Research Center >> November 2009

CPAs Rev Their Engines
Are you positioned to be part of a new world of opportunity?
by Rick Telberg/For the CPA Channel Marketer
AICPA Custom Media Solutions

Besides getting ready for busy season, CPAs and accounting firms are also bracing for a dizzying number of changes that will open the doors to a new world of fresh opportunities and growth.

The message was driven home at the AICPA’s meeting last month of its ruling council, which was themed “One World.”

In his inaugural speech, incoming AICPA chairman Robert R. Harris, a Florida CPA, said that thinking globally is no longer a luxury but is a necessity. He also said it was clear that International Financial Reporting Standards are coming to America and that in today’s global environment, we cannot have a loan or a stock offering accounted for in Boston differently from how it’s accounted for in Beijing or Belgium.

That was followed a few days later with news that U.S. and international accounting rule-makers are intensifying efforts to converge their standards ahead of a June 2011 deadline. “We are redoubling our efforts to achieve a single set of high quality standards within the context of our respective independent standard-setting processes." the FASB and IASB said in a joint statement.

Many CPA channel marketers already know how to spell the future of accounting. And it only starts with XBRL and IFRS. There’s also the CFPA (Consumer Finance Protection Agency) and the financial system bailouts and re-regulation (TARP, PPIP, etc.) And we haven’t even touched here on SaaS or TBL (my own abbreviation for the “triple bottom line” of profitability, social consciousness and sustainability reporting.

CPAs will barely get a breathing spell after busy season to get started on all the new requirements and business possibilities. Don’t waste busy season by ignoring them. The winning marketers will be the ones who are top-of-mind every day through April 15.

More for CPA Channel Marketers by Rick Telberg:

RICK TELBERG is president of Bay Street Group LLC, which provides research and marketing and communications services to CPA firms and the vendors who serve them. He is the founding editor of the Insider newsletters and serves as AICPA Editor at Large and Director of Online Content. In his two decades in media and marketing for the finance, tax and accounting industries, Telberg has played pivotal roles in the development and operation of the leading media and e-commerce outlets in the business, including Accounting Today, The Practical Accountant, Accounting Technology, WebCPA.com, SmartPros.com, and CPA2Biz.com. Contact Rick at rtelberg@baystreetgroup.com or (914) 674-4531. He blogs at cpatrendlines.com.

Follow CPA Trendlines on Twitter.