Accounting Mentor Programs Part 3: Recognizing a Well-Structured Mentorship Program

In the final post of the mentorship series, Lewis Daidone discusses the importance of finding a high-functioning mentorship program with clear objectives. Lewis Daidone is a Certified Public Accountant and a consultant to tech companies and financial services firms.


Although mentorship programs are definitely becoming more common in the financial and accounting sectors, not all programs are created equal. Here are a few indicators that you’ve found a well-constructed and effective mentoring program.

• Goals are thoroughly defined. “Mentoring” can be a vague concept. When businesses treat mentoring programs like a cross between an introduction to the company culture and a probation period, they are failing to exploit their full organizational resources. Look for a program that has specific objectives. Does the company want to encourage cross-departmental familiarity? Does it want to give new hires the tools to pass the CPA exam? Does it want to optimize team-member performance?

• Timetables are set and maintained. One of the most common reasons mentorship programs fail is because of a lack of commitment to any set schedule. (This is particularly true during tax season, where offices get hectic.) There should be consistent meetings between the mentor and mentee throughout the duration of the mentorship. Furthermore, there needs to be regular benchmarking of achievements, so that progress can be assessed and challenges addressed. If there is no adherence to any schedule, it is likely that the program is going, or has gone, stale.

• The mentorship program is organization-wide. It might not be reasonable to expect every senior-level employee to mentor another employee, but everyone in the entire company has to be accessible to the mentorship program, and offer guidance when necessary.

• The program has strong oversight. The management team should make its interest in the success of the program evident by involving itself in its operations.

Mentorship programs can be a boon to both companies and individual employees. As workplace expectations continue to develop and industry practices continue to innovate, mentorship programs will become indispensable in helping organizations meet diverse challenges.

Lewis Daidone, a certified public accountant, works as an investment management consultant with BlackRock.  Learn more about him by visiting this blog.

After the Interview—What Now? Here are 3 Follow-up Tips

In this post, Lewis Daidone discusses the importance of following up after a successful job interview. Lewis Daidone is a CPA and consultant to several financial firms and tech companies.

Congratulations! You’ve scored an interview at a highly impressive financial firm, and it went exceedingly well. So, should you just wait for the inevitable call inviting you to join the team?

Not necessarily.

Even if you’re confident that you nailed your accountant job interview, without the gift of telepathy, you can’t be certain that you will actually be their newest hire. Keep your great interview fresh in their mind by applying strategic post-interview follow-up techniques.

Send a brief email to all of your interviewers

No more than two days after your interview, you might want to send a thank you message to the interview team—individually. Make sure you don’t wait; the final decision could be made quickly, and you should make sure you communicate before it’s too late. Don’t make it too long, just a few sentences that could serve as an elevator pitch. Also—triple check for grammatical errors and misspellings!

Connect via Social Platforms

Social media conversations can be tricky if done via Facebook, but LinkedIn is a great professional channel. (Twitter could also be useful, depending upon the company culture.) However, you have to assess the willingness of the hiring manager to engage in a social media conversation. If he or she divulged any professional affiliations or school associations, you might leverage those for a social network connection.

Call the Hiring Manager

Don’t make the phone call immediately—if you still haven’t heard anything after a week, then go ahead and call the manager for an update.

Whatever you do, don’t be afraid to take initiative. If done professionally, it will only impress your prospective employers. Even if you aren’t their first choice, your name may still pop up for another opening!

Lewis Daidone, a certified public accountant, works as an investment management consultant with BlackRock.  Learn more about him by visiting this blog.

Public Accounting Vs. Private Accounting

Lewis Daidone discusses the fundamental differences between public and private accountants. Lewis Daidone is a Certified Public Accountant and consultant to tech companies and financial firms.

What makes accounting careers so attractive? Although they are definitely appealing to those of us with a natural facility for analysis, calculation, and finance, it’s the diversity of professional applications that makes them so dynamic. While there are numerous branches of accounting with slightly different focuses, there are two major career tracks accounting students can choose: public accounting or private accounting.

Public Accounting

Those who work in a public accounting capacity will offer advisory, tax, analysis, auditing, and consulting services. They will typically work for public accounting firms—the largest being Ernst and Young, Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and KPMG (known as the Big Four) —and will serve a broad array of clients from different industries. It is essential that public accountants not only have an accounting degree, but also be in possession of a Certified Public Accounting credential. Furthermore, it is extremely helpful for a public accountant to develop a strong and flexible understanding of a wide variety of industry practices and accounting transactions.

Private Accounting

While public accountants will have to be in possession of a CPA designation, private accountants may only need a bachelor’s degree—although those who hold CPAs will command higher salaries. The main difference between public and private accountants is the private accountant’s dedication to a single organization; rather than having to constantly adjust to different industries and practices, the private accountant must only focus on one. It is the job of the private accountant to process company transactions (billing and payable), as well as to develop expertise in their industry in order to help management with daily operations. This means liaising with the heads of different departments, so developing excellent team building skills is critical.

Which to Choose?

Public accounting can be quite exciting—the client base is constantly changing, and public accountancy often requires a great deal of travel. Private accountants, on the other hand, work from a single office, and are surrounded by the same team every day, which might be more comfortable for a homebody kind of personality. There might also be more room for work-life flexibility, depending upon the private accountant’s industry.

Your decision to become a public or private accountant may depend upon your desired career trajectory, your need for variety, and your personal disposition. Nevertheless, both public and private accounting careers can be thoroughly rewarding, challenging, and satisfying.

Lewis Daidone, a certified public accountant, works as an investment management consultant with BlackRock.  Learn more about him by visiting this blog.

GPAs for CPAs: What are Optimal Grade Point Averages?

In today’s post, Lewis Daidone talks about whether or not grade point averages are truly important when applying for accounting positions. Lewis Daidone is a Certified Public Accountant and a consultant for tech companies and financial services firms.

The short answer is: 4.0 is the optimal grade point average. Sorry!

However, don’t think you can sail on the wave of an excellent GPA alone and expect to land the plum jobs. You have to supplement your excellent academic record with other value-adding achievements too.

Having a high GPA is definitely a plus—it establishes your dedication to your coursework and your in-depth understanding of diverse accounting fundamentals. Nevertheless, there is no magic number that will absolutely guarantee you a position at a prestigious company. There are innumerable other qualities that are extremely valuable to prospective employers. If you fear that your GPA isn’t that impressive, or that your grades alone might not be enough to distinguish you from other candidates, here are a few things you can do that will help you make an excellent impression.

Make your GPA stronger

Easier said than done, but if your GPA isn’t where it needs to be, make a special effort to raise it. Choose your course load strategically—make sure your class levels are appropriate, and that some of them satisfy an inherent interest so that performing well comes easily. Participate in class. Take advantage of any extra-credit opportunities your professor provides. Develop a relationship with your instructors.

Have both Scholarship and Fellowship

What are your greatest strengths as a job applicant? Naturally, you have to demonstrate your profound understanding of accountancy, but what else can you bring to the table? The student who has a near perfect or even perfect GPA but who struggles with building professional relationships might not add real value to certain firms. However, an applicant with a successful track record of taking on difficult roles and inspiring confidence in others could be quite attractive. Make sure you make an effort to demonstrate your people-skills and facility with networking. On your resume, Provide examples on your resume of situtations where you stepped up and tackled challenging interpersonal situations, or proved your strong leadership ability.

Develop a Diverse Skillset

Having the kind of attitude, intellectual curiosity, and enthusiasm that a CPA firm values are highly impressive attributes. Enrich your resume with meaningful work experience, extracurricular activities, and—eventually—a CPA credential, and you’ll be a fine prospect for any organization. 

Lewis Daidone is a consultant specializing in investment management.  Follow him on Twitter for more info.

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Management Accounting and Supply Chain Management

In the modern business world, “supply chain management” is not just a buzz word; it is considered a key driver in the midst of foreign competition and offshore sourcing as well as global markets. Keeping a company’s supply chain performing well requires a high level of responsiveness, as does keeping the shelves in stores filled. Management accounting drives the necessary planning, monitoring and use of logistical information to maximize efficiencies throughout the supply chain.

 

Profit Driven Management Reporting

Supply chain management today involves increasing the speed of inventory and trimming costs. Accomplishing these tasks requires skills in management along with creativity. Companies compete based on how effectively they can move raw materials, parts and finished goods. Those that do it the best make the most profits. The reporting and analysis provided by the management accounting system provide the techniques and context to drive those profits. 

The accounting rules worked particularly well with companies in the past, which were more likely to be vertically integrated and focus mostly on making sales domestically. However, these principles do not necessarily work well with today’s business practices and operations.

 

The Challenges

There is no one size fits all management accounting solution for supply chains. Industries vary, business plans change, and strategies differ even within similar industries. It is important to use a system that works in the context of your business model, product mix and customers. The right management accounting system can be the difference between a mediocre company and a stellar performer..

Lewis Daidone works alongside boards of directors, venture capitalists, senior executives and partners toward improving infrastructure, growth projections, and fiscal results of financial services and technology companies. Follow him on Facebook to know more.

Tips for CPA Exam Prep

Prepping for the CPA Exam

Certified Public Accountant and consultant Lewis Daidone offers tips for preparing for the CPA exam

Passing the Uniform Certified Public Accountant (CPA) examination is no easy feat. About half of all people who take the CPA exam fail. In addition, it is estimated that there is only about a 20% chance of passing all four parts in one try, so proper exam preparation is crucial.

Clearly, anyone who intends to take the CPA exam has to take it extremely seriously. Not only is the exam rigorous (it's a 14 hour test), the cost for the four sections of the exam is approximately $1,000, including the application fee. In addition, I highly recommend taking a review course – and those fees range from $1,500 to $3,000. Trust me—you don't want to have to take this more than you have to!

Here are a few tips to consider regarding taking the CPA exam.

Choose your study courses carefully

Don't settle for basic review courses or those with the best advertising or those that appear affordable. Do the research. Look for hard data on student exam passing rates. Review the reviews – search for student posts on independent websites..

Study like it's your full-time job

Plan to put in 30+ hours per week of study (approximately 500 hours) for each section of the exam. In addition to dedicated study time, you can also take audio courses, and listen to them during your drive to work or on the elliptical. You will also want to simulate the exam itself – multiple times. Your review courses should offer computerized test simulations; there are also online resources you should research – some are free, These should be used only to augment the review course material, not replace it.

Take care of yourself!

If you're completely sleep deprived and run-down by the time your exam date rolls around, you're probably going to kiss all of that exhaustive prep work goodbye. Get plenty of rest, eat well, and practice your favorite stress-reduction techniques so that you will be in top physical and mental condition for your big day!

Failed the CPA Exam? Don't Panic!

Failed the CPA Exam? Don't Panic—Try Again!

Lewis Daidone discusses options for CPA candidates who've failed one or more parts of the CPA Exam. Lewis Daidone is a Certified Public Accountant and consultant to financial services firms and technology companies.

Taking the Uniform Certified Public Accountant Examination is a crucial step on the road to becoming a successful and respected accountant. However, it is a road paved with challenges. The examination is an exhaustive, 14 hour, four-part test that requires years of dedicated preparation. Approximately half of all applicants fail. Credit for any section passed is valid for 18 months from the date the exam was taken. Examination credit expires by section.

If you've failed one or more parts of the CPA Exam, don't despair! You can take the CPA Exam as many times as your schedule (and your sanity) allows.

Failing with a score of 70 – 74

If you failed one of your sections by only a few points, apply for a Notice to Schedule (NTS) to reschedule the failed section as early in the next window as practicable, and begin seriously reviewing the previous materials. You've demonstrated that you've got a strong grasp of critical concepts within that section, and you just need to pay a bit more attention to some of the nuances. You already have the exam fresh in your mind, so you're definitely in a great position to do well on the retake.

Failing with a score of 70 or lower

Those who've failed one of the exams with a score under 70 probably aren't comfortable enough with the material to retake the test successfully early in the next testing window. If you are secure in your grasp of the materials for the next part that you are studying for, continue on your current track, take that exam, and then return to the section you failed. Schedule your re-examination late enough in the following window to give yourself enough time to really nail down all of the materials.

Remember, you have 18 months to pass all four sections of the CPA exam, so use them wisely. Don't let your stumble intimidate or discourage you; stay the course and conquer that test!