Marketing

When I first enrolled in college, I opted for a marketing course as an elective. At first, there was some trepidation on my part, because to me, marketing was a term my grandmother used when she intended to go grocery shopping. During my first day in class, I soon learned that the process of marketing had nothing to do with a visit to Grand Union or Safeway.

Reversing a trend of declining optimism over the past three years, CPAs serving as chief executive officers, chief financial officers and in other executive financial positions have a favorable view of the economy, according to the first quarter 2007 Business and Industry Economic Outlook Survey.

I was reading an interesting profile this week of Steve Stoute, a respected marketer in the ad world who preaches a message that brands needs to change with the times.Stoute’s agency, Translation Consultation & Brand Imaging, specializes in repositioning brands, and tells its clients that companies need to embrace cultural changes in order to speak with a new generation of clients.

A number of firms, especially the larger regionals, are going corporate. This approach to firm governance is seen as having an overall advantage over the strict partnership model as partners at different stages in their careers and with different specialties and concerns often find it hard to reach consensus or take decisive action quickly.

Marcum & Kliegman LLP has launched a new Women’s Leadership Development Program with neighboring law firm Farrell Fritz PC.The program, which is open to employees of both firms but not open to the public –yet -- was developed to provide a supportive venue for female professionals to explore issues that affect them in the workplace and develop skills to enrich their careers, said Marcum manager of training and development, Nancy Chen.

It has come to my attention that the advisor-client relationship may be sinking and that you need to do something about it.My friends at SEI, a leading global provider of outsourced asset management, investment processing, and investment operations solutions, has done us all a big favor with its latest survey of some 100 clients of the SEI Advisor Network because it reveals that 28 percent of advisors attribute client relationship failures to a lack of understanding. The result is that advisors need to communicate more clearly to avoid straining or losing clients.

Business-information provider D&B Corp. has acquired First Research for $22.5 million in cash.

A local accounting firm has alerted its 4,000 clients that their private financial records -- including Social Security numbers, addresses, credit card information and signature documents -- have been stolen.Santa Rosa, Calif.-based Tax Service Plus told authorities that thieves stole the business’s back-up computer on March 7, which contained data on thousands of tax returns filed over the past three years.

Tax prep giant H&R Block Inc. announced that it has opened up shop in the online virtual universe known as Second Life.Second Life is entirely built and owned by its residents, who have created a 3-D world that includes homes, vehicles, nightclubs, stores, landscapes, clothing and games. Last month, the site passed the 4-million-account threshold, though many accounts are not active and some residents have multiple accounts.

Intuit recently announced that more than 6,000 small businesses and midsized companies have switched to its QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions from more complex solutions.These customers are part of the 38,000 who have already selected the software to help run their businesses.

Independently-owned Los Angeles firm RBZ LLP has named three partners to share the firm’s managing partner position.

J.H. Cohn LLP has announced firm revenues of $175.2 million for its 2007 fiscal year, up 22 percent from the same period a year ago.

I believe there are two keys to success, whether a sole practitioner or a regional firm. They are simple when you say them, but that simplicity can be deceiving. The two are providing quality service, and establishing a reputation for doing so and continuing to do so.

I am a loyal Jet Blue flyer, a.k.a. customer. I got the below e-mail from, I believe, David Neeleman, president of Jet Blue. I wasn’t on any of the delayed flights but I sent him a response. It read, “That's okay, and I hope David gets this message.”

Donald Korb, chief counsel of the Internal Revenue Service, is getting a ton of good press these days for his efforts to get the agency into the game of recruiting young tax attorney talent.It’s a rare week that goes by in my office that either I don’t have a direct conversation with a practitioner, or I don’t overhear talk from the editors and writers for our sister publications revolving around the ongoing quest of just about every accounting firm to attract and retain workers. So it’s probably by nature of the even smaller pool of candidates that the competition for tax attorneys isn’t the stuff of surveys and opinion polls.

When I was very young, I discovered I was different from most other kids. It is probably because my two brothers and I didn’t have a “normal childhood,” most of our skills and abilities were self taught. That probably explains why I read so many personal self-help books, and have branched out into business books such as, "The World Is Flat" by Thomas Freidman, which I have repeatedly tried to finish, but failed.Thank goodness the mention of Gary Boomer in the book was on page 14. Each time I started another section in that book, I felt like that television character, Marie Barone, who lamented every month when a dozen Florida grapefruits or Bartlett pears came from a fruit of the month club gift.

California’s Pohl, McNabola, Berg & Co. announced that it has merged with Texas firm Helin, Donovan, Trubee & Wilkinson LLP in a deal effective Jan. 1.The combined firm, which will operate under the name PMB Helin Donovan LLP, will have a dozen partners and approximately 65 total staff in the two states.

Somewhere in my parents’ attic, there resides a copy of Vanilla Ice’s debut album, “To the Extreme.”

Most readers of my column are entering their busy season. So many might not read all my columns in the next 10 weeks, and some will not read one until April 17. So those readers won’t miss anything, I have a Cliff’s Notes-type summary -- (the title and a sentence) of 10 possible columns.

The woman with the long blonde hair had a radiance as she floated over the ice, a radiance that middle-age has not dimmed.