May 14, 2013
I've been in management for a long time -- first in hospitals, then in associations. I'm always interested to read about how to improve my managing of people and organizations. Oh, and that includes understanding myself and my strengths so I can build on them.
I challenged myself to distill what I think I’ve learned into 5 rules. These aren't original with me by any means. I just think these are the most important ones.
Here they are:
- Get the right people on the bus.
And work very hard to cut your losses quickly if you have a bad hire. My experience is that you really can't "fix" people and pound a square peg into a round hole.
- Don't micromanage.
Describe the outcome desired and then let those right people determine how to get there.
Be clear on the requirements and any constraints and then get out of the way. Employees function best when they have autonomy and feel in control.
- Provide workers with what they need to get the work done.
Provide flexibility in how, where and when work gets done. Respect that everyone has a different working style and make sure they get the tools and training that fits them and their needs. Acknowledge and understand that employees have a personal life and respect the boundaries.
- Recognize success...a lot!
This really doesn't have to be big and loud and fancy. It just needs to happen. Find your people doing something well? Say something right then. (Make sure you also tell their supervisor.)
- Keep a reasonable perspective
There are almost always ways to mitigate outcomes that are less than perfect. (Consider when "good enough" is the proper goal, not perfection.) Blowing up and catastrophizing doesn't make anything better. Sit down with your employees and figure out how to deal with the situation and then follow through.
I wish I did all these things better than I do!
What would you include in your Top 5?
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May 8, 2013
Interacting with other people is affected by many things -- how we dress, our body language, and here's another one to think about -- our voices. We don't hear our own voices the way others hear it.
The Wall Street Journal reported in a recent article that "the sound of a speaker's voice matters twice as much as the content of the message!" All I can say is "wow!" My voice pet peeve is the use of the word "like" as the all-purpose filler. Drives me crazy! And folks who speak so fast I can't follow them are also a problem.
Read The Wall Street Journal article
Here are some examples of the ways people talk and the impacts
So can you really do anything about your voice? Most of us probably are either unaware of the way our voices affect others or we assume nothing can be done about it, anyway. Voice problems can be improved through therapy from a speech pathologist (including getting rid of "like"). There are also voice coaches one can work with.
So ask your significant other or best friend about your voice. Ask your co-workers. You might be surprised what you find out.
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April 26, 2013
Caleb Newquist of the famous “Going Concern” website has some strong commentary on the most recent video released by the Center for Audit Quality called “Fighting Fraud”. His main point is that the video is misleading because it reinforces the misperceptions that investors have about audits detecting fraud - the expectations gap.
Read Newquist's commentary
So go take a look and let me know what you think.
View the "Fighting Fraud" video
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April 3, 2013
It seems to be normal part of life that young managers (whether in a public accounting firm or another business) are always thinking about that next position or job. An article in Harvard Business Review reports that ¾ of young high achievers during their first jobs are sending out resumes, contacting recruiters and interviewing for jobs. They left their companies, on average, after 28 months.
They found large gaps between what young managers would like their employers to do to help them grow and what those same employers actually do. Young managers said their employers provide for their on-the-job development, but that they don’t get much in the way of formal development such as training, mentoring and coaching. This is something they really value and employers are coming up short. In addition, the authors point out that each change of employer created a measurable uptick in pay. “In fact, a job change was the biggest single determinant of a pay increase.”
The authors comment that often companies won’t train workers because they might leave and the workers leave because they don’t get training.
It might be time to take a look at the formal training you do to develop your young stars and increase your odds of keeping them.
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March 25, 2013
A lot has been written about how little people have saved for retirement. It is being called a crisis and I don’t doubt that it is. But just how big a surprise is this?
Read the article
We moved away from having defined benefit plans (pensions) in place for our workers to providing defined contribution plans (such as 401(k)s). The portion of private sector workers covered only by defined benefit plans fell to 3% in 2011 from 28% in 1979.
Even though we schedule education sessions for our workers once or twice a year, most are still not doing well saving enough money. 57% of US workers reported less than $25,000 in total household savings and investments. This is up from 49% in 2008. The percentage of workers who have saved for retirement decreased to 66% from 75% in 2009.
At the same time that savings have gone down, life expectancies have gone up. A 65 year old man is now expected to live an additional 20.5 years and a woman at 65 can expect 22.7 more years.
So here we are post the worst recession since the 1930’s, with a high unemployment rate, and the lowest interest rates in years. Many people have raided their 401(k)s to live through the recession. And it seems to me that we are expecting a lot of financial sophistication out of our employees. We have placed the complete burden on them to select their investments in the 401(k) and understand how to allocate their savings. We even place the enrollment burden on them. Back in the “good old days”, you were automatically enrolled in the pension plan and the investment decisions were made for you. (Certainly there are pension obligation issues now due to low interest rates, but that’s another topic….)
So as employers have we done the best we can to provide the best retirement options for our people? Is our lineup of funds a well-thought out one? Or did we pick a bunch 25 years ago and forgot about them? Do we auto-enroll our people? Do we auto-increase their contribution percentage? Do we limit loans, hardship withdrawals? Do we cover the fees for the plan or do we charge that back to our employees? What about the quality of the education we provide? Do we have one-on-one consultations available with our investment advisors? Oh, and how did we pick that investment advisor? What are we paying him/her?
It’s a lot to expect most employees to be fully knowledgeable in handling their 401(k)s. I think we owe them better than what most employers are offering. CPAs have the ears of their business clients and CPAs in industry likely have influence in their companies. Both types of CPAs can make a difference. What do you think about all this?
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March 15, 2013
Cheating in general has become a hot topic in our culture. Academics wrestle with differences in their definitions of cheating and those of their students, especially since the advent of collaborative spaces such as Facebook. It’s a rare person who would claim they have never, ever bent the rules to their benefit.
But what about cheating on taxes? Do most people think it’s okay? Does everyone do it to one degree or another? Have attitudes changed along with our perceptions about the effectiveness and efficiency of our government? The IRS Oversight Board has some interesting answers.
The 2012 Taxpayer Attitude Survey found:
- 87% said it was “not at all acceptable” to cheat on your income taxes. Only 11% expressed any tolerance (from cheating “a little here and there” to “as much as possible.)
- 94% believe that everyone who cheats on his/her taxes should be held accountable, including low income taxpayers, small businesses, high income taxpayers and corporations.
Here’s a look at the 10 Biggest Tax Cheats in U.S. History
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March 11, 2013
As you know, the IRS program to require that paid tax return preparers meet competency standards by passing an exam and meeting CPE requirements is in abeyance due to a court challenge. (Loving v. Internal Revenue Service) The argument is that Congress never gave the IRS the authority to license tax preparers and the IRS can’t give itself that power. The IRS has appealed. The suit was filed by three independent tax preparers and the Institute for Justice, a libertarian public interest law firm.
Here’s an interesting finding from the most recent IRS Oversight Board’s report on taxpayer attitudes and beliefs:
93% believe that it is important that paid return preparers meet standards of competency to enter the tax prep business, including a growing share - 77% -who said it was “very important.”
It would seem that the public is looking to have some way to tell whether the tax preparer they are considering is competent to do the job. Here is an opportunity for CPAs to make sure that the public knows about the reputation of the profession as the #1 expert in tax.
The MNCPA takes this message to the public each tax season with our Annual Tax Campaign. Every activity, from TaxLine 11 to newspaper and online advertising to marketing materials that firms can use, presents the case that CPAs are uniquely qualified to prepare taxes at all levels, from individual returns to complicated business returns.
1) CPAs are exempt but every paid preparer must have a PTIN.
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March 4, 2013
The IRS announced on Feb. 2 that it had reopened its PTIN system for new applications and renewals. However, the Registered Tax Preparer program requirements of testing and continuing education are shut down until the Loving court case is resolved. (Interestingly, the announcement was made on the Return Preparer Office Facebook page.)
Of course, remember that CPAs are exempt from the RTRP program testing and CPE requirements as are the non-CPAs that they supervise. But everyone needs a PTIN.
More information here
Read more on the IRS website
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February 21, 2013
Pound Foolish is a new book by Helaine Olen, which takes a look at various financial gurus in the popular press and on TV. She explores so-called personal finance “experts” like Dave Ramsay, Suze Orman and David Bach and finds them lacking in many ways. It strikes me that we lionize many of these self-promoting people without seriously looking at the advice they are peddling. Ms. Olen takes a critical eye to their advice and finds that they often don’t practice what they preach, that their systems often don’t work the way they’re supposed to and that their advice tends to benefit Wall Street more than the average reader. A tidbit: Suze Orman earns $80,000 for a speaking engagement. The author would contend that Ms. Orman’s advice is wildly overpriced.
View the book on Amazon
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February 11, 2013
Google’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt has a new book coming out in late April. A recent Law Blog on the Wall Street Journal took a peek at an unreleased galley of the book called “The New Digital Age”.
It’s a scary scenario that Mr. Schmidt paints, including a “hidden people registry”, “virtual genocide”, and a strong need for us to fight for our privacy. I know this is a book I’m going to read.
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