From the BILLiverse
In this issue's commentary, Bill Reeb starts a new series covering management and leadership in a CPA firm. Specifically, Reeb reviews common perceptions of management and leadership, various management styles and more. Read Commentary

Advice on Keeping and Reducing Benefits in Today's Economy
In today's economic climate, many employers are reexamining the benefits that they offer to their employees with an eye toward cost containment, cutbacks or even elimination of some benefits. However, employers are also reminded about the importance of retaining key talent. Using the results from two recent surveys, this article from The Institute of Management and Administration urges CPA firms to carefully assess what and how much to reduce and balance this against what employees really want and value in benefits. Read the Article

How to Develop a Sales Culture in Your Firm
Where does selling fit into your firm's culture? To develop a true sales culture in your firm and thrive in this uncertain economy, your leadership team must be committed to establishing a firm-wide sales culture. This article by ConvergenceCoaching, LLC provides five steps to get there. Read the Article

Metadata Awareness and Cautions
While virtually all CPA firms are dependent on Microsoft Office applications like word processing and spreadsheets for creating client documents, there are valid concerns that they may be inadvertently exposing confidential information through the metadata captured within them. Learn what metadata is, how it's added to documents and how your firm can add a metadata cleanup procedure to your normal quality control process for finalization of all Word and Excel documents. Read the Article.

Accounting Technology Trends in a Questionable Economy
Due to the current economic situation, many CPA firms may change their traditional technology management approach to a more conservative one that's focused on an immediate return on investment. In this article, CPA and technology expert Roman Kepczyk discusses four accounting firm technology trends for 2009 that can help your practice weather the year ahead and get positioned for even greater success in the future. Read the Article.