Sales and Marketing

IFACnet, a search engine developed by the International Federation of Accountants and its members, has expanded its resources to address the needs of small and midsized accounting practices.

When I first enrolled in college, I opted for a marketing course as an elective. At first, there was some trepidation on my part, because to me, marketing was a term my grandmother used when she intended to go grocery shopping. During my first day in class, I soon learned that the process of marketing had nothing to do with a visit to Grand Union or Safeway.

Reversing a trend of declining optimism over the past three years, CPAs serving as chief executive officers, chief financial officers and in other executive financial positions have a favorable view of the economy, according to the first quarter 2007 Business and Industry Economic Outlook Survey.

I was reading an interesting profile this week of Steve Stoute, a respected marketer in the ad world who preaches a message that brands needs to change with the times.Stoute’s agency, Translation Consultation & Brand Imaging, specializes in repositioning brands, and tells its clients that companies need to embrace cultural changes in order to speak with a new generation of clients.

A number of firms, especially the larger regionals, are going corporate. This approach to firm governance is seen as having an overall advantage over the strict partnership model as partners at different stages in their careers and with different specialties and concerns often find it hard to reach consensus or take decisive action quickly.

Marcum & Kliegman LLP has launched a new Women’s Leadership Development Program with neighboring law firm Farrell Fritz PC.The program, which is open to employees of both firms but not open to the public –yet -- was developed to provide a supportive venue for female professionals to explore issues that affect them in the workplace and develop skills to enrich their careers, said Marcum manager of training and development, Nancy Chen.

It has come to my attention that the advisor-client relationship may be sinking and that you need to do something about it.My friends at SEI, a leading global provider of outsourced asset management, investment processing, and investment operations solutions, has done us all a big favor with its latest survey of some 100 clients of the SEI Advisor Network because it reveals that 28 percent of advisors attribute client relationship failures to a lack of understanding. The result is that advisors need to communicate more clearly to avoid straining or losing clients.

Business-information provider D&B Corp. has acquired First Research for $22.5 million in cash.

A local accounting firm has alerted its 4,000 clients that their private financial records -- including Social Security numbers, addresses, credit card information and signature documents -- have been stolen.Santa Rosa, Calif.-based Tax Service Plus told authorities that thieves stole the business’s back-up computer on March 7, which contained data on thousands of tax returns filed over the past three years.

Tax prep giant H&R Block Inc. announced that it has opened up shop in the online virtual universe known as Second Life.Second Life is entirely built and owned by its residents, who have created a 3-D world that includes homes, vehicles, nightclubs, stores, landscapes, clothing and games. Last month, the site passed the 4-million-account threshold, though many accounts are not active and some residents have multiple accounts.