While the country bemoans the current economic crisis, those with accounting experience need not be alarmed. Inflation may rise, the housing market may flounder, and stocks may continue to fall, but accounting professionals can count on one thing: job security.According to Robert Half International, the largest specialized financial recruitment service, the hiring of accounting professionals is intended to increase in the last quarter of 2008. Max Messmer, chairman and CEO, says, “Businesses need a strong financial function to see them through all economic cycles. This has created ongoing demand for accounting and finance staff with specialized abilities and expertise. In particular, firms seek staff and senior accountants, financial analysts, and internal auditors.”The article goes on to state that most hiring will occur in the small business sector-those organizations with just 20 to 49 employees. Thus, candidates with expertise in small-business accounting would fare best in the current job market.
Expertise in Small Business Accounting
Most universities and training programs prepare graduates for work in Fortune 500 companies. This means that the majority of accountants are unfamiliar with the day-to-day accounting tasks required by small businesses. This is an unfortunate situation considering that 50% of small businesses fail within the first five years, and much of that failure is attributed to poor financial management. These businesses need an expert, a specialist trained to cater to their unique needs.Over 25 years ago, Alf Bostrom recognized the lack of training available for accountants working with the small business sector; as a result, he established Universal Accounting Center. UAC’s flagship course, the Professional Bookkeeper (PB) Program, is designed to prepare accounting professionals for the unique demands of small businesses. Not only is this course taught by seasoned professionals, but it is based upon years of experience preparing bookkeeping professionals for this valuable niche market.The course consists of the following four modules:
Module 1-Accounting Made Easy. You will master the tools, procedures, and underlying principles that make up the bookkeeping processes of all businesses. You will also understand the core building blocks of accounting and bookkeeping.
Module 2-Practical Small Business Applications. You will apply your understanding of the core accounting principles to specific industries. You will learn to set up books from scratch, do payroll like a seasoned pro, and much more.
Module 3-Advancing your “Account-Ability.” You will learn sure ways to set up complete bookkeeping systems and manage the books for a variety of more sophisticated industries.
Module 4-Building a Successful Accounting Service. You will learn the steps to finding paying clients. Upon completion of this module you will be able to start and grow an accounting practice following a proven program tested and perfected since 1979.
Whether you’re interested in earning a promotion at work or if you would like to start your own bookkeeping service, this course will see that you accomplish your career goals. And if you pass the final PB exam with a score of 90% or greater, you’ll earn the Professional Bookkeeper designation. Earning professional certification will enable you to best take advantage of these hiring increases. It will give you both the expertise and confidence necessary to secure your next accounting position.This is an amazing window of opportunity. Don’t allow it to close on you! Take advantage of current market trends and enroll in the Professional Bookkeeper Program today!References“More Accounting Jobs Expected in Q4.” 4 Sept. 2008 SmartPros
Serving Subscribers with Our Free Newsletters
We enjoy sending you information that we hope improves your efforts to advance your accounting career. Our three newsletters, AB Tips, Tax Tips, and Career Tips, are intended to help professionals like you advance in whatever their current position in the financial field. The AB Tips Newsletter is designed to share accounting and bookkeeping tips with subscribers. Intended for individuals with their own accounting practice or for those who would like to start their own practice, we specifically include tips on how to market your services, how to streamline tasks, how to organize your office space, etc. Our Tax Tips Newsletter is for tax preparers or those interested in tax preparation. We provide tax news, information on starting your own business, tips on building your clientele, etc. And finally, we have our Career Tips newsletter, for those of you who work or would like to work in the accounting field. In this newsletter we include information on getting the right job, advancing in your field, moving into management positions, etc.As we learn more about your needs, we alter our approach in order to better serve you. We’re adding a few things to the newsletter that we hope you enjoy. Here’s a breakdown of what’s included and how we hope it helps you.
Two articles
Since we began running our free ezines over two years ago, we have included two articles every issue that offer accounting and tax information, tips on running and marketing a small business, career guidelines and promotional pieces. The newsletters provide us with the opportunity to share our products and services with those we believe they best serve. Universal’s programs are top of the line and life-changing; we promote them because we know they help people like you achieve career goals and realize your business dreams.We also use the newsletter as an opportunity to expose you to our many free resources, including personalized information from our President and CEO, Allen Bostrom in Allen’s Blog, UAC’s accounting and tax forums, the newsletters, and the Universal video tour.Recently we’ve responded to requests for purely informational pieces as well. Last summer we asked newsletter subscribers to tell us what you wanted to read about. For the past six months we’ve tried to include articles on all suggested topics. Each newsletter contains one, if not two, informational pieces. We continue to welcome your feedback as we write articles intended to help you improve your accounting career. Please visit our forums for a chance to give us feedback on past articles and suggestions for future articles.
Press Releases and New Products
We want you to be in the know about everything Universal, so we include all press releases, enrollment offers, and information about new products in our newsletters. From our new interactive testing center to our customized Professional Bookkeeper Program for Canadian residents, we want you to be the first to know what’s happening at Universal Accounting Center.
Quotable Quote
Everyone could use a little inspiration now and then, so we like to include a quotable quote in each issue of our newsletters. Funny quotes, somber quotes, quotes that make you want to get up and accomplish something, we try to include a variety that inspire and uplift.
“The Bottom Line”
And last but certainly not least is an upcoming addition to our newsletters: a video clip we call “The Bottom Line.” In the serious world of financial statements, taxes, and projected profits, the bottom line is that we like what we do and can enjoy a good laugh about our profession. The humorous clip is intended to help lighten your load and improve your day. We hope you look forward to this new feature and share it frequently with coworkers, family, and friends.We want our newsletter to help you move forward in your goals as a financial professional.So stay tuned as we continue to improve our newsletters so that they can better serve your needs. We appreciate your support.
May 24th, 2008 in
Accountants,
Becoming a Profit and Growth Expert,
Bookkeeping Demand,
Certification,
Finding a Job,
Get a Promotion,
Marketing Your Business,
Self Improvement,
Small Business,
Start Your Own Practice,
Workplace Tips |
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By Carol Kleiman — Chicago Tribune
Career outcomes and satisfaction levels are the same whether MBA grads move around or stay put.What’s the opposite of going to work for one company right out of high school or college and staying there until you retire? The answer is a “broken path.” This terminology is found in recent research on holders of MBA degrees.”Only one-third of 116 MBAs we studied moved up the unbroken career ladder with the same firm,” according to a report by Joy A. Schneer, chairman of the management and human resources department at Rider University in Lawrenceville, N.J., and Frieda Reitman, retired professor of business at Pace University in Pleasantville, N.Y.The researchers, whose findings are published in the Journal of Managerial Psychology, studied the career paths of managers who earned MBAs between 1976 and 1980.They found that fully two-thirds of the MBA graduates in that time period experienced “broken career paths” as a result of downsizings and restructurings.But “broken” isn’t always so bad, as least in terms of work/life balance. The study shows that career outcomes and satisfaction levels, whether the MBA grads moved around or stayed put, were the same, according to the researchers.And another hopeful finding, especially in light of the fact that I believe the “broken path” is here to stay: Though research shows that women with MBAs were less likely to marry or to have children during their careers than men with MBAs, Schneer and Reitman found evidence that the “broken path” — moving around from job to job — may be more supportive for women in terms of marriage, having children, income equality and top-level management positions. The reason: the opportunities to negotiate flexibility that a “broken path” provides.The “way” for singles. Despite the very prevalent belief that “the onset of parenthood is the driving force behind employees’ quest for flexible work arrangements, 20 percent of 500 women and men we studied who are seeking flexibility are childless,” according to Nadine Mockler, president of Flexible Resources Inc., a consulting and staffing firm specializing in creating flexible work arrangements for professionals. The company is based in Greenwich, Conn., and has four branch offices.According to Mockler, the recent survey of job candidates who came to her firm also shows that 53 percent of those 25 to 35 years of age, the group known as Generation X, had requested a flexible arrangement from their current employer — but only 38 percent of the baby boomers had done so.”Those who were refused by their employers often began their job searches shortly thereafter,” said Mockler. “And most employers have no idea why they lost valued employees.”Walking the outplacement talk. When parents lose their jobs, the entire family is devastated — and that includes the other parent and the children. And that’s why I urge outplacement firms to include everyone in the outplacement process: Just as family-friendly companies invite the worker’s family to come in for a visit and to look around, it’s important to do the same when the worker is unemployed. It helps alleviate the stress every member of the family feels, not just the job seeker.Peggy Isaacson is a part-time consultant with DBM, a human resource consulting firm based in New York with 225 locations worldwide. Recently, Isaacson, who is based in Orlando, Fla., invited the family of a client to come in and tour the office. It was an excellent idea.”The family met the staff and was able to talk about what they were going through as a result of the job loss and how the change was affecting them emotionally,” said Isaacson. “They said they felt mad, sad and uncertain. But as a result of the visit, they also felt more bonded as a family in dealing with the process of finding another job. They said it helped them to talk about it with each other and to be more supportive of each other to get through it.”Now, that’s really family-friendly!The trouble with job boards. Robin Ryan of Newcastle, Wash., a career coach and head of a consulting firm, thinks most job seekers are wasting their time applying for jobs on Internet job boards. Ryan says that “applying online is equivalent to entering a cyber black hole where hardly anyone lands a job. And it’s even harder for white-collar workers such as professionals, engineers, managers, executives and association directors to find jobs that way.”The problem, Ryan says, is that there are so many applicants for every job that yours might get lost in the volume of submissions.”No hiring officer can possibly go through them all,” she said. If there’s a position you want on the job board, “send your resume to the company’s direct Web site, instead — after checking to see if the job still is listed. And always send a hard copy too.”
The old adage is true . . . that the only thing constant is change. Times are changing; are you keeping up with the changes or are you becoming obsolete?
Buggy Whips — a Lesson in Obsolescence
At one point in time, selling buggy whips was a lucrative income. Once the automobile came into being, buggy whip industries vanished. Over time, people learn to fix automobiles and even as recently as the late 70′s, a mechanic’s job was no where near as complicated as it is now. The carburetor disappeared and in comes the fuel-injector. What does that mean? It means that the mechanic’s skills became outdated in just a few short years. Today, computers have infiltrated the automobile to the point where auto mechanics needs as much or even more training in electronics and programming than they do in the workings of the mechanical side of things.Speaking of computers, when’s the last time you found out that your software or operating system needs to be updated? Until recently, on my home computer, I’ve been using Windows Me (Millennium) which came out only five years ago. Already, several of the latest versions of software that I use cannot be used on a Millennium machine. I had to upgrade to Windows XP. Just in the 3 years that I’ve been in school to learn computer programming, my future-scheduled classes have changed 4 or 5 times. Every few months, a new software or programming language becomes the emphasis because it’s gaining market-share. In fact, the information learned in one of my classes is almost obsolete only two years later.People who work in the call-center industry are having to learn new skills because of the recent laws that impact the way businesses can communicate with customers. The list of changes and updates to the world as we know it is constant and never-ending.
An Industry Where You Don’t Have to Re-Tool Every Few Years
The point is that in most major industries, auto-mechanic, computer programming, business management, technology, etc the industry changes and employees are constantly needing to “re-tool” and learn new skills, and employers are constantly looking for the person with the best skill set. Unfortunately even if you are the best buggy-whip manufacturer and designer in the entire universe as we know it, you are not likely to find employment that will meet your income and lifestyle needs.So the question you must be asking yourself at this point is “what’s the point of training if I’ll be obsolete by the time I’m done training?” Well the answer is that there is at least one industry out there that hasn’t changed for over 500 years . . . Accounting and Bookkeeping.If you want a stable job in an industry where you won’t be obsolete in a few years . . . accounting.If you want a skill that EVERY business not only needs, but must have by law . . . accounting.If you want a career where your boss can’t afford to lose you . . . accounting.
Accounting Hasn’t Changed Much in Over 500 Years!
The first person to put into print the accounting concepts that are still used today was an Italian monk named Luca Pacioli (pronounced pot-CHEE-oh-lee), in the year 1494. However, the concepts were not even created by him; they were actually a description of a system used by merchants during the Italian Renaissance. He described the same accounting cycle that we used today: journals; ledgers; inventories; assets; liabilities; income; expense accounts; year-end closing, etc. He even made the observation that until the debits equaled the credits, do not go to sleep.The reason this system has survived for so long is because it works! Because of it’s stability and consistency, according the US Department of Labor, Accounting opportunities will grow by 20% by the year 2014.
So it would seem that it’s clear that accounting is a safe field to go into, but I’m going to guess that you weren’t born knowing how to be a bookkeeper, and like most people would need some training to move into this field. Or you might be lucky enough to already be in the field, but you need to fine tune your skills or have that piece of paper that proves to your boss that you’re worth more than he’s paying you.Well you basically have two choices; you can either spend four years getting an accounting degree or you can take a condensed accounting course like we offer here at Universal Accounting Center. According to our students, you’ll find that you will learn more in our 60 hour course than you will in a four year degree; plus it’ll only take you four weeks, not four years.Read a Detailed Comparison of the Professional Bookkeeper course vs. traditional university trainingA good friend of mine who happens to be a business owner and a CPA has a saying that he always used when it came to the training and disciplining of his staff . . . “If you can’t change the people, change the people.” Of course, what he meant by that was that if you couldn’t change the behavior of the people (change the people), then get new people (change the people). Unfortunately some people end up in situations where they can’t upgrade their skill sets fast enough to keep up with the demands of the job market. When that happens, the new guy right out of college with the newer more updated skills get the job when the company “changes the people.”If you don’t want to be the one being changed by the company, then change yourself. Get into a career that is stable and has proven itself for the past 500 plus years . . . ACCOUNTING. This is what we do best. We help you change, so you don’t have to be changed. We offer the best accounting and bookkeeping training money can buy.
“This economy has a need for well trained accounting personnel and Universal Accounting is supplying just that. The intensive training your graduates receive is a highly marketable asset in today’s market. Dollar for dollar I have found no better educational value than Universal Accounting program.”—Brett Thompson (AccountTemps Staffing Manager)
Less Expensive Than University Training
Many students in the Professional Bookkeeper program were amazed when they found out how much less expensive that distance training can be compared with traditional university training. For less than you would probably pay for a single semester of college, the Professional Bookkeeper program trains you in the complete range of small to mid-sized business Accounting.Learn How Much Less You Will Pay With Professional Bookkeeper Training
Get Started Today!
Now is the time; this is the place. Don’t wait any longer to get into a career that is stable and in high demand.
550,000 new businesses…Wow! A study sponsored by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
showed that the number of small businesses in the U.S. grew by 550,000 per month from 1996 to 2004, despite swings in the economy.*
This is Good News for You as an Accountant and Tax Professional
Most bookkeepers will tell you that along with the great income they earn, one of the most satisfying things they do is create the bookkeeping system for a brand new company. The ability to establish practices that directly effect the bottom-line of a new business is very rewarding.Its no secret. Successful business owners know what’s going on inside their business. To really understand any business, you need to have a sense of the numbers and what they are telling you. Unfortunately, many business owners put too much trust in accounting software to give them that understanding.Why do I say unfortunately? Because using any accounting software for data entry without an understanding of the accounting process gives you an incomplete picture of what the numbers are telling you. Worse still, it might give you the wrong interpretation.Without an understanding of what the numbers mean, business owners are making decisions based upon faulty data. For a small buisnesses’ profitability, that’s dangerous at best.Often, limits of the software, limits that are necessary to make the software easy for a layman to use, create a false sense of security for the business owner. With a complete understanding of the accounting process, a qualified and skilled bookkeeper/accountant provides a business with the proper interpretation of what their accounting software tells them.
The Bookkeeper – One of the Most Important Members of the Team
Savvy business owners understand and appreciate the value of their bookkeeper/accountant and treat him or her as a trusted and respected advisor.In his book In the Black:Nine Principles to Make Your Business Profitable, Allen Bostrom, President of Universal Accounting Center states, “Minimally, you should plan to have one accountant for every 10 employees. If you have fewer than 10 employees, you should consider outsourcing the service to a professional bookkeeper or accountant.”In today’s marketplace, business owners must pay more attention to their financial progress to keep competitive. You might find it interesting to know that when seeking financing, banks determine the strength of your company by your understanding of the following:
- The condition of your accounting system
- Your awareness of your current financial position
- Your plans for future growth
With New Businesses Starting at an Incredible Rate – Now’s the Time to Start Your Bookkeeping and Accounting Practice
You don’t need to take my word for it, there are literally hundreds of graduates of the Professional Bookkeeper Program who are watching their businesses grow. The number of new small business start-ups every month make this possible like never before. They find that the rewarding and exciting business of Professional Accounting and Tax Preparation not only provides a very valuable service for their clients, but it creates the professional and personal success that they have been looking for.Follow the link below and find out just what a career in accounting and tax preparation will do for you and your family.Click Here to See What a Career in Accounting and Tax Preparation Can Do for You
*The study, conducted by Robert W. Fairlie of the University of California, Santa Cruz, who drew on Census data and Bureau of Labor Statistics for the study, indicates that entrepreneurship in the U.S. has remained relatively constant over the past 10 years.
