Intuit has created a Lacerte and ProSeries Tax Certification program that 1040 tax preparers can use to demonstrate their proficiency and firms can use to test their existing staff and find qualified job candidates.

Several years ago, the most critical generational issue facing CPA firms was attracting and keeping bright new talent. Today, the generational scales have tipped; it's no longer the youngest employees who are causing concern - it's the most experienced employees.

ACCOUNTING STAFF CUTBACKS SHOULD SLOW

IMGCAP(1)]Everywhere you turn, people are talking about the next generation: Millennials, Generation Y, Nexters.

Private sector employers shed 84,000 jobs last month, according to monthly employment figures from payroll giant ADP, but the service sector gained jobs, especially at small businesses.

Payroll giant ADP has agreed to buy DO2 Technologies, a Calgary, Alberta-based company that provides electronic invoicing software.

IMGCAP(1)]Concern over the recession and double-digit unemployment has overshadowed what promises to be nothing short of an HR tsunami: the increasing shortage of qualified workers for the new economy’s high-skilled jobs. However, changing the Tax Code to make training a capitalized business expense would go a long way toward turning the tide.

Payroll services provider Paychex has published four online tax resources for CPAs and small businesses free of charge on its Web site.

The ripple effect of the economy, coupled with fewer and weaker business starts across the country, resulted in a 10 percent drop in second-quarter profits for payroll and benefits outsourcing provider Paychex Inc.

Mark Bailey & Co. is no stranger to the Best Firms roster. The Reno, Nev., practice repeated last year's feat of being ranked No. 1 in the small firm category and attributed that accomplishment to its management team striving to give their employees as much freedom as possible.

'I'm convinced it's all about our team," said Christy Pierce, managing partner at Atlanta-based Braver Schimler Pierce Jenkins, about her firm's success. "We have an extraordinary group of people who work very well together, we respect each other from a multitude of different places - from professional strengths as well as personal characteristics and abilities - and when we need each other, we're there. It permeates the office."

In response to the downturn in the economy, this year BlumShapiro decided not to hold an outside party in January for its employees and their families. Instead, it opted to keep the party in-house and donate the money it saved to local homeless shelters.

In the second annual Best Firms to Work For survey - a joint effort between Accounting Today and the Best Companies Group in Harrisburg, Pa. - we set out to find which firms are doing their best at keeping their workforce productive and content, even in these tumultuous times. The winning firms were divided into three categories for ranking: small firms with between 15 and 24 employees, midsized firms with between 25 and 249 employees, and large firms with more than 250 employees. Mark Bailey & Co. in Reno, Nev., Braver Schimler Pierce Jenkins in Atlanta, and BlumShapiro in West Hartford, Conn., garnered the first-place rankings in the small, midsized and large categories, respectively.

Small firms (15-24 employees)

Small firms Midsized firms Large firms All firms

Accountants expecting noticeable increases in their salaries next year shouldn't get their hopes up.

The employment outlook in accounting and finance is expected to stabilize in the first quarter, according to a new survey of CFOs, although the hiring environment remains challenging for now.

Ohio’s CPAs are delaying their earlier prediction for when a sustainable U.S. economic recovery will begin, according to a new poll by the Ohio Society of CPAs.

Private sector businesses cut 169,000 jobs last month, according to the latest employment report by payroll giant ADP, but that was the eighth consecutive month in which the decline in employment was less than in the previous month.

For many, an internship is an introduction to a whole new world — it provides the foundation for a professional career.