AT Think

The struggle in the Senate to get the tax extenders and unemployment benefits legislation passed is due in part to the stubborn refusal of lobbyists to let many of the 50-odd tax breaks in the bill ever truly expire.

IMGCAP(1)] Nearly every day we are presented with opportunities to recruit new clients and/or strengthen existing client relationships. Sometimes even the smallest gesture of good faith can make all the difference. Unfortunately, too many firms overlook the small stuff and end up wasting an opportunity. Consider a recent event.

The Senate did not manage to overcome a filibuster to pass its tax extenders and unemployment benefits extension bill on Thursday evening, but it did at least succeed in getting the so-called “doc fix” provision passed on Friday, just in time to avert a steep reduction in doctors’ Medicare reimbursement rates.

The Association for Accounting Marketing Summit is next week in Washington D.C. and I want to know – who’s going?

CPA firms are again expanding beyond their traditional services to provide additional help to business that want to establish a reputation for transparency and trustworthiness.

Ascend, anorganization dedicated to enhancing the presence and influence of current andfuture business leaders of Asian and Pacific Islander descent, has announcedfive scholarships for college students engaged in business-related studies.

The Senate voted down an attempt to repeal $35 billion in tax breaks handed out to oil and natural gas companies, even as Washington professed to be getting tough with the oil companies.

IMGCAP(1)] The number one source of new business for accountants is referrals. But when I ask partners of CPA firms how many really good or “A” referral sources they have, they can often count the number on one hand. That means that even if they get one good referral per referral source per year, that’s less than five per year. That’s certainly not enough to sustain, let alone grow a practice.

Trading in the shares of a British accounting firm, Vantis, has been suspended on the London-based AIM exchange after the firm admitted that it may not be able to continue trading on a going concern basis.

Here’s something you don’t hear everyday – an accounting firm actually owning and liking the fact that they are well, boring. One Sacramento-based firm has even gone so far as to rebrand itself with the tagline “Proud to be Boring Accountants.”