Friday, December 14, 2007
What you know vs. Who you know
What you know = knowledge
Who you know = network
In reaching for success, which is more important?
Ultimately, they are both important. Each career minded individual needs to use their knowledge and their network to succeed.
From my perspective, many career-minded individuals focus too much on knowledge, and not enough on network. This is very evident when people begin to look a new job – they usually start their network again from scratch.
People that have mediocre knowledge with an excellent network often find their next great career opportunity quicker than those with excellent knowledge and a mediocre (or non-existant) network.
Lesson: ABN – Always be networking. You never know when you’ll be looking for that next great career opportunity
Monday, December 10, 2007
Career Change and the Holiday Season
It’s the second week of December, and you are officially in holiday season mode. Christmas Cards are cluttering your desk, you’re running out at lunch to get another gift (or buying it online during work hours), listening to holiday music on the radio, and either getting ready for the office party (or are recovering from it).
And you’re asking yourself – do I really want to spend another year in my current job?
If your answer is “yes”, stop reading this post.
If your answer is “no” (or “I’m not sure”), continue reading.
There is a general belief that the world closes down for the end of December, so there is no point in starting (or continuing) a career change search during the Holiday period.
While I will agree that a number of companies close down during the holiday period, and people take their vacations to coincide with days off during the holidays, I would like to share our experience with you.
Our experience has shown that down time is the best time for hiring. Why? Because Decision Makers are ready, willing and able to make decisions (i.e. hire). Historically, July and December are our best months of the year. Many of our competitors look at me funny (with a dark tan) when I mention this fact.
The reason is simple. Decision makers use down time to focus on what is important to them – making decisions. The rest of the year they are so focused on fighting fires and meeting deadlines that they don’t have time to plan forward. But when everyone else around them is relaxing, the pressure on them is less to fight fires and meet deadlines. So they make decisions. And hiring is one of they key decisions they make.
From a job seeker perspective, what better gift can you give yourself (and your family) this holiday season than the gift of a new career opportunity, a gift that will give you more of what is important to you in your life?
And you’re asking yourself – do I really want to spend another year in my current job?
If your answer is “yes”, stop reading this post.
If your answer is “no” (or “I’m not sure”), continue reading.
There is a general belief that the world closes down for the end of December, so there is no point in starting (or continuing) a career change search during the Holiday period.
While I will agree that a number of companies close down during the holiday period, and people take their vacations to coincide with days off during the holidays, I would like to share our experience with you.
Our experience has shown that down time is the best time for hiring. Why? Because Decision Makers are ready, willing and able to make decisions (i.e. hire). Historically, July and December are our best months of the year. Many of our competitors look at me funny (with a dark tan) when I mention this fact.
The reason is simple. Decision makers use down time to focus on what is important to them – making decisions. The rest of the year they are so focused on fighting fires and meeting deadlines that they don’t have time to plan forward. But when everyone else around them is relaxing, the pressure on them is less to fight fires and meet deadlines. So they make decisions. And hiring is one of they key decisions they make.
From a job seeker perspective, what better gift can you give yourself (and your family) this holiday season than the gift of a new career opportunity, a gift that will give you more of what is important to you in your life?
Friday, December 7, 2007
Accounting Standards: USA vs. World (rest of the)
Convergence is the name of the game for standards in many industries, and the Accounting industry is no different.
Up till now, different countries around the world have had their own accounting standards, reflecting an introspective view of the world. As economies around the world focus more on globalization, the ability to understand financial information from different countries has taken on a greater significance.
GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) are the standards by which accountants prepare financial information. GAAP is converging, and is on the road to being one GAAP worldwide.
IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) is the global accounting standard that is being accepted in more and more countries around the world. Europe integrated their standard to IFRS in 2005. Canada is set to accept IFRS to replace their accounting standards in 2011, and other countries around the world, including Japan and India, are getting with the program.
The major holdout, no surprise, is the USA.
However, something shocking happened a few weeks ago. The SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) in the United States said that they will accept IFRS reporting for foreign private issuers (public companies from outside of the USA listed in the USA).
Not only that, but the FASB (the US Accounting Standards Board) and the IASB (makers of IFRS), are working jointly on some projects of significance, ensuring that some standards will be the same worldwide.
As Canada is getting ready for IFRS for 2011, we are too. Some of our clients are hiring right now for this convergence project. We are talking about IFRS, and are presenting at conferences across Canada in 2008 - We presented earlier this week in Toronto.
You may be asking yourself (or me) “who cares”. And that’s fair. GAAP isn’t an exciting topic (at least it is not supposed to be). Accountants care. Their world is converging.
Is this a good thing? I think so, because I’m a believer in the positive impact of economic globalization. More convergence on standards means less confusion on understanding others financial information. And this small part can assist in growing global economic health, which in the end makes the world a better place.
Up till now, different countries around the world have had their own accounting standards, reflecting an introspective view of the world. As economies around the world focus more on globalization, the ability to understand financial information from different countries has taken on a greater significance.
GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) are the standards by which accountants prepare financial information. GAAP is converging, and is on the road to being one GAAP worldwide.
IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) is the global accounting standard that is being accepted in more and more countries around the world. Europe integrated their standard to IFRS in 2005. Canada is set to accept IFRS to replace their accounting standards in 2011, and other countries around the world, including Japan and India, are getting with the program.
The major holdout, no surprise, is the USA.
However, something shocking happened a few weeks ago. The SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) in the United States said that they will accept IFRS reporting for foreign private issuers (public companies from outside of the USA listed in the USA).
Not only that, but the FASB (the US Accounting Standards Board) and the IASB (makers of IFRS), are working jointly on some projects of significance, ensuring that some standards will be the same worldwide.
As Canada is getting ready for IFRS for 2011, we are too. Some of our clients are hiring right now for this convergence project. We are talking about IFRS, and are presenting at conferences across Canada in 2008 - We presented earlier this week in Toronto.
You may be asking yourself (or me) “who cares”. And that’s fair. GAAP isn’t an exciting topic (at least it is not supposed to be). Accountants care. Their world is converging.
Is this a good thing? I think so, because I’m a believer in the positive impact of economic globalization. More convergence on standards means less confusion on understanding others financial information. And this small part can assist in growing global economic health, which in the end makes the world a better place.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
The Welcome Posting.
Welcome to CFO2Grow's Blog. Written by Samuel Dergel, Founder and Senior Partner of CFO2Grow, The Financial Statement should be of interest to:
1) Those that hire in accounting and finance.
2) Those looking to be hired in accounting and finance
The blog entries are Samuel's thoughts, in his search to provide information relevant to cfo2grow's clients, candidates and friends.
You may agree. You may disagree. And that's ok. Your comments on this blog are appreciated.
1) Those that hire in accounting and finance.
2) Those looking to be hired in accounting and finance
The blog entries are Samuel's thoughts, in his search to provide information relevant to cfo2grow's clients, candidates and friends.
You may agree. You may disagree. And that's ok. Your comments on this blog are appreciated.
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