Big 4 Violin Virtuoso Needs Your Help Winning a Trip Down Under
Because we’re more or less a family here at Going Concern, when someone needs our help spreading the word about anything from compensation news to winning a ski getaway, we’re happy to help.
Today’s accountant-in-need is Larry Chou (a partner who was desperate for a pianist, basically challenged his entire office to step up to the plate and, ultimately, had his prayers answered.
ANYWAY, as you can see, Larry has bigger fish to fry. Here’s his audition:
He also passed along some instructions just so you can get this ball rolling:
How do I vote?
1) It only takes 5 seconds! Between December 10-17 (inclusive), please follow the link below to watch my video and vote for Larry Chou (lchou008). You may have to scroll halfway down the page to get to my video.
(Note: You do NOT need a Youtube user account to vote. Just follow the link!)
I’ve voted…now what?
2) Vote some more! The voting period extends from December 10-17, and you can vote once every day. That means you can vote 8 times if you remember to do it every day. This competition is on Eastern time, so each “voting day” on Pacific time technically runs from 9pm to 8:59pm of the following day. Additional votes from the same user on the same day are thrown out.
3) Check out my Facebook group page or my Facebook fan page.
4) Spread the word! I’m going to need every man, woman, and child to get in on this. Tell your friends, your family, your significant other, your co-workers, your classmates, your barber, your gardener, and your waiter/waitress! Just kidding (but not really, I’m going to need all the help I can get).
Thank you for your support!!
Well. What are you waiting for? ‘Tis the season to help other people out or something or other.
Survey: CFOs Wouldn’t Turn Away Some Help with Their Clerical Work
The following post is republished from AccountingWEB, a source of accounting news, information, tips, tools, resources and insight — everything you need to help you prosper and enjoy the accounting profession.
If financial executives could get one thing off their plates, it would be administrative tasks, according to a recent survey by Robert Half Management Resources.
More than one-third (38 percent) of chief financial officers (CFOs) interviewed said that if they could eliminate one responsibility, it would be basic clerical and administrative work.
“Today’s less extends to all levels of the organization,” Paul McDonald, senior executive director of Robert Half Management Resources, said of the survey results.
“At small and mid-size companies, in particular, this often means financial executives have had to take on tasks once handled by others,” McDonald said. “The demands of the current economic environment make it even more essential for senior-level managers to use their time wisely.”
CFOs were asked, “If there was one responsibility you could hand off from your job, what would it be?”
• Basic clerical/administrative – 38%
• Accounting-related – 19%
• Human resources-related – 14%
• Managing – 7%
• Operations-related – 3%
• Interactions with vendors – 1%
• Nothing – 8%
• Other – 10%
The survey was developed by Robert Half Management Resources, a provider of senior-level accounting and finance professionals on a project and interim basis. It was conducted by an independent research firm and includes responses from 795 CFOs from a stratified random sample of U.S. companies with 20 or more employees.
Robert Half Management Resources offers executives six tips for maximizing their time:
1. Set realistic expectations – High standards are a must, but setting impractical goals can cause frustration and waste valuable time. When initiating a project, consider what you would like to achieve if resources and time were unlimited. Then determine what can reasonably be accomplished considering available resources and other priorities.
2. Don’t procrastinate – It’s tempting to postpone less challenging assignments for more exciting initiatives, but it can backfire if projects start to stack up. Procrastination strains working relationships and creates unnecessary stress as everyone strives to catch up.
3. Delegate – Distribute more routine tasks to other staff members. Look for opportunities that allow your top performers to gain visibility and build their expertise and decision-making skills.
4. Keep meetings on track – Distribute a detailed agenda prior to the discussion so everyone is prepared. Meetings should begin and end on time. If information can be easily covered in e-mail or phone, a meeting might not be warranted.
5. Bring in help – If you and your team are overloaded, consider bringing in outside support during peak activity periods or for large-scale initiatives that are finite in nature.
6. Recharge – Financial executives are accustomed to long hours and demanding work, but that doesn’t mean they should sacrifice breaks and vacation. Scheduling time for even a short respite can restore energy and a sense of control.
About Robert Half Management Resources:
Robert Half Management Resources is a provider of senior-level accounting and finance professionals to supplement companies’ project and interim staffing needs. The company has more than 145 locations worldwide and offers online job search services at www.roberthalfmr.com. Follow Robert Half Management Resources at twitter.com/roberthalfmr for workplace news.
Why Haven’t We Heard About Accounting Firms Helping Out Haiti?
Because we’ve been looking for some PR and haven’t seen much.
We’ve got no doubt that accounting firms large and small are doing their part to help out the relief efforts there but we’re surprised about the lack of PR. Other than a brief memo (PDF below) from the AICPA that we saw on Twitter this morning, we haven’t seen much of anything.
Our sister site Above the Law has covered the many law firms that have donated to the efforts in Haiti but we haven’t seen anything on accounting firm donations efforts. Even, everyone’s favorite ward of the state, Citi, is helping out in the big way.
Maybe it’s being kept internal but it seems like an opportunity to demonstrate what firms are doing to help.
If your firm has made efforts, or if you’re a PR professional for your firm and you have a press release describing your firm’s efforts let us know and we’ll spread the good word.
AICPA.pdf