Handset Makers Go Big on Smartphones

BARCELONA, Spain — Smartphones are going against one of the long-held rules in portable electronics, that smaller is better.

Year by year, computers, storage devices and music players have shed size and weight. And for decades, it has been happening with cellphones, too.

But now cellphones, and smartphones in particular, are going the way of the television: They just keep getting bigger and bigger. And people keep buying them.

The trend became even more apparent this week, as handset makers introduced a number of big-screen smartphones — from five diagonal inches to more than seven inches — at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona, Spain.


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Source: Brian X. Chen (www.nytimes.com)

Real Estate Industry Analysis 2014 - Cost & Trends

Real Estate Franchise Industry in 2014 at a Glance

The real estate industry has been under scrutiny in recent years with the mortgage crisis and other current events, but it is still a large field which generates billions or dollars in revenue. There were 165,000 companies operating in the residential brokerage and management field last year, which generated $170 billion in revenue, and there were 25,000 companies operating in the commercial brokerage and management field, generating an annual revenue of $30 billion.

Real Estate Industry Background

Real estate tends to be a particularly cyclical industry, going up and down based on trends in the economy at large such as the fluctuation in interest rates. The story of real estate often mirrors the general story of the American economy. Real estate soared in the post-World War II 1950s, sank in the 1970s, rose again in the early 1980s until the depression at the end of that decade, and was prosperous again at the end of the 1990s. Because of low interest rates in the mid-2000s, residential real estate was booming even when the economy was slow until the mortgage crisis hit and the bubble collapsed. After that point it sank and as of 2011 has yet to truly recover. Brokerage firms have taken on property management divisions in order to diversify their revenue streams and combat poor economic climates.

To read full article, click here.

Source: Franchise Help (www.franchisehelp.com) 

6 Hotel Hospitality Industry New and Current Trends You Should Know About

As a hospitality sector business, you would like to stay in-sync with the latest trends in the global hotel industry. This is rather important since trends that are increasingly engaging attention soon can become a standard demand from your guests. Following are some of the new hotel trends that are making their presence felt across the globe. Read about these to decode how they might affect the type/range of services you offer or how you manage your business.

1. More Emphasis on Hotel “Lobbying”

Perhaps, hotels are realizing that merely having a decorated lobby isn’t sufficient to gain customer loyalty or guests are seeking more, inside-the-hotel time—either way, the hotel lobby is fast making a comeback as an important section of the hotel environment. Mobile recharging consoles are on the rise.

Vibrantly-colored interiors along with free access for checking emails are also being offered.While bigger hotels can afford to offer docking stations for iPhones too, smaller hotels are attempting to ensure that eat-as-you-move kind of snacks/drinks is offered in their lobbies.

To read full article, click here.

Source: Maansi Sanghi (www.hotelogix.com)

5 Accounting Mistakes That Put Your Small Business at Risk

Mistake #1: Not staying on top of receivables

“Getting paid is always an exciting part of running a business. What isn’t as exciting however, is keeping track of your receivables.

“When you issue an invoice, a receivable is recorded—meaning that a customer owes you money. Checking your receivable listing you’ll see that customer’s balance as outstanding. As soon as you receive payment from that customer, it should be applied against the invoice to mark it as paid. In practice however, this is easier said than done, and customer deposits are often left to reconcile later on since there’s never enough time in a day.

“At tax time you’re left with a bunch of customer deposits sitting in your revenue account and a receivables report that doesn’t make sense. The consequences? Hours wasted updating the receivables listing, overpaying on your taxes, and high bad debts. Making it a point to follow up on your receivables—and apply payments to invoices on a monthly basis—can save you tons of resources in the long run.


To read full article, click here.

Source: Lindsay Lapchuk (www.freshbooks.com)

Crude Exports Would Reduce US Gasoline Prices, RFF Paper Suggests

US crude oil exports would lead to more efficient use of the country’s refineries, resulting in more gasoline and lower prices, a Resources for the Future issue brief concluded.

“With the increased efficiency of Western Hemisphere refinery operations that would come from lifting the ban, US prices for refined products will be reduced—even if world oil prices increase,” it said.

Most US refineries are configured to process heavy grade of crude and cannot process light crudes from the Bakkenand other US tight oil plays, said Stephen P.A. Brown, a visiting fellow at RFF and director of the University of Nevada at Las Vegas’s Center for Business and Economic Research.

Brown and three others wrote the issue brief.

High levels of US light, sweet crude oil production, combined with a general ban on crude exports and transportation bottlenecks, have led to sharply lower prices for crude oil–but not products–in the Midwest because of processing configurations, they noted.

To read more, click here. 

Source: Nick Snow (www.ogj.com)

Winter Storms Slam Retail Sales, But Do Weak Numbers Point to Bigger Issues?

Old-man winter has cooled consumers to shopping, dampening retail sales of late.

January retail sales, including automobiles, gasoline stations and restaurants, slipped 0.4% from December, yet increased 2.6 percent adjusted year-over-year, according to The National Retail Federation, reporting figures released yesterday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The month-to-month figures are seasonally adjusted for inflation gains from the previous month, while the year-over-year figures are not.

Retailers’ poor January showing reflects more than just lost foot traffic from winter storms, Craig Johnson, CEO of retail consultancy Customer Growth Partners, told Forbes.

“The Department of Commerce numbers amid the snow confirm our forecast that sales are weak – and not just due to weather,” he said.

To read more, click here. 

Source: Barbara Thau (www.forbes.com)

Income As The Outcome: Reframing the 401(k) Plan

When the 401(k) plan was created approximately 35 years ago, it was envisioned as a supplemental savings plan rather than as a retirement plan.  What is the difference?  In a word: “income.”

The defined benefit (DB) pension plans of yesteryear provided guaranteed lifelong income, much in the same way that the Social Security system does.  In contrast, fewer than one in five 401(k) plans offer participants an opportunity to convert their accounts into guaranteed lifelong income.

To read more, click here.

Source: Jeffery Brown (www.forbes.com)

The Role of Nonprofits in Health Care: A Trends Summary

When discussing what’s new and changing about healthcare and nonprofits in the US, the temptation is to say, “Everything!” NPQ’s coverage in 2013 has focused on several areas important to both nonprofit organizations with healthcare missions and to nonprofits in general.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA or ACA), also known as Obamacare, is an obvious focus of reporting. The ACA is a 2,000-page law that, almost four years after its enactment, is still in the process of adding more guidance to the more than 20,000 pages of implementation regulations already in place.

The Affordable Care Act has had a bumpy introduction so far. Widely reported serious problems with the healthcare.gov website were addressed by NPQ. AmeriCorps and VISTA participants received a surprisewhen they discovered their insurance plan might not meet the new Obamacare coverage requirements. The “Got Insurance?” media campaign promoting signing up for health insurance on the exchanges was widely criticized. Suzanne Somers was criticized for lack of intellectual rigor in her Wall Street Journal op-ed criticizing the ACA. Most celebrity support for the ACA was limited to appearance videos and Twitter messages such as the #GetCovered campaign by Covered California.

To read more, click here. 

Source: Michael Wyland (www.nonprofitquarterly.org) 

Will Saving on Health Care Hurt the Economy?

WASHINGTON — LOST in all the debate last week about whether or not the Affordable Care Act will hurt the economy is the fact that health care is already imposing a drag on growth. 

The health care sector has repeatedly helped to pull the economy from recession in recent decades, but this time around it is lagging behind the recovery. 

Health care spending grew more slowly than the economy in 2011 and 2012 and will probably be found to have done so again in 2013. Meanwhile, health care employment also expanded more slowly than overall employment last year — and the government estimates that in January employment actually shrank for only the second time since 1990. 

To read the full article, click here. 

Source: Binyamin Appelbaum (www.nytimes.com)

10 Hottest Housing Markets for 2014

From Oakland, California, to Memphis, Tennessee, these major metro areas are expected to see the biggest increase in home prices this year, according to CoreLogic Case-Shiller's latest home price forecast.

To read full article, click here.

Source: CNN Money (www.money.cnn.com)

Accounting For The Real World

Students graduate college with accounting degrees, but that doesn’t mean they’re ready to be accountants. I spoke with Ben Mulling, CMA, CPA, CITP, who became CFO of TENTE Casters Inc. at the age of 28, about the gap between what students learn and employers require, and how educators should begin accounting for the real world in their curricula.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

Jeff Thomson: Does a skills gap exist between what accounting educators teach and what CFOs need from their staff?

Ben Mulling: Yes, I think schools need to build in more management accounting principles, as opposed to just focusing on public accounting. They aren’t teaching enough basic management accounting terminology, strategy, decision support, and organizational management from an accounting point of view. Too often, the curriculum isn’t connecting how accounting and finance actually work within an organization. It’s rules-based, which is important for public accounting, rather than principles-based, which is needed in management accounting.Jeff Thomson: Does a skills gap exist between what accounting educators teach and what CFOs need from their staff?

To read full article, click here.

Source: Jeff Thomson (www.forbes.com) 

Top Technology Trends Shaping Accounting and Finance in 2014

As we kick off 2014, our thoughts inevitably turn to what will happen in the New Year. Here is my personal take on trends, change agents and motivators for accounting and finance in 2014.

Cloud to leap forward. According to Gartner, cloud computing will become the bulk of new IT spend by 2016. IDC predicts that from 2013–2017, public IT cloud services will have a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23.5 percent, five times that of the IT industry as a whole. Although cloud adoption in the finance function initially lagged behind other functions including HR, sales and marketing, it is now catching up.

As the cloud market starts to mature, two important themes will become more evident in 2014. Firstly, larger organizations will continue to transition to the cloud, often as part of a two tier strategy as they seek to wind down legacy systems and simultaneously leverage new applications available in the cloud. Secondly, cost reduction will no longer be seen as the main driver behind a move to the cloud. CFOs will see that the cloud can serve more broadly as a springboard for process transformation, innovation and increased business agility.

To read full article, click here.

Source: Jeremy Roche (www.insights.wired.com)

Why 2014 could be a Great Year for the Oil and Gas Industry

James C. West, lead oil services and drilling analyst at Barclays Capital, is seeing incredible growth ahead for oil production around the world. In this interview with The Energy Report, West explains how likely constitutional change in Mexico will spur momentous industry growth, along with new deepwater targets opening up in offshore China. Meanwhile, decent commodity prices and economic improvement in Eastern Europe are creating powerful oil price tailwinds. But the best news is closer to home, in North America. Find out which companies are positioned to thrive in the year ahead.

The Energy Report: James, welcome. What were the most significant takeaways for you from the Barclays Capital Conference in September?

James West: There were five major takeaways. Four of those were very positive. One was negative. The first was that the outlook for North America in 2014 has improved. We're getting some tailwinds from commodity prices, of course, but the oil companies that previously were gas companies have now arranged their drilling programs for 2014–2016 and are relaying that visibility to oil service companies that have been operating in North America in a fairly volatile environment for the last two years. Companies are much more optimistic on the outlook for 2014 in North America.

To read full article, click here.

Source: The Energy Report (www.oilprice.com)

A Different Gates Is Returning to Microsoft

SEATTLE — The last time Bill Gates played an active role at Microsoft, as chief software architect, he witnessed the company muffing its earliest efforts to become a major player in search, smartphones and tablet computers.

In the six years since then, he has watched as the technology industry changed without him. The personal computer era that Microsoft so ably dominated during and after Mr. Gates’s heyday as Microsoft’s chief executive has started to fade away. Now, the focus is on social media and mobile devices that run in large part on cloud computing.

And what technologies has Mr. Gates, who turned to philanthropy, been most vocal about during all that change? Things like self-contained toilets and vaccines.

To read full article, click here.

Source: Nick Wingfield (www.nytimes.com)

Survey Shows Growth and Optimism in Manufacturing and Distribution

Economic uncertainty is now an accepted reality, but industry leaders are not letting it hinder growth, according to CliftonLarsonAllen’s third annual survey of U.S. manufacturers and distributors. The Manufacturing and Distribution Outlook 2013 is a composite of opinions from hundreds of manufacturers and distributors across the country from many industries.

“The attitude and mindset of the leaders we surveyed focuses on capturing opportunities instead of dwelling on things that cannot be controlled,” says Erik Skie, manufacturing and distribution managing principal with CliftonLarsonAllen. “The industry has moved beyond the Great Recession and is now shaping its own future.”

To read full article, click here.

Source: (www.greenindustrypros.com)

The Top 7 Technology Trends That Will Dominate 2014

Strap yourself in, it’s going to be a wild ride. In considering the changes we’ve seen in technology over the past year, I’m bracing myself for unprecedented growth when it comes to anytime, anywhere, on-demand information and entertainment.

Based on the trends we’ve seen so far in 2013, I predict 2014 will see many fledgling technologies mature and grow beyond what we could have imagined just a few years ago.

So without further ado, here are my top 7 predictions for technology trends that will dominate 2014.

1. Consumers will come to expect Smart TV capabilities

With Smart TV shipments expected to reach 123 million in 2014 – up from about 84 million in 2012 – we are poised to see explosive growth in this industry.

In the midst of this growth, we will continue to see fierce competition between major players like Samsung, Panasonic, and LG. Prices will need to continue to drop, as more consumers crave, and even expect, the ability to use Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Instant Video and their web browser via their TV.

To read full article, click here.

Source: Jayson DeMers (www.forbes.com)

Gartner: Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends For 2014

Gartner just concluded its Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2013 in Orlando, gathering tens of thousands of IT executives. Among the most anticipated aspects of the gathering are the ruminations from the Gartner pontificators regarding IT trends.  Among several trends shared were the Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2014. Here is a summary of those trends:

Mobile Device Diversity and Management 

Gartner suggests that now through 2018, a variety of devices, user contexts, and interaction paradigms will make “everything everywhere” strategies unachievable. The unintended consequence of bring your own device (BYOD) programs has been to render much more complex (by two or three times, Gartner estimates) the size of the mobile workforce, straining both the information technology and the finance organizations. It is recommended that companies better define expectations for employee-owned hardware to balance flexibility with confidentiality and privacy requirements.

To read full article, click here.

Source: Peter High (www.forbes.com)

Forecast: Manufacturing Production to Grow 3.2% in 2014

Manufacturing production will increase 2.2 percent in 2013, a deceleration from the 3.1 percent forecast in June, according to the quarterly Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation U.S. Industrial Outlook, a report that analyzes 27 major industries. A pickup is likely in 2014, with growth anticipated to be 3.2 percent. Manufacturing production should outperform GDP growth, which MAPI estimates will be 1.6 percent in 2013 and 2.8 percent in 2014.

The report makes an initial forecast for manufacturing production for 2015, predicting 4.1 percent growth. MAPI’s most recent economic forecast anticipated GDP growing 3.4 percent in 2015. Following a strong pace of production in the first quarter, manufacturing production eased in the second quarter but should accelerate growth.

Inflation-adjusted GDP increased at a 2.5 percent annual rate in the second quarter. Manufacturing declined at a 0.8 percent annual rate, a correction for the exceptionally strong pace of manufacturing production (5.2 percent annual rate) in the first quarter relative to meager growth in the overall economy

To read full article, click here.

Source: MDM Staff (www.mdm.com)
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Tips on How You Can Stand Out From Other Tax Professionals

On the LinkedIn Tax Professionals forum, someone asked: “What sets you apart as a tax professional?”

That’s a good question.

After all, we face growing competition from do-it-yourself tax software (boxed/online), the purportedly less expensive storefront operations, and various volunteer programs, such as VITA, TCE, and tax clinics. Why should anyone need us?

There were some good replies in the forum, focusing on providing customized reports and analyses about clients’ tax situations and finances. It’s also definitely important to provide personalized service.

One of the most important things you can do as a tax professional is return phone calls promptly. Besides, who would want to refer their friends to you if you’re too busy to even return their calls? Long gone are the days when you could look important by not deigning to return client calls for several days. (A huge problem in the CPA firm where I worked. Although staff knew the answers the clients needed, we were not authorized to provide them. The partner would often wait a week or more to return calls. Meanwhile, clients were calling us frantically each day because business decisions, escrows, etc., were riding on the answers.)

To read full article, click here.

Source: Eva Rosenberg (www.acountingweb.com) 

Kicking The Habit: CVS To Stop Selling Tobacco, Sacrificing $2 Billion In Sales For Public Health And Future Growth

CVS, the largest pharmacy chain in the United States, will stop selling cigarettes and other tobacco products in all of its 7,600 stores by October 1, its parent company CVS Caremark announced this morning. It is the first time any retailer has ever dropped this deadly cash cow, and it is part of a major shift in direction for the drugstore giant.

“We’ve got 26,000 pharmacists and nurse practitioners who are helping millions of patients each and every day,” said Larry Merlo, the chief executive of CVS Caremark. “They manage conditions like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes — all conditions that are worsened by smoking. We’ve come to the decision that cigarettes have no place in an environment where healthcare is being delivered.”


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Source: Matthew Herper (www.forbes.com)

Add Storytelling To The Interview Process

Storytelling? Storytelling is a very compelling way to inform the interviewer that you know your stuff.

The purpose of telling stories is to get you to talk about your most memorable accomplishments, biggest challenges, the ways you deal with conflict, and how you recover from a stumble.

If you answer every question in an interview with a story, it shows that you have demonstrated your expertise in a real world setting.

Over time, you will want to build up a library of stories that, at a moments notice, you can pull off the shelf and share. 

The stories in your library should be constructed to have three sections:

• Clearly state the problem
• Describe how you solved the problem
• Describe the outcome

What stories should you have at your disposal?

To read the full article, click here.

Source: Marc Miller (www.jobs.aol.com)

Look for Another Modest Pay Raise in 2014

T'is the season for annual reviews. You’ll probably get a raise in 2014. But unless you’re a star at work, you’ll hardly notice. Starting a new job? You’re likely to do better than the new hires of 2013—and for a few choice occupations, the boss is really paying up.

A survey by Towers Watson Data Services found that employers were planning to bestow pay increases that will average 2.9% in 2014. That’s up a hair from the 2.8% average increases that employees got in both 2012 and 2013. Kiplinger expects the inflation rate to be 2% in 2014, so an employee who gets the average raise will more than keep up with rising prices


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Source: Anne Kates Smith (www.kiplinger.com)