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Vol. 25 I No. 5 I May 2011 accountingtoday.comCLOUDY, WITH A CHANCE OF SAAS MICROSOF T LAYS OU T A BROAD STRATEGY FOR D YNAMICS IN THE CLOUD See our report from Convergence on page 8 Building a brand-new brand A proper ;rm rebranding starts with the fundamentals Marketingprofessionalsare fondoftellingclientstolookto thelogoandbeyondwhenit comestobranding.Butformany CPA;rms,theeconomicdown- turnhadmanagingpartners’eyes trainedononlyoneline—and itwasn’tunderliningafocus- group-testedfont.Nowthatthefinancialland- scapeisimproving,;rmsarere- consideringtheirbrand,andwhat
hewordmeans.Formost;rms,it representsacoreidentity.“It’simportantthata;rmde- velopabrandthatistrulywho theyare,”acknowledgedJean MarieCaragher,presidentof Chesapeake,Va.-basedCapstone Marketing.“Notsomethingthey wishtheywereorstrivetobe.” Uncoveringanintrinsicper- sonality,however,willusually requiresomeoutsidehelpand extensiveresearch. KatieTolin,asmarketingdi- rectorofOhioCPAandbusiness advisory;rmRea&Associates, iscurrentlyinthemiddleofthis process.;e;rm’s“manystages ofresearch”kickedofflastfall —andstartedwiththebasics. “Weevenlookedat,‘Isourname right?’”sherevealed. Whilethelocalconsulting;rm thatRea&Associatesbroughtin fortheresearchphasehelped themrealizethatitindeedwas, theaccountingprofessionben- efitsfrombeinghard-wiredtolookatfundamentalaspectslike thisonamicrolevel.“Iworkwith detail-orientedpeople,”Tolin explained.“Anychangerecom- mendedneedstobebasedon someseriousstatistics.” Especiallywhenthesechanges comesoinfrequently.Rea&As- sociateshasnotgonethrough suchanextensiveoverhaulsince itsfoundingin1938.Inherexpe- rience,Caragherhasnoticedthat rebrandingoftencoincideswith ; rmanniversaries.Two;rmsre- centlychosetheir85thand90th yearsasoccasionsforchange. AncaS.Munteanu,directorof marketingforEastCoastaccount- ing,taxandconsulting;rmCitrin Cooperman,mighthavehada similarwaitonherhandsifnotfor thespeci;cityofherproposal. Shehadrealizedthattherewas adisconnectbetweenthebrand andtheculturethathadoutgrown ;ousandsoftaxcredits,deduc- tionsandotherincentivesare hiddenthroughouttheTaxCode. Some,suchastheBlender’sCredit, areobscure,whileothers,suchas theEarnedIncomeTaxCreditor thevariousenergycredits,arewell known.;eseprovisions,bothforindi- vidualsandbusinesses,areanim- portantpartofthetaxlandscape, yettheycanbecomplicated.Al- thoughmanyofthemappearand isappearatthewhimofCongress, taxpayersandtheiradvisorscan unlocksignificanttaxsavings throughjudicioususeofcredits andincentives.Congresshasalonghistoryof usingtheTaxCodetoencourage certaintypesofbehavior,accord- ingtoDanShapiro,ataxpartner atNewYork-basedfirmBerdon. “Taxcreditsandincentivesare intendedtobeindirectsubsidies forinvestmentindi;erentareas,as wellasinducementstoengagein particularbehavior,”hesaid. ;oseincludepersonalcredits, designedtofurnishbene;tsandin- centivestocertaintaxpayerssuch Taking credit Tax pros ;nd host of ne w or under-used credits, deductions See CREDIT on52 Playing defense Engagement letters are just the ;rst line in protecting a ;rm against liability ;eoldadageof“Putitinwrit- ing”remainsasvalidtodayasever asahedgeagainst;rmmalprac- ticeclaims.“Aproperlywordedengage- mentletterthatincludesaclear statementoftheprofessionalser- vicesprovided,thatisupdatedfre- quentlyforchangesinactivities, andcontainsreasonablelimita- tionandmediationlanguageisthe bestshieldtoamalpracticeclaim,” saidRickJorgensen,president andchiefunderwritingo;cerat Jorgensen&Co.,aprofessional iabilityandriskmanagement consultingfirm.“Wehaveseen manyinstanceswhereaCPA;rm getsdraggedintocostlylitigation becauseoftheprofessionalrela- tionshipwithaclientthatwasnot See DEFENSE on50 See REBRANDING on51 BY DANIELLE LEE B Y ROGER RUSSELL BY ROGER RUSSELL OUT OF THE CLASSROOM P. 6 CPEismovingfromlongsessionsoflivelearningto shorter,moremobile‘bites’ofinstruction CASE STUDIES P. 34 Weexamine;ve;rms’experienceswith implementingdocumentmanagementSPECIAL
SPECIAL REPORT INSIDE THE TOP 100 See page 11
LIVING WITH RISK P. 31
A special report on dealing with ;nancial
planning clients’ new aversion to volatility
001_ACTMay11 1
4/19/2011 4:24: 20 PM
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Vol.25INo.5IMay2011 accountingtoday.com
CLOUDY, WITH A CHANCE OF SAAS
MICROSOFT LAYS OUT A BROAD STRATEGY FOR DYNAMICS IN THE CLOUD
See our report from Convergence on page 8
Building a brand-new brand
A proper ;rm rebranding starts with the fundamentals
Marketingprofessionalsare
fondoftellingclientstolookto
thelogoandbeyond whenit
comestobranding.Butformany
CPA;rms,theeconomicdown-turnhadmanagingpartners’eyes
trainedononlyoneline—and
it wasn’tunderliningafocus-group-testedfont.
Nowthatthefinancialland-scapeisimproving, ;rms arere-consideringtheirbrand,andwhat
thewordmeans.Formost;rms,it
representsacoreidentity.
“It’simportantthata;rmde-
velopabrandthatistruly who
theyare,” ackno wledged Jean
Marie Caragher, presidentof
Chesapeake,Va.-basedCapstone
Marketing. “Notsomethingthey
wishthey wereorstrivetobe.”
Uncoveringanintrinsicper-
sonality,however,willusually
requiresomeoutsidehelpand
extensiveresearch.
Katie Tolin, as marketingdi-
rectorof Ohio CPAandbusiness
advisory;rmRea&Associates,
iscurrentlyinthemiddleofthis
process. ;e;rm’s“manystages
ofresearch” kickedofflastfall
—andstarted withthebasics.
“Weevenlookedat,‘Isourname
right?’” sherevealed.
Whilethelocalconsulting;rm
that Rea&Associatesbroughtin
fortheresearchphasehelped
themrealizethatitindeed was,
theaccountingprofessionben-
efitsfrombeinghard-wiredto
lookatfundamentalaspectslike
thisonamicrolevel.“I work with
detail-orientedpeople,” Tolin
explained. “Anychangerecom-
mendedneeds tobebased on
someseriousstatistics.”
Especially whenthesechanges
comesoinfrequently. Rea&As-
sociateshasnotgonethrough
suchanextensiveoverhaulsince
itsfoundingin1938. Inherexpe-
rience,Caragherhasnoticedthat
rebrandingoftencoincideswith
; rmanniversaries.Two;rmsre-
centlychosetheir85thand90th
yearsasoccasionsforchange.
AncaS.Munteanu,directorof
marketingfor East Coastaccount-
ing, taxandconsulting;rm Citrin
Cooperman, mighthavehada
similarwaitonherhandsifnotfor
thespeci;cityofherproposal.
Shehadrealizedthattherewas
adisconnectbetweenthebrand
andtheculturethathadoutgrown
;ousandsoftaxcredits, deduc-
tionsandotherincentivesare
hiddenthroughouttheTaxCode.
Some,suchastheBlender’sCredit,
areobscure,whileothers,suchas
theEarnedIncomeTaxCreditor
thevariousenergycredits,arewell
known.
;eseprovisions, bothforindi-vidualsandbusinesses, areanim-portantpartofthetaxlandscape,
yettheycanbecomplicated.Al-thoughmanyofthemappearand
disappearatthewhimofCongress,
taxpayersandtheiradvisorscan
unlocksignificanttaxsavings
throughjudicioususeofcredits
andincentives.
Congresshasalonghistoryof
usingtheTaxCodetoencourage
certaintypesofbehavior, accord-ingtoDanShapiro,ataxpartner
atNewYork-basedfirmBerdon.
“Taxcredits and incentives are
intendedtobeindirectsubsidies
forinvestmentindi;erentareas,as
wellasinducementstoengagein
particularbehavior,”hesaid.
;oseincludepersonalcredits,
designedtofurnishbene;tsandin-centivestocertaintaxpayerssuch
Taking
credit
Tax pros ;nd host of
new or under-used
credits, deductions
See CREDIT on
52
Playing
defense
Engagement letters
are just the ;rst line
in protecting a ;rm
against liability
;eoldadageof“Putitin writ-
ing” remainsasvalidtodayasever
asahedgeagainst;rmmalprac-ticeclaims.
“Aproperly wordedengage-mentletterthatincludes aclear
statementoftheprofessionalser-vicesprovided, thatisupdatedfre-quentlyforchangesinactivities,
andcontainsreasonablelimita-tionandmediationlanguageisthe
bestshieldtoamalpracticeclaim,”
saidRickJorgensen,president
andchiefunder writingo;cerat
Jorgensen&Co., aprofessional
liabilityandriskmanagement
consultingfirm. “Wehaveseen
manyinstances wherea CPA;rm
getsdraggedintocostlylitigation
becauseoftheprofessionalrela-tionship withaclientthat wasnot
See DEFENSE on
50
See REBRANDING on
51
BY DANIELLE LEE
BY ROGER RUSSELL
BY ROGER RUSSELL
OU T OF THE CLASSROOM P. 6
CPE is moving from long sessions of live learning to
shorter, more mobile ‘bites’ of instruction
LIVING WITH RISK P. 31
A special report on dealing with ;nancial
planning clients’ new aversion to volatility
CASE STUDIES P. 34
We examine ; ve ;rms’experiences with
implementing document management
SPECIAL REPORT
INSIDE THE
TOP 100
See page 11
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