Leave 'em wanting
Accounting Best Practices, 6th Edition
John Wiley & Sons; $76 with WebCPA.com discount
You don't want your clients to be perfect - then they wouldn't need you - but you do want them to get better. So our advice is to get the sixth edition of Stephen Bragg's Accounting Best Practices, and then dole out the hundreds of tips and techniques for improving their accounting processes in small doses, so they come to depend on you utterly for advice. You might even apply some of the lessons to your own firm ... .
Forensic procedural
Anatomy of a Fraud Investigation: From Detection to Prosecution
John Wiley & Sons; $39.96 with WebCPA.com discount
This fascinating book takes you step by step, phone call by phone call, and missed meal by missed meal through an entire fraud investigation, from discovery through resolution and the payment of the investigator's invoice. Because of the almost obsessive level of detail, it offers countless useful pointers for these kinds of investigations - from how to seal up garbage bags of evidence to how to determine whether to pursue a criminal or a civil case, or both - and yet it doesn't get bogged down, and ends up as something of a page-turner.
The latest on leadership
The AMA Handbook of Leadership
Amacom Books; $29.95
Ordinarily, having more than one leader is a recipe for disaster, but when it comes to learning about leadership, the more the merrier. The American Management Association's AMA Handbook of Leadership brings together a wide range of articles on the subject from over 20 leaders in the field, on topics ranging from change management and succession planning, to talent management and inspiring your people.
Measuring 'down'
Valuations for Gift and Estate Tax Purposes in a Troubled Economy
Lorman Education Services; $159.20 with WebCPA discount
Words like "down," "underwater" and "plummeting" may describe the value of your clients' assets, but they (and the IRS) are expecting something a little more specific. This CD and reference manual offers up-to-date guidance on practices and techniques for valuations for gift and estate tax purposes in current market conditions.
