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Accounting News Roundup: Surprise, You Can Attract Talent With Decent Pay, a Good Culture | 06.21.17

accounting-news cpa dogs

Attracting talent

With all the pandering to talent going on — you know, with ping pong and baristas and whatnot — some employers out there may still wonder what they can do to compete. The Chicago Tribune reports on a recent survey with some novel ideas:

More than 6,000 recent graduates from colleges across the United States participated in the LaSalle Network survey, with a large portion from the Midwest. Listed majors ranged from accounting and anthropology to statistics and sports management.

The big takeaway: A vast majority of surveyed grads said robust workplace culture was among the top one or two things they considered when picking a company to work for (along with compensation).

Right, compensation! You remember compensation, don’t you? We certainly do. And don’t forget: Foosball table + Kegerator ≠ Culture. Unless you want to end up like Uber.

How’s tax reform coming along?

The Wall Street Journal‘s Richard Rubin reports on a speech given by House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) yesterday where he “expressed confidence Tuesday that Republicans can ‘fix this nation’s tax code, once and for all’ this year.” Except they probably can’t and they probably won’t.

For starters, there’s no guarantee that the bill put forward won’t just be a massive tax cut, which does not “fix this nation’s tax code” but makes it more inequitable. Second, anyone who knows how tax reform works knows that “once and for all” means “until we have to do something else.” And finally, saying you’re going to have tax reform done this year is like Americans promising to give up hamburgers for the rest of the summer. You’re not going to do it. You know it. We know it. The whole world knows it. Drop the act, man.

Fido, CPA

In this Journal of Accountancy article about CPAs who take their dogs to the office, there’s the story of Louis (aka Louie), an English bulldog, who “has his own wardrobe and stash of toys in the office, but he’s best known for his mellow temperament, comedic nature, and pouting face.” And apparently he’s not only good for personality:

Thanks in large part to Louie, the Merritts’ office “is running better now than it ever has,” Barbara Merritt said.

I don’t think it’s too farfetched to suggest that the answer to every CPA firm’s problems is a dog. Or maybe a few dogs. Once the computers are doing most of the accounting work, dogs might even be able to replace the humans to manage the relationships with clients. Just imagine Dogs Playing Poker except with adding machines to give a nostalgic feel. Bring your dog to work day is June 23rd.

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Previously, on Going Concern…

We started the open thread for PwC compensation. In Open Items: What are the main differences between a Senior/Manager role in a big firm vs a small firm?

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Image: iStock/Lisa5201