Accounting Headhunter

Most job seekers will take a chance on a solution that will provide interview opportunities. Resume distribution services seem like a good idea, and many of them do provide a means by which you can get your resume in front of employers.

I recommend Resume Spider, who’s ads appear on this website. I recommend them because I use them.  I receive emails from them that highlight candidate backgrounds based upon the criteria that I have established.  The objective is to receive resumes of professionals that I can place within my geographic range.

However – candidates should make sure they are comfortable with the provider, because you can pay for a service that is poor.  And it really annoys me.  Which is why I write this.

I have been receiving poorly formatted emails from a company which is distributing profiles of candidates.  The resumes started arriving unexpectedly, with no “opt in” to the service by me.  (I know because it is addressed to an email address scraped from my website, which I never use.)  The email “highlights” what I think are supposed to be the selling points of the candidate.  But they are mediocre, at best.

And the profiles are completely unrelated to any searches that I have or have had.

I have tried to “unsubscribe” to the service with this result:

“Your message is being returned; it has been enqueued and undeliverable for 4 days to the following recipients:
Recipient address: remove@execuhost.net
Reason: unable to deliver this message after 4 days”

I went to the website in the email address, and have found the site “Under Construction” for over 2 weeks.

I hope that this is a free service that has been overwhelmed with candidates and is trying to service job seekers in the most altruistic manner.

But the realist in me thinks they are just taking advantage of job seekers.  Am I wrong?
Has anyone had success with this service? Let me know.

To discuss the opportunity – pro and con, send an email to bob@accountingheadhunter.com
All inquiries are confidential.

If you are in a Big 4 firm or second tier firm, you may find that your environment is not satisfying your career goals.  If you are not part of a team that is creating value for your clients, and also providing you with a meaningful role, we should talk.
Building your career according to your goals, and getting support from your employer is critical to most professionals.

Locations include New Jersey, New York, Philadelphia.
|Maybe you are fairly happy, and maybe it’s worth evaluating where you are.  Let’s discuss your career goals, and see if this makes sense.

Professionals sought:
Your professional profile should include large firm CPA experience, CPA preferred, of course.
Drive, determination, and desire to help your clients.
Experience levels desired are from Senior to Senior Manager.
The compensation is competitive and depends upon experience.

To discuss the opportunity – pro and con, send an email to bob@accountingheadhunter.com

I recently received a call from an outstanding company, very stable, long history.  They are looking for a Risk Management Consultant for their New Jersey/New York Metro based clients.  An overview of the job is below.  I thought that the call was timely, having read an article at CFO.com  on Risk Management.   Here is the article -  CLICK FOR ARTICLE

Business Risk Consultant

For more information, email me.

Is Company Size Critical?
I had a client looking for a Senior Accountant. The company is a medium sized company, and they are doing well, even in this environment.

This question has come up from some candidates – is a position with a smaller company going to limit my career potential? Am I not better off in a large company?

Career Path
Personally, I feel that a position like this, where you are reporting to the CFO is a great career move. Is you spend five years in this position, what’s your next move? Most likely to a Controller position, since you have had hands-on experience in the department.

A Senior Accounting position in a very large company will lead you to a middle management role. And there is the problem. As companies become leaner, and profit conscious, they will make due with less. Even after the economy rebounds.

A most popular career choice for Accounting graduates is to work for a Big 4 CPA firm.  Currently, the “Big 4″ included KPMG, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, and Deloitte.

Most will choose a career as an auditor.   After a few years of audit experience, some may choose to move to tax accounting.

Starting out with a public accounting firm increases your ability to find a job in private accounting, or many choose to stay and become partners with the firm they join after college.

Most people feel that speaking with a headhunter is a necessary evil when the time comes to look for a job.  But one of the best reasons to speak with a headhunter if you are NOT looking for a job is the career advice that you may receive.  Headhunters speak with hiring company many times a day, and those that have been doing it long enough have seen the benefits and pitfalls of most career opportunities.

I was reminded of this recently.  Someone called me who was relocating to another city. When they gave me an overview of their background I was very excited to work with them.  The background was 3 years with a Big 4 public accounting firm.  However, the most recent 6 months of the person’s tenure was doing compliance in the International Tax area.  The problem is that the work was mostly 1040 individual return work for expatriates.

I recall placing people in that career niche earlier in my days as a recruiter.  But back then, public accounting firms weren’t even looking for Accounting Grads.  As long as the person was smart, and good with numbers, they could have a degree in French.

So the point of the story is that the loss of 6 months good audit experience, coupled with the fact that we had to explain “why” the person took the “promotion” to Expat Tax took a number of potential opportunities off the table.

If this person had called me to discuss the move out of audit into International Tax, I would have strongly discouraged this person.  And that’s why you should find a headhunter you are comfortable with and strategize with them about your career on a regular basis.

Do you have any career questions?  Feel free to call me and discuss your questions.

Bob Lee  973-492-2455.

What is IFRS?
IFRS is a single set of globally accepted, high quality accounting standards.  By 2011, it will be used in over 100 countries.  The US will be only one reamining on industrialized nation using GAAP.  Some benefits to the US of using IFRS are the ability to compete globally and accessing foreign capital.

Key differences between GAAP and IFRS are that IFRS is less voluminous a body of literature than U.S. GAAP.  For example, GAAP is over 25,000 pages of information, and it’s beginnings go back to 1930’s. Some of the bodies have that have issues technical accounting research pronouncements were the FASB and APB.  IFRS goes back to the 1970’s, coming to prominence during the establishment of the EU.

While GAAP has very extensive industry-specific guidance, IFRS do not include such industry guidance.  Generally, IFRS contains similar concepts but do not contain the same amount of detailed implementation guidance as U.S. GAAP.
One major issue, which the SEC is sensitive to is that in more circumstances, the application of IFRS will require exercise of judgment.  Much more so than GAAP.
When the SEC looks at fincial statements, they will be concerned about discosures, especially when judgement has been applied.

Status of IFRS
The status of IFRS in the US is that in August 2008, the SEC  agreed to issue a rule proposal and proposed “roadmap”for public comment.  The proposal would consider permitting a small group of public companies (110-120) ) to adopt IFRS as early as 2009.
The proposed roadmap will outline potential timeline to IFRS adoption starting in 2014 on a mandatory basis for large accelerated filers.  Voluntary early adoption would be permitted.

An analysis based upon survey data  indicates that a majority of large companies have at least done a gap analysis of where they are versus where they will need to be.  A small minority have entered the transition phase (under 12%).

Recruiting and Staffing IFRS Expertise
Timing calls for companies to start their gap analysis, if they have not started, and planning for the transition.  We are in contact with Accounting professionals with this IFRS expertise.  Please call or email to discuss any needs you may have for Accounting professionals with IFRS expertise.

Contact -  Bob Lee 973-492-2455  or EMAIL

XBRL – Sooner than expected?
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) release of final rules mandating Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) has not yet been issued. However, it seems that reporting in the format called XBRL could come earlier than expected. A target date of December 15, 2008 for large companies could be at hand.

Some companies have already started the transition to XBRL. Some companies are not ready for XBRL, in some measure due to the lack of qualified professionals to implement it. Accountants and financial professionals with this experience are in demand. CPA’s should attend seminars, or more convenient webinars to better understand the role that they can play in this major project.

XBRL International is a consortium of more than 500 companies and agencies worldwide working together to build the XBRL technology and promote its adoption. Some of the benefits of XBRL are improved accuracy, greater efficiency, and easier comparability of financial statements.

If you are looking for professionals with XBRL experience, contact us to discuss your requirements.