October 2017 Article Archives
The Last Server You Will Buy
I drive a 1999 Toyota Land Cruiser. It’s a beast, gets horrible gas mileage, won’t die, and I love it. I bought it for $10,200 8 years ago and could sell it today for approximately $8K. The best depreciating asset investment I have ever made! The speed at which innovation, market demands and regulation are going (i.e. autonomous vehicles) combined with urban concentration, mind bending traffic, etc. lead me to believe that my ...
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The Bridge to The Land of Partner
Imagine a deep, but fairly narrow, crevasse with a firm’s senior managers on one side and senior leaders on the other. They stand, looking at each other, waiting for the other side to do something. But nothing happens. It is disappointing to the senior leaders that the managers can’t get over to their side. With all the support, resources and instructions they have provided to the managers, they should be able to cross. But they ...
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Someone Should Do Something
Have you ever said that? I have….at home, in my community, in my family, and at work. We all see places where change should happen, improvements could be made, and help is needed. And we all think, “someone should do something”. I joined CPAFMA because I needed a resource to help me do my job. I needed information and tools and a good old fashioned sounding board. I found all that in my state chapter. And the more I got ...
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How to Become a Baby-Friendly Firm: Maternity and Paternity Leave - Get Creative
The Big 4 Accounting firms (Deloitte, PwC, EY and KMPG) have embraced the maternity and paternity leave concept in a big way and updated most of their policies during 2016 and 2017. Deloitte and EY rolled out 16 weeks fully paid leave for mothers and fathers; KMPG now offers 12 weeks paid leave to primary caregivers and 3 weeks for non-primary caregivers. PwC’s policy is 12 weeks of fully paid maternity leave (including short-term ...
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Why Xcentric Pays CPAFMA Dues for Clients
More than thirty years ago I began my transition into the administrative role within my firm and it was obvious I needed help. While I had been a CPA doing taxes, accounting work, and helping others understand personal computers, overseeing the administrative and technology management of the firm was a little outside my wheelhouse. The firm’s newly appointed Managing Partner and I attended the then-AAA National Conference together with the ...
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