The Best Accounting & Finance Podcasts to Listen to Right Now

Are you searching for ways to stay informed about the latest accounting and finance news, trends, and best practices? If so, choose among these accounting and finance podcasts.

Discover the best accounting and finance podcasts to listen to right now.

Count Me In

Count Me In is hosted by the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA). Learn the latest perspectives on the accounting and finance field from experts and thought leaders.

AICPA Town Hall Series

AICPA Town Hall Series is hosted by Susan Coffey, CEO of Public Accounting for AICPA, and Erik Asgeirsson, President and CEO of CPA.com. Discover the latest news and updates in the accounting profession from leading subject matter experts.

Grow My Accounting Practice

Grow My Accounting Practice is for accountants and bookkeepers who want to expand their businesses. Learn sales, marketing, hiring, management, pricing, and other business skills needed to scale your company.

The Abundant Accountant

The Abundant Accountant shares tips to build accounting skills, increase revenue, and expand firms. Topics include networking, pricing, finding ideal clients, increasing cash flow, and setting boundaries with clients.

Building the Premier Accounting Firm

Building the Premier Accounting Firm helps accounting professionals confidently offer quality services and get paid what they are worth. Learn tips and tricks to apply accounting principles to build a successful business.

Accounting Marketing Doesn’t Suck

Accounting Marketing Doesn’t Suck is hosted by Hugh Duffy. Learn from successful accountants, CPAs, and other professionals how to grow a profitable business.

Where Accountants Go

Where Accountants Go is for accountants in all industries. Learn as accounting guests share their stories about career development.

Accounting Technology Fireside Chat

Accounting Technology Fireside Chat hosts Nick and Trevor have been working with technology for accountants for over 10 years. Gain insight into where technology is going and how accountants can use technology to increase efficiency.

Accounting Matters

Accounting Matters is hosted by Sarah Cage Richter and Adam Olden from Embark. They start with a new topic and definition in each episode, then highlight and discuss the key areas from evaluation to reporting.

Do You Need to Add to Your Accounting and Finance Team?

Partner with Casey Accounting & Finance Resources to add accounting and finance professionals to your team. Learn more today.

How to Write a Good Job Description

Writing a good job description involves sharing the duties, responsibilities, expectations, and requirements for the role. This information helps job seekers determine whether they can see themselves in the position and should apply.

Creating a clear job description helps create questions for the interview process. It also supports the hiring team throughout the candidate selection process.

Having an effective job description helps create new hire goals and training and development plans. It also supports job performance evaluations, career pathing, and company growth.

Implement these tips to write a good job description.

Choose a Targeted Job Title

Use a title with keywords that many job seekers search for. Titles that indicate what the role involves, such as “Call Center Agent” rank higher in search engine results than vague titles, such as “Rock-Star Marketer.” Job postings that rank well typically have a high number of clicks that can lead to qualified applicants.

Outline the Job Duties and Responsibilities

Highlight what would be expected of the new hire. Include the day-to-day activities and to whom the individual would report. Help job seekers determine whether this is the right position for them.

Limit the Qualifications

List the most essential education, skills, and experience required for the role. Keep in mind that hard skills can be taught while on the job. Limiting the number of qualifications encourages more candidates to apply.

Share the Salary Range

Let job seekers know what type of compensation to expect. Candidates who desire a higher salary can apply for other positions. This saves time reviewing resumes and scheduling interviews.

List the Benefits and Perks

Let job seekers know which benefits and perks make the role desirable. Examples include health insurance, a retirement plan with a company match, paid time off, a remote or hybrid work environment, and a flexible schedule. Supporting job seekers’ quality of life encourages them to apply to your openings.

Are You Looking for Help with Writing Job Descriptions?

Choosing a targeted job title, outlining the job duties and responsibilities, and limiting the qualifications encourage top talent to apply for your open positions. Sharing the salary range and listing the benefits and perks show job seekers what they can gain from working for your organization.

For additional help with writing good job descriptions, get in touch with Casey Accounting & Finance Resources. Contact us today.

5 Tips for Starting Q2 Strong

Starting Q2 strong involves capitalizing on your Q1 successes. You can use your momentum to continue moving the company forward.

You can use what you learned from your setbacks in Q1 to start Q2 strong. This increases the likelihood of achieving your goals over the next 3 months.

Implement these five tips for starting Q2 strong.

1. Capitalize on Your Momentum

Build on your successes from Q1 as you move to Q2. Balance your short-term urgency with your desired long-term gains. Focus on how your course corrections over the past 3 months can improve efficiency over the next 3 months.

2. Focus on the Future

Spend 10% of your time determining what went wrong in Q1 and 90% of your time planning for Q2. Figure out why you did not attain the desired outcomes and how you can do better going forward.

Focus on what you learned in the past 3 months that you can apply to the next 3 months. You might need to create systems and strategies or resolve process issues to reach your goals.

3. Analyze Market Trends

Pay attention to the trends that are impacting your industry. Focus on the internal and external factors that might impact your company’s financial performance in Q2. Adjust your plans to adapt to these changes for growth in your numbers.

4. Reassess Your Goals

Meet with your team to determine whether the goals set in January still are relevant in April. If they are, find ways to promote engagement to attain these goals. Otherwise, use the latest data and insight to adjust your Q2 goals.

5. Clarify Your Team’s Capacity

Use your team’s capacity to plan your Q2 goals. For instance, if your employees work 40 hours per week, their individual capacity is 40 hours. Therefore, your team’s collective capacity is 40 hours x your number of employees.

Ensure you leave at least 30% of open space for your team. For instance, if your employees work 40 hours per week, commit them to only 28 hours of work on reaching Q2 goals (40 – 30% = 28). This should allow adequate time for tasks that take longer than anticipated and for unexpected circumstances that arise.

Planning adequate time to reach their goals helps your employees fulfill their regular job duties and responsibilities while working toward Q2 objectives. It also helps prevent your employees from overworking to attain their 90-day business goals.

Get Help with Hiring

Capitalizing on your successes, focusing on the future, analyzing market trends, and reassessing your team’s goals help start Q2 strong. Being realistic about your team’s capacity should provide adequate time for them to fulfill their regular job duties while working toward their 90-day goals.

Let Casey Accounting & Finance Resources help with your hiring so you have more time to reach your Q2 goals. Reach out today.

Tips for Filling Accounting or Finance Positions

Filling your accounting or finance positions during The Great Resignation can be challenging. Many employees are leaving their jobs for opportunities that better align with their goals, values, and interests.

Fortunately, understanding what candidates are looking for in accounting or finance positions helps guide your approach to hiring. These suggestions can help.

Implement these tips for filling accounting or finance positions.

Be Involved in the Entire Hiring Process

Clarify exactly what you are looking for in a candidate. This provides a foundation on which other members of your hiring team can help source candidates.

For instance, assume you need to hire an accounting clerk. You might develop a list of the required and preferred skills as a guide for your hiring team.

Your list of required skills for an accounting clerk might include:

  • Knowledge of basic finance, accounting, and bookkeeping principles
  • Proficiency in mathematics
  • Ability to learn new technologies
  • Time management skills
  • Attention to detail

Your list of preferred skills for an accounting clerk might include:

  • Formal accounting training
  • Experience in administrative or accounting roles
  • Proficiency with budgeting and bookkeeping software
  • Collaborative work style
  • Strong communication skills

Stating exactly what you are looking for helps your hiring team properly source active and passive candidates. Narrowing down your pool of qualified candidates saves time when reviewing resumes and deciding whom to contact for interviews.

Build Candidate Relationships

Get to know active and passive candidates on a personal level. This increases their interest in filling your accounting and finance positions.

Learn all you can about a candidate’s education, skills, experience, goals, and interests. Find out what motivates them to work, what they like most and least about their jobs, and what attracts them to an employer.

Focus on how one of your opportunities fits with the candidate’s background. Emphasize what the candidate would gain by coming to work for you.

Focusing on your candidates’ wants and needs encourages them to want to work for you. This increases your likelihood of adding top talent to your team.

Ask Relevant Interview Questions

Pay attention to a candidate’s hard and soft skills and behavioral intelligence during an interview. For instance, if you need to hire an accounting clerk, you might ask:

How do you maintain quality control with your work?

Candidates should thoroughly check their work to ensure accuracy. Listen for cross-checking or strategies for quality control and attention to detail. Minimizing errors saves time and money.

How do you manage to work under tight deadlines?

Candidates should be able to juggle multiple projects and manage workflows while under pressure. They must work efficiently, delegate tasks, and request support when needed. Listen for a positive attitude while facing challenges, the ability to prioritize work, and effective time management skills.

How do you present financial data to nonfinancial professionals?

Candidates should feel comfortable sharing financial information in a calm, effective manner. Their audience should be able to understand and apply the information to their situation.

Need Help Filling Accounting or Finance Positions?

Being involved in the entire hiring process and building candidate relationships help source qualified candidates and encourage them to apply to your accounting or finance positions. Asking relevant interview questions lets you find the best candidates to add to your team.

For additional help filling your accounting or finance positions, partner with Casey Accounting & Finance Resources. Find out more today.

Why Some Accountants Do Not Like Their Jobs and How to Help

Traditional accounting career paths do not fit today’s accountants. This is why many accountants do not like their jobs.

Most accountants do not want to remain with the same company throughout their careers. Instead, they want to change employers to diversify their skill sets.

The lack of opportunities for advancement causes many accountants to be dissatisfied with their jobs. These accountants value professional development and promotions.

Employers tend to focus solely on having accountants complete their work at the office. However, today’s accountants typically desire flexibility, meaning, and purpose in their roles.

Discover why many accountants dislike their jobs and what managers can do to help.

Long Work Days

Many accountants are expected to work at least 60 hours each week. This can be longer during tax season. As a result, these accountants have limited time to fulfill personal responsibilities and interests.

Limited Professional Development

Many accountants work for companies with prestigious reputations. However, these accountants often lack opportunities to reach their full potential with the organization.

Accountants who work for large firms tend to specialize in audit, tax, materials and acquisitions, or another narrow field. As a result, these accountants do not learn how the business operates as a whole.

The lack of variety in accounting responsibilities can be frustrating. Accountants who are unable to develop their skills tend to be unfulfilled in their jobs.

Difficulty Changing Practices

Choosing between public and private practice impacts an accountant’s career. Each type of practice requires different personalities and skill sets. As a result, switching to the other practice after establishing a career can be difficult.

Accountants who change from private to public practice or vice versa may need to start from the bottom and work their way up. This can cause significant professional setbacks after years of career establishment.

Tips to Increase Job Satisfaction

Accountants tend to prioritize work-life balance. This means many accountants prefer jobs with remote or hybrid work and a flexible schedule over higher-paying jobs that require onsite work during set hours. Offering these perks can increase accountants’ job satisfaction.

Most accountants want variety in their jobs. Consider letting them cross-train to take on additional duties and responsibilities. These accountants can cover when their colleagues are off work.

Accountants typically desire meaningful work. Providing challenging tasks and projects that require creativity and problem-solving promotes engagement and productivity.

Want Help Sourcing Accountants?

Many accountants work long hours and have limited opportunities for professional development. This lack of skill development makes it difficult to switch between public or private practice after career establishment. Managers can alleviate these issues by allowing flexibility for work-life balance and diversifying job duties and responsibilities.

If you are having difficulty sourcing qualified accountants, Casey Accounting & Finance Resources can help. Reach out today.

Why Showing Gratitude to Your Employees Can Lead to Higher Productivity

Most employees cite their income, work environment, and company culture as reasons why they enjoy their roles. However, how they feel about their positions matters as well.

Employees feel good when their employers appreciate them. These employees often share their positive emotions with colleagues and coworkers. The cycle of smiles, generosity, and random acts of kindness impacts others in the organization. This leads to greater feelings of employee appreciation.

As a manager, you influence how your employees feel when they are at work. This is why you should be giving praise for employee achievements.

Providing autonomy and constructive feedback shows your employees they are valued and respected. This promotes engagement, productivity, and retention.

Discover how showing gratitude for your employees can increase productivity and how you can attain this objective.

Attractive Company Culture

Employees who feel appreciated often express gratitude for their colleagues and coworkers. This promotes feelings of appreciation throughout the organization. Companies that emphasize employee appreciation have an attractive culture. This encourages job seekers to apply to the organization.

Increased Employee Engagement

Employees who feel appreciated typically have high job satisfaction. They are committed to performing their best and reaching business goals. This results in strong customer satisfaction and revenue for a healthy bottom line.

Elevated Employee Performance

Expressing gratitude to your employees shows you appreciate their contributions and results. This creates a source of pride in their work. Employees who are proud of their achievements typically put in their best effort.

Stronger Employee Retention

Expressing gratitude to your employees shows they are valued and respected members of your team. This encourages your employees to perform their best. Employees who enjoy their roles are likely to remain with your organization long-term. This reduces hiring costs.

Methods to Express Employee Appreciation

  • Publicly give thanks for each employee’s specific contributions, results, and impacts on the organization.
  • Provide a donation in the employee’s name to a charity they care about.
  • Create a reward system that provides points to redeem for a gift card, remote work day, vacation day, or other awards.
  • Provide a bonus, pay increase, or promotion when appropriate.
  • Publicly give thanks for each employee’s specific contributions, results, and impacts on the organization.

Frequency of Employee Appreciation

A survey by Authentic Recognition found the following:

  • 2% Received Daily recognition
  • 11% Received Weekly recognition
  • 20% Received Quarterly recognition
  • 17% Received Annual recognition
  • 29% Received No recognition of any kind.

Source: https://authenticrecognition.com/how-frequently-should-you-give-recognition/

Want to Increase Your Team’s Productivity?

Expressing gratitude to your employees helps them feel valued and respected. This encourages your employees to remain engaged, productive, and loyal to your organization.

Many HR managers and People leaders follow the R.I.S.E. method when implementing their recognition program. This concept highlights how employee appreciation should be regular, immediate, specific, and encouraging.

If you’re looking for other ideas to express employee appreciation, or you need to add employees to your team, include Casey Accounting & Finance Resources in your hiring process. Learn more today.

 

Up to 67% of US Employees Could Be Quiet Quitting. How They Impact Your Business?

Millions of employees are putting in minimal effort to keep their jobs. This mindset of “quiet quitting” is becoming more prevalent than ever before. It also is impacting businesses across the United States.

Source: https://teambuilding.com/blog/quiet-quitting-statistics

What Motivates Quiet Quitters?

Quiet quitters typically blame burnout for their lack of motivation to perform better. For instance, layoffs and staffing shortages often result in the remaining employees taking on more of the workload. However, most are not being compensated accordingly.

Many managers expect the same productivity levels with the increased workloads. These unreasonable expectations cause many employees to feel unappreciated.

As a result, quiet quitters are losing patience with their employers leading these employees to prioritize their personal lives over their professional responsibilities.

Why Are Many Remote Employees Quiet Quitters?

Remote employees often have an easier time not going above and beyond in their roles. Many of these employees feel less connected to and involved with their teams.

A lack of clear work hours encourages many remote employees to be quiet quitters. Not understanding how much should be accomplished each day increases stress. Ongoing exposure to elevated stress levels typically leads to burnout.

How Do Quiet Quitters Impact Companies?

Employees who do not remain engaged in their work and perform their best decrease productivity. This lowers employee morale and here’s why.

Better-performing employees often feel the need to pick up the slack caused by quiet quitters. This typically leads to frustration and resentment. These high-performing employees often end up leaving for other opportunities. As a result, turnover and hiring costs increase.

What Can Managers Do to Motivate Quiet Quitters?

Managers must understand what motivates each of their employees. Examples include verbal recognition, stretch assignments, and additional paid time off. Rewarding employees in the manner they desire promotes engagement and productivity.

Talking with each employee in one-on-one meetings, on a regular basis, helps uncover how they feel about their jobs. Managers can discuss each employee’s pain points and collaborate to find solutions. Making changes encourages employee engagement and productivity.

Providing constructive feedback encourages employees to improve their performance. Sharing what an employee did well, and specific steps to improve can promote desirable results.

Remaining empathetic during employee conversations is imperative. Many employees are facing personal challenges that are impacting their work. Providing support through increased work-life balance, access to therapy, or career advancement opportunities encourages employee engagement and productivity.

Need to Add Professionals to Your Team?

Quiet quitters put in minimal effort to meet their job requirements. This causes other employees to pick up the slack. When these better-performing employees become frustrated and resentful, many find opportunities elsewhere. As a result, turnover and hiring costs increase.

Managers should use customized tactics to help their employees stay engaged in their work. Managers also can talk privately with employees who are not performing their best to uncover the reasons, resolve the issues, and provide support.

For help adding professionals to your team, partner with Casey Accounting & Finance Resources. Find out more today.

 

How to Motivate Your Employees to Finish Strong in Q4

According to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace: 2022 Report, approximately 65% of employees are not fully engaged in their work. This percentage likely increases during the holiday season.

Maintaining focus during Q4 can be difficult for employees. Most are thinking about their holiday plans rather than their work tasks.

Fortunately, there are steps you can take to motivate your employees to finish the year strong. These ideas can help.

Follow these guidelines to motivate your accounting and finance team to finish strong in Q4.

Revisit Goals

Review which goals were achieved during the year and which remain. Then, clarify the goals your employees should put in additional effort to attain. Include how the goals increase company success for the current year. This sets up a strong beginning to the new year.

Offer Incentives

Provide incentives to your employees who reach their goals for Q4. Examples include gift cards, bonuses, and additional paid time off in the new year. These incentives encourage your team to go above and beyond to increase their achievements for the year.

Encourage Autonomy

Let your employees work as independently as possible. This shows you trust, value, and respect them.

Since your team members are well-trained, they understand what to do and when to do it. Provide the necessary resources and be available for questions, then let your team work independently.

Recognize Achievements

Thank your employees for their contributions and results. Include the goals your team members reached, the steps taken to attain the goals, and the impact on the organization. This increases employee engagement and performance.

Lead by Example

Model the behavior you want to see from your employees. Examples include meeting milestones, communicating status updates and challenges, and asking for assistance. Your team is likely to follow your example as their leader.

Need Help Finishing Q4 Strong?

Revisiting goals lets your employees know what to work on during Q4. Offering incentives, encouraging autonomy, and recognizing achievements show you trust, value, and respect your team.

If you need temporary team members to help finish Q4 strong, talk with Casey Accounting & Finance Resources. Learn more today.

 

Prioritizing Mental Health in the Workplace

Many people still are dealing with the psychological and emotional effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Add to this discouraging news about the economy and other world issues, employees are experiencing instability in significant areas of their professional and personal lives like never before.

The Conference Board conducted a 2022 mental health survey of over 1,100 workers. Fifty percent of the respondents reported deteriorating mental health since the coronavirus pandemic began. Only 38% of the workers felt their manager adequately addressed their mental health concerns. Merely 29% of respondents whose companies offered mental health support found the resources helpful.

In response to what employers can do to help, 82% of the workers mentioned offering managers training on how to address mental health concerns. Sixty-one percent of respondents said increased manager trust would improve their mental health.

As a result, managers must actively listen to and provide support for their employees for their teams to succeed. This involves managers advocating for their employees’ needs to create caring, empathetic work cultures.

Follow these guidelines to prioritize mental health throughout your organization.

Embrace Change

Being comfortable with change positively impacts employee engagement, morale, and leadership styles. This includes modeling behavior that is open to and accepting of the transforming work world.

  • Regularly talk with your employees about what they need to feel safe at work and excel in their roles.
  • Determine how your team members feel about their workloads.
  • Talk about potential feelings of disengagement or burnout.
  • Find out how you can more effectively support your employees.
  • Ask for constructive feedback on how you handle situations.
  • Encourage your employees to ask for what they need.

Update Work Practices

Assess the policies, processes, and systems that no longer serve your employees. Examples include set work hours, limited leave policies, and not feeling comfortable providing or receiving feedback.

  • Educate your team on the resources available for mental health support.
  • Advocate for flexible work hours, more comprehensive leave policies, and psychological safety for employees to give and receive constructive feedback.
  • Actively seek new information on employee-first work cultures.
  • Use data to support your decisions.

Advocate for Mental Health Support

Talk with your employees about your own mental health issues. Include how you seek and receive support both inside and outside the organization.

  • Share your methods for coping with workplace stress.
  • Discuss your feelings of safety when sharing your thoughts with your team or manager.
  • Be honest about how you are feeling and when you are having a bad day.
  • Encourage your employees to take time for self-care throughout the day and at night.
  • Emphasize why building a culture of mental health support matters.
  • Demonstrate how everyone needs to be invested in building a culture of mental health support.

Need More Ideas?

Embracing change, updating your work practices, and advocating for mental health support are ways to prioritize mental wellness in your workplace. Modeling these behaviors helps reduce the risk of burnout. This increases employee engagement, productivity, and retention.

If you’d like other ideas, check out our previous blog from Mental Health Awareness Month in April.

We’re here to offer more support to your team. Make Casey Accounting & Finance Resources part of your talent acquisition process. Find out more today.

 

What Employers Can Do to Better Support Their Working Parents

Employers always are looking for ways to support their employees. This improves productivity, performance, and retention.

One key area of support is for working parents. Because most employees have families, they make up a significant part of the workforce.

Working parents often deal with issues that affect their professional performance. Examples include taking time off to care for a sick child and needing to finish work early to handle family responsibilities.

As a result, employers who provide accommodations for working parents are more attractive to employees and job seekers. Taking small steps can result in a substantial impact on your organization with little impact on the bottom line.

Choose among these methods to provide support for your working parents.

Talk About Working Parents’ Needs

Find out more about what your working parents want help with most. You may want to begin with a survey to understand their issues, concerns, and suggestions for help. Then, you can use this information to begin discussions between working parents and management about methods to increase support.

You may want to identify a specific issue that many working parents face. Then, you could encourage managers to speak with their employees for more details. The managers could meet with HR and leadership to share feedback and discuss implementation methods.

Create a Parents’ Network

Encourage working parents to share ideas, provide support, and organize family-friendly activities. This may include creating an email chain for parents to swap out gently used children’s clothing. Or, parents might provide tips to ease the stress of raising children while working full-time.

Having this network helps fill working parents’ wants and needs by connecting them with the right individuals at the right time. You may want to create a dedicated intranet page or Slack channel to encourage working parents to join the network.

Provide Flexibility

Offer employees a flexible schedule and options for how they work. Examples include working remotely, hybrid, flextime, part-time, or having a compressed workweek.

You may want to make accommodations for when working parents’ children start school or change their childcare routines. This reduces the stress of fitting in work around childcare. It also increases productivity and retention.

Looking for Additional Advice?

Working parents appreciate help supporting their personal and professional needs. Talking about and accommodating working parents’ needs, creating a working parents’ network, and providing flexibility are effective methods to provide this support. This increases employee engagement, productivity, and performance. It also increases employee attraction and retention.

For additional advice to better support your team’s working parents, reach out to the professionals at Casey Accounting & Finance Resources. Contact us today.