPINION
From the September 17, 2004
Letter to the Editor
Dear Editor,
Want to know how the economy is really doing? Just ask a CPA. We know what the economy is like at ground level.
But this year, we seem to be divided in our opinions.
Columnist Rick Telberg's soundings of 700 CPAs this summer found that about half think the economy will improve during the next 12 months, while the rest think it will be more of the same. You can find his column at www.cpa2biz.com.
These differences of opinion are stark, Telberg writes. Some say business is great while others say everyone they know is out of work. This sounds like red states versus blue states.
Still, Telberg found that clear majorities of CPAs see these problems in the current economic picture:
-- lack of affordable health care;
-- new government rules and regulations such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act;
-- constricted access to financing;
-- pressure to cut payrolls;
-- tight capital spending budgets.
Ironically, one CPA told Telberg that he's been having a great year on account of the Enron scandal. That CPA reports: 'The demand for auditors and experienced accountants has gone through the roof.'
And another CPA adds: 'The outlook for smaller CPA firms is very good as they experience the continuing trickle-down effects of the new financial industry regulations.'
-- Tom Louderback, Louisville
© 2004 American City Business Journals Inc.
Saturday, September 25, 2004
Friday, September 17, 2004
Never Eat Lunch Alone Again
...And other essential career and marketing tips from the experts.
by Rick Telberg
At Large
There was a time when (and there still are places where) marketing and accounting mixed like oil and water - they didn't. In fact, until 1977 it was actually illegal to try to promote accounting services.
Even today, marketing is considered irrelevant, unimportant, or unprofessional by too many in the profession.
In fact, marketing is integral to any and every business, every career, every professional. If you're part of the free-enterprise system, you're already marketing, whether you know it or not, and whether you like it or not.
That, at least to Sally Glick, chief marketing officer of J.H. Cohn CPAs and president of the Association of Accounting Marketing, is the key difference in the accounting profession today.
"Marketing is integral to the firm," she says. "It is as essential as paper and pencils and CPE and technical skills. You can't just cost-segregate it out anymore. Without marketing you don't have clients; without marketing you don't have a business."
Glick, along with other luminaries of professional services marketing, such as Larry Bodine and Gale Crosley, will be joining me at The Accounting Firm Marketing Forum, Oct. 21-22, at AICPA headquarters in New York. Download color brochure in PDF.
So I asked a few of the faculty members for their current thinking on the state of marketing in the profession. Their answers are honest, and sometimes provocative - perhaps a preview of what conference-goers will get.
To Crosley, an Atlanta-based consultant, CPA firms are racing to adjust to the fallout from the auditing shakeup. "Sarbanes-Oxley is driving large opportunities down-market and creating opportunities for new offerings," Crosley notes.
And yet, many CPAs, expert in business as they are, still misunderstand the difference between marketing and sales. "The single biggest mistake CPA firms make is confusing marketing with sales and product management," Crosley says. "They can't build out a comprehensive practice growth initiative if they don't know the difference in the functional elements."
Is there hope for the shy or socially challenged CPA? Yes, says Crosley decisively. "Rainmakers can be made," she says. "No question about it."
Larry Bodine, a veteran of professional services marketing based in Glen Ellyn, IL., picks up where Crosley leaves off.
"The profession is starting to embrace the sales function right now," he says. "So far, only 12 percent of accounting firms have hired a professional salesperson to develop targets, leads and meetings. There is huge interest in the topic; however, most marketing professionals are limited to conducting research, strategizing with partners, editing new business proposals, identifying new business prospects and writing new business proposals. It's time to take the marketing director along on the sales call."
Today it is more important than ever to distinguish yourself and your firm. "Recent events have created brand confusion," Bodine says. "I can tell because when people discuss their current accounting firm, they have to explain what their name used to be. A great deal of brand equity was lost by scandal, reform and consolidation."
After chatting with Bodine, five key steps emerged as critical to making marketing a habit:
1. Never eat lunch alone. Get out of your office and take a client or referral source to lunch. "Business comes in belly-to-belly," Bodine says, "as one partner told me who had the belly to go along with the advice."
2. You can't get along without technology. You can, but only if you want to be invisible. Without a customer-relationship management system, you can't tell whom you know as a target client and which partners know them; it creates marketing anarchy. Meanwhile, the Web has become the new Yellow Pages; clients even use the Web to look up phone numbers. Certainly they will use the Web to profile your firm before they ever call the firm or request any printed marketing materials. A bad Web site will actually cause your firm to be disqualified from new work. And not using email - to send out e-newsletters and alerts - is equivalent to not having a phone, fax or FedEx. Staying behind on technology is a great way to go out of business gradually.
3. Focus on your clients, not yourself. Firms too often will describe their practices on their Web sites and printed marketing materials. They will elaborate on their internal administrative structure in an approach I call "marketing your organization."
Bodine says he saw this mistake at a Midwest firm that has a real estate practice, a real estate taxation practice, plus a taxation practice. "These distinctions serve only to confuse clients. They can't tell which practice they should choose."
Instead, accounting firms should focus on how their clients think: they see themselves as members of an industry, Bodine advises. Therefore, accounting firms should present themselves according to the industries they serve. An easy way to start is to print out a list of the firm's top 50 clients. Sort them roughly into industries and focus on the issues of that industry.
4. Rainmakers can be made, through training and practice, but they have to want to market. If accountants just want to bill hours and stay at their desk, you can't make them market. These service partners will do fine so long as there are major clients to inherit. Other partners are naturally comfortable with networking, speaking and writing. These are all learnable skills. But the trick is to figure out what aspects of marketing individual accountants like - some may hate networking but love writing; others may be willing to join a charity board but not want to speak in front of a crowd. They should build a personal marketing plan around the activities they enjoy.
5. Finally, don't try to wing it. "Write down your strategic marketing plan," Bodine urges. "Most firms don't have one. It reminds me of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, where Alice asks the cat, 'Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?'"
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," the Cat says.
"I don't much care where," said Alice.
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the Cat.
The question for you, whether you're trying to build a practice or even a career: Do you know where you're going?
by Rick Telberg
At Large
There was a time when (and there still are places where) marketing and accounting mixed like oil and water - they didn't. In fact, until 1977 it was actually illegal to try to promote accounting services.
Even today, marketing is considered irrelevant, unimportant, or unprofessional by too many in the profession.
In fact, marketing is integral to any and every business, every career, every professional. If you're part of the free-enterprise system, you're already marketing, whether you know it or not, and whether you like it or not.
That, at least to Sally Glick, chief marketing officer of J.H. Cohn CPAs and president of the Association of Accounting Marketing, is the key difference in the accounting profession today.
"Marketing is integral to the firm," she says. "It is as essential as paper and pencils and CPE and technical skills. You can't just cost-segregate it out anymore. Without marketing you don't have clients; without marketing you don't have a business."
Glick, along with other luminaries of professional services marketing, such as Larry Bodine and Gale Crosley, will be joining me at The Accounting Firm Marketing Forum, Oct. 21-22, at AICPA headquarters in New York. Download color brochure in PDF.
So I asked a few of the faculty members for their current thinking on the state of marketing in the profession. Their answers are honest, and sometimes provocative - perhaps a preview of what conference-goers will get.
To Crosley, an Atlanta-based consultant, CPA firms are racing to adjust to the fallout from the auditing shakeup. "Sarbanes-Oxley is driving large opportunities down-market and creating opportunities for new offerings," Crosley notes.
And yet, many CPAs, expert in business as they are, still misunderstand the difference between marketing and sales. "The single biggest mistake CPA firms make is confusing marketing with sales and product management," Crosley says. "They can't build out a comprehensive practice growth initiative if they don't know the difference in the functional elements."
Is there hope for the shy or socially challenged CPA? Yes, says Crosley decisively. "Rainmakers can be made," she says. "No question about it."
Larry Bodine, a veteran of professional services marketing based in Glen Ellyn, IL., picks up where Crosley leaves off.
"The profession is starting to embrace the sales function right now," he says. "So far, only 12 percent of accounting firms have hired a professional salesperson to develop targets, leads and meetings. There is huge interest in the topic; however, most marketing professionals are limited to conducting research, strategizing with partners, editing new business proposals, identifying new business prospects and writing new business proposals. It's time to take the marketing director along on the sales call."
Today it is more important than ever to distinguish yourself and your firm. "Recent events have created brand confusion," Bodine says. "I can tell because when people discuss their current accounting firm, they have to explain what their name used to be. A great deal of brand equity was lost by scandal, reform and consolidation."
After chatting with Bodine, five key steps emerged as critical to making marketing a habit:
1. Never eat lunch alone. Get out of your office and take a client or referral source to lunch. "Business comes in belly-to-belly," Bodine says, "as one partner told me who had the belly to go along with the advice."
2. You can't get along without technology. You can, but only if you want to be invisible. Without a customer-relationship management system, you can't tell whom you know as a target client and which partners know them; it creates marketing anarchy. Meanwhile, the Web has become the new Yellow Pages; clients even use the Web to look up phone numbers. Certainly they will use the Web to profile your firm before they ever call the firm or request any printed marketing materials. A bad Web site will actually cause your firm to be disqualified from new work. And not using email - to send out e-newsletters and alerts - is equivalent to not having a phone, fax or FedEx. Staying behind on technology is a great way to go out of business gradually.
3. Focus on your clients, not yourself. Firms too often will describe their practices on their Web sites and printed marketing materials. They will elaborate on their internal administrative structure in an approach I call "marketing your organization."
Bodine says he saw this mistake at a Midwest firm that has a real estate practice, a real estate taxation practice, plus a taxation practice. "These distinctions serve only to confuse clients. They can't tell which practice they should choose."
Instead, accounting firms should focus on how their clients think: they see themselves as members of an industry, Bodine advises. Therefore, accounting firms should present themselves according to the industries they serve. An easy way to start is to print out a list of the firm's top 50 clients. Sort them roughly into industries and focus on the issues of that industry.
4. Rainmakers can be made, through training and practice, but they have to want to market. If accountants just want to bill hours and stay at their desk, you can't make them market. These service partners will do fine so long as there are major clients to inherit. Other partners are naturally comfortable with networking, speaking and writing. These are all learnable skills. But the trick is to figure out what aspects of marketing individual accountants like - some may hate networking but love writing; others may be willing to join a charity board but not want to speak in front of a crowd. They should build a personal marketing plan around the activities they enjoy.
5. Finally, don't try to wing it. "Write down your strategic marketing plan," Bodine urges. "Most firms don't have one. It reminds me of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, where Alice asks the cat, 'Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?'"
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," the Cat says.
"I don't much care where," said Alice.
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the Cat.
The question for you, whether you're trying to build a practice or even a career: Do you know where you're going?
Friday, September 10, 2004
What's Next for CPA Software?
If it's true that plain-vanilla accounting software is a maturing line of business, your career and your company could depend on grasping business solutions holistically.
by Rick Telberg
At Large
Sometimes accountants can forget the fact that business is more than just about accounting, or finance or tax. It's also about customer service, marketing, business intelligence, and human resources -- all the things, really, that make business go ka-ching!
CPAs are doing a masterful job of automating accounting and finance processes. An entire industry -- the accounting software world -- has been created to fill the need for computerized accounting.
But the business of accounting as seen through the lens of the accounting software business is changing fundamentally. And too many CPAs may be unprepared for the next stage of development.
"Accounting was just one part of the business problem we were trying to solve," according to Taylor MacDonald, now executive vice president in charge of channel and sales operations for mid-market products at Best Software. "Today America is looking for business management solutions. It's not just about debits and credits anymore. It's about customer-relationship management, business intelligence, key performance indicator reporting, human resources, and so on. All the things that a business does."
MacDonald is worth listening to. He's spent 20 years or more in the accounting trenches, much of that running his own business. And now he's carrying the flag for Best, a subsidiary of the United-Kingdom-based Sage Plc., which is covering as much of the small business market as it can with brands like Peachtree and Act!, MAS 90 and SalesLogix, FAS and Timeslips, and, most recently, with the acquisition of AccPac. With $1 billion in annual revenue, Best is bigger than Microsoft in its market. Few other companies can say that.
To Best, Microsoft and Intuit, basic accounting software, maybe like basic accounting, has become commoditized in the marketplace--its price and value marginalized. To put it starkly: Accounting software is dead. Dead as a business. Dead as typewriter repair, buggy whip manufacturing, or buggies.
So savvy CPAs are moving fast to the next level. Beyond mere accounting, they are finding bountiful new frontiers in customer-relationship management, business intelligence, logistics, analytical reporting, and a whole range of human resources functions.
Still, like many CPAs, business owners are hunkered down, according to MacDonald. They may already have a system that works and that's enough for them. Or they haven't been convinced of the competitive advantage new technology can deliver. Or they are simply fazed by the maddening failure of producers, installers, or consultants to offer a complete solution of inter-operability between programs.
Smart CPAs and technology dealers know their limitations. So what they can't do alone, they're finding partners for. In Dallas, for instance, MAS 90 dealer ERG has teamed with SalesLogix reseller Ascendix. They haven't merged. But they are sharing office space. It's a little like shacking up, but not getting married.
And yet, "There's no reason CPAs can't be equipped for this," MacDonald said. Because CPAs remain the trusted advisor, they have a responsibility to be knowledgeable of the systems on the market and the providers locally."
The message is clear: Get with it, or get left behind.
by Rick Telberg
At Large
Sometimes accountants can forget the fact that business is more than just about accounting, or finance or tax. It's also about customer service, marketing, business intelligence, and human resources -- all the things, really, that make business go ka-ching!
CPAs are doing a masterful job of automating accounting and finance processes. An entire industry -- the accounting software world -- has been created to fill the need for computerized accounting.
But the business of accounting as seen through the lens of the accounting software business is changing fundamentally. And too many CPAs may be unprepared for the next stage of development.
"Accounting was just one part of the business problem we were trying to solve," according to Taylor MacDonald, now executive vice president in charge of channel and sales operations for mid-market products at Best Software. "Today America is looking for business management solutions. It's not just about debits and credits anymore. It's about customer-relationship management, business intelligence, key performance indicator reporting, human resources, and so on. All the things that a business does."
MacDonald is worth listening to. He's spent 20 years or more in the accounting trenches, much of that running his own business. And now he's carrying the flag for Best, a subsidiary of the United-Kingdom-based Sage Plc., which is covering as much of the small business market as it can with brands like Peachtree and Act!, MAS 90 and SalesLogix, FAS and Timeslips, and, most recently, with the acquisition of AccPac. With $1 billion in annual revenue, Best is bigger than Microsoft in its market. Few other companies can say that.
To Best, Microsoft and Intuit, basic accounting software, maybe like basic accounting, has become commoditized in the marketplace--its price and value marginalized. To put it starkly: Accounting software is dead. Dead as a business. Dead as typewriter repair, buggy whip manufacturing, or buggies.
So savvy CPAs are moving fast to the next level. Beyond mere accounting, they are finding bountiful new frontiers in customer-relationship management, business intelligence, logistics, analytical reporting, and a whole range of human resources functions.
Still, like many CPAs, business owners are hunkered down, according to MacDonald. They may already have a system that works and that's enough for them. Or they haven't been convinced of the competitive advantage new technology can deliver. Or they are simply fazed by the maddening failure of producers, installers, or consultants to offer a complete solution of inter-operability between programs.
Smart CPAs and technology dealers know their limitations. So what they can't do alone, they're finding partners for. In Dallas, for instance, MAS 90 dealer ERG has teamed with SalesLogix reseller Ascendix. They haven't merged. But they are sharing office space. It's a little like shacking up, but not getting married.
And yet, "There's no reason CPAs can't be equipped for this," MacDonald said. Because CPAs remain the trusted advisor, they have a responsibility to be knowledgeable of the systems on the market and the providers locally."
The message is clear: Get with it, or get left behind.
Monday, September 06, 2004
3 Hot Tips for Getting Back to Work
Summer's over. Kids are going back to school and accountants are getting down to work. Here's what you should be thinking about BEFORE busy season.
By Rick Telberg
Special for HP
It's September. While parents are rushing their kids off to school and kids are hitting the books, accounting professionals are gearing up for another busy season.
Whether you are girding for a new tax season or looking toward the final close of the fiscal year's books, if you're an accountant, then summer is definitely over and it's time to go back to work.
But before you settle in for the long haul ahead, pause for a minute or two to see if you're really ready. Here are three of the most important trends or issues that you'll probably be dealing with to one degree or another over the next few months.
So let's get started:
(1) Update and safeguard your passwords -- Password breaches are among the top 10 most critical vulnerabilities in most offices. But today, a password leak is more than a problem; if you're an accountant, it could be a crime. That's because the Gramm-Leach-Blilely Act and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act require that client information remain impenetrable. To be sure, password-protection isn't the only issue in security, but it is the best place to begin communicating to an organization that you're serious about digital assets and liabilities.
Just how easy is it to crack a password? The typical four-character password many of us use is pretty tough to break -- but only if you're human. A person trying a new combination of four characters every ten seconds could work six months to break the code. A computer, running at a million tries a second, could crack it in two seconds. And consider this: The federal government's intelligence agencies aren't publicizing it, but it took a single journalist exactly one good guess in 2002 to figure out the password for Saddam Hussein's email account. Ah, if only we'd known then, what we know now!
(2) Ride the Upgrade Wave -- Too many accounting firms and departments are still using systems, procedures and technologies from the 1990's. But we are already well into the 21st Century. In the past few years, we've gone from deskbound desktops to mobile computing, from running cable for networks to running from one Wi-Fi hotspot to another, and we've gone from thinking of technology as a cost to understanding that technology is a critical business differentiator. Second only to a spouse, consumers now rely on Internet search engines to make purchasing decisions about major appliances. More people are now getting their news from the Web than from TV. And a newspaper? What's a newspaper?
Fueled by an economic uptick, continued low interest rates, the mounting obsolescence of older equipment, and a nice tax benefit (remember the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief and Reconciliation Act of 2003), small- and medium-sized businesses are going shopping this year like it's Christmas. If your plans for September don't include a close look at upgrading and expanding your hardware, you could be left behind.
(3) Take the Leap into CRM -- Accounting firms and corporate finance departments are being dragged, sometimes kicking and screaming, into the marketing department to help on customer relationship management installations. The green-eyeshade breed of accountant is shying away from CRM. But visionary business-minded accountants understand intuitively the vast potential in winning direct involvement in raising new revenue, better gauging returns on investment through performance management techniques, and adding directly to the bottom line.
Sure, the software is great at keeping track of client birthdays and favorite haunts and hobbies. But a good and flexible CRM system can forecast revenue, find new growth opportunities, make key management decisions and control and optimize marketing costs. Besides, every business already has an accounting system to measure and record internal activities; a CRM system goes outside the business to the world beyond, giving accountants a newly holistic view of the environment and making them essential go-to people for business strategy.
This short list goes from the mundane (in the care and feeding of passwords) to the strategic (in pushing the accountant into the role of corporate visionary). But that's where accountants are headed anyway. And that's the way clients and employers want it. You resist it at your own risk.
By Rick Telberg
Special for HP
It's September. While parents are rushing their kids off to school and kids are hitting the books, accounting professionals are gearing up for another busy season.
Whether you are girding for a new tax season or looking toward the final close of the fiscal year's books, if you're an accountant, then summer is definitely over and it's time to go back to work.
But before you settle in for the long haul ahead, pause for a minute or two to see if you're really ready. Here are three of the most important trends or issues that you'll probably be dealing with to one degree or another over the next few months.
So let's get started:
(1) Update and safeguard your passwords -- Password breaches are among the top 10 most critical vulnerabilities in most offices. But today, a password leak is more than a problem; if you're an accountant, it could be a crime. That's because the Gramm-Leach-Blilely Act and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act require that client information remain impenetrable. To be sure, password-protection isn't the only issue in security, but it is the best place to begin communicating to an organization that you're serious about digital assets and liabilities.
Just how easy is it to crack a password? The typical four-character password many of us use is pretty tough to break -- but only if you're human. A person trying a new combination of four characters every ten seconds could work six months to break the code. A computer, running at a million tries a second, could crack it in two seconds. And consider this: The federal government's intelligence agencies aren't publicizing it, but it took a single journalist exactly one good guess in 2002 to figure out the password for Saddam Hussein's email account. Ah, if only we'd known then, what we know now!
(2) Ride the Upgrade Wave -- Too many accounting firms and departments are still using systems, procedures and technologies from the 1990's. But we are already well into the 21st Century. In the past few years, we've gone from deskbound desktops to mobile computing, from running cable for networks to running from one Wi-Fi hotspot to another, and we've gone from thinking of technology as a cost to understanding that technology is a critical business differentiator. Second only to a spouse, consumers now rely on Internet search engines to make purchasing decisions about major appliances. More people are now getting their news from the Web than from TV. And a newspaper? What's a newspaper?
Fueled by an economic uptick, continued low interest rates, the mounting obsolescence of older equipment, and a nice tax benefit (remember the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief and Reconciliation Act of 2003), small- and medium-sized businesses are going shopping this year like it's Christmas. If your plans for September don't include a close look at upgrading and expanding your hardware, you could be left behind.
(3) Take the Leap into CRM -- Accounting firms and corporate finance departments are being dragged, sometimes kicking and screaming, into the marketing department to help on customer relationship management installations. The green-eyeshade breed of accountant is shying away from CRM. But visionary business-minded accountants understand intuitively the vast potential in winning direct involvement in raising new revenue, better gauging returns on investment through performance management techniques, and adding directly to the bottom line.
Sure, the software is great at keeping track of client birthdays and favorite haunts and hobbies. But a good and flexible CRM system can forecast revenue, find new growth opportunities, make key management decisions and control and optimize marketing costs. Besides, every business already has an accounting system to measure and record internal activities; a CRM system goes outside the business to the world beyond, giving accountants a newly holistic view of the environment and making them essential go-to people for business strategy.
This short list goes from the mundane (in the care and feeding of passwords) to the strategic (in pushing the accountant into the role of corporate visionary). But that's where accountants are headed anyway. And that's the way clients and employers want it. You resist it at your own risk.
Thursday, September 02, 2004
CPAs Sound Off About the Economy
FROM THE MAILBAG: A slew of e-mail shows readers divided about the economy, passionate about the profession.
by Rick Telberg
At Large
The polls and pundits suggest it. But CPAs live it.
And, if e-mail is any indication, then the e-mails confirm it: How you feel about the economic future depends a lot on your economic present.
In a series of "At Large" columns, most recently "Recovery? What Recovery?", accountants and financial managers have been voicing their views on the business outlook. The results are mixed, to put it mildly. In fact, I've characterized CPAs' outlook for the economy "as divided and polarized" as this year's presidential election.
Not surprisingly then, the columns have generated a ton of feedback. So let me just get out of the way for a moment and let the readers speak for themselves. There's nothing scientific about this sampling of the mailbox. But I think it may be representative of what I'm hearing from the grassroots.
Greetings Rick,
I just felt compelled to reply to this article "Recovery? What Recovery?" and I have to say that never in my professional career have I had such a challenge in seeking employment. It has been about 10 months now since moving from Florida to Virginia to join my husband; there is nothing out there for me in this area.
There sure are plenty of entry-level positions but nothing for a person with my background. I am certified with over 15 years of management experience; I guess the only thing I lack is a graduate degree. But with this experience I am stumped and confounded as to the claims that it is a wonderful time to be an accountant (maybe for recent graduates starting out). I have expanded my search to larger metro areas close by, but to no avail. I can relate to the person mentioned from Dallas who is the only one with a suit on the food stamp line! I am basically in the same predicament as she is and feel her pain.
Well, enough venting, I just wanted to ask if there is a way to gain some "Sarbanes-Oxley" experience without knocking at the door of some CPA firm that does not even "look" at a person like me (I am 45 years old, out of public accounting for over 20 years). I have got to say this has been the most trying and stressful time of my professional career.
Sincerely,
Sandra M., CPA
Dear Mr. Telberg,
The next time you decide to write an article about the U.S. economy, consider leaving out references to the state of nation's politics. I prefer to get my daily political briefing from objective news sources. We don't need your subjective inference that perhaps the president is somehow responsible for the uneven economic recovery. Perhaps there is a micro economic reason for the uneven recovery. Perhaps state and local regulation is the cause for the uneven recovery.
May all your blues be reds!
Bernard E. Benson, CPA
Benson, Benson & Company
Dr. Telberg,
We have so much prosperity in this county... it's unbelievable. I see people in $45K jobs driving $40K cars. It may not be wise, but I think consumer confidence is evident by all the new vehicles and trade-up houses. We need to reduce the size of government and the economy will take off.
Robert B. Porter, CPA
Chief Financial Officer
Brentwood, TN
Rick:
Is the glass half empty or half full? I prefer to see it as half full. Our office's income is up 70 percent through the end of July. We have found new services to provide to meet the demands of our community. Our community is booming and we have taken advantage of it by keeping a positive attitude!
Most people should quit blaming others for their problems. Our motto here is "get it done".
Dave Anstadt, CPA
Anstadt & Associates, LLC
Rick,
As a CPA in the private/government sector, I would like to share some thoughts. Attaining my MBA at 41 and CPA at 45, I learned in 1991 that age discrimination was alive and well at public accounting firms. Looking elsewhere, I discovered forensic accounting/audit. Last summer I lost my 11+-year position as a financial investigator with a multi-jurisdictional drug task force during Illinois state budget cuts. I found myself in the unemployment line.
The local economy continued its downward path while housing starts for the upper income employed thrived. During this time I achieved CFE status while seeking a challenging position that would allow me to pursue my career goals in forensic accounting/audit. After 10 months I was fortunate to attain a position in fiscal management of federal grants. After chasing drug dealers and money launderers, I am now honing skills in government accounting, cash management, grant monitoring, and GASB 34 compliance.
I have learned that nothing lasts forever, so I am taking advantage of this position to learn as much as possible and to give back to my employer more than possible. After this - who knows? My first love is forensic accounting and audit, so I know that I will eventually return to working with law enforcement in "money cases".
Thanks for the chance to share,
Joanne
Rick:
One analogy you could have used: If, in the midst of a war if you ask the person(s) getting paid to bury the bodies, how's business and what are the prospects for the future, they're going to say "great" on both accounts.
In many ways that is what is happening in our economy right now: some of those you interviewed are benefiting because someone else lost their job. I guess there's one way to determine if the economy is getting better: count the dead bodies.
D. Miller
Texas
Rick -
Quite frankly I really don't think this expansion has legs. I think it's a result of the advanced tax refunds from the credits, the large refunds this year due to the tax cut, and the massive increases in spending on the Iraq conflict. Because the initial tax cuts were focused on the lower and middle income taxpayers we got a lot of bang out of them. These taxpayers tend to spend any tax savings, immediately causing a short-term uptick in the economy.
Giving the wealthy 90 percent of the tax break gives the high-income taxpayer increased money to invest. A logical business person will invest it in technology that will allow them to reduce the factors of production... a logical business person will use it to reduce labor because it is the most expensive factor of production. The effect of this will be to replace higher paid jobs with lower paying ones. Combine this factor with the massive deficits and the following rise of interest rates, and the economy will stall mid to late 2005. I fully expect us to enter into a period of stagnation by next year that will continue for several years.
Fortunately I have strong skills as a CPA and I make money in good and bad economies. I for one have invested in technologies. The firm I had 10 years ago employed three clerical people to do write-up, now I have all my clients on QuickBooks. I still review the accounting much like in the write-up days, but now I review my clients' work instead of my employees'. I still bill the clients the same amount.
Bradley R McGrew, CPA
Sole Practitioner
Austin, Texas
AND WHILE WE'RE AT IT, here are a few more from the "At Large" mailbox:
Rick,
As a CPA who has been in the financial services business for almost 20 years, am I missing something? [Re: "...has created limited partnerships with units priced as low as $25,000 in existing broker-dealers, thus sidestepping a lot of regulatory and administrative costs and headaches.] Why would any CPA want to join a BD or form a BD when they can just be an RIA and sidestep the absolute nonsense of compliance that the NASD pursues? Operating as an RIA is so much more flexible and allows a CPA with his own practice, an entrepreneur by nature, to continue to make his own rules and not have a BD insist that they must review every letter and e-mail, every seminar slide, and every page handed to a prospect or client. Ever since CPAs have taken an interest in financial services, it has boggled me why they would get involved with broker-dealers -- unless they simply don't know any better?
Larry Klein CPA/PFS, CFP
President
NF Communications
www.nfcom.com
Dear Mr. Telberg,
Thank you for your positive comments regarding WorthMark Financial Services in your column. The CPA community has responded very favorably to our new broker-dealer model. Your analysis of our structure was accurate; however, in speaking with you I may not have mentioned that we have two broker-dealer options for firms... The first is a $25,000 capital contribution (which remains an asset in the firm's capital account), as you correctly stated. The second is a $3,000 capital contribution. The broker-dealer structure is identical for both options, although the payout schedule and expense allocation vary. Not surprisingly, the $3,000 option is by far the most popular choice for CPA firms!
Kind regards,
Tim Steele
VP Sales
WorthMark Financial Services, LLC
Newport Beach, Calif.
Dear Rick,
Another great article ("3 Hot Trends from Some Cool CPA Shows," Aug. 9). As a person with my New York CPA license, pending the experience rating, I have just finished an opportunity preparing tax returns in Southern California for clients with a wide variety of needs in investments, partnerships, complicated 1040s and very many "personal bookkeeping documents" that could be done much more simply. A tiny suggestion is to just open up a separate bank account, use only checks, and let those like American Express present you with your statements. With current tax software (ATX Max) and some sort of support like Tax Analyst, the client will have much less to do and probably a lot less duplication of books and records. It is true, accountants are very well trained for detail-oriented work and I found working with clients gratifying and enjoyable with tax systems and tax support systems.
Michelle R.
by Rick Telberg
At Large
The polls and pundits suggest it. But CPAs live it.
And, if e-mail is any indication, then the e-mails confirm it: How you feel about the economic future depends a lot on your economic present.
In a series of "At Large" columns, most recently "Recovery? What Recovery?", accountants and financial managers have been voicing their views on the business outlook. The results are mixed, to put it mildly. In fact, I've characterized CPAs' outlook for the economy "as divided and polarized" as this year's presidential election.
Not surprisingly then, the columns have generated a ton of feedback. So let me just get out of the way for a moment and let the readers speak for themselves. There's nothing scientific about this sampling of the mailbox. But I think it may be representative of what I'm hearing from the grassroots.
Greetings Rick,
I just felt compelled to reply to this article "Recovery? What Recovery?" and I have to say that never in my professional career have I had such a challenge in seeking employment. It has been about 10 months now since moving from Florida to Virginia to join my husband; there is nothing out there for me in this area.
There sure are plenty of entry-level positions but nothing for a person with my background. I am certified with over 15 years of management experience; I guess the only thing I lack is a graduate degree. But with this experience I am stumped and confounded as to the claims that it is a wonderful time to be an accountant (maybe for recent graduates starting out). I have expanded my search to larger metro areas close by, but to no avail. I can relate to the person mentioned from Dallas who is the only one with a suit on the food stamp line! I am basically in the same predicament as she is and feel her pain.
Well, enough venting, I just wanted to ask if there is a way to gain some "Sarbanes-Oxley" experience without knocking at the door of some CPA firm that does not even "look" at a person like me (I am 45 years old, out of public accounting for over 20 years). I have got to say this has been the most trying and stressful time of my professional career.
Sincerely,
Sandra M., CPA
Dear Mr. Telberg,
The next time you decide to write an article about the U.S. economy, consider leaving out references to the state of nation's politics. I prefer to get my daily political briefing from objective news sources. We don't need your subjective inference that perhaps the president is somehow responsible for the uneven economic recovery. Perhaps there is a micro economic reason for the uneven recovery. Perhaps state and local regulation is the cause for the uneven recovery.
May all your blues be reds!
Bernard E. Benson, CPA
Benson, Benson & Company
Dr. Telberg,
We have so much prosperity in this county... it's unbelievable. I see people in $45K jobs driving $40K cars. It may not be wise, but I think consumer confidence is evident by all the new vehicles and trade-up houses. We need to reduce the size of government and the economy will take off.
Robert B. Porter, CPA
Chief Financial Officer
Brentwood, TN
Rick:
Is the glass half empty or half full? I prefer to see it as half full. Our office's income is up 70 percent through the end of July. We have found new services to provide to meet the demands of our community. Our community is booming and we have taken advantage of it by keeping a positive attitude!
Most people should quit blaming others for their problems. Our motto here is "get it done".
Dave Anstadt, CPA
Anstadt & Associates, LLC
Rick,
As a CPA in the private/government sector, I would like to share some thoughts. Attaining my MBA at 41 and CPA at 45, I learned in 1991 that age discrimination was alive and well at public accounting firms. Looking elsewhere, I discovered forensic accounting/audit. Last summer I lost my 11+-year position as a financial investigator with a multi-jurisdictional drug task force during Illinois state budget cuts. I found myself in the unemployment line.
The local economy continued its downward path while housing starts for the upper income employed thrived. During this time I achieved CFE status while seeking a challenging position that would allow me to pursue my career goals in forensic accounting/audit. After 10 months I was fortunate to attain a position in fiscal management of federal grants. After chasing drug dealers and money launderers, I am now honing skills in government accounting, cash management, grant monitoring, and GASB 34 compliance.
I have learned that nothing lasts forever, so I am taking advantage of this position to learn as much as possible and to give back to my employer more than possible. After this - who knows? My first love is forensic accounting and audit, so I know that I will eventually return to working with law enforcement in "money cases".
Thanks for the chance to share,
Joanne
Rick:
One analogy you could have used: If, in the midst of a war if you ask the person(s) getting paid to bury the bodies, how's business and what are the prospects for the future, they're going to say "great" on both accounts.
In many ways that is what is happening in our economy right now: some of those you interviewed are benefiting because someone else lost their job. I guess there's one way to determine if the economy is getting better: count the dead bodies.
D. Miller
Texas
Rick -
Quite frankly I really don't think this expansion has legs. I think it's a result of the advanced tax refunds from the credits, the large refunds this year due to the tax cut, and the massive increases in spending on the Iraq conflict. Because the initial tax cuts were focused on the lower and middle income taxpayers we got a lot of bang out of them. These taxpayers tend to spend any tax savings, immediately causing a short-term uptick in the economy.
Giving the wealthy 90 percent of the tax break gives the high-income taxpayer increased money to invest. A logical business person will invest it in technology that will allow them to reduce the factors of production... a logical business person will use it to reduce labor because it is the most expensive factor of production. The effect of this will be to replace higher paid jobs with lower paying ones. Combine this factor with the massive deficits and the following rise of interest rates, and the economy will stall mid to late 2005. I fully expect us to enter into a period of stagnation by next year that will continue for several years.
Fortunately I have strong skills as a CPA and I make money in good and bad economies. I for one have invested in technologies. The firm I had 10 years ago employed three clerical people to do write-up, now I have all my clients on QuickBooks. I still review the accounting much like in the write-up days, but now I review my clients' work instead of my employees'. I still bill the clients the same amount.
Bradley R McGrew, CPA
Sole Practitioner
Austin, Texas
AND WHILE WE'RE AT IT, here are a few more from the "At Large" mailbox:
Rick,
As a CPA who has been in the financial services business for almost 20 years, am I missing something? [Re: "...has created limited partnerships with units priced as low as $25,000 in existing broker-dealers, thus sidestepping a lot of regulatory and administrative costs and headaches.] Why would any CPA want to join a BD or form a BD when they can just be an RIA and sidestep the absolute nonsense of compliance that the NASD pursues? Operating as an RIA is so much more flexible and allows a CPA with his own practice, an entrepreneur by nature, to continue to make his own rules and not have a BD insist that they must review every letter and e-mail, every seminar slide, and every page handed to a prospect or client. Ever since CPAs have taken an interest in financial services, it has boggled me why they would get involved with broker-dealers -- unless they simply don't know any better?
Larry Klein CPA/PFS, CFP
President
NF Communications
www.nfcom.com
Dear Mr. Telberg,
Thank you for your positive comments regarding WorthMark Financial Services in your column. The CPA community has responded very favorably to our new broker-dealer model. Your analysis of our structure was accurate; however, in speaking with you I may not have mentioned that we have two broker-dealer options for firms... The first is a $25,000 capital contribution (which remains an asset in the firm's capital account), as you correctly stated. The second is a $3,000 capital contribution. The broker-dealer structure is identical for both options, although the payout schedule and expense allocation vary. Not surprisingly, the $3,000 option is by far the most popular choice for CPA firms!
Kind regards,
Tim Steele
VP Sales
WorthMark Financial Services, LLC
Newport Beach, Calif.
Dear Rick,
Another great article ("3 Hot Trends from Some Cool CPA Shows," Aug. 9). As a person with my New York CPA license, pending the experience rating, I have just finished an opportunity preparing tax returns in Southern California for clients with a wide variety of needs in investments, partnerships, complicated 1040s and very many "personal bookkeeping documents" that could be done much more simply. A tiny suggestion is to just open up a separate bank account, use only checks, and let those like American Express present you with your statements. With current tax software (ATX Max) and some sort of support like Tax Analyst, the client will have much less to do and probably a lot less duplication of books and records. It is true, accountants are very well trained for detail-oriented work and I found working with clients gratifying and enjoyable with tax systems and tax support systems.
Michelle R.
Wednesday, September 01, 2004
CPA2Biz Delivers Update to AICPA Council
CPA2Biz, the AICPA’s marketing and technology provider, experiences steady online growth, releases new site features and develops a set of core business solutions programs to meet the needs of small and midsize public practitioners and CPAs working in business and industry.
[by Rick Telberg for the AICPA Journal of Accountancy, September 2004, as a Special Report]
Over the past year CPA2Biz, the exclusive marketing provider of the AICPA, has launched a pair of new initiatives enabling CPAs to build stronger relationships with their clients or employers. Now it’s looking ahead to several new Web site enhancements and CPA programs for the coming year.
This news was delivered at the AICPA Spring Council meeting by Erik Asgeirsson, CEO of CPA2Biz. The JofA recently caught up with Asgeirsson, as well as CPA2Biz COO Patrick Bonnaure and several AICPA members, to fill out the picture of the current status of CPA2Biz.
CPA2Biz develops and manages client-focused business solutions programs such as the Paychex Partner Program (for payroll) and the Chase CPA Advantage Program (for banking) to meet the needs of small and midsize public practitioners and CPAs in business and industry. Just 10 months after the November 2003 launch of these initiatives, more than 8,000 CPA firms from 47 states are participating in the Business Solutions Program and more than 1,500 new CPAs are signing up for it each month. With built-in benefits for CPAs and their clients, these programs bring large-firm resources to all firms.
“More than 8,000 clients have been successfully referred by enrolled CPAs,” says Asgeirsson, as of the April 2004 Spring Council meeting. Through the Paychex Partner Program, participating CPAs can offer their clients one month of free payroll processing and a six-month satisfaction guarantee. In addition, CPA2Biz and Paychex have put procedures in place to assure the CPA remains the client’s main contact at all times.
CPA2Biz also has teamed with Chase to roll out the CPA Advantage Program. This small business banking program offers CPAs a dedicated hot line, direct access to client financial information, a special small business account manager to work with and preferred pricing for the firm and its clients.
CPA2BIZ REACHES NEW MILESTONES
After two years of improving financial performance, CPA2Biz has attained a new milestone. In its most recent fiscal year, CPA2Biz had positive cash flow from operations as well as overall positive net cash flow. This is a result of the marketing and operational investments that have made CPA2Biz a valuable asset to the CPA community.
“CPA2Biz is meeting the needs of AICPA members,” according to Mark Zinman, name partner in a local CPA firm in Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania. His firm is active in CPA2Biz’s Business Solutions Programs. Under the programs, CPA2Biz leverages the voice of the profession to deliver a valuable and unique set of benefits to AICPA members.
“The more we utilize our buying power, the better it will be for all of us—CPAs, firms and especially, these days, clients,” Zinman says.
The CPA2Biz Web site now serves as a key resource for over 50% of the CPA profession. More than 200,000 CPAs and financial professionals regularly use CPA2Biz to search for the latest articles, tools and career resources and to access a selection of more than 1,000 professional products. More than 50,000 site searches are conducted on average each month on topics such as COSO, ethics, SAS no. 99 and CPE. CPA2Biz also recently released new Web site enhancements, including a new capability in the online store to show real-time data on the most popular products customers have purchased, allowing AICPA members to quickly see what professional tools their peers are relying on and what new editions have been released.
CPA2Biz also continues to provide the AICPA with sophisticated online and off-line marketing operations to drive AICPA sales in books, periodicals, online resources, conferences and webcasts. Most of the AICPA’s direct marketing to members is handled by CPA2Biz.
But at the heart of the CPA2Biz culture, officials say, is a dedication to be driven and directed by member needs, experience and input. Major new product strategies and site changes, for instance, are rolled out only after weeks or months of testing and refinement as “beta” projects with rank-and-file CPAs acting as advisers and testers. “This is a customer-driven process,” Asgeirsson says.
CPA Bill Bloom of New York sits on one of those advisory panels. “We’re not rubber stamps,” he says. “They run ideas for new products or services or partnerships past us. And we give them our opinions and reactions—and I mean our honest opinions and reactions.” Feedback from CPA2Biz’s customer advisory group informed the recent rollout of the small business banking program.
NEW FEATURES TO COME
In coming months CPA2Biz will be launching a new e-newsletter service and staging a series of online seminars with CPAs and their clients, covering business issues such as strategic planning and trends in financing. These services will be offered to CPAs participating in the business solutions programs and are designed to cement the relationship between the CPA firms and their clients.
For the AICPA, CPA2Biz will be launching tightly focused direct-marketing campaigns in specialty areas of practice, all the while maintaining the production and mass distribution of comprehensive product catalogs. “We want to give members what they need and only when they need it,” Asgeirsson says. “CPAs are too busy to sift through a lot of random information. It’s our job at CPA2Biz to put together well-organized collateral, the best services from the top providers so our customers are not overwhelmed.”
Bruce Meyer, a third-generation CPA in Melville, New York, says: “The companies CPA2Biz deals with are all good, quality companies. I can rely on that.”
In Tucson, Arizona, Donna Byers, CPA/PFS, tax manager at Clifton Gunderson, registers for live CPE webcasts through the CPA2Biz site. So far, she’s taken online classes in individual fiduciary relationships, the issues involved in net unrealized appreciation and ESOPs. “Excellent,” she says about the courses, “and not too expensive.”
A rigorous schedule of CPA2Biz major site enhancements and minor patch releases is overseen by Bonnaure. CPA2Biz is scheduled to introduce major new site features in fall 2004, some of which include an updated home page with easy access to all areas of the site, including the online store, news center, career center and more; a new “forgot password” system to make it painless for the user who has forgotten his or her user name or password; the facility to purchase and download Adobe PDFs online; and for AICPA conference goers, a series of new site enhancements to make meetings far easier to register for and attend. In the first phase, due this November, CPA2Biz plans to allow online registration for the add-on pre- and post-conference workshops that attract hundreds of registrants every year.
BUILDING ON SOLID GAINS
CPA Ivan Watson is one of the AICPA members who can attest to the changes of recent years. The Middlesex, New Jersey, sole practitioner uses CPA2Biz often to do last-minute research on the AICPA InfoBytes CPE service before a client meeting. “It helps me brush up on the latest developments,” he says. In addition, he remarked on improvements in the Web site’s navigation, structure and organization, and visual look and feel.
[by Rick Telberg for the AICPA Journal of Accountancy, September 2004, as a Special Report]
Over the past year CPA2Biz, the exclusive marketing provider of the AICPA, has launched a pair of new initiatives enabling CPAs to build stronger relationships with their clients or employers. Now it’s looking ahead to several new Web site enhancements and CPA programs for the coming year.
This news was delivered at the AICPA Spring Council meeting by Erik Asgeirsson, CEO of CPA2Biz. The JofA recently caught up with Asgeirsson, as well as CPA2Biz COO Patrick Bonnaure and several AICPA members, to fill out the picture of the current status of CPA2Biz.
CPA2Biz develops and manages client-focused business solutions programs such as the Paychex Partner Program (for payroll) and the Chase CPA Advantage Program (for banking) to meet the needs of small and midsize public practitioners and CPAs in business and industry. Just 10 months after the November 2003 launch of these initiatives, more than 8,000 CPA firms from 47 states are participating in the Business Solutions Program and more than 1,500 new CPAs are signing up for it each month. With built-in benefits for CPAs and their clients, these programs bring large-firm resources to all firms.
“More than 8,000 clients have been successfully referred by enrolled CPAs,” says Asgeirsson, as of the April 2004 Spring Council meeting. Through the Paychex Partner Program, participating CPAs can offer their clients one month of free payroll processing and a six-month satisfaction guarantee. In addition, CPA2Biz and Paychex have put procedures in place to assure the CPA remains the client’s main contact at all times.
CPA2Biz also has teamed with Chase to roll out the CPA Advantage Program. This small business banking program offers CPAs a dedicated hot line, direct access to client financial information, a special small business account manager to work with and preferred pricing for the firm and its clients.
CPA2BIZ REACHES NEW MILESTONES
After two years of improving financial performance, CPA2Biz has attained a new milestone. In its most recent fiscal year, CPA2Biz had positive cash flow from operations as well as overall positive net cash flow. This is a result of the marketing and operational investments that have made CPA2Biz a valuable asset to the CPA community.
“CPA2Biz is meeting the needs of AICPA members,” according to Mark Zinman, name partner in a local CPA firm in Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania. His firm is active in CPA2Biz’s Business Solutions Programs. Under the programs, CPA2Biz leverages the voice of the profession to deliver a valuable and unique set of benefits to AICPA members.
“The more we utilize our buying power, the better it will be for all of us—CPAs, firms and especially, these days, clients,” Zinman says.
The CPA2Biz Web site now serves as a key resource for over 50% of the CPA profession. More than 200,000 CPAs and financial professionals regularly use CPA2Biz to search for the latest articles, tools and career resources and to access a selection of more than 1,000 professional products. More than 50,000 site searches are conducted on average each month on topics such as COSO, ethics, SAS no. 99 and CPE. CPA2Biz also recently released new Web site enhancements, including a new capability in the online store to show real-time data on the most popular products customers have purchased, allowing AICPA members to quickly see what professional tools their peers are relying on and what new editions have been released.
CPA2Biz also continues to provide the AICPA with sophisticated online and off-line marketing operations to drive AICPA sales in books, periodicals, online resources, conferences and webcasts. Most of the AICPA’s direct marketing to members is handled by CPA2Biz.
But at the heart of the CPA2Biz culture, officials say, is a dedication to be driven and directed by member needs, experience and input. Major new product strategies and site changes, for instance, are rolled out only after weeks or months of testing and refinement as “beta” projects with rank-and-file CPAs acting as advisers and testers. “This is a customer-driven process,” Asgeirsson says.
CPA Bill Bloom of New York sits on one of those advisory panels. “We’re not rubber stamps,” he says. “They run ideas for new products or services or partnerships past us. And we give them our opinions and reactions—and I mean our honest opinions and reactions.” Feedback from CPA2Biz’s customer advisory group informed the recent rollout of the small business banking program.
NEW FEATURES TO COME
In coming months CPA2Biz will be launching a new e-newsletter service and staging a series of online seminars with CPAs and their clients, covering business issues such as strategic planning and trends in financing. These services will be offered to CPAs participating in the business solutions programs and are designed to cement the relationship between the CPA firms and their clients.
For the AICPA, CPA2Biz will be launching tightly focused direct-marketing campaigns in specialty areas of practice, all the while maintaining the production and mass distribution of comprehensive product catalogs. “We want to give members what they need and only when they need it,” Asgeirsson says. “CPAs are too busy to sift through a lot of random information. It’s our job at CPA2Biz to put together well-organized collateral, the best services from the top providers so our customers are not overwhelmed.”
Bruce Meyer, a third-generation CPA in Melville, New York, says: “The companies CPA2Biz deals with are all good, quality companies. I can rely on that.”
In Tucson, Arizona, Donna Byers, CPA/PFS, tax manager at Clifton Gunderson, registers for live CPE webcasts through the CPA2Biz site. So far, she’s taken online classes in individual fiduciary relationships, the issues involved in net unrealized appreciation and ESOPs. “Excellent,” she says about the courses, “and not too expensive.”
A rigorous schedule of CPA2Biz major site enhancements and minor patch releases is overseen by Bonnaure. CPA2Biz is scheduled to introduce major new site features in fall 2004, some of which include an updated home page with easy access to all areas of the site, including the online store, news center, career center and more; a new “forgot password” system to make it painless for the user who has forgotten his or her user name or password; the facility to purchase and download Adobe PDFs online; and for AICPA conference goers, a series of new site enhancements to make meetings far easier to register for and attend. In the first phase, due this November, CPA2Biz plans to allow online registration for the add-on pre- and post-conference workshops that attract hundreds of registrants every year.
BUILDING ON SOLID GAINS
CPA Ivan Watson is one of the AICPA members who can attest to the changes of recent years. The Middlesex, New Jersey, sole practitioner uses CPA2Biz often to do last-minute research on the AICPA InfoBytes CPE service before a client meeting. “It helps me brush up on the latest developments,” he says. In addition, he remarked on improvements in the Web site’s navigation, structure and organization, and visual look and feel.
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