LA Times Reports ‘EY Has Sexy Boys Problem’

Ricardo Lopez of the LA Times has a titillating new story out, “Ernst & Young, now EY, has a ‘sexy boys’ problem.”  It was posted to LaTimes.com on Monday, July 8, 2013.

Pic credit: LA Times

Ernst & Young on July 1 announced it was rebranding itself as EY.  Lopez writes,

[Ernst & Young, EY] now shares a name with a racy magazine, EY! Magateen. The magazine, which features scantily clad young men, is the work of Luis Venegas, a Spanish creative director known for his flamboyant, sexually charged fashion publications.

A Google image search of “EY” brings up photos of young male models clad in low-cut briefs, right alongside the Ernst & Young logo and some exterior shots of the company’s offices.

What a massive fail!

When I went to images.google.com, one picture returned was that of a naked man.  A hand was covering his private parts, but pubic hair was clearly visible.

I could comment, or I could take the high road.  EY seems to have taken the low one.

Debit and credit – – David Albrecht

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Top 100 Most Influential People Use LinkedIn

Most of us know LinkedIn, the most popular and best social media platform for accountants.  Yet, not very many accountants, accounting professors, accounting students and accounting aficionados use it well.

Would it help to know that the most influential people in accounting (according to Accounting Today) use LinkedIn and are heavy users?  If they have invested serious amounts of time in it, then perhaps so should you.

I use LinkedIn heavily.  Over the past year, I pretty much have shifted my social media efforts from blogging on The Summa to interacting with accounting types through LinkedIn.  So much so, I might be called Mr. LinkedIn amongst accounting professors.  Oh, I think that blogging is still my raison d’être.  But LinkedIn is le futur. [Perhaps I can be called Professor Social Media}

You remember the Accounting Today list of the Top 100 Most Influential People in accounting? Published in September of each year, it is Accounting Today’s attempt to capture what’s happening in the industry.  Look carefully, and you’ll notice that those savvy in digital era and social technologies get the AT nod as to who should be influential.

80 of the T100 Most Influential People use LinkedIn. 53 use it heavily with 500+ connections.  The other 27 have small networks. That’s the scale in online social networks.  Large networks are >2,500. Medium sized network have at least 500 contacts.

I categorize the Top 100 Most influential people into those who made the list primarily for (1) blogging/media, (2) audit firm leadership, (3) consultants and vendors, (4) regulators, (5) association leadership, and (6) lobbyists.

Here is my tally of the T100 Most Influential People who use LinkedIn.  I provide links to the profiles for the heavy users.  You must be signed into LinkedIn to fully see the profiles.

Bloggers. All four who make the T100 list for blogging are on LinkedIn.  Heavy users are Dave Albrecht (The Summa), Paul Caron (Tax Prof Blog) and Rick Telberg (CPA Trendlines).  Caleb Newquist (Going Concern) also uses LI.

Accounting Firm Leadership.  10/14 who make the T100 list due to their accounting firm leadership are on LinkedIn.  Heavy users are Jason Blumer (Blumer & Associates), Jim Bourke (WithumSmith+Brown) , Stephen Chipman (Grant Thornton) and Jody Padar (New Vision CPA Group).  Small LI network users who make the T100 list are Rick Anderson (Moss Adams), Ken Baggett (Cohn Reznick), Joe Echevaria (Deloitte), Tom Marino (CohnReznick), Kris McMasters (CliftonLarsonAllen) and Robert Moritz (PWC).  Echevaria is barely on LI, with a short profile and a network of zero.  What’s the point?

Consultants & Vendors.  40/41 who make the T100 list because of their service to accounting firms/professionals are on LinkedIn.  Heavy users are August Aquila (Aquila Global Advisor), Ron Baker (VeraSage Institute), Gary Boomer (Boomer Consulting), Jim Boomer (Boomer Consulting), David Cieslak (Arxis Technology), Gale Crosley (Crosley+Co.), Chris Frederiksen (The 2020 Group), Michelle Golden (Golden Practices), Jeff Gramlich (CCH Small Firm Services), Angie Grissom (The Rainmaker Consulting Group), Pascal Houillon (Sage North America), Randy Johnston (K2 Enterprises), Rita Keller (Keller Advisors), Allan Koltin (Koltin Consulting Group), Taylor Macdonald (Intacct), Jeff Pawlow (The Growth Partnership), Kevin Robert (Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting), Marc Rosenberg (The Rosenberg Associates), Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk (BBR Marketing), Rebecca Ryan (Next Generation Consulting), Joel Sinkin (Transition Advisors), Doug  Sleeter (The Sleeter Group), Brad Smith (Intuit), Jennifer Warawa (Sage North America), Troy Waugh (The Rainmaker Companies), Geni Whitehouse (Even a Nerd Can Be Heard), Sandra Wiley (Boomer Consulting), Jennifer Wilson (ConvergenceCoaching), Joe Woodard (Scaling New Heights) and Diane Yetter (Yetter Tax Consulting).  Other LI users are Erik Asgeirsson (CPA2BIZ), Jon Baron (Thomson Reuters Tax and Acct), Chandra Bhansali (AccountantsWorld), Jim Buttonow (New River Innovation), George Farrah (Bloomberg BNA), Zach Nelson (Netsuite), Jay Nisberg (Jay Nisberg and Associates), Brian Peccarelli (Thomson Reuters Tax and Acct), Terry Putney (Transition Advisors), Jill Ward (Intuit).

Regulators.  Only 5/18 who make the T100 list because of their service as regulators of accounting are on LinkedIn.  Heavy users are Orrin Hatch (U.S. Senate) and Mitt Romney (presidential candidate). Other LI users are Karen Hawkins (IRS), Terri Polley (FAF) and Leslie Seidman (FASB).

Professional Associations.  19/20 who make the T100 list because of their leadership in professional associations are on LinkedIn.  Heavy users are Richard Caturano (AICPA), Richard Chambers (IIA), Calvin Harris (NABA), Marie Hollein (FEI), Tom Hood (MACPA), Erinn Keserica (AAM), Mark Koziel (AICPA), Lana Kupferschmid (NCCPAP), Barry Melancon (AICPA), James Metzler (AICPA), Clarke Price (OSCPA), James Ratley (ACFE), Ralph Thomas (NJSCPA) and Jeffrey Thomson (IMA).  Other LI users are JoAnne Barry (NYSSCPA), Parnell Black (NACVA), Loretta Doon (California Society of CPAs), Edward Karl (AICPA) and John Sharbaugh (Texas Society of CPAs).

Lobbyists.  Two of the three who make the T100 list because of their leadership of important lobbying organizations are on LinkedIn.  Neither Ken Bishop (NASBA) or Cindy Fornelli (Center for Audit Quality) are heavy users.

In the world of accounting, influential leader and LinkedIn go hand in hand.

Debit and credit – – David Albrecht

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Infographic On Becoming CPA

Mark Holtzman, Chair of the accounting department at Seton Hall University, is one of the few accounting professors who really gets it.  Not only is he a really nice guy who is passionate about accounting, he’s a member of the really small club of social media enabled business professors.  He blogs regularly at Freaking CPA.

Pic credit – Mark P Holtzman at Freaking CPA

Holtzman is sold on the idea of using infographics.  He wrote about it in April, 2012, “Accounting and Infographics.”  In the image at right, he shows the complete disconnect between accounting and infographics.

Infographics are fairly easy to create.  They are created in PowerPoint, and what accountant isn’t functional in PowerPoint?

Today, Holtzman posts the following infographic on his blog.  Created by Bisk CPA Review, this infographic discloses that accounting graduates can earn a nearly 50% increase in salary by becoming a CPA.  Bisk CPA Review helps students prepare for taking the CPA exam.

Pic credit – Bisk CPA Review

Debit and credit – – David Albrecht

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The Elevator Speech is Out of Order

Michelle Golden is a terrific resource.  She advises professional services firms (e.g., accounting and law) on growth.  She is extremely well regarded, annually making the Accounting Today list of Top 100 Most Influential People.  I feel fortunate indeed that we are friends.

In the following video, Michelle teaches us how to make a meaningful connection with someone upon first meeting.  She points out that the traditional elevator speech doesn’t work and shouldn’t be used.

When asked, “What do you do?,” some of us succinctly provide a one or two word self-description.  Mine is, “I’m an accounting professor.”  Knowing that most people ask only out of politeness or as a means to break the silence, I never provide details.  After the predictable, “Oh, that’s a really tough subject,” or “I hated that course with an unrivaled passion,” this topic shuts down and perhaps we continue talking about something else.

For many of my readers, though, making a contact that could lead to a potential sale is extremely important.  So the traditional sales guru recommendation is to launch into a rehearsed elevator speech.  I’ll do this if I want someone to read The Summa.

Michelle Golden says that a typical elevator speech epitomizes everything that is wrong with marketing today.  It is like product marketing, which is far different from services marketing.  The elevator speech broadcasts a message, “Buy me.”  And most people shrink back or shut down from such a message.  She calls it spam.  The elevator speech delivers information at the wrong time and place is therefore irrelevant to the listener.  She says that the elevator speech does nothing to build trust.

Michelle continues on.  She says that what you want to communicate is you can help other the other person.  And this can only be done if you first find out more about the other person.  I like this thought, shifting the focus from self to the other person.

Michelle Golden recommends these five questions to help get the other person to open up:

1. Where to you work?
2. What inspired you to go into that?
3. What do you like about what you do?
4. What was that like when you started doing that?
5. How do you approach something that you are doing now?

She says that often the person will reciprocate by asking you questions. This is where telling personal stories comes in.  And by telling a story relevant to the other person (because you know about them), you often get a chance to help them.  And that gives you a chance to stay connected.

Michelle Golden is a fantastic resource, and you should watch her video.

Debit and credit – – David Albrecht

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Accountant Day is November 10

Accountant Day is fast approaching.

November 10 is the day we accountants commemorate a top 25 event in the world’s history–publishing the first book on accounting.

On November 10, 1494, volume 2 of Summa de Arithmetica, Geometria, Proportioni et Proportionalita (Everything About Arithmetic, Geometry and Proportion) was published. It is in volume 2 of the Summa that Luca Pacioli included a description of the bookkeeping/accounting system of Venice. In honor of this contribution, Pacioli has carried for centuries the title of Father of Accounting.

This year, I’ve decided to exhibit a collection of pencil stubs.

Pic credit – Heather, at A Penchant for Paper

Debit and credit – – David Albrecht

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2012 Bean Counters Contest

To commemorate Accountant Day on Saturday, November 10, 2012, The Summa is conducting its third annual Bean Counters Contest.

If you can correctly guess the total number of candies in this jar, you can win one of two $25 gift certificate from Amazon.

This year I have a chocolate and peanut theme.  I purchased fairly large bags of M&M’s Peanuts, Reese’s Pieces, and Ghirardelli Squares, along with a not-big-enough jar.  I scooped handfuls of each candy into the jar, in a combination that only I know.  I admit to having some of each candy left over, which added to the enjoyment of the day.

Entries are accepted by commenting to this blog post or by e-mail to albrecht@profalbrecht.com.  Entries must be time-stamped by 11:59 p.m. ET, Monday, November 12, 2012 Saturday, November 10, 2012.  Entries must contain contestant’s name and e-mail address.

If no entry correctly guesses the actual number of candies in the jar, the closest guesses will be declared winner.

Number of expected winning entries:  two.  In case of multiple winning entries, the two winners will be chosen randomly.  The jar contains no items other than peanut M&Ms, Reese’s Pieces, and Ghirardelli Squares.  Maximum of one entry per person accepted.

University of South Carolina Upstate student Jeff holds the contest jar.

Accountant Day is for all accountants, auditors and bean counters to celebrate being a part of the accounting profession.  November 10 is chosen as the day of celebration.

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On November 10, 1494, volume 2 of Summa de Arithmetica, Geometria, Proportioni et Proportionalita (Everything About Arithmetic, Geometry and Proportion) by Fr. Luca Pacioli was published.  It is in volume 2 of the Summa that Pacioli included a description of the bookkeeping/accounting system of Venice.   In honor of this contribution, Pacioli has carried for centuries the title of Father of Accounting.

Debit and credit – – David Albrecht

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Olympic Accountant Reflects on London Olympics

Gwen Jorgensen, former E&Y tax accountant, is sometimes referred to as the Olympic Accountant.  She participated in the recent Olympic games in London in the women’s triathlon.  Given that she was the reigning two-time World Cup champion, some were hoping for her to medal.

Alas, that was not to be, as a flat tire during the biking portion of the race put her so far behind that she had no chance to catch the leaders.  She eventually finished 38th.

In this recently released video, Gwen discusses all aspects of her Olympic experience.

Go Gwen Jorgensen!

by David Albrecht

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Blogs by the Top 100 Most Influential People

On Friday, September 7, Accounting Today released its list of Top 100 Most Influential People in accounting.  All honorees have risen to a level of leadership and responsibility and all wield some sort of influence.

An accounting influencer is a thought leader who communicates those thoughts through a communication channel or from a forum.  In the 21st century, blogging has become the medium of choice for those with influence.

Of the Top 100 most influential people, 26 express themselves via a blog!  Imagine that.  I have queried groups of students, accounting professionals and professors before about blogging.  In no group has more than 1-2% indicated they are bloggers.  Yet, the blogging rate is much higher for those who are influential.  There’s a lesson to be learned here.

Four of the 26 were named to the Top 100 for their blogging activites.  They are:

Bloggers & media

• Albrecht, Dave:  U South Carolina Upstate (Professor), The Summa https://profalbrecht.wordpress.com @profalbrecht
• Caron, Paul: TaxProf (Publisher) http://taxprof.typepad.com
• Newquist, Caleb: Going Concern (Founding editor) http://goingconcern.com @cnewquist
• Telberg, Rick: CPA Trendlines Research (President and CEO) http://cpatrendlines.com @CPA_Trendlines

In the following group, three of the 22 only share their thoughts on internal-only blogs.  All supposedly write their own articles on a blog:

• Baker, Ron: VeraSage Institute (Founder). http://www.verasage.com @ronaldbaker
• Blumer, Jason Blumer & Associates (Chief Innovation Officer), http://www.blumercpas.com/blog @jasonblumer
• Boomer, Jim: Boomer Consulting (CIO & shareholder), http://www.thinkplangrow.net @jimboomer
• Boomer, Gary: Boomer Consulting (CEO), http://www.thinkplangrow.net @lgboomer
• Buttonow, Jim: New River Innovation (Founder & VP), http://irsmind.blogspot.com
• Chambers, Richard: IIA (President and CEO ), http://www.theiia.org/blogs/chambers @rfchambers
• Chipman, Steven: Grant Thornton (CEO), for internal reading only
• Doon, Loretta: California Society of CPAs (CEO), for internal reading only @ldoon
• Frederiksen, Chris: The 2020 Group (Chairman), http://www.milliondollarcpa.com
• Golden, Michelle: Golden Practices (President), http://www.goldenmarketing.typepad.com @michellegolden
• Echevarria, Joe: Deloitte (CEO), for internal reading only
• Grisson, Angie: The Rainmaker Consulting Group (EVP & COO), http://www.therainmakercompanies.com/blog/ @atgrissom
• Hood, Tom: MACPA (CEO and executive director), http://www.macpa.org/blog @tomhood
• Johnston, Randy: K2 Enterprises (EVP & Partner), http://rpjohnston.wordpress.com @rpjohnston
• Keller, Rita: Keller Advisors (President and CEO), http://ritakeller.com/blog/ @cpamanagement
• Rosenberg, Marc, The Rosenberg Associates (President), http://blog.rosenbergassoc.com @mrosenbergcpa
• Ryan Rebecca, Next Generation Consulting (Founder), http://nextgenerationconsulting.com/library/blog/ @ngcrebecca
• Thomson, Jeffrey: IMA (President and CEO), http://linkup.imanet.org/imanet/Blogs/ViewBlogs/TheBottomLineCEOBlog/
• Warawa, Jennifer: Sage North America (VP partner programs), http://jenniferwarawa.com @jenniferwarawa
• Whitehouse, Geni: Even a Nerd Can Be Heard (Founder), http://www.evenanerd.com/nerd-talk.html @evenanerd
• Wiley, Sandra: Boomer Consulting (Senior Consultant and COO), http://www.thinkplangrow.net @sandrawiley
• Wilson, Jennifer: ConvergenceCoaching (Co-founder and owner), http://www.convergencecoaching.com/blog/ @jenleewilson

Debit and credit – -David Albrecht

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Accounting Today Top 100 Most Influential People

Pic credit – Accounting Today

On Friday, September 7, Accounting Today released its list of “Top 100 Most Influential People” in accounting.  All honorees have risen to a level of leadership and responsibility and all wield some sort of influence.

The editors of Accounting Today describe the list as a work in process.  As the profession changes, whether due to societal, technological or other factors, they claim the list evolves to capture the contemporary stage of the profession.

As technology grows more important in accounting, we include new IT experts; as new regulatory bodies are formed, we add new regulators; as more Millennials and Gen Ys rise to positions of importance, more of them will appear among the Top 100; as the profession explores more new specialities, we’ll add experts from those fields; and as more women and minorities (hopefully) join the profession, we’ll add more women and minorities.

By my count, 75% of the list is male and 95% is Caucasian.  Although the editors mention change, in broad composition the list is similar to last year when it contained auditors, regulators, vendors, etc.  Change has taken place at the individual level, though.  When some previous members retired, they were replaced on the list by their successors.

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Olympic Accountant to Make Early Morning Splash

Gwen Jorgensen is a tax accountant for Ernst and Young.  She is a leading contender for Olympic Gold in the women’s triathlon, having won the 2011 and 2012 Triathlon World Cup.

Her race starts tomorrow (Saturday, August 4, 2012)  at about 9 a.m. London time, 3:55 a.m. in the USA eastern time zone.  It will be streamed live at the NBC Olympics site.

The race should take a little less than 2 hours to complete.  The triathlon starts with a 1,500m swim, followed by 40k  on the bike, with a 10k run concluding the race.

Go Team Accounting.  Go Olympic Accountant.  Go Gwen Jorgensen.

Debit and credit – – David Albrecht

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Olympic Accountant Trains to Run

Gwen Jorgensen, an accountant on leave from Ernst & Young, is a member of the USA Triathlon team that will compete in the London Olympics.  In past blog posts, I’ve featured videos on her training for the swim and bike portions of the triathlon.  In this blog post, I feature a video on her training for the run portion of the event.

Gwen Jorgensen was a Big Ten champion in the 3,000m and 5,000m events, and was an All American in track.  I used to run.  So, I can appreciate her ability to run a series of 5:00 minute miles, say in a 5k or 10k race.  On my best days, I could only do 6:00 miles. At 5:00 miles, she is flying along.

In every triathlon event for which I’ve seen detailed results, Jorgensen has had the fastest time in the run portion of the race. Wow!

Good luck Gwen.

Other videos on her training are:

• Swimming
• Biking

Debit and credit – – David Albrecht

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Olympic Accountant on Swimming

Gwen Jorgensen of E&Y is the Olympic Accountant.  On Saturday, August 4, she will be competing in the women’s triathlon at the London Olympic games.  She is a contender for a medal.

The Olympic triathlon combines a 1,500 m swim, 43 k bike race, and 10k run.  For elite women, it takes about two hours to complete.

Gwen Jorgensen was a collegiate athlete at the University of Wisconsin, competing in swimming, track and cross country.  She was All-American in track distance events.

This video features Gwen talking about the swimming portion of the race.

Debit and credit – – David Albrecht

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