Marketing

Grant Thornton LLP announced it will take a new approach in serving private equity firms and their portfolio companies.

Popping, crackling Golden Bertolli, fresh dough, tomatoes from Salerno, buffalo mozzarella from Caserta, Fior di Latte, and Parmigiano Reggiano are the ingredients of a slice of pizza I had at a local Brooklyn pizza place last week.Let me tell you a little bit more. Only one individual makes the pie, an older man. He also serves the pies and slices to the customers. His daughter sometimes helps to serve and makes the entrées, pasta, and heroes. The customers clean off the tables (and not just their own).

In 2006, the U.S. personal savings rate hit its lowest level since the Great Depression, according to the Commerce Department.The agency said that the country’s savings rate for all of 2006 was a negative 1 percent -- meaning that not only did people spend all the money they earned throughout the year, but that they also dipped into savings, or increased borrowing to finance purchases.

To each his own. And all’s fair in love, war and “Behind Closed Doors Wednesdays.”Robert Flach, a Jersey City, N.J., accountant who holds a masters in taxation, has been in the business for 36 years since inheriting the tax prep business of his mentor. He already had a couple of returns completed when I talked to him earlier in the week, and expects to complete around 400 by the time the season is over.

There are only two conferences for accountants that my colleague, Jeff Stimpson, and I never miss attending. Winning Is Everything, presented by the Advisory Board, is one of them.The Advisory Board’s members are four of the leading consultants to accounting firms -- Jay Nisberg, president, Jay Nisberg & Associates; Allan Koltin, president and CEO, PDI Global.; Gary Boomer, CEO of Boomer Consulting; and Gary Shamis, managing director of SS&G Financial Services and co-founder of the Leading Edge Alliance.

CPA firms continue to experience strong growth, with 76 percent reporting an increase in firm size last year, according to benchmark data in the 2006 National Management of an Accounting Practice Survey.Despite that growth, the recently-released survey also confirmed that succession planning remains a stumbling block for many firms facing the imminent retirement of the Baby Boomer generation. The survey found that only 24 percent of firms have a succession plan and only 7 percent of firms have partner-in-training programs.

So, what makes a top-notch advisor? It looks as though MainStay Investments may have given us the answer.

Over the years, Practical Accountant has written about firms’ growing use of mission statements and taglines to describe what a firm is about to potential clients. These marketing techniques serve a number of functions. They may identify the type of clients that the firms are targeting, contain the firm’s philosophy, or define what is unique about the firm. Similarly, we have reported on firms’ use of vision statements and core values for similar objectives.

The card was not all that unusual. "With all the best wishes for the New Year." But the postmark was.

Derrick Kinney is one of the most charming people on the face of the earth. He is also recognized as one of the nation’s leading authorities on helping small business owners, entrepreneurs, and the self-employed succeed with the affluent. Moreover, he is the author of the bestselling "Master the Media to Attract Your Ideal Clients."

Thomson Tax & Accounting has joined the Strategic Partners Program of Financial Executives International.

Television viewers may know of The Amazing Kreskin, an entertainer who performs breathtaking mental feats that he says utilizes abilities we all have.

Continuing with a push to help its own customers grow their business, Intuit Inc. will include a number of Google Inc. services aimed at boosting the online profile of small businesses in its QuickBooks 2007 product line.

The Platt Consulting Group, operated by principals Michael and Kelly Platt, founders of online news portal AccountingWeb, have acquired monthly newsletter Inside Public Accounting from Atlanta-based publisher Hudson Sawyer.Terms were not disclosed.

After spending most of 2006 talking to users and revamping its QuickBooks ProAdvisor Program, Intuit is looking to add another 15,000 accountants and small business consultants to the program over the course of the next year.