Accounting Principals has released a 2009 Salary Guide for Accounting and Finance Professionals with recent salary and compensation information from the staffing company.

In these tough economic times, as in others, there are many news items on companies declaring bankruptcies and announcing substantial staff cuts. What is different this time is that I am also reading about a number of cost-cutting strategies that are gaining in popularity and aimed at reducing expenses without disrupting business operations or laying off staff.

College students attending an Ernst & Young tax career event acknowledged they are seeing more interest on campus in accounting as jobs in the financial industry dry up.

Intuit has partnered with insurance company The Hartford on a Web-based service that processes workers' compensation insurance premiums for small businesses.

Payroll processor SurePayroll is offering free payroll-processing services to accounting firms for up to one year.

Accounting Today has ranked the Best Accounting Firms to Work For.

Colleges and students trying to understand International Financial Reporting Standards now have access to free course materials and case studies through Deloitte’s IFRS University Consortium.

Payroll-processing giant ADP reported that private sector employment fell by 693,000 in December.

Israel's fifth largest accounting firm, BDO Ziv Haft, has reportedly cut salaries across the board by 5 to 10 percent for all but the lowest paid employees.

Here are three quotes on work/life balance:

Inspired by the incoming administration, specialized accountants are listed among the most wanted new jobs, according to one career Web site.

The stock market crash, plummeting real estate values and the credit crunch have created general-purpose anxiety for most CPA clients. But for those with children someday headed for college, that looming burden weighs particularly heavily.According to the most recent College Board survey, the average tab this academic year at a four-year private college is $37,390. And total expenses at four-year public institutions average $18,326 for in-state residents, and $29,193 for out-of-state students.

This new term, "blended living" might come in handy when formulating work/life plans in your firm.It means blending together the different aspects of your life rather than having the silo approach, according to Carol McLachlan, a professional-development coach. The philosophy has efficiency/time optimization advantages, but also allows staffers to reap the rewards of synergy between the different aspects of their lives.

"Women have been in the profession in equal numbers to men for more than 20 years, yet women represent just 19 percent of the U.S. public accounting shareholder/partner population," reads just one statistic in "The Attraction, Retention and Advancement of Women Leaders: Strategies for Organizational Sustainability, a report released in October by the AICPAs' Women's Initiatives Executive Committee.Part- and full-time flexibility programs within many accounting firms have beefed up the number of female senior managers and female managers. The report added that turnover or stagnation of these managers is still apparent as they approach higher levels or directors and owners.

The Internal Revenue Service has given Section 529 tuition programs the ability to change their investment strategies more frequently in response to the financial crisis.

More than a third of CPA firms plan to supplement their workforce in the next 12 months, according to a newly released survey.

Despite dramatic changes in the accounting profession, nearly one in five corporate accounting departments are not planning to offer training to their accountants in the next two years, according to a new survey.

Payroll and benefits outsourcing provider Paychex Inc., said the combination of a widening credit crunch and continued weakness in the economy forced a 5 percent drop in second-quarter profits, to $140.2 million, compared to the second quarter of last year.

The New York State Senate and Assembly have unanimously passed a groundbreaking bill that would amend the laws governing CPAs and provide greater public protections for their clients.

Are you trying to establish a mentoring program within your firm that sticks? Consider these words of wisdom from a CPA based in New York who co-founded a mentoring initiative that is celebrating 10 years.