BOOKS
Fairly confusing
Fair Value Measurements: Practical
Guidance and Implementation
Wiley; $95
We think it’s safe to say that fair value accounting didn’t cause the economic melt-down of 2008 — but it is also safe to say that
it’s causing some confusion. Fair Value Measurements aims to clear up some of that, serving as a “nuts-and-bolts” guide to the latest
developments in using fair value in preparing financial statements, including discussions of different valuation approaches, fair
value’s role in the economic crisis, and even
fair value under International Financial Reporting Standards.
Marc’s busy right now
Guide to Planning the Firm Retreat
Marc Rosenberg; $95
Practice management expert Marc Rosenberg is in high demand as a firm retreat facilitator; in the past, that meant that he might
not have been available to help with yours.
Now, though, you can read his Guide to Planning the Firm Retreat, which covers everything from how a retreat is different from a
partner meeting, to setting the agenda and
running the meeting, to handling logistical
issues and possible alternative formats. It’s
like having him facilitate your retreat, but
without him having to travel.
The next big thing
Fraud 101; Protecting Clients from
Fraud, Incompetence and Scams;
Financial Statement
Fraud: Prevention
and Detection
Wiley; Fraud 101 and
Protecting — $39.96
each, Financial State-
ment Fraud — $60 (all
with WebCPA discount)
Despite all the bad press,
fraud remains a growth
industry in the U.S. If
you’re interested in getting into this exciting area
— whether as a perpetrator
or a preventer — publisher
Wiley has a collection of helpful guides. The third edition of its
Fraud 101 is an excellent primer on financial fraud schemes, as well as the detection
methods and internal controls you’ll need to
overcome to successfully implement them.
Protecting Clients from Fraud, Incompetence
and Scams is a guide to the ways in which
individual financial planning clients can be
scammed, defrauded or otherwise deprived
of their assets, while the second edition of
Financial Statement
Fraud highlights
the ongoing evolution of fraud at the
corporate level, and
the best ways to prevent cooked books.
Franklin
was wrong
Practical Estate
Planning in 2010
Thomson Reuters; $120
Death and taxes may be inevitable, but their intersection in estate planning has
never felt less certain. The
current unresolved status of
all sorts of tax rules has left planners and
advisors in desperate need of advice on what
to tell clients. Enter Practical Estate Planning
in 2010, which addresses the issues stemming from the repeal of the estate tax and the
generation-skipping transfer tax, as well as
the implications of the carryover basis provisions that went into effect in January. Full of
practical advice and real-world scenarios,
the book is an authoritative resource on a
confusing area, and should help planners
offer their clients some certainty regarding
taxes. Regarding death, of course, they’re on
their own.
Already here
Wiley IFRS 2010
Wiley; $100 (with
WebCPA discount)
The ongoing debate over
the possible adoption
of International Financial Reporting Standards
overlooks the fact that
many companies in the
U.S. are already using it,
of accountants. Wiley IFRS
2010 offers a one-stop guide,
with detailed coverage of all the current standards and plenty of real-world illustrations of
how to apply the rules.
Make the data dance
Analytics at Work: Smarter Decisions,
Better Results
Harvard Business Publishing; $29.95
It’s frequently noted
that modern
businesses have
vast quantities
of data available to them,
and just as frequently noted
that most don’t
have the first clue
what to do with
it. If anyone is
well-positioned
to show them how
to use the data,
it’s accountants
— and Analytics at
Work can show you
how to show them.
The book makes a
strong case for replac-
ing “gut” instincts and
sloppy thinking with data-driven and analyti-
cal decision-making to improve efficiency,
manage risk and raise company profits, and
uses examples from real-world companies
to explain how to use data effectively; how
to manage and coor-
dinate data, people
and technology at an
enterprise level; how
to choose realistic tar-
gets for analytical activ-
ity; and even how to hire
and manage analysts.
The
consultant’s
consultant
An Insider’s Guide to
Building a Successful
Consulting Practice
Amacom Books; $18.95
If, like many in the current economy, you’ve
been considering striking out on your own as
a consultant, An Insider’s Guide to Building
a Successful Consulting Practice should be a
must-read: Written by a successful consultant
and including the insights of over 200 other
successful consultants, it offers advice on
everything from making the fateful decision,
to marketing, establishing your credentials,
setting fees and much more.
They work for you
The Referral Engine: Teaching Your
Business to Market Itself
Portfolio (Penguin Group); $29.95
Given all the work you do for them, it’s about
time your clients started returning the favor
— and one of the best ways they can do that
is by referring more business to you. The Referral Engine makes the claim that people
actually want to do this anyway, and lays
out a process for you to tap into this hard-wired instinct. It starts, naturally, with being
referable: doing high-quality work and making sure that your current clients love you
enough to recommend you to others. From
there, you can build a system that encourages them to do so — and before you know
it, they’re working for you.
Managing in the middle
Lead Your Boss: The Subtle Art of
Managing Up
Amacom Books; $21.95
Given that our idea of “managing up” usually
involves incriminating pictures and threats
of exposure, we were interested to learn that
there are kinder, gentler ways to influence
your boss. Lead Your Boss explains the fundamentals of this particularly tricky exercise
in managing from the middle. It involves
cultivating high degrees
of professionalism and
composure, and a willingness to put the needs
of the business first, which
is why we’ll be sticking
with blackmail. But we’ll
be the first to admit that
the discipline of this kind
of stealth leadership is not
just useful in itself, but is
also great training for the
day when you yourself are
the boss.
Surviving SAS 70
SAS 70 Requirements,
Obligations and Audit Survival Best
Practices
Lorman Education Services; $175.20
(with WebCPA discount)
Proving the effectiveness of a company’s
internal controls through a SAS 70 audit is
becoming more and more important; this
teleconference and related materials explain
the process in detail, and how to navigate it
successfully.
