February 23, 2009 at 6:05 am · Filed under Accounting Consulting
A PIONEER AND DYNAMIC ACCOUNTING AND CONSULTING FIRM HAS THE FOLLOWING VACANCIES:
AUDIT AND ASSURANCETHE AUDIT MANAGER SHOULD BE A CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT, NOT MORE THAN FORTY YEARS OF AGE, COMPUTER LITERATE, PREVIOUS MANAGERIAL EXPERIENCE SHOULD BE WITH A REPUTABLE FILM OF CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS AND SHOULD BE EARNING AT LEAST N6.5M PER ANNUM.THE AUDIT TEAM LEADER IS EXPECTED TO BE A CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT, NOT MORE THAN THIRTY-FIVE YEARS OF AGECOMPUTER LIBERATE, HAVE AT LEAST THREE YEARS OF EXTERNAL AUDIT EXPERIENCE
INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGYTHE COMPUTER ENGINEER SHOULD BE A GRADUATE (IN COMPUTER SCIENCE, COMPUTER ENGINEERING OR ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING),NOT MORE THAN THIRTY YEARS, MUST POSSESS COMPTIA NETWORK +OR CCNA CERTIFICATE AND SHOULDHAVE AT LEAST ONE YEAR POST CERTIFICATE EXPERIENCE
FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATIONTHE ASSISTANCE SHOULD BE A HIGHER NATIONAL DIPLOMA HOLDER (IN ACCOUNTING)NOT MORE THAN THIRTY FIVE YEARS OLD, COMPUTER LITERATE, SHOULD HAVE BOOK KEEPING EXPERIENCEFROM A REPUTABLE ORGANIZATION.
SMART AND CONFIDENCE APPLICANT SHOULD FORWARD CVPOSITION OF INTEREST AND EXPECTED REMUNERATION TO:recruitment@boylestreetconsulting.com DEADLINE: 24 FEBRUARY 2009
http://nigeriajobforum.blogspot.com/2009/02/accounting-and-consulting-firm-has.html
February 23, 2009 at 5:59 am · Filed under Accounting Company
Creating a budget for your Internet marketing company is easier than you think. For the manager who is not numerically inclined a budget may seem daunting. However, with a just a few simple steps you can have your Internet marketing company financially organized so you can spend more time doing what you enjoy; helping others improve their online presence.
“A budget tells us what we can’t afford, but it doesn’t keep us from buying it.” William Feather, Noted American Publisher & Author
A budget may be the most important tool you use in daily operation of your Internet marketing company. But before you can even create a budget it’s important to understand a few terms:
* A budget is plan that tells your money where it should go sometime in the future. Each month I plan on paying employee wages so I estimate how much it will cost.
* Accounting is the practice of recording and reporting historical financial information. To create a budget managers use accounting data as a historical record of what happened.
* A forecast is a prediction of what you think will happen. Normally, a forecast is designed to estimate revenue.
* All three of these terms are the foundation of a solid financial plan. A financial plan should encompass all aspects of an Internet marketing company’s financial history and outlook.
Understanding the differences and value of each of these terms you can now begin the process of creating a budget. Here are the steps you should take writing your budget:
1) Organize Accounting Data - If you manage an Internet marketing company you probably have some sort of way to track your expenses. I recommend accounting software like Quickbooks or Microsoft Money. However, until you have a few client and employees Microsoft Excel or Apple Numbers will work just fine. As you incur each expense you should categorize each part of the transaction.
2) Prioritize Expenses - Create a list of all your expenses from priority A to Z. Internet marketing is a service industry so labor will most likely be your most important expense. In addition to wages there are payroll taxes, insurances, and other costs per employee. Here are some other major expenses that you should consider: rent, utilities, telephone/internet, travel, and advertising.
3) Estimate Costs. Next to each expense estimate the monthly cost. This is probably the easiest part of a budget because there are no wrong answers. For example, if you want to spend money on Google AdWords then put down the exact dollar amount. It’s easy to get caught up trying to be exact but a budget is only a guide based on your best guess.
4) Estimate Sources of Money. Revenue is always difficult to estimate. However, you probably have either money in the bank and access to some form of credit. Total all available monies and using your list of prioritzed expenses estimate if you have enough money coming in as you have going out. If you have more money coming in congratulation you may make a profit and skip to step 6. On the other hand, if you plan on spending more than you have see the next step.
5) Create an Unfunded List. On your prioritized list of expenses you should have a running total. Draw a line where your running total exceeds your total source of monies. Anything below this line is unfunded so don’t plan on doing it.
6) Spend Your Budget. This is probably the hardest part about a budget but you should do everything within your power to spend your money according to the budget. The problem with most managers is that they create a budget and day one they throw it out. After the month is over you can then go back and see how well you managed based upon the budget.
Obviously, this sample budget is very simplistic. Your Internet marketing company budget will have many more expenses with dates the money will get spent. Just remember that your budget will only be valuable if you use it.
http://www.site-seeker.com/levisblog/?p=30
February 23, 2009 at 5:51 am · Filed under Accounting Classes
This past year, I started taking some accounting courses to figure out if I was the sort of person who could do precision work. I’m rather amazed to discover that I really like to make the numbers come out right, that I love having all the information in bits and pieces and bringing it all together in a set of financial statements. I’m still learning, but I’ve actually gone to work for an accounting firm to help out with tax season. I’m not getting rich, but while I’m taking the classes, this is perfect. And it’s amazing what one can learn on the job too.
http://www.darrenaronofsky.net/business/took-some-accounting-courses/
February 23, 2009 at 5:47 am · Filed under Accounting Advisors
Questions Great Financial Advisors Ask… and Investors Need to Know
Author: Alan Parisse, David Richman
Manufacturer: Kaplan Business
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 184
A financial advisor recounts an interview with a recently retired physician who planned an enjoyableand costlyretirement. The doctor wanted his entire portfolio in bonds, which was far too conservative to maintain the lifestyle he and his wife had planned. In the advisors words:
“”This fellow was a bit of a know-it-all, and I wasnt getting through. Finally I asked him, ‘Doctor, how will it feel for you when you have to go back to work?’ That got his attention, and I was able to lay out a strategy that would allow him to retire and stay retired.”"
In Questions Great Financial Advisors Askand Investors Need to Know, coauthors Alan Parisse and David Richman have compiled the questions great advisors ask that lead to the probing and personal conversations necessary to diagnose and understand clients’and potential clients’deep-seated feelings about money. Thats how great advisors help clients wring the emotion out of investing and set them on the rational road to achieving their financial goals.
Throughout this book are questions, suggestions, and stories from some of the worlds top financial advisors, including a chapter of “”great questions to ask”" organized by topic.
http://nice-booksaccounting.blogspot.com/2009/02/questions-great-financial-advisors-ask.html
February 23, 2009 at 5:33 am · Filed under Accounting
With the financial crisis in full swing, it is more important than ever before for qualified accountants to handle critical financial matters. Foreseeing this need, Brescia University is now offering an accelerated accounting online certificate through its STARS (Success Tracks for Adults Returning to School) program.
Specifically designed to accommodate students with existing full-time schedules, the Certificate in Accounting Completion Online Program enables adult students to gain important knowledge that will help them pursue a reputable, accounting-related career and earn valuable transfer credits toward a current college degree program. Accordingly, the Certificate in Accounting Completion Program also allows students who currently have a Bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution to gain the knowledge needed to take the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) exam.
Brescia University considers the Certificate in Accounting Completion Program an invaluable way for adult students to continue a steady work schedule while paving the way for an exciting career in accounting. The ease with which students can take accelerated online classes, combined with the projected growth in the field, makes Brescia University’s Certificate in Accounting Completion Program ideal for any adult learner.
When offering programs, Brescia University considers the employability of its graduates as a key component and recognizes that the online accounting certificate is directly in line with that initiative. Due to the current financial state of affairs and changing financial laws, a large number of accounting jobs are slated to become available over the next decade. Brescia University believes this shift is an excellent opportunity to offer an online accounting certificate to individuals who seek to enter this growing industry.
http://pr-usa.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=176064&Itemid=96
February 23, 2009 at 5:32 am · Filed under Accountants
Now that we’re restructuring the auto industry, Wall Street, the banking world and, probably next up, the health-care sector, how about a little tinkering with the professions?
I’m talking particularly of accounting and lawyering. To a large measure, these occupations have been ignored as our economy crashes around us. But it seems pretty clear that accountants and lawyers should shoulder some of the blame. Had they been upholding the public interest in addition to serving their clients, we wouldn’t be in this fix.
The way I see it, these professions were created in large measure to make business play by the rules. Accountants make sure that public companies are being upfront with shareholders and the taxman. Civil practice lawyers advise clients about the legality of their actions and are ethically bound to protect the integrity of the legal system.
But rather than helping to keep things honest, these professionals in dozens of high-profile examples have used their education, skill and expertise to conspire with confidence men. They sold their good names for a big payout, caused widespread pain and dragged the rest of their profession through the mud.
Turn over a scandal such as Enron’s book-cooking or Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, and you unearth the slimy residue of accountants and lawyers who helped design it, justify it or cover it up.
So, what to do? How about we change the rules and culture of these professions.
“Is Law (Still) an Honorable Profession” is the title of a call-to-arms lecture by professor Stephen Gillers of New York University School of Law. An expert in legal ethics, Gillers says the answer is for lawyers to stop being “skilled facilitators of whatever legal goal a paying client may desire” and start saying “no” when those goals are morally bankrupt.
In his talk, presented earlier this month at the Central Synagogue in Manhattan, Gillers describes the ways that lawyers and accountants have assisted in exploiting the trust of vulnerable people in order to serve a client and enrich themselves.
The savings and loan crisis of the 1980s, which, like today’s credit crisis, is an instance of bankers’ unadulterated greed resulting in huge taxpayer liabilities, would never have happened were it not for the active participation or acquiescence of lawyers and auditors.
Clever lawyers for Big Tobacco deep-sixed scientific evidence that tobacco kills by “concocting a theory that laboratory results were protected by attorney-client privilege,” Gillers says.
In today’s economy, lawyers and accountants are an integral part of complex commercial and financial transactions. They should ask themselves whether they are facilitating something that is not just strictly legal but also decent and honorable.
Loyalty to a client does not mean an attorney should “aid morally offensive goals, even if they are legal,” Gillers says.
This admonition is not aimed at criminal defense lawyers, who defend their client in a forum where the other side — the state — has a lawyer, too. Rather, Gillers is exhorting civil lawyers who operate as behind-the-scenes advisors. These lawyers often have a financial incentive to manipulate and distort the law.
Forget the money and refuse the client, Gillers says. “You don’t get a pass from moral responsibility because you acted for a client.”
It would be nice to think that the lawyers for all those predatory banks making subprime “liar” loans are now feeling a tenth of the pain suffered by a family ousted from their home due to foreclosure. But it isn’t likely. The culture that permeates today says that securing clients and doing their bidding is all that matters.
We need a return to honor, meaning you don’t scour the law trying to find some way to permit your client to harm others and then hide behind a legal opinion. And you don’t use legerdemain accounting to burnish a client’s financial statements in a way that will mislead.
This should go without saying. Too bad it has to be said.
http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_11751607
February 23, 2009 at 5:26 am · Filed under Account manager
RSA, the security division of EMC, has appointed Phillip Teague in a newly created role as general manager, Channel and Alliances A/NZ.
Teague will improve its channel model and develop RSA key channel relationships.
He will oversee the expansion of RSA’s strategic partnerships with resellers and distributors and is in charge of launching an RSA partner program, SecurWorld 09, later this year, and will rely on initiatives that made the EMC Velocity program a success.
As part of the restructure, Mark Pullen, country manager RSA plans to increase its channel revenue from approximately 75 percent to 90 percent of the business this year.
Pullen and Teague will focus on the company’s internal partnering culture, where presales, inside sales and its executive sales team will work closer with partners.
“This will be further supported by RSA’s increased commitment in working with Express Data, our sole A/NZ distributor,” said Teague.
“This year they will also be playing a much more strategic role in managing and developing our partners, while creating new business opportunities for RSA.”
Teague said to develop a stronger partner culture, its presales team will be aligned to key partners and spend more time in partners’ offices, working with its security specialists and sales teams.
“I will be continually meeting and planning with our partners this year to ensure our programs and initiatives are in line with their requirements to be successful,” said Teague.
“The experience from working with system integrators in the past, and more recently with EMC for seven years in the channel, provides me with a lot of knowledge and experience that will be valuable in developing our channel program.
“I have had the good fortune of being involved deeply in the initial and ongoing development and refinement of EMC Velocity Partner Program, from both an enablement and account management perspective.
“I see a great opportunity to apply what I have learnt, and build on the excellent work that has already been started at RSA. I’ve got a number of ideas that I will be looking at developing and implementing throughout the year, and they will all be based on the 3 Ps for partnering,” he said.
According to Teague, there are three ways to build a ‘world class’ channel based on the 3 Ps; Partnering; Predictability, Profitability and Positioning.
In addition to the changes in the channel organisation structure, RSA will be offering free presales and services training to all its partners around its enVision, Data Loss Prevention and Authentication products.
“Resellers need to carefully review their options when determining what vendors to align with in this current economy,” said Teague.
“They should consider the financial strength and reputation of the vendor, and review the cost of engaging with them.
“They need to consider how much time and what’s the associated direct and indirect cost in developing staff and business to align with a vendor.”
Teague was previously with EMC for seven years, most recently Services Global Channel account manager A/NZ. Prior to that, he was at BDO SynergyIT, Crone Associates and Architectonic.
http://www.crn.com.au/News/96903,emc-channel-account-manager-joins-rsa-channel–alliances.aspx
February 23, 2009 at 5:22 am · Filed under Account Executive
Dezeenjobs: Milan/Antwerp-based communications and editorial design company Il Tamburino are looking for an account executive:
Communications and editorial design boutique agency based in two locations, one in Milan and one in Antwerp, is looking for an enthusiastic, proactive, creatively-minded account executive to help them expand their activities in mid-Europe for their art-déco office in Antwerp.
This is an exceptional opportunity for an independent soul who wishes to have a profound effect on the company, and willing to market their experience and impressive skills at the service of the best high-end/luxury to obtain innovative and surprising results.
You will be responsible to locate new prospects, contact them, and finalize the presentation/relation steps to trasform them into a new client. More, you will follow the relationship with the clients to deliver effective communication actions to cover and exceed their demands.
You have experience in a similar role, are well-versed in the new frontiers of innovative and traditional communication, are proactive, passionate, and determined to obtain results. You are speaking a fluent english, french and flemish, and are ready to travel in our little Europe to follow and care for your leads.
You will receive an important reward, directly proportionate to the results obtained.
To apply, send a CV to roberta.mutti@iltamburino.com
www.iltamburino.com
http://www.dezeen.com/2009/02/23/account-executive/
February 20, 2009 at 6:44 am · Filed under Accounting
The umbrella group for chartered accountants in Ontario has rejected appeals by three auditors concerning findings of professional misconduct and $1.55 million in penalties in the Livent accounting scandal.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario said yesterday an appeal committee recently dismissed objections from two retired Deloitte auditors and another member of the firm regarding the group’s 2007 ruling about inadequate practices at Toronto-based Livent.
The trio, including retired partners Anthony Power and Doug Barrington, the current chair of the United Way of Canada, received fines of $100,000 each and reprimands.
Furthermore, the committee slapped them with penalties of $417,000 each to cover the costs of the case. The fines are the biggest financial penalties in the institute’s 130-year history.
http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/589734
February 20, 2009 at 6:26 am · Filed under Accountants
If you read the A to Z of Corporate Scandals article on Sunday, August 18, 2002 by Hugh Brady and Paul T Colgan you will find that fraud and corruption are no jokers in any country and in any financial market so to speak.
Talk of the recent collapse of major stock brokerage firms and the near collapse of some reknowned Kenyan companies, fraud has taken root in Kenyan companies and this is expected to do more than harm if let on the loose.
With the passing of the Sarbanes Oxley Act in 2002, many thought the internal audit and the audit committees will help eliminate possibilities of fraud occurring in the workplace, but this sill goes on unabated. But the major frauds which have come into focus recently disproves this fact.
Highest level
It is imperative that a company should have internal controls in place, but there are still loopholes and one should move past these internal controls and ‘think like a thief’.
This is what forensic accountants do. This usually becomes even more difficult when there is the issue of the ‘tone at the top’ in cases where the executives are fraudsters.
If you notice, majority of the fraud in Kenyan companies and parastatals is perpetrated by the executives. Just think of NSSF, KPC, Triton, Nyaga Stockbrokers and the like.
The major problem of the top managers being involved is probably due to the influence they command. Nyaga Stockbrokers has had a very evident case of the ‘tone at the top’. It happens that, if the boss can do it, then the other employees can also do it and the fraud being perpetrated becomes massive.
Simply put, forensic accounting is accounting that is suitable for legal review, offering the highest level of assurance, and including the now generally accepted connotation of having been arrived at in a scientific fashion.
That is, forensic accounting is sufficiently thorough and complete so that an accountant, in his/her considered independent professional judgement, can deliver a finding as to accounts, inventories, or the presentation thereof that is of such quality that it would be sustainable in some adversarial legal proceeding, or within some judicial or administrative review.
Since all professional accountants operate within a commercial legal environment, all professional accountants are, in a sense, forensic accountants.
What distinguishes forensic accounting in common parlance, however, are the engagements.
That is, when a professional accountant accepts an engagement where they anticipate that their finding or analysis may be subject to adversarial or judicial scrutiny or administrative review, the professional accountant seeks a level of evidential detail and analytical precision which will be sustainable within the legal framework of such scrutiny or review.
In Kenya, we have the Kasneb which offers accounting core professional examinations but the course does not tackle issues to do with fraud investigation in detail.
With this in regard, there is dire need for forensic accountants noting that very few institutions are offering such courses in Kenya. In Kenya, we have some forensic accounting being taught at Strathmore University to its Master of Commerce degree students.
I believe some institutions such as the Transparency International, Kenya anti-corruption Commission have organised various seminars on fraud and corruption related matters, which are the core issues in forensic accounting.
The Kenya Institute of Studies in Criminal Justice plans to start offering diploma courses in forensic accounting. The diploma will be offered to only those students who are certified public accountants.
The Association of the Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), formed last year, also is also about to offer the training. Fraud examiners go beyond the scope of forensic accountants.
A fraud examiner is a qualified forensic accountant, but a forensic accountant is not always a fraud examiner. Before the launch of the association here, Kenyans wishing to take the exam had to travel to South Africa.
This means that Kenya is working hard to have more institutions offering forensic accounting related institutions so as to train specialists needed to conduct investigations. A recommendation goes to the Kasneb for offering a professional course to fill in this gap.
http://www.bdafrica.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13006&Itemid=5821
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