Posts Tagged ‘CPA’

Book Review: The Radical CPA

Nearly five years ago, I attended the Accounting Today Growth and Profitability Summit and met several next-generation accountants who radically influenced my career.  By “met” I mean in-person, since we had gotten to know each other beforehand through radical online means like Twitter.  Social media may be still be considered radical for CPAs today, but at the time we were the extreme outliers. One of the more outspoken founders of the movement, Jody Padar, has put the principles we’ve learned from each other into a totally radical book!  She was kind enough to send me a signed copy.
Not counting the worksheets and appendix, The Radical CPA is a short 128 pages and mostly non-technical.  Had it not been for tax season, I would have finished it in two or three days.  It’s the perfect length for a busy CPA. The book teaches CPAs how to embrace technology and new business processes for serving today’s generation of business owners.  Jody explains moving to the cloud, coping with change, becoming social, and experimenting with new processes – all in an understandable way for those who are new to these topics. Though my review might be a bit biased since I know the author, I think the book will be very valuable for CPAs looking to redesign their accounting practices to be competitive in the 21st century. You can find Jody’s book at theradicalcpa.com.

Funny Alternative Acronyms for CPA

I recently became a CPA in the state of Nevada.  By CPA, I’m referring to Certified Public Accountant.  Although this is a widely recognized acronym in the United States, Wikipedia lists many other uses of it throughout the world.

The CPA acronym is also often used to poke fun at number crunchers in many variations.  Here are a few of the best I’ve heard:

  • Cheapest Price Available
  • Copy, Paste, and Annotate
  • Can’t Produce Anything
  • Constantly Proposing Audits
  • Couldn’t Pass Again (referring to the CPA exam, of course)

I claim that none of the above are applicable to me, but I refuse to take the CPA exam again just to prove it.

If you have a hilarious CPA acronym to share, please leave a comment.  A hard-working accountant like me needs a burst of uncontrollable laughter once in a while.

Why Would a CPA Want to Use Twitter?

I know several people that make fun of Twitter much like they make fun of a teenager that ends up in the news for sending thousands of text messages per month racking up a huge phone bill.  They certainly can make a good argument.  A recent study concluded that more than 40 percent of tweets are “pointless babble.”  If you look at the public timeline or trending topics on the Twitter webpage, you’ll see spam, self-promotion, and mundane tweets like “I’m having a ham sandwich for lunch.” I agree that Twitter has its problems, but I believe that it does have a business application as a powerful educational and collaborative tool.  As with any technology, any benefit you derive from Twitter depends on your use of it. If you’re looking for meaningful information on Twitter, you have to follow the right people.  If you’re a CPA or work in accounting, you could start with the Journal of Accountancy, the AICPA, and your state CPA society.  You can find most accounting software vendors on Twitter sharing good information.  There are hundreds of other CPAs and CPA firms that offer insight in the latest news, and many of them are among the brightest in the profession (I won’t list names here, but they’re not hard to find).  Hey, even the IRS is on Twitter. I’ve learned that there are many benefits to Twitter besides using it as a news feed.  I have asked questions on Twitter and received helpful responses, sometimes within a few minutes.  I’ve been able to get in contact with many of the leaders in the accounting profession who I wouldn’t have been able to meet otherwise.  By joining the conversation, a handful of people have been able to get to know me (sort of – well, at least they know that I’m a tech-savvy accountant that shares good information, and that’s a good start). About a year ago, when I began using Twitter, I asked myself, “why would a CPA want to use Twitter?”  The answer, at least for the first few weeks, was unclear while I tried to figure the whole Twitter thing out, but now I understand why.