From Greg's Head

I recently attended a Social Media luncheon hosted by Content Active (one of my favorite web consultants) and I was updated on the increasing, growing spider web of Social Media.  There is no way you will NOT be impacted by Social Media in the next 5 years.  The question is, “Do you have a strategy for this?” .  We have talked about this before in the blog and the presentation confirmed some interested tidbits.

Our presenter was Sheila Bacon, with the Bacon Group.  Some facts:

• At the network level there were 55 billion devices connected to the Internet.  By 2013 there will be 1 trillion. That’s a BIG number!
• Revenues streams are going to change taking advantage of the fact that most of you will be watching your phone and NOT your TV.
• Many mainstream organizations are already sending out coupons to 3G devices.

The new Apple iPhone…moving to 4G technology will revolution the handheld device/smartphone, etc.  While the networks are not there yet, take note of this:  The speed increase from 3G to 4G is estimated to be a 440% increase.  So all those videos you watch on the cluggy 3G network, will run like normal TV on the 4G network.

Wow!  Are you ready for Social Media, and the impact to your Company?  Let me know what you see.

I see an upgrade in my future to my iPhone 3GS...

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I was able to catch up on some reading on the plane to and from Copenhagen. AccountingWeb had a great piece on the CPA executive’s outlook on today’s business environment.

They are optimistic about the economy for the first time in two years. The AICPA partnered with the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School to conduct the Quarterly Economic Outlook Survey.

One stat of note, “31% of respondents said conditions would return to pre-recession levels in 2011.”
The results of the survey confirm what we’re seeing in Houston. The entrepreneur’s I talk to are being cautiously optimistic about improvements this year and next.

I’ll be curious to see the growth rates for this Aggie 100 and FastTech 50 winners. I think that will be another indicator of economic rebound.
 

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As you are aware, over the weekend  the Rice Business Plan Competition awarded $1 million in prizes.  The Houston Chronicle ran a story about the competition on the front page of the Saturday's Business section.  Thanks to Reporter David Kaplan, for quoting me, Brad Burke, and the team from Purdue University, Microfluidic. It was a good piece and it’s good to see the Houston media give the competition the recognition it deserves. 

Watching the results throughout the weekend, two teams were virtually neck and neck throughout the competition.  Those two teams were:  Biologics MD from the University of Arkansas and Rebellion Photonics from Rice University. They split the Elevator Pitch Awards and finished 1-2 respectively in the competition.  I hope both teams were very excited about the conference.  I would encourage both teams to review the feedback forms that they received from their judges.

In addition, Jessica Shambora from Fortune was live blogging at the event, she did a great job of capturing everything.  Click here to read the posts.

I was very impressed with all the teams, the participants and the judges.  Many thanks also goes out to Dean William Glick of the Jones School at Rice; Brad Burke, Managing Director of the Rice Alliance and the members of the Rice Alliance staff which includes: Mary Lynn Fernau; Yanette Jimenez; Tom Kraft; Lea Aden Lueck; Quynhmai Nguyen and Kerri Smith.  Thank you Rice Alliance!

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A couple of weeks ago, I was interviewed by Lora Kolodny, a reporter for the New York Times.   The article was run last Tuesday March 23, 2010.

Kolodny was doing an article about Virtual Nerd, an online video-based math and science tutoring company, who had entered and won the 2008-2009 Olin Cup business plan competition at Washington University in St. Louis, but had turned down the $70,000 investment prize.

I was referred to her by Mary Lynn Fernau of the Rice Alliance because of PKF Texas’ and my involvement with the Rice Business Plan Competition (RPBC).  I am probably one of a dozen or less folks who have been judges each year since inception of the RBPC.

Though she only used one quote from me in the article, "Why Virtual Nerd Declined a $70,000 Competition Prize", we talked for about half an hour about the pros and cons of Convertible Notes being awarded as prize money for business plan competitions.  Both parties, (the student and the lender) can benefit from such arrangements. 

I think the best advice I offered to her during our discussion was the fact that students tend to overestimate the value of their idea/plan and want much more equity than quite frankly there are entitled to at that stage of the game.  And the lender is taking quite a risk, but it allows for easier transition when future rounds of financing come if the plan becomes viable.

After reading some of the responses to the article, I was disappointed by the feedback from students.  I don’t know where this entitlement mentality on the part of the students comes from, until you’re viable, your value is questionable.  So any funding is a guess at best.

I will be crafting an article with feedback from Richard Scruggs and Kala Marathi.  Richard is the former Director of Texas A&M’s Center for New Ventures and Entrepreneurship and has been a two time successful entrepreneur.  He is currently the CEO of  Salient Pharmaceuticals an emerging venture (his third venture).   Kala is the Executive Director of the Houston Angel Network, one of the largest angel organizations in the United States.  Between the three of us, we probably have over 75 years of experience with emerging market companies.

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On Thursday March 25, 2010 I had the pleasure of attending the first Executive Roundtable offered by the East End Chamber at Brady’s Landing.  The breakfast meeting was attended by well over 100 participants and the content of the panel as well as the networking was very good.

The panel consisted of the following:

Master of Ceremonies- Byron Hebert, Director of Entrepreneurial Advisory Services,  PKF Texas(Current Chair of the East End Advisory Board)

Panel Moderator-Phil Morabito, CEO of Pierpoint Communications

Panel:
Steve Stewart, President of Gulf Winds International
John Ryan, President of Alexander Ryan and Marine Safety Co.
Pat Studdert, President & CEO of Buffalo Marine Services
Keith Cole, President & CFO of Delcor

The panel answered a series of questions over a 45 minutes period.  Their candor and feedback was simply outstanding.

Mr. Stewart indicated that Global Shipping Tonnage was a good indicator of business impact in the Houston area.

Mr. Studdert indicated that as a result of the Port, Houston comes into contact with over 76 different cultures.

Mr. Ryan indicated that his biggest challenge was going to be health care insurance for his employees.

Mr. Cole noted that because his Company’s business was upstream, its current economic impact was lessened somewhat.

In response to meeting the current challenge;

Mr. Stewart indicated that he expanded into markets, locations that he wouldn’t have considered before.

Mr. Studdert indicated that his Company is lean and mean.  That allows them to fight for business.

In response to some questions about people;

Mr. Ryan said that their turnover was down considerably.

And regarding innovation:

Mr. Cole talked about ways of using the Internet to gain competitive knowledge and information.

Mr. Morabito was simply fabulous and was a great moderator.

I want to thank all four of these CEOs for their time.  Their wisdom was not lost on this young man of 52 years. I can’t wait for the next roundtable.

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Wow, the second day is really quite impressive, the room will have over 130 people here and almost 20 clients and prospects of PPI are going to be in attendance.

The day was kicked off by a quick review of some thoughts and observations from Poul Kjaer.

Next up was Doug Kennedy, Vice President Dynamics Partners and Jan Sillemann, Director of Product Management for Microsoft Dynamics. Doug and I have met before at Microsoft Directions events in the past. He provided an overview on what Microsoft’s plans are for the Dynamics product lines, and other strategic areas. Jan than provided an overview of the road map for NAV, AX and CRM.

They were followed by three of PPI’s Project Managers that gave an overview of the various tools, techniques and functional items that they can bring to international ERP implementations. It was quite impressive and quite frankly, no one can match PPI’s capabilities on management and execution of successful ERP implementations on a global basis.

Then we four excellent presentations by clients of PPI that discussed their business needs and the way PPI and they worked together to achieve success. These clients included: Sony Music Group, Lechler, Norican Group, and Marionnaud. All were led by the various client personnel responsible for these engagements.

The day concluded with an evening dinner cruise on the Bosphorus, with traditional Turkish food, music, and folk dancing…..After the cruise several “younger” members went out for additional dancing at a local discothèque, while some of us more mature members returned to our hotel.

I have an early flight at 6 AM tomorrow and my long track back to Houston begins at 11 PM Thursday, Houston time.

Our hosts in Turkey were delightful and I come away with a strange sense of awe being near the source of so many historic activities 2,000 years ago!
 

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Me with Henning Lund of Partner Power International.

Merhaba!

Day One Partner Power International 10th Annual Meeting
Istanbul, Turkey

Well I recovered from my long flight and was ready to go on the first day of the conference.
We had almost 100 partners from all over the world in attendance at the 10th anniversary.
PKF Texas has been a Dynamics NAV partner for 10 years, and we were just awarded our 6th consecutive Certified Gold Partner designation! More to come on that.

Our MC was Morton Lorenzen, Chairman of the Board for PPI.

First up was Poul Kjaer the CEO of PPI who reviewed several exciting developments on PPI. He presented his vision for the future of PPI.
Several new organizations have joined PPI (including PKF Texas) and we reviewed KPIs on 2009 and some early forecasting for 2010.
PPI has an impressive track record on global Dynamics ERP implementations.

Next up was Henning Lund and Annett Hammerich who led a discussion on Facts, Expectations, and Commitment They also reviewed some KPIs on PPI’s win rate, pipeline mgmt, and some tools that have been developed to distinguish us from the rest of the global competition. Excellent presentations and very energetic discussion from all!

The day ended with our Turkish PPI partner, Tradesoft arranging a dinner at the Borsa Restaurant in a very modern and new “Galleria Style” mall. The bus trip was a bit long during rush hour, but the return took less than 20 minutes. The food and the wine was outstanding! I don’t have a clue what I ate, but it was all good.

Tomorrow is customer day and over 20 customers and prospects are planning on attending. This is OUTSTANDING to have this many customers and prospects willing to come and talk with PPI. Doug Kelly with Microsoft will be speaking as well, he leads the Global effort for Dynamics ERP applications.

Sony Music along with 3 other customers will be making the presentation tomorrow.
PPI Creating value through committed partnership.

Hoscakal!
 

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Merhaba from Istanbul

I arrived in Istanbul yesterday and took a quick tour of the old city along the coast road. I was overwhelmed by the history that I saw during my drive. Walls built almost 2,000 years ago still standing and parts of the old city still standing.

The city was alive with lots of folks returning home from their day at work and the city was bustling. I am staying in the new section across the “Golden Horn” from the old city. I was particularly impressed with Ataturk Airport. I was able to get my bag and meet my driver fairly quickly.

My hotel is in the Taksim area. It’s loaded with all kinds of shopping opportunities. Time will tell if I can get to that.

Iyi gunier from Istanbul
 

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Read an interesting article on Inc.com.  Duke University and the University of Colorado at Boulder’s law schools will be offering a LLM degree in entrepreneurship for the 2010-2011 academic year.

This is an interesting development.  With the rise in entrepreneurial centers at universities across the country, it makes sense to extend this focus to law schools.

There is some debate as to whether or not a focus on such a broad discipline is necessary, but as someone who interacts with entrepreneurs on a daily basis, I think it can only benefit the business community.  To have an attorney trained to think like an entrepreneur and be able to provide the kind of legal guidance entrepreneurial business owners need, I’m all for it!

I’ll be curious to see how or if Duke’s Fuqua School of Business Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and CU Boulder’s Deming Center for Entrepreneurship interact with the law schools’ entrepreneurship programs.
 

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Back in July I wrote about a video from David Winans about the Texaplex, the triangle between Houston, San Antonio, Austin and the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex.

Over the weekend, David sent me another Texaplex video, this time specific to Houston.  You can watch the embedded video above.  Running about nine and a half minutes, it is chock full of facts about Houston.  It opens with the quote “Houston is many things; it’s diverse, progressive, economically thriving and entirely affordable.  It’s the next great world city.”

Some of the more impressive facts from the video:

• If Houston was an independent nation, it would have the 30th largest economy in the world
• It’s home to 29 Fortune 500 companies, second only to New York City
• Forbes.com said, “Houston is one of the top 10 up and coming tech cities.”
• It’s the fourth largest city in the U.S. and the population will grow 30% by 2030

I agree with the quote the video ends on, “Houston is a city of infinite possibilities.”  Thank you David for sharing this video with me and my readers.  Dallas, Austin and San Antonio will all have their own Texaplex Advantage videos in the coming months.  I’m glad Houston could set the tone and be the lead off video.  I thought the video was fantastic and It’s the best I have ever seen done about the City, period!
 

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• A New Energy for Business: Alternatives open up markets
• Risk and oversight of employee benefit plans 
• Cubester® Chat: Succession planning - not just for the C-level
• Make resolutions for your organization
• In a Nutshell by Chris DeSantis: Why is an organization's culture important?

You may access the electronic version of the Winter 2010 issue by clicking here or by visiting the PKF Texas website.  We enjoy receiving comments and feedback from our clients and the friends of our firm, so please feel free to connect with me if you have topics you would like us to cover in the magazine.

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Over the Christmas holiday, I had some time to catch up on my reading. One article on Inc.com caught my eye, “Is Your Small Business Cyber-Secure?”

Apparently, the National Cyber Security Alliance, together with Symantec, surveyed 1,500 small businesses and found that only 28% had a formal internet security policy. Only 28%?!

Give the amount of applications we rely on that transmit data over the internet, that statistic is disturbing. Cloud computing is increasingly becoming a more cost effective way to do business, so it behooves small businesses to ramp up their cyber security. Spending the money now to take the proper precautions can prevent a more costly security breach down the line. 

What is your company doing to protect its data? How often does your IT team reevaluate the security measures you have in place?

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New Year’s Eve offers a period of both reflection on the year behind us and a look ahead to the year to come.  How did this last year go? What are you going to change in the new year? What do you want to accomplish? These are questions you can apply to both your personal and professional life. Thanks to everyone who read and commented on the blog this year, it’s been a great year and I’m looking forward to 2010. Have a safe and happy New Year!

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Head over to the BusinessMakers Radio Show Overtime website to listen to PKF Texans Raissa Evans and Jen Lemanski talk about what it’s like to be a member of the PKF Texas Practice Growth team.  Hosts Esther Steinfeld and Katie Laird touched on several topics, including challenges they face as YPs in the industry, how the firm leadership supports them and the team and what projects are coming up.  All parties did an outstanding job!  Click here to listen to their interview. 
 
On another note, I would like to say Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all the FromGregsHead readers.  I hope your holiday season is healthy, happy and filled with loved ones!

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Accounting Web recently covered Barry Schimel’s keynote speech and the Thompson Reuters Annual Users Conference.  Schimel is the president of BizActions and author of several books on profitability.

Schimel made three key points in his speech that are good pieces of advice for any business owner. 

1. Clients should be viewed as people, not numbers
2. Technology is required to consistently communicate timely value-added ideas and strategies to clients
3. Strategy and process are key to profitability.

His points may seem simple and obvious, but too many times business owners start to lose sight of the simple things. 

As we near the end of the year, it’s a good time to take a step back and look at your business with an objective eye.

• Are we providing value to our clients?
• Does my team have the tools they need to be efficient?
• We’ve survived the economic uncertainty of 2008 and 2009.  What did we do right?  Where can we improve for 2010?

I’ve written before about now is the time to be getting back to basics, and I think this will continue into 2010.  

PKF Texas recently published more than 50 of the most popular PKF Texas - The Entrepreneur's Playbook scripts as a book.  Visit www.pkftexas.com/publications for more information.
 

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We’ve done several Entrepreneur’s Playbooks based on leadership and I think it’s an area where pretty much everyone from staff to owner can take the time to improve upon.

AccountingWeb recently featured an article by Mark Walsh, a specialist in leadership, stress management, and time management training.

In his article, his main point is that great leadership doesn’t come from books.  You have to actively practice being a leader.  He says, “Practice is a conscious, directed activity, so simply being a manager for many years does not necessarily mean you are practicing.”

I think this is an interesting concept.  It goes along well with being a “Learner” as a leader versus being a “knower” leader.  Walsh lists several other key ingredients that good leaders have: emotional intelligence, embodiment, mentoring, and individuality.  Being a leader isn’t about reading books, says Walsh, it’s about doing.

What steps have you taken to become a better leader?  How does your team respond to your leadership style?  What has it meant to your business?

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Gary Boomer, accounting industry guru, recently wrote about the 1% Advantage in his Inside Views column for Accounting Today.

He challenges CPA firms to commit an additional 1% of revenue to the technology budget.  He advises focusing the additional investment on workflow, processes and training.

This is exactly the same type of investment PKF Texas encouraged in our R3 (Retool, Retrain, & Retain) Entrepreneurs Playbook tips and Leading Edge magazine article.

The better you train your team, the more efficient they are and the more capacity they have.  Boomer cites a Gartner Research study that reports for every hour of training, firms gain five hours of increased capacity.

He makes the point, and I agree that it doesn’t make sense to invest in technology and not train your people.  Training of any kind is an investment, not an expense. Training your staff also shows you care about your human capital; the staff plays an important part in the quality improvement and long-term success.

Do you agree with Boomer’s challenge to invest more in technology?  If not, what alternatives would you suggest?
 

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I'd like to wish a Happy Birthday to the United States Marine Corps.  The USMC has been protecting us since 1775, that's 234 years.  Thank you for your service and dedication!

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The magazine, The Week, has a sidebar feature each week called “Boring, But Important.” I’d file this entry under that category, but I would rename it, “Small, But Important.”  The U.N. International Telecommunications Union (ITU) just released a report that calls for setting a universal standard for phone chargers.

The ITU recommends phone manufacturers use the micro-USB charger.  It’s compact and more importantly, energy efficient.  Apparently if the manufacturers adopt this type of charger, the ITU expects a reduction of e-waste and the cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 13.6 million tons per year.

Manufacturers aren’t required to comply with the ITU recommendations, but several including Sony Ericsson, are making the change for their 2010 phone models.

Can you imagine a world where you don’t have a drawer full of chargers from phones you had 15 or even 5 years ago?  What other technology tools to you wish had a universal plug/charger/adapter?

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Fortune Small Business just released their annual rankings of the top metro areas to launch a small business and Houston came in at number four! They cite the Texas Emerging Technology Fund, the Medical Center and the Greater Houston Partnership as a few of the reasons small businesses can find success here.

There’s a side bar called “Launch Toolbox: Resources for Getting Started in Houston” and there are some familiar names listed.  The Rice Alliance, GHP and University of Houston’s Small Business Development Center are all featured.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, I’m glad Houston’s finally getting this kind of national attention.  We’re so much more diverse than the Oil Town stereotype.  The more people realize this the better off our economy and our city will be.

In a similar vein, Fortune Small Business has a slideshow on their website featuring “Indie Houston.”  From BBQ to our museums and boutique hotels, it’s got a great sample of what our city has to offer.  Kudos to reporter Adriana Gardella for taking the time over the past few years to get to know our city, culture and people. 

What quirky only-in-Houston things is the slideshow missing?  Are there any hidden gems that we should know about to highlight the best of Houston?

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Inc. Magazine recently ran a very insightful article featuring an interview with John Kotter, Harvard Business School professor and author of Leading Change, one in a series of books about change. 

He had a lot of great advice for entrepreneurs about keeping a sense of urgency while navigating the challenges of business.  The point that resonated with me was when he was warning against complacency and said, “…Whom should we be comparing ourselves to?...Don’t just look for new customers but also for new competitors. Broaden your definition of competition.  You go from ‘Here we are, the dominant player’ to ‘Here we are, this dinky business in a much larger pool.”

I think it’s an interesting thought.  You might be the top company in your industry, but who are your competitors outside your industry?  Who are you competing against for funding? They won’t necessarily be in your field.

How does your business respond to challenges?  With a sense of pointed urgency or with frantic responses?

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In case you haven’t been following my blog, one the organizations I endorse is the Rice Alliance for Innovation and Technology.  I have been an active member of the Rice Alliance since its inception in January of 2000.  Today, I also serve on the Advisory Board for the Rice Alliance and my firm is also an active Platinum Sponsor of the Rice Alliance.  Brad Burke and the staff of the Rice Alliance do an outstanding job.  Last week was their kickoff event for the 2009-2010 year and its featured guest was George Foremen, former 2 time Heavyweight Champion and Successful Entrepreneur.

I listened to George being interviewed by another friend of our firm, Russ Capper for his Business Makers radio show.  During this interview I gained some insight in George’s thinking, his experiences and his advice for folks of all ages.  Some takeaways I garnered from my seat were:

As an entrepreneur it’s a good idea to have lots of friends…And friends with money is OK too.

Later George addressed a packed house at the Shell Auditorium in the Jones School.  I was taken by his humility and ability to speak candidly about his background and where he was headed as troubled youth in the mid 1960s.  He talked about how the Job Corps saved his future and got him focused into boxing.  Many young people today only know George as the Foreman Grill CEO, but George was the 1968 Heavyweight Gold Medal Champion of the Mexico City Summer games.  And for those of us who can remember, George saluted the crowd with an American Flag after knocking out the Russian competitor he faced that day.  George recalls that one of the things he is most proud of is that he was called an “American Winner”.

Recalling his time through the boxing times George was successful, broke and then regained his financial freedom along his way.  His story is one of self-accountability and steadfastness.  He looked only to himself to help his family and himself get to where they are today.

As a two time Heavyweight Champion, he called how at 45 years of age, he was forced to get back into boxing to get himself financial secure.  He indicated later in his life that Muhammad Ali and he become good friends, even though Ali took the title from him the first time.

He also recalled the story of how the George Foreman grill came to be and gives his wife all the credit for telling him to get behind the product.  Today it has sold over 110 million units and is the Number 1 selling appliance in the US.

George was accompanied by three of his children this evening.  In his own words his greatest accomplishment is his wife of 25+ years.

George has a new book out called “Knockout Entrepreneur”.  I have read the first few chapters but I am already very impressed with his comments re business success.  As many of my readers know, we are champions of free enterprise and free markets.  We believe in entrepreneurs at PKF Texas I can tell that many of friends and followers will like his book. 

After reading the first few pages of his book, I think George Foreman, a native Houstonian, is also an “American Legend”.  Thanks for a great evening George, we wish you and your family the best.

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CNNMoney.com ran a story recently from Fortune Magazine’s interview with the founder of LinkedIn, Reid Hoffman.

Something that immediately jumped out at me was that he said, “every individual is now somewhat entrepreneurial.”  I couldn’t agree more.  The rise in nominations for the FastTech 50 and Aggie 100 and the number of nominations for the first year of Houston’s 40 Under 40 is a testament to this.

Hoffman advises entrepreneurs to “be willing to change course.”  He says that too many entrepreneurs tend to think, “I’ve got my idea, I’ll go until I die.”

His path as an entrepreneur mirrors many on the Inc. 500, FastTech 50 and Aggie 100 lists.  I think there’s much to be gained from listening to their stories of success and failure.

One of my favorite interviews on the BusinessMakers Radio Show was one that Russ Capper did with former CEO of Continental Airlines, Gordon Bethune.  Bethune was able to turn Continental around and he talks about how simple changes can make the biggest impact on a business.

Using these interviews that appear in major publications, on the BusinessMakers website and even the Aggie 100 Words of Wisdom gives you a plethora of best practices you can apply to your own business.

Who do you admire as an entrepreneur?  What have they done that you’ve applied to your business?

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I’d like you to watch an insightful video, The Social Media Revolution on YouTube from Erik Qualman, author of the Socialnomics blog and book. 

I first learned of this video last week via one of my connections on LinkedIn.  Similar to the popular Did You Know 2.0 video that made the rounds a while back, this video is full of statistics about the rise of social media that will make you realize the power of communicating via social media networks.

If you’re not exploring social media options, or are just dipping your toe in the water, now is the time to make the move.  While social media won’t eliminate other forms of communication it has changed the landscape of where, when and how we are communicating.

The comments on YouTube are very telling about the direction social media is moving, and substantiate the statistics in the video. 

How many of you are using social media for personal or professional reasons?  If you’re not, why the hesitation?  Do you know where your employees and customers are online?  If you don’t, you could be missing valuable information.  How can you apply the information from the video to your business?

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Read a good article on AccountingWeb about collaboration between the generations in the workplace.

I’ve talked about this before, but I find it interesting and think it bears repeating.  Understanding generational difference can only help productivity in the office.  That goes for each generation, not just those in positions of authority.

We all need to be flexible enough to recognize the most effective way to communicate with a different generation.  For example, a Boomer needs to realize Gen X’ers and Millennials have been taught (by us) to speak up and that this shouldn’t always be perceived as a challenge to authority.  On the flip side, Gen X’ers and Millennials need to respect the input of the trailblazers and recognize there is wisdom to be gained from those who came before them

Consultants like Chris DeSantis and Rebecca Ryan have developed successful programs and seminars to help companies learn about these issues and to facilitate dialogues between the generations.

How has your company dealt with generational issues?  If you’re a Millennial business owner, how do you handle working with us Boomers?
 

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On May 11, 2009, the Treasury Department released the highly anticipated Treasury Green Book, General Explanations of the Administration's Fiscal Year 2010 Revenue Proposals. In addition to other tax proposals, the Green Book provides details on the international tax proposals, estimated to raise approximately $210 billion over 10 years (FY2010-FY2019).

The proposals are intended to principally operate by eliminating or reducing deferral of U.S. tax on multinationals' overseas income and by strengthening reporting requirements and enforcement targeted at capturing additional tax dollars from unreported offshore income, primarily from foreign bank and investment accounts.

PKF Texas International Tax Directors, Frank Landreneau, CPA, and Eddie Goldsberry, CPA have written an article dicussing the potential impact of these proposals, which can be found on our website at www.pkftexas.com/GreenBook.

Be sure to check out pkftexas.com regularly, as we post tax updates and other information as soon as we receive notification of decisions by the standards setters.
 

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Here it is July 20, 2009 and I was reflecting back to that historic day of July 20, 1969.  I can remember exactly what I was doing that evening when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon.  Watching on my parents small black and white TV that evening, I was struck with amazement as I saw Armstrong take his first steps and issue his immortal words “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”  That was time when we embraced the challenges we faced and led to so many improvements in our daily lives, words seem inappropriate in placing them in the proper context. 

I have some links here from President Kennedy’s famous speech from Rice University to kick off our space program.  I have never seen the entire speech but I am glad that I watched it today.  His vision and goals for America and the space program have never been equaled since that famous speech. 

I would encourage you to watch the entire speech and think about his words..in particular his support of Houston and the State of Texas as innovative and strong are powerful.  As Texans we need to draw our own internal personal strength from his words and define our goals and challenges because they are difficult.  
 
 

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Like I mentioned a few weeks ago [link to blog entry] a Young Professionals subcommittee called the Jet-Set has formed to get young pros involved with the Greater Houston Partnership World Trade Soiree.  Committee member Jen Lemanski wanted to share with you what the Jet-Set has been up to.

Greg, I just wantto update your readers on what the Jet-Set is planning for the World Trade Soiree on August 29th.  We are throwing an after party at the Ransom Room in the Hotel ZaZa from 11:30pm to 2:00am.  We’ll have the three “Ds”, DJ, Dancing and Drinks! 

Tickets are $35 per person or $60 per couple.  If you purchase a ticket for the World Trade Soiree, admission to the after party is included. 

Have you gotten chance to check out the video from Tad Brown, Luis Scola, and Dikembe Mutombo to promote the Soiree? If not, it’s on this blog, YouTube, PKF Texas’ website and the Greater Houston Partnership’s website.  Also, you can follow the GHP on Twitter, use #GHPWTS to search for updates on the Soiree.  There are also groups on LinkedIn and Facebook, so no matter which social network you use, you should be able to find us.

For more information about the World Trade Soiree, visit www.pkftexas.com/wts or for more information about the after party, email me at jlemanski@pkftexas.com.  I hope the young pros readers will come out for a great time on August 29th!
 

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My colleague, Dan Ramey, forwarded me the above video about the “Texaplex.” The video defines the Texaplex as the triangle of Texas between Houston, San Antonio, Austin and Dallas/Fort Worth. 82.5% of the Texas population lives in the Texaplex.

David Winans, a real estate broker from Dallas, coined the term and produced the video as a reaction to the negative press about the economy and to promote Texas as a good place to do business. 

To quote from the video, Texas has “more jobs, more commerce and more real estate opportunities” than other states. 

I’ve mentioned it several times here and I’m glad to see others are promoting Texas as the place to be right now. 

Some interesting facts from the video:

• If Texas was its own country, it would be the 10^th largest in the world with the 12^th largest economy
• Texas has the largest population growth of any state
• CNBC named Texas as the #1 state for doing business

Wow, with all of that information, if you’re not already doing business here, what are you waiting for?

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Last week, the Small Business Administration started distributing deferred payment loans to 10,000 small businesses facing immediate financial hardship. 

These loans were made available as a part of the 2009 American Recovery Capital Program.  The economic stimulus bill passed by Congress earlier this year earmarked funds for this purpose.

As you know, I am a big supporter of entrepreneurial business owners.  I think this is an important program to assist these owners through this time of economic uncertainty. If we are going to get our economy back on track, we need to support the businesses that can get us there.

The SBA has many different resources and tools available on their website geared specifically for entrepreneurs.

I can definitely see the short term benefits of this emergency loan program.  Do you think this type of stimulus will help businesses in the longer term?  What can we, as business owners, do to help the economic recovery process?

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Joel Spolsky wrote an interesting piece in Inc. magazine recently, comparing the cultures of Microsoft and Google.

Spolsky was meeting with both companies to discuss his website, StackOverflow. His site was developed for programmers to ask each other highly technical programming questions.

He draws some interesting conclusions. As a former Microsoft employee, he noted the culture shift that has happened within the company since his time there in the early ‘90s. It has become a large corporation with a large corporate culture. Which isn’t a bad thing, it’s just different.

Other observations include, both companies are filled with smart people on the cutting edge of technology and they have the resources to turn ideas into reality. Both gave Spolsky advice on the direction he should take his company and ideas on how to improve what he currently offers.

His key take-away was the difference in the scale of their operations to his own. At PKF Texas, we find that distinction to be true as well. The technical aspects of what we do mirrors what the Big Four, for a variety of reasons, most importantly the regulations that we are all required to follow. Our operation is just on a different scale.

Different scale means to us that we can, in many cases, move quicker and provide solid advice or assistance on a variety of projects or issues. More importantly than quickness is our ability to draw from many resources, friends of our firm, and business partners in the community. What happens then is that because of our knowledge, we can extend ourselves vertically and can you more timely and cost effective advice and consultation.

As a business owner, do you look to firms larger than your own in your industry for guidance? What parallels can you draw between your business and theirs?

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Well I have been back a week and have had a chance to reflect upon my recent trip to London and the UK.  First, it’s a shame the distance is so far, because I think more folks should visit the UK and get a better understanding of its history and the culture that arose there over the past 2000 years.  There were so many interesting things to see and do.  I am already thinking about my return trip.

Second, while we are an ocean apart, as a people, we are a lot closer to each other than probably either government would want to admit.  I think we share a common bond, interests, and pursuit of the same things in our personal and professional lives. 

Third, London like many large cities in our world is indeed a multi-cultural city.  And more importantly I never felt for my safety or had concerns about it in any way.  While there were some interesting characters I saw on the tube and traveling about the city, staying alert and focusing on where I was going helped me immensely. 

Finally, public transportation when reliable can and does work.  While I am not quite a newcomer to London, my last trip was probably in 1997, and I was very quickly able to adopt to the tube, bus, and taxi system of getting about London.  The only negative thing I encountered was a two day tube strike the last two days I was in the City.  If you are there and that is about to happen, get out of London fast.  The city doesn’t function well when the tube is not working…..

In closing, I think PKF UK and PKF Texas will be doing much more work together and pursuing common prospects and clients more frequently.  Cheers!

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Tuesday morning started with some networking with some investment bankers, private equity personnel. Met with the following individuals:

Donald Maclennan of Foresight Group

Andy Steel and one of his colleagues from HIG Capital

Clive Calver who represents an Investment Banking group doing a deal in Las Vegas at the moment.

All of these personnel were very interested in our efforts within the emerging markets group within Houston.

Later in the morning, I met with Richard Weighell who leads the Business Risk Services sector. He outlined his group’s activities and I learned about the work that they do.

The rest of the PKF NAN mission went to Frankfurt and I stayed behind to meet with some clients here in the UK.

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Monday morning started with a group PKF NAN breakfast at the hotel Zetter. Representatives were from the following offices:

Houston - PKF Texas: Kenneth Guidry, Frank Landreneau, and Gregory Price
Atlanta - Frazier & Deeter: Sean Lager and Seth McDaniel
New York City - PKF New York: John Haslbauer
Birmingham - Dent, Baker & Company LLP: Michael Baker
Detroit - Clayton & McKervey P.C.: Kevin McKervey
San Diego - Hutchinson & Bloodgood LLP: Hanne LeLoup (Hanne’s daughter is playing in International Women’s Lacrosse tournament for Denmark next week in Poland. Good luck to her!)

PKF UK is a quick 10 minute walk from the hotel and is located at Farringdon Place, 20 Farringdon Road, London, EC1M 3AP

We were welcomed by Chris Clay, UK Business Development Director and Richard Brint, Audit Partner who provided us with a tour of the offices and a briefing on the PKF UK practices. The UK firm has offices in approximately 20 locations within the UK and employs approximately 1,200 people and has revenues in the range of $375 million. They are very well known and have great coverage within the UK. The UK firm is led by Martin Goodchild, the Managing Partner.

Next, we were briefed by Jon Hills and the Tax Advisory team. I tried to keep up with all the introductions, so if I misspelled a name or forget someone, apologies in advance. Jon went first and provided an overview of the tax capabilities of the firm and the requirements to practice tax in the UK. Jon was followed by John Cassidy who reviewed tax investigations. Katherine Brown then led an overview of the Corporate International Tax, Due Diligence and UK-US tax matters. Patrick Harrison was next and presented topics on privately held businesses and resident related activities. VAT expert Debbie Jennings presented an overview on VAT matters. Given our NAV practice and the involvement we have with clients in the UK, I have previously worked with Katherine and Debbie and they were in a word … Brilliant! The tax briefings ended with Phillip Howell and Matt Couch making presentations on their areas of specialization.

A working lunch followed, or networking lunch I should say. PKF UK has their own kitchen facilities and the staff prepared a wonderful lunch for us. We were able to meet additional PKF UK folks and focus on meeting some additional personnel.

After lunch, the various PKF NAN offices made presentations about their firms, offices, and capabilities to serve clients. Kenneth Guidry made the presentation about PKF Texas and did an outstanding job. I think many PKF UK personnel were impressed with the City of Houston’s International capabilities and our cost of living, which is 35% less than London. I think many were ready to transfer when they saw those friendly numbers. Houston, Texas is a tax friendly city/state and is well received by all.

The PKF UK Energy team presented to Kenneth, Frank and I along with other representatives from the PKF NAN group. The UK team was led by Stuart Barnsdall and Jeff Harris. They have started working on a Global Energy Brochure that they want to start using soon in the UK. We had a great discussion about adding some US clients to the list and also how we might start to position ourselves as a global branded firm.

Last stop for the day was the Corporate Finance Group led by Mark Lister, Patrick Potter and Anthony Appleton.

We also had a side meeting with the Forensic team in the UK as well… What a day!

At 6:30 PM we went to the law firm of Pinsent Masons and met several of their partners. I met one partner, Mark Lane who actually has a client in Houston. They had a great reception for us and I want to thank our PKF UK friends for the introductions.

The reception was over for me and I headed back with some folks to the Zetter. I needed some dinner so I went to the Zetter restaurant and found PKF NAN Executive Director Terry Snyder.

It was a very long day indeed, but I think the impact will have long term and far reaching implications.

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Hello from the United Kingdom

Well I arrived on Friday morning after a 2 hour delay on Continental Airlines.  Boy they sure are having some trouble with their on-time metrics.  I have flown a 777 on Continental three times in the past three years and not one of them has ever left on time.  I find that more than a coincidence.   I sure hope that they get it figured out.

Day One included some jet lag adjustment and related activities.

Day Two I woke up early about 7 AM and had a full English breakfast on Saturday morning before embarking on my day’s tourist activities.  I had done some internet checking the day before, visiting with some locals in the hotel pub and laid out a plan of action.   My first challenge was the local tube station is closed on the weekend while they have construction activity.   Not to worry, our outstanding receptionist at the hotel Zetter (BTW it’s a very nice hotel, trendy, but not too bad) said I could take a bus for 2Pds to Oxford Circus and then I could walk down to Piccadilly Circus to start my bus tour of the city.  Well as I started my trip, the rain started, so when I arrived at Oxford Circus I found myself in the middle of an English rain.

Undeterred, I continued down Regent Street to reach my tour starting point.  I used the Original Open Bus London tour, the Yellow Route.  Cost was 17Pds for the trip and I bought an excursion to the Tower of London for the same price.   Both events were well done and I thought were excellent ways to see some of the city to get my bearings.

Saturday evening I met an old friend of mine, Scott Halliday and his wife Jenny, their son Ben and an additional couple friends of the Halliday’s, Rick and Holly.    Scott is the Managing Partner of Ernst & Young and he and I first met in 1993 when he moved to Houston.    We ate at a local Mexican restaurant Wahaca in the Covent Garden area.  I know a Texan flying to London to eat Mexican does not seem cost efficient but Scott’s been looking for a Mexican place for two years.  The food was not bad…not quite to Pappasito’s level, but the Coronas were excellent.

Sunday morning I spent clearing out some emails, catching up on some back home news via the Internet versions of the paper.  Kenneth Guidry and Frank Landreneau arrived from Houston Sunday morning.  Fortunately for them, they had no delays on Continental.  After a quick hello to them, I was off to tour Westminster and St. Paul’s.

BTW, Gordon Brown, PM for the UK seems to be in a spot of trouble with his party.  Just about 85% of every newspaper for 100 miles is talking about his “issues” of the day.  Most of it centers around two issues, some expense reimbursement scandals and his ability to work with his cabinet members.   They say the over the weekend he will either be forced out of office or survive.

I visited the entire Westminster area and then went over to Covent Garden.  Both were outstanding places to visit and the sun was shining and the day was just great.  Had lunch at a great Italian bistro in the Covent Garden mall.  Outstanding.

Next stop was St. Paul’s all I can say is WOW!  Words don’t do justice to the beauty and the sheer size of the church.  The spot has had a church for over 1400 years.  Now that is back in the day.

Sunday evening was saved for a dinner with the PKF NAN representatives and Stefan Schmitz of McDermott,  Will & Emery UK LLP.  Schmitz talked with us about Renewable Energy projects in Europe and the possibilities in the US. 

BTW the entire trip was coordinated for PKF NAN by Job Dieleman, International Business Development Director based in Atlanta by PKF International.

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The most recent e-bulletin from the Rice Alliance alerted me to the latest rankings from BusinessWeek.  Houston is ranked number 10 for the world’s most inventive cities based on the number of patents issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.  Not surprisingly San Francisco/Silicon Valley was ranked number one.  Below is what BusinessWeek said about Houston:

“Houston is the capital of the American oil industry, with ExxonMobil, Schlumberger, Baker Hughes, and Halliburton all headquartered there. But the biggest city in Texas doesn't rely on petroleum engineers alone for patents; it derives them as well from medical researchers at Rice University and the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.”

It’s good to see Rice and M.D. Anderson mentioned.  Houston is about more than just energy and I’m glad we’re getting national recognition for that.  In case you’re wondering Dallas and Austin also made the list at numbers 18 and 21 respectively. 
 

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I want to give everyone a heads up that I will be heading to London for a week (leaving tomrrow!) for a trade mission with PKF North America Network and to check in with several UK based clients.

I’ve got a jam packed schedule but will be live blogging, and tweeting my observations during the trip. I’m really looking forward to spending some time in the UK, I haven’t been there in several years. 

Stay tuned to my thoughts coming to you from across the pond!

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Ok, after mulling it over for a few months, I’ve decided to make the leap into the Twitter universe. You can follow me – fromgregshead – and I’ve posted a link in the blog roll so you can access my twitter page quickly. I’ll be tweeting a mix of personal and professional bits. This is something that I’m experimenting with, so if you have any tips for me, let me know either here or on Twitter. 

On a similar note, since the world is a buzz about Twitter and you can’t seem to escape it, I recently read two very interesting and helpful articles about professional service providers jumping on the Twitter train. The first, by Rick Telberg, I found on the AICPA and the second by Larry Bodine, a legal marketing guru, was passed to me by my colleague Raissa Evans. 

The two articles offer differing opinions on the use of Twitter for those of us in professional services. Bodine highlights why Twitter is not an effective tool for law firms to use. The potential liability of a lawyer’s tweets outweighs the benefits that other industries enjoy. Telberg’s AICPA article takes a different view and espouses the benefits of a CPA tweeting, namely the networking opportunities it presents.

Are you tweeting? Is your company tweeting? How are you handling the balance between your personal and professional tweets?

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I was out of town last week and was told about a great article in the Wall Street Journal.  So I embarked upon a knowledge search and found it.  The article was titled, “Soak the Rich, Lose the Rich” and was in the May 18th edition of the journal.  It was written by Arthur Laffer and Stephen Moore.

I strongly suggest that all readers of fromgregshead.com read this article.  The article discusses the impact of raising the marginal tax rates on the rich by certain states in the US.  Backed up by research and facts, Laffer and Moore show us that instead of solving problems, this type of thinking by our legislative bodies creates more and bigger problems for their states.

In short, people with higher incomes will migrate to locations with more favorably tax conditions and thus the increased tax rates in the former states actually hurts the middle class more as they have to bear the brunt of the taxes.  Laffer and Moore point examples of state after state that has made their locations more tax friendly and those who have become totally tax dependent bodies.  They highlight the results of each state’s decision.

So what does this mean for us in Houston?  Governor Perry said recently. “Out state is competing with Germany, France, Japan and China for business.  We’d better have pro-growth tax system or those American jobs will be outsourced.”  Laffer and Moore write, “Gov. Perry and Texas have the jobs and prosperity model exactly right.  Texas created more jobs in 2008 than all other 49 states combined.  And Texas is the only stae other than Georgia and North Dakota that is cutting taxes this year.”

I hope you take a moment to read the article and let your representatives know where you stand.
 

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With the recent news that Yahoo! is shutting down the long running Geocities web hosting service later this year, I became a bit nostalgic for the early days of the internet.

Who remembers the simpler time when Prodigy, AOL and Netscape ruled the World Wide Web? My daughter was watching the Meg Ryan/Tom Hanks movie, You’ve Got Mail, a couple weeks ago, and though it released in 1998, we’re already light years ahead of the technology from the film. Dial-up seems like a distant memory.

It can be hard to remember when things weren’t instantly available at the click of a mouse. Can you imagine the technology we’ll have in 2019? 

As a self proclaimed techno-file, I love to think about this kind of stuff. The interaction that I have with the Fast Tech 50 companies and the Houston Technology Center allows me the chance to get a peek at the future. The recent mantra I’ve seen is an emphasis on faster, better, cheaper. 

I know our Consulting Solutions department at PKF Texas is focused on assisting our clients with solutions, like Microsoft Dynamics NAV, that give them the information they need to run their business faster, better and cheaper. 

What technology are you nostalgic about? Can you venture a guess as to what kinds of technology will impact us in 2019? How does your business continue to adapt as different solutions hit the market?  Jason Pontin has some interesting thoughts on his blog about how old technologies rarely die, they just get upgraded.

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Back in January I blogged about how Microsoft needed to launch and ship Windows 7 during 2009, to make up ground lost during the Windows Vista misfire.

Well, earlier this week Microsoft announced they would do just that. 

The signs have been pointing in this direction for a few weeks now. Microsoft recently released Windows 7 Release Candidate allowing users to try out the pre-release software. I haven’t done so, but let me know if you have, and what you think about it. 

On Monday, Bill Veghte, Senior Vice President for the Windows Business, said that Microsoft is planning to ship its desktop Windows 7 in time for the 2009 Christmas shopping season.

As a fan of Microsoft, I’ll repeat what I said in January, they can’t afford to continue losing market share to Apple on the “home front” or Google with their net-based apps. Here’s hoping that Windows 7 will help them make strides in the eyes of the consumer.

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Oh Canada!

While the Canadian National anthem starts with that opening, I find it appropriate to start my blog article on this as well, given the discussion that took place recently. My PKF Texas colleagues (Karen Love, Frank Landreneau and Rafael Carsalade) and I met with Norris Pettis, Counsel General for Canada in Texas and David McGregor, Head of the Canadian Consulate, here in Houston, recently to further our existing relationship with this great country.

Incidentally, Karen and David serve together on the City of Houston Mayor’s International Affairs & Development Council (MIADC) – Canada Council.

During our discussions we reviewed the significant business and trade impact that both Canada and Texas have with each other. Texas exported in excess of $12 billion in goods to Canada in 2007 and imported in excess of $15 billion from Canada. In terms of job impact to our state, Texas has over 521,000 jobs supported by Canadian-US trade. Almost 427,000 Texans visited Canada spending an estimated $307 million. At the same time almost 385,000 Canadians spent an estimated $302 million in Texas.

Texas’ leading exports to Canada include: Chemicals/Plastics; Energy Products; and Transportation parts.

Canadian exports to Texas include: Transportation; Chemicals and Energy Products.

This summer I will be visiting Calgary, Alberta and I am told I will be in for quite a treat. For additional information on Canada’s trade with Texas you can check out the following websites: www.houston.gc.ca and www.dallas.gc.ca. Thanks Norris and David, our neighbors to the north who are important to Texas and Houston!

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“Houston is where the future of the world is happening today.” – Dr. Stephen Kleinberg

I like the above quote, and no group demonstrates that better than the U.S. Commercial Service, a part of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The more I learn about their interactions in the Houston marketplace, the more I am impressed with their international connectivity. I’m not sure enough business owners in Houston know about the U.S. Commercial Service’s outreach efforts.

For example, they will have a large presence at the upcoming Offshore Technology Conference (OTC), May 4-7, 2009. One event of note is the Showtime event, where U.S. Commercial Service energy specialists along with representatives from the U.S. Export-Import Bank will be available at OTC to counsel U.S. companies on their exporting strategy. Energy specialists from 18 countries including Brazil, Mexico and Saudi Arabia will be attending OTC.

The U.S. Commercial Service’s Global Energy Team has coordinated several other seminars and events during OTC. Below is the schedule of events:

Monday May, 4
• International Partner Matchmaking

Tuesday May, 5
• Brazil Offshore Industry Breakfast
• Showtime
• Invest in Houston Lunch
• Briefing by China Shandong Chamber of Commerce for Petroleum Equipment on CIPEE 2009

Wednesday May, 6
• Offshore Asia Breakfast
• 2009 Algeria Energy Day
• Malaysian Business Briefing and B2B Meetings
• Nigeria: PETAN Matchmaking Seminar

Thursday May, 7
• Oil and Gas Frontiers of the Caribbean Basin

If you have any questions about the U.S. Commercial Service events, visit www.buyusa.gov/houston/otc09programs.html.

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As PKF Texas focuses on the next phase of supporting our clients and the friends of our firm, please allow us to introduce five of the talented Keys to our Future.
 
We would like you to get to know the next generation of team members who are serving you and your business.  They are committed to providing you with the highest level of service as we navigate these unprecedented times of change together.
 
With our eyes on the future of Houston, we are proud to announce our co-sponsorship of the first annual 40 Under 40 awards, recognizing Houston's talented professional individuals.  Make sure to save the date, May 21, 2009, for the 40 Under 40 awards presented in conjunction with the third annual Battle of the Business Bands at Warehouse Live.

Also, this week's PKF Texas - The Entrepreneur's Playbook® will talk about Listening to our Youth, make sure you tune in to the BusinessMakers Radio Show on Saturday morning at 8:00am!

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Twitter is taking over the world.  Everywhere I go, look, or read, someone is talking about Twitter and their tweets. The below quote was in an article from Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle:

“A survey released last month by the PEW Internet Project found that 11 % of online adults have used Twitter, Facebook, or other services to post messages, highlighting the increasing popularity of what’s officially known as status updates. Pew found that 4 % of respondents had posted the day prior to being asked.”

Interesting…

To my faithful readers:

Why should I jump on the bandwagon?  It’s something “everyone” is doing, but what’s the business application?  I’m not on Twitter yet, and am toying with the idea.  I’d love to hear from you.  Why are you on Twitter?  What makes it work for you? How often do you “tweet”?  Should I make the leap?

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Surfing around the Inc website, the other day I ran across an article about the “Coolest College Start-ups.” Thinking about the Rice Business Plan Competition, I clicked through.

Lo and behold there was a company from the University of Houston. Danny Klam, a senior, founded Simply Splendid Donuts & Ice Cream in 2004. He and his business partner currently have three locations in Houston and have plans to expand. Klam took several courses at UH’s Wolff Center for Entreprenuership.

I’m glad to see the national recognition for one of our young local entrepreneurs. This recognition shows one of many benefits of providing an “entrepreneurial” education. The Rice Alliance for Technology & Entrepreneurship, Texas A&M’s Center for New Ventures & Entrepreneurship, and UH’s Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship are all producing tomorrow’s entrepreneurs today.

The Millennials are finding their seats at the “corporate table” faster than previous generations and they’re doing it their own way. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, this is one of the most entrepreneurial generations we’ve seen in a long time. With award programs like 40 Under 40 and business plan competitions to recognize and encourage their achievements, they are going to continue to change the face of business for the better.
 

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A couple of weeks ago, PKF Texas hosted a luncheon honoring this year’s FastTech 50 Enterprise Champion finalists.  The discussions we had at that lunch were quite interesting and insightful.  I thank all of those who attended.

There seem to be three different perspectives on the economy in Houston and how their businesses have been and will be affected.

1. Changes are coming
2. Changes may come
3. It’s business as usual

This was somewhat surprising to me, as I would have thought that there wouldn’t be a “business as usual” mindset.  With all the upheaval in our national economy and the price of oil being down, I would have thought most businesses in Houston would fall into the first two categories.

In general our group of honorees seems upbeat and are cautiously optimistic about the next year.  As business owner/operators the key to getting the economy back on track was keeping their employees gainfully employed working on clients/projects/products.

What are your feelings?  Do you have observations about the Houston economy from your perspective?

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I read a great blog article yesterday, “2010 Too Late for Windows 7 to Save Microsoft,” from Paul McDougall over at InformationWeek.

In the PKF Texas – The Entrepreneur’s Playbook™ airing this week, I discuss tech predictions for 2009, one of which is the launch of Microsoft’s Windows 7 and Apple’s OS X Snow Leopard.

McDougall is right on in his assessment that, “Microsoft needs to ship Windows 7 as soon as possible.”

With the misfire of Windows Vista and the ensuing backlash both verbal and financial, it just goes to show that the world’s best doesn’t always get it right.  There’s hope for Microsoft this time to get it right.  They can’t afford to continue losing market share to Apple on the “home front” or Google with their net-based apps. 

What do you think Microsoft needs to do to right itself in the eyes of the consumer?

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Yesterday, we witnessed history.  Barack Obama became the first African American to be inaugurated as President of our country.

Whether you agree with his politics or not, it was an important day for our country.

There were couple key things that I picked up on from his speech:

• These are serious times and we are facing serious challenges.  We need to work together to move forward
• We (both the general populous and the government) need to be held accountable for our actions.  We are ushering in an “era of responsibility.”

Overall the crowd both in Washington, and here in the office (where I watched the speech) seemed excited and willing to listen to what our new president had to say.  Now it’s time to get down to business and tomorrow the work of the Obama administration begins.

CNNMoney.com had an interesting article about the issues Obama needs to focus on in his first 100 days in office.  They are:

• Get recovery package passed and implemented
• Implement foreclosure prevention program
• Improve bank bailout efforts
• Turn in a budget request
• Decide automakers' fate
• Meet with world leaders to rethink regulation

These are all interesting and vital pieces of legislation. 

What are your thoughts on Obama’s speech?  Which of the issues from the CNNMoney article would you like to see the new administration tackle first?

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I was sorry to hear last week that Steve Jobs was taking a medical leave of absence from Apple.  While no one knows quite what he’s dealing with, given his history with pancreatic cancer, the news of a leave of absence doesn’t bode well.

I’ll be curious to see what the next steps are going to be for the company.  Jobs is a visionary who upon his return to the company in 1997 led Apple to where it is today. 

One would like to hope that there has been a team approach behind the scenes and that Jobs has been the face of the company.  With Apple pulling out of future Macworld Expos and Philip Schiller, VP Marketing, delivering the keynote at Apple’s final Macworld earlier this month, the marketplace is poised to become a lot more competitive.

Many in the tech community are closely watching this transition period for Apple.  I know I’m interested to see the outcome. Hopefully, Apple be able to successfully separate their image from Jobs. I wish Jobs a speedy recovery.

What do you think will happen to Apple during Jobs’ medical leave of absence? 

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Last Friday’s Houston Business Journal featured a Q&A section by my friend Phil Morabito, CEO of Pierpont Communications.  He answers several questions about advertising and marketing during a down economy. 

Many companies want to cut their advertising and marketing budgets when times are tight.  Phil makes the point that often, your dollars can go further in this type of economic climate and that by keeping a consistent message in the marketplace, your audience (clients, friends of your firm and others) will remember you were there in good times and bad.

Phil has several other pieces of good advice in the article, which you can access by clicking here.

How are your marketing efforts changing?  What ways have you been able to make an impact while being conscious of your bottom line?  Are you going to curtail your marketing and PR efforts, or simply shift focus?
 

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My colleague, Dan Ramey, passed along an interesting blurb he read in Financial Week over the holidays about how much the 2008 bailout will cost compared to other events in U.S. history, adjusted for inflation. Those events include the S&L crisis, the Louisiana Purchase, the New Deal, the Vietnam War, and the all time budget of NASA.

All of those combined are less than the total projected bailout. I don’t like to get too political in this blog, but the numbers are staggering. Financial Week is projecting the total bailout (which includes the $700 billion that Congress approved in October along with extra relief from the Treasury and the Fed) to be over $4.6 trillion. You can see all the figures for yourself here.

I think it’s a good jumping off point to engage in conversation about how and why we ended up in this situation. This is a multifaceted issue, with many factors combining to bring us to where we are today. There’s no one person to blame, and there’s no easy fix. I’m curious to see how we can right the ship we’re currently on, and how this affects our children and their children as they begin to take the reins from the Boomer generation.

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I’ve been thinking about the benefits of corporate jets lately.

When the Detroit Three flew to Washington for their initial Congressional hearing, then drove down for the second one, I thought it was interesting.  Is it worth the time and investment to have the CEOs fly private?

Not having to worry about flight delays, security and random people sitting next to you could be nice.  Also the uninterrupted work time has to count for something. 

On the other hand, the cost to maintain, fuel, and fly the jets is quite high.  Is it worth the money to afford the CEO a couple hours of uninterrupted work time?

What are your thoughts? Would you want your CEO flying in a corporate jet or commercial?  When we’re all watching the bottom and top lines is it reasonable to expect the leadership of large companies to drop the corporate jet?

With that, have a happy and safe New Year’s Eve tonight.  See you in 2009!

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Continuing with last week’s post about the 12 Days of Tax Savings, PKF Texas recently released our 2008-2009 Tax Planning Guide. It can be found on our website at www.pkftexas.com/publications.  Looking ahead to 2009, I hope you find this guide useful when making decisions in the new year.  Many of our clients have found it beneficial and I wanted to share it with my readers.   

Topics include: tax law changes, deductions, gains and losses, and education.

If you have any questions or need assistance with any of the presented information, please don’t hesitate to contact your PKF Texas tax advisor or send me an email at GregsHead@pkftexas.com and I can point you to the correct tax professional in our firm. 
 

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Merry Christmas Eve!  I hope this post finds you healthy, happy and with loved ones.

AccountingWeb has written a series of articles called the 12 Days of Tax Savings.  In the spirit of the season, I’m passing along the link to you.

Taking the idea from the song, the 12 Days of Christmas, the 12 Days of Tax Savings pieces offer tips from when to pay spring college tuition in order to qualify for certain deductions to information about how long a foster child has to live in your home to qualify as a dependant. 

This is all good information to have at the start of the new year when you begin to think about preparing your 2008 taxes.

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For those of you scrambling for last minute Christmas gifts, there’s a novel one: Steven Zelin, The Singing CPA has released his latest CD, “No Accounting for the Holidays.”

Songs on the CD include: “We Wish You a Great Refund,” “Most Deductable Time of the Year,” and “Taxes, Taxes, Taxes.”  The CD is available on his website, www.thesingingcpa.com.

Kudos to Steven for following his dream of a music career and mixing it with his former career as an accountant.  It reminds of the Battle of the Business Bands event during CelebrateEnterprise!, where bands made up of C-level executives compete to win the CelebrateEnterprise! Silver Guitar.  These guys continue to prove the stereotype of the boring accountant wrong!

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With so much unpleasant news surrounding us right now, I want to remind our readers of some of the good things happening in the Houston economy.

The 2008 FastTech 50 companies are collectively responsible for creating nearly 3,270 jobs in Houston.  They also have contributed over $629 million in revenue into the local economy.  Those are impressive figures and that’s only 50 companies.

Several retailers like Sun & Ski Sports and JC Penney are expanding in Houston because there are real estate opportunities to jump on.  I hope this will be a continuing trend that retailers and other business recognize it’s worth taking a risk in Houston.

While the overall mood of the nation and the economy is troubling, there are still bright spots that tell us that the economy will eventually rebound.

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I read a magazine called The Week.  If you haven’t read it, it’s a magazine that compiles the best articles from the U.S. and international media from the previous week.  Their tagline is “All you need to know about everything that matters.”

The November 28th issue had an excellent article called “Why Recessions Happen.” It details in plain English how we know we’re in a recession, what causes recessions and how recessions end.

I think we need more articles like this that don’t immediately jump to scare tactics to get their point across.  It is well balanced and states the simple facts.

What have you read lately that you’ve said to yourself, “FINALLY, an honest report!”?

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The average price of gas nationwide reached nearly a five year low on Sunday. While it’s great for our wallets, what does it mean for our economy here in Houston?

Aidan Arney, a senior manager in our tax department, wrote an article during the record high gas prices this summer for our Leading Edge Magazine. He makes the point that the industry is very unpredictable. I wasn’t sure we were ever going to see gas come back down to below $2 a gallon.

I’m curious to hear your reaction to the low gas prices? Are you skeptical they will stay will they are? How is this affecting you and/or your business? If you are in the transportation industry, are you seeing any increase in business? On the flipside, if you’re in the oil or related industries what have you seen in your business?

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Last week, AccountingWeb ran a very timely article about the correlation between companies who file for bankruptcy and those cited for fraud.

The article makes the point that it’s not clear whether employees at bankrupt companies are more likely to commit fraud, or whether the microscope of bankruptcy makes it easier for regulators to detect it.

In either case, it is definitely something business owners should be aware of and discussing with their management team. Like I mentioned in my post when we launched our fraud prevention survey, I think it’s important that companies take the necessary steps to identify the potential for fraud in their company. With the economy the way it is right now, you can’t afford to be losing money to controllable factors like fraud.

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I’ve been reading a lot of reviews lately about the recently released 4th generation (4g) iPod nano.  With holiday shopping in full gear, I wanted to share what I’ve read with all of you.  Now that users have had plenty of time to try it out, (it was released in September) the “real” reviews have begun to roll in.

The reviews are definitely mixed.  Most people really like the return to the shape of the 2nd generation iPod, the shake to shuffle feature and the choice of color.

One of the most common complaints was that users couldn’t turn off the Cover Flow feature, which when the nano was turned on its side the user could browse through the songs by the album cover art.  This has apparently been corrected by a software update that Apple released in early November.

Other frustrations included the lack of compatibility with existing iPod accessories, shortened battery life, and problems with the sensitivity of the accelerometer.  The accelerometer is the part of the nano that allows the screen to flip when it’s tilted.  Until now the only Apple products using the accelerometer were the iPhone and the iTouch. 

What have your experiences been with the 4g nano?  What features do you like?  Which features have been problematic? Do you plan to buy one for yourself or as a gift?
 

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As I was browsing AccountingWeb last week, I ran across a new section (well, at least new to me, I wasn’t been aware of it before now), called Celebrity News. 

Intrigued, I clicked on it and was taken to a page with news stories about celebrities who have all be in the news lately for accounting or IRS problems. Owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban, actor Wesley Snipes, and former NFL quarterback, Bernie Kosar were all listed for various issues.

There is a message from Gail Perry, CPA, Managing Editor of AccountingWeb which states:

“Stars Behind Bars

Not all of the articles that appear on this page refer strictly to celebrities who are fighting the tax and accounting authorities. From time to time there might be good news about celebrities who are helping underpriveleged people with tax preparation. Maybe there will be news of politicians who are going above and beyond to help taxpayers by lobbying for intelligent and simplified tax laws. But for the most part, we expect to have fun on this page at the expense of those folks who make the headlines by making a mess of their financial lives.

Meanwhile, don't forget to read our Sitcom tax series - humorous articles about how America's sitcom programs interpret the tax laws. You'll be laughing in the aisles!

Best wishes,

Gail Perry, CPA

Managing Editor, AccountingWEB

editor@accountingweb.com”

While I don’t think I’m necessarily the intended audience for the celebrity section, I think this is an interesting, light hearted addition to the website. I can definitely see where it would be of interest to the next generation of accountants. What do you think about celebrity run-ins with the IRS?

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There was an interesting article on AccountingWeb yesterday, “Economy Not Expected to Impact hiring of College Grads” On the very surface, that seems like great news. However delving a little deeper into the article, employers expect to decrease hiring levels by 1.6 percent.

The National Association of Colleges and Employers recently released the report referenced in the article. The report features updated figures comparing responses from an August 2008 hiring survey with an October 2008 survey.

The findings show that despite the decrease in hiring levels overall, the rates for professional services firms will remain relatively flat, keeping with earlier predictions.

This is mixed news for the Class of 2009 looking for professional services jobs. While its good there hasn’t been a change in hiring expectations, it isn’t great that there will not be a boost in hiring. It’s a competitive market and recruits will have to stand out in a positive way to get noticed and hired.

On a personal note, my son is a member of the Class of 2009 and will graduate with an accounting degree, so the fact professional services firms aren’t making drastic hiring cuts bodes well for my checkbook…

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I’m proud and excited to announce that PKF Texas was recently named as one of the Best Accounting Firms to Work for.

This first annual program was created by The Accountants Media Group, publishers of Accounting Today, Accounting Technology, CPA Wealth Provider, Practical Accountant and host of WebCPA.com and Best Companies Group. We’ll find our actual ranking when the list appears in the January 5, 2009 issue of Accounting Today.

This survey and award program was designed to identify, recognize and honor the best places of employment in the accounting industry, benefiting the nation's economy, its workforce and businesses.

Companies from across the country entered the two-part survey process to determine the Best Accounting Firms to Work for. The first part consisted of evaluating each nominated company's workplace policies, practices, philosophy, systems and demographics. The second part consisted of an employee survey to measure the employee experience. The combined scores determined the top companies and the final ranking. Best Companies Group managed the overall registration, survey and analysis process and determined the final rankings.

For more information on the Best Accounting Firms to Work for program, visit www.BestAccountingFirmstoWorkfor.com.

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I was perusing Inc.com the other day and ran across this slideshow about the 10 Things Every Entrepreneur Needs to Know. 

Definitely some good advice in the top ten. My favorite is number nine: “Culture drives a company. In the long run the boss’ most important job is to define and enforce it.”  I’ve talked about culture before on the PKF Texas – The Entrepreneur’s Playbook™. If you have a good company culture, it will affect your business’ performance in a positive manner.

This 10 Things list reminds me of the annual Nuggets of Wisdom from our Aggie 100 winners. They too have great advice for entrepreneurs. Take the time to check it out. 

What is the best advice you have received? What are some lessons you learned the hard way?

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This week has been full of news about the federal bailout of our banks. The stock market has had a record drop and a near record gain. There has been no shortage of opinions from the political and economic pundits about the best way to get back on track.

I’m curious to hear from my readers about their thoughts. What would you like Congress to do? What changes do you think we, as individuals, can make?

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It’s been a little over two weeks since Hurricane Ike decided to pay the Gulf Coast a visit. Things are slowly returning to normal, though there are still individuals and companies who need assistance. I have received several inquiries about how people who are not necessarily in Houston can help.

Mayor Bill White requested the establishment of The Gulf Coast Ike Relief Fund to help fill unmet human needs for victims of Hurricane Ike primarily in Galveston, Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend and Harris counties.

As stated on the website, the money will be granted to those nonprofit organizations that provide immediate relief in the area — that is, shelter and temporary housing, food and household supplies, transportation and child care. It will also try to make whole some damaged child care and social service organizations that may not be able to operate without an infusion of cash before insurance claims are paid. Greater Houston Community Foundation will administer this fund at no cost, so 100% of all donations will go where it is needed.

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I received an email yesterday from the Rice Alliance, announcing that Rice University has again been recognized as one of the top entrepreneurial universities in the country. This is the 2^nd year in a row that Rice has been in the top 25. Congratulations to everyone at Rice!

The press release from the university is below.

Rice Recognized as Top Entrepreneurial University by The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine
Jesse H. Jones Graduate School moves up six spots this year to #16 on 2008 Ranking

Rice University’s Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management ranks 16^th in the United States among the 400+ graduate entrepreneurship programs according to a report released yesterday by The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine. The program moved up six places from last year, the second year in a row that Rice has been ranked in the top 25 in the nation.
 

Rice University is again the only graduate entrepreneurship program in Texas that made the Top 25 ranking.

The strong entrepreneurship course curriculum and faculty (including both full-time academics and practitioners), figured in the results.  New academic programs including a concentration in entrepreneurship, a capstone project in entrepreneurship required of all Executive MBAs, and life science entrepreneurship courses helped propel the ranking upward.

The Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship programs also impacted the overall rankings.   The survey mentioned the annual Rice Business Plan Competition, where 36 of the top schools from around the world compete for more than $675,000 in prizes in front of 170+ judges, making it the largest and richest competition in the world.

The survey took into account the strength of the educational and outreach programs, such as the Rice Alliance Technology Venture Forums,  venture capital forums for companies seeking angel funding, venture capital and business alliances in the areas of energy and clean technology, life sciences, information technology and nanotechnology, as well as, educational programs such as well as the Technology Entrepreneurship Workshop dedicated to helping new entrepreneurs navigate new waters and start their ventures.

To see the full rankings, click here:  

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Google turns 10 this week and in those short 10 years this company has grown from a small search engine to a full blown multimedia platform. How many companies can say they’ve become a verb in 10 years? How many times have you “Googled” something in the last week? I can’t remember the last time I “searched” the internet for an answer. Google has been very influential in our collective zeitgeist for the last 10 years.

Last week, they released their browser, Chrome, to mixed fanfare.

I haven’t yet talked to anyone who has downloaded and started using it yet. If you have, do you like it better than Internet Explorer or Firefox? What is the best feature? What is the worst feature?

I find the concept of Chrome intriguing. Will this usher in a new era of browsers? Will the current crop of browsers morph into something completely different, like when Netscape evolved into Mozilla Firefox?

Google does a lot of interesting things and I can’t wait to see where they go in the next 10 years.

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Dan Ramey, PKF Texas’ Director of Internal Audit was recently featured alongside three other Certified Information Technology Professionals (CITP) on the AICPA website as a part of the bi-monthly InfoTech Update. Dan and his fellow CITPs were interviewed and provided case studies addressing the results of the 2008 AICPA Top Technology Initiatives Survey.

Dan’s case study focuses on Business Continuity Management/Disaster Recovery Planning. He says, “There are too many companies that encounter a disaster and are never able to recover and get back to work.”

You may recall that we did a PKF Texas – The Entrepreneur’s Playbook™ back in April about Business Continuity Management. Many business owners don’t think that a disaster will happen to them and when it does, they don’t have a plan in place to get back on their feet.

Another subject Dan touches on is IT Governance. He says, “Finding ways to keep company, client and employee data secure will continue to get harder every year. Every time we think we are catching up, the bad guys are one step ahead of us.”

As a CPA, CFE and CITP, I agree with Dan’s statements. Companies must take the time to evaluate their IT vulnerabilities and then take the steps to reduce their risk. As the old adage goes, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

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People ask me all the time to share stories of successful entrepreneur’s so they can glean information to help their own business. 

Inc.com had an interesting piece about The Blue Man Group, you know, the blue guys who beat on drums with paint and have starred in several Intel commercials. They are not just artists and performers, they are entrepreneurs.

The three original members, Chris Wink, Phil Stanton and Matt Goldman, had to build their business and brand just like any other business owner. They started small, and like every entrepreneur, had several missteps, but were able to overcome those obstacles to run a successful business.

Once challenge they face is consistency in their “product.” They produce shows in 10 cities across the globe as well as several travelling shows. One of the key points founder, Matt Goldman, makes in the article is that to grow they had to be able to replicate themselves then articulate their vision. The result of this was to write the Blue Manual to direct their now 70 Blue Men.

What have you done in your business to overcome the challenge of product consistency? What other non-traditional businesses have you been able to learn from?

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My good friend Richard Scruggs, Director of the Center for New Ventures and Entrepreneurship (CNVE) at Texas A&M, wrote an excellent article for the CNVE newsletter that I would like to share with you.

Here is an excerpt from his article. 

“Ever seen a situation where there is a disconnect between management and the field? Can you imagine a situation where leadership thinks they have made a simple change but the people charged with implementing the change think direction just changed 180 degrees – again?

During a recent trip, my fishing buddy and I were discussing why a client’s team seemed dysfunctional. We knew management was frustrated that employees didn’t grasp the vision and know what to do next. From talking to people in the field we knew they wanted to do the right thing but they felt like direction was changing so often that they couldn’t keep up.

We knew the answer involved setting a vision, articulating it and sticking to it. It included setting clear expectations and giving people the resources they needed to do their job. It also meant trying to bring management and team members closer together so that there is clear communication, mutual understanding and freely flowing information.”

To read the whole article click here.

He makes several good points. My team and I recently took the proactive approach of taking The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team training class.  I wanted to make sure my team and have an open line of communication.  It was a good way to strengthen an already great team.

Have you faced the same issues as the company he describes? What did you do to overcome them? How were the channels of communication opened?

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PKF Texas has just launched a survey, www.pkftexas.com/fraudsurvey by our director of Internal Audit, Dan Ramey, CPA, CFE, which identifies a company’s potential for fraud. This survey can serve as a catalyst to begin a dialogue about the potential of fraud in an organization.

In addition to being a CPA, I am also a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE). I think it’s important that companies identify the potential for fraud in their company. According to the latest Report to the Nation from the Association for Certified Fraud Examiners as much as 7% of top line revenue can be lost due to internal/occupational fraud.

Given the regulatory changes that have taken place, and more public awareness on improving internal controls and reducing fraud, do you feel your organization has made progress in improving internal control?  Or do you think little has changed since the increased oversight? 

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I ran across a good blog on Inc.’s website, The Entrepreneurial Generation by Donna Fenn.

A lot of what she talks about relates to the Generation Y/Next Generation entrepreneurs, though there are lessons that entrepreneurs of any age can take and learn from. 

One of my favorite entries is from April 15^th called “Philanthropists or Narcissists?”.  Fenn discusses how today’s young entrepreneurs are incorporating a level of social responsibility into their businesses from the early stages. If you read the comments there are some very interesting contrasting points. Is it irresponsible to give money to charity before you turn a profit? If you let your investors know that social responsibility is an integral part of your business plan is it ok? Definitely good points to begin a dialogue with. 

Do you think the next generation is the most entrepreneurial? If so, why do you think they are? Why didn’t it happen the same way with Generation X? As more seasoned entrepreneurs, what do you think we can learn from this young eager generation?

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The days of being totally disconnected when you’re on the plane are quickly coming to an end. American Airlines and Virgin America will be offering internet via a Wi-Fi connection on select flights later this year.

There will of course be a fee involved. $12.95 for flights three hours or longer and $9.95 for trips that are shorter.

Walter S. Mossberg, a journalist from the Wall Street Journal, recently wrote about it in his column Personal Technology. He tried a variety of devices, downloads and watched streaming video. Overall he appeared satisfied with the results.

I have mixed emotions about this service. There’s something nice about getting on a three hour flight and knowing no one can reach you. On the other hand, being able to get actual work done and send it off while you’re on the plane would be nice. 

What do you think? Would you pay to use the internet on the airplane? Are we close to opening Pandora’s box and being able to use our cell phones in the air?

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I don’t know how I missed the story last October about FEMA’s “fake” press conference, but I did. Last week when I was at the PRSA Excalibur awards, they did a funny presentation of the Top 10 PR Mistakes of 2007. The number one mistake? FEMA’s fake press conference, using their staff as reporters.

I know the adage is there’s no such thing as bad PR, but in this case, that definitely does not apply. The blogosphere immediately erupted with buzz about it, another example of the power of blogging.

Here are a few links with reactions:

MSNBC
The Washington Post
CBS News

If you want to see the actual fake press conference, here’s a YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=071nO9V22jA

What can we learn from FEMA’s mistake? The active blogosphere makes it hard to cover these types of mistakes up. We’re living in a world with a constant news stream and with everyone so connected, word spreads quickly. In our small corner of the blogosphere, rarely do we have to deal with controversy (which I’m glad of!), but we still must keep our eyes and ears open to the world around us. 

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I was flipping through the June issue of Inc. Magazine over Memorial Day weekend, the cover story caught my eye. It’s about the most innovative small company in America, Threadless, an online t-shirt company.

I’ll have to admit I’m a bit perplexed and surprised this is the most innovative small company in America. I’m not saying they haven’t been successful or don’t deserve all the accolades, they’ve received. They do, Threadless sold roughly $30 million in t-shirts last year, sales in 2006 hit $18 million with profits of nearly $6 million. For a company that started in 2000, those are great numbers.

I can’t help but wonder though, what am I missing? The article makes the point that Threadless has almost wholly and effectively used social media and Web 2.0 vision to their advantage, soliciting t-shirt designs from the visitors of the website, who then vote on their favorites to be produced and sold.

Can the Next Gen readers educate me? What makes this company so innovative? What differentiates it from others like cafepress.com?

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I’ve been talking a lot in recent weeks about how Houston is a great place to live and work. The confirmations just keep rolling in.

Last Friday’s Houston Business Journal featured an article ranking Houston as one of the top ten cities for young adults (18-34).

The study cited looked at the annual rate of employment growth, total population growth, jobless rate, education level and average income of young city dwellers.

David Small, associate vice president for student services at the University of Houston was quoted as saying, "Houston is a well-kept secret." I’d have to agree with him.

There is a lot of interesting data in the article. For instance, young Houstonians make up 24.8 percent of the city's total population -- 17.1 percent of them hold a bachelor's degree and 6.5 percent make more than $75,000 per year. 

If you’re a young pro in Houston, I want to hear from you. How do you like living and working in Houston? Are you able to find a good work/life balance? How does your cost of living compare to friends in other cities?

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Last week I attended several of the Houston Business Journal’s Celebrate!Enterprise events.

The Houston Growth Summit, featuring Joel Kotkin, author of The City, and a panel with Mike Inselmann, President of American MetroStudy Corp and Barton Smith, Ph.D., Director, Institute for Regional Forecasting at the University of Houston, was especially informative.

The short synopsis is that Houston is a great place to work and live. This of course is not a surprise to those of us who do live and work here!

Kotkin touched on many interesting points during his presentation. 

Houston has seen a 20.1% growth in professional and business service employment between 2000 and 2007. Compare that to -5.7% in Boston and -1.1% in New York City. The global business community recognizes that Houston is a great place to do business.

Our growth in total employment from 2000-2007 is 13.4%, the second highest in the nation, after Phoenix. With organizations like the Greater Houston Partnership and the Houston Technology Center, companies have the resources to be successful here. 

Another interesting point to note is the ratio of home price growth versus annual average pay growth. Between 2005 and 2005, Houston’s was 1.38. Compared to LA’s 8.27, our housing prices really can’t be beat.

It’s encouraging to hear these figures. We’re not seeing the same type of economic climate that other major U.S. cities are facing right now. Through Opportunity Houston, we’re seeing an investment in Houston as a player in the global marketplace. Right now, Houston’s a good place to be, and I can’t wait to find out where we’re headed.

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I was recently asked, how can Houston continue to attract top tech companies and talent to the city. Interesting question. I see two things that have to happen.

First, we need to continue the branding and awareness of the Houston tech community to those outside of the Houston and Texas regions.  I know it sounds old fashioned, but folks outside of the Texas region still consider Houston a two dimensional city.  Energy and Space Exploration.  While both of those are very important to Houston, the growth in the high tech, health care research and delivery, educational research, telecommunications and manufacturing will continue to outpace our baseline industries. 

We see it every day, but those not as familiar to our community do not.  That’s one of the reasons why PKF Texas created the Fast Tech 50 Awards program and brought that to the Houston Business Journal.  We wanted to start the ball rolling on branding and awareness of the city as a source of great success in the tech sector.  We are fully committed to making this sector a success for our city.  One of the areas that the Houston Technology Center, HBJ, and our firm supports is the Rice Business Plan Competition.  Its success and the information the participants receive during the competition has reached around the world.  We had several plans from outside the U.S. this year.  The Rice event has turned out to be so successful that Fortune Small Business decided to drop their own competition and endorse the Rice event.  Also, working with the Greater Houston Partnership, Walter Ulrich, our President of the HTC was able to get Houston’s visibility changed with some national rankings recently with a national publication as well. 

Second, we have to create jobs and fight for talented tech personnel to relocate to our city.  This is no longer a fight for economic survival on a local, or regional basis.  I recently had the opportunity to review some economic strategic planning from another region and they indicated they were fighting for business from communities their size in the domestic U.S.  They couldn’t be further from the truth to be successful.  In my opinion, we are fighting to secure talent to our community locally, from the global community.  I can assure you Houston through organizations like the Greater Houston Partnership, and the HTC see things on a global basis and we want to compete globally for all kinds of business opportunities.  Given our baseline business in Energy, this gives us a leg up on the acceptance of Houston as a global city and not just a city in Texas.  Our cost of living and the baseline for salaries for tech personnel are very favorable to both companies and individuals alike.  And our existing talent pool is just outstanding, some of the success stories we have in the tech sector would rival any region in the US and beyond. 

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I see several trends evolving within the accounting profession.  First is the final stages of paperless automation within the back office and field work.  This started several years ago, but the vendors have finally caught up to the demands of the profession.  That includes paperless filing, document management and practice workflow solutions within the office, paperless audits and tax returns, and paperless activities within the back office. 

Second is the increasing demand of mobile computing.  Now mobile computing goes to the virtual office, but it’s much, much more than that.  It’s the finalization of reaching this version of the “wired” or “fully connected” professional within firms.  Our clients increasingly expect us to be available at a moment’s notice to meet their needs.  Only through Windows Mobile solutions are we going to be fully connected.

Third is good IT governance and practices especially with regard to security management, confidentiality of client data, business continuity and disaster recovery.

And lastly, business intelligencewith the applications and technologies used for gathering, providing access and visibility to, and analyzing data to help business owners and manager make informed business decisions.  Our Dynamics NAV practice is getting additional requests for solutions in this area.

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As you know, I make several presentations a year to many different audiences. I just read a great article on Accountingweb from Jack Downton, an entrepreneur in the U.K. about making a good presentation.

I wanted to share the article with you because no matter how many you do there’s always room to tweak your style. We all have to make presentations, whether it is to a room of 200 or 2. It’s always good to see what others are doing, to stay relevant and fresh.

Highlights take into account include:

• PowerPoint – how it dramatically reduces your impact
• What does your audience need to hear?
• It ain't what you say, it's the way that you say it

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The annual Fortune 500 list is out. Texas pulled ahead of New York this year for the state with the most corporate headquarters with 58. 

Houston’s number of companies grew from 22 to 25 (26 including the 10 county area) this year. It’s good to see that businesses recognize that Houston’s business community is worth joining. We’re second only to New York City. Dallas follows us in the #3 spot jumping up from #5 last year. 

Not surprisingly, the majority of headquarters located in Houston are related to the energy and oil and gas industries. That said Continental and Waste Management are right up there.

What did you think of this year’s list? Any surprises?

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I’d like to share with you an article our Practice Growth team wrote about our International Connections speaker series. It appeared last Thursday on Accountingweb. 

“PKF Texas’ strong relationship with the international community in Houston begins with our 150 team members. They hail from 13 countries and speak 28 different languages. We are members of two international networks providing resources in 120 countries. To enhance our international ties we partner with the Greater Houston Partnership to present the monthly International Connections series. 

Featuring a different country each month, the series provides the Houston business community the opportunity to better understand Houston’s top international trade partners and interact with key officials who can help businesses expand into those markets. Consuls general, bilateral chambers of commerce and government trade officers present business opportunities and available resources. Featured countries have included Mexico, Pakistan and the United Kingdom. With 86 consulate offices, related chambers and trade offices located in Houston, there is a wealth of countries eager to present.

Spun off from the Greater Houston Partnership’s 2006 International Distinguished Speaker Series, of which PKF Texas was one of several sponsors, International Connections continues to emphasize Houston’s relationship with the international business community. 

International Connections has proven successful as a relationship builder for all involved. The UK event, for example, continued PKF Texas’ association with the UK Trade and Investment office at the British Consulate-General. We were invited to be a part of their Next Generational Biofuels conference and have encouraged clients and friends of our firm who are looking to do business in the UK to use the office as a resource.

For more information about International Connections and to view the schedule for upcoming events, visit www.pkftexas.com/intlconnections.”

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Going green in your business is a topic of conversation everywhere I go. 

In the upcoming issue of the Leading Edge Magazine, hitting mailboxes and online in April features an article by PKF Texas Practice Growth Senior Manager, Raissa Evans, discussing ways your business can go green. We’ll also be recording one or two PKF Texas – The Entrepreneur’s Playbook tips based on Raissa’s article. 

The Houston Business Journal, as a member of American Business Journals, Inc. has recently introduced the Green bizjournal. To quote from the website:

“Greenbizjournal.com covers sustainability from a strictly-business point of view. We track the deals, people and innovations that are making the green industry the phenomenon of our age. We aim to help entrepreneurs, growth-company executives and the business community in general understand green trends, identify up-and-coming companies and, ultimately, be more successful.”

I’ll definitely be making a point to put that website on my list of regulars to read.

What green initiatives has your company put into place? Does your business have a “Going Green” champion?

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The talk of recession has a lot of entrepreneurs I know taking a hard look at their companies to make sure they can weather the storm if or when there is one. I’ve read several good articles lately that give advice to business owners about ways they can prepare.

The consensus seems to be that you need to complete a thorough analysis of all areas of your business. Look at ways to become more efficient, solicit feedback from your customers, what are you doing well? Where can you improve? Which divisions are most susceptible to a downturn in the economy? Finally, maintaining cash flow is key to survival. 

This might seem a bit like a PKF Texas – The Entrepreneur’s Playbook and in fact, this week’s topic will highlight the need to continue to invest in interactive marketing during a recession. 

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Which day of the week are you most productive? For me it’s Tuesday. 

According to a recent study, Tuesday is the day we are most productive. It had a 57% productivity rating. Monday, Wednesday and Thursday all rated 12%. Looks like I'm right in line with the rest of the country.

Not surprisingly, Friday is the least productive day of the week. How many of us dread the 3:30pm Friday afternoon meetings? Maybe it should’ve been scheduled for a Tuesday. Just think about all the things you’ll get done tomorrow.

These types of studies may seem superfluous, but they tap into the truth of our habits. It’s good to keep this in mind when you’re planning out your week. Take care of your important business on a Tuesday and you’ll have time for any action points on Wednesday and Thursday. 

Do you pay attention to these kinds of studies? Do you think they carry any real weight, or are they just fluff?

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Reed Wotiz, a reader of the blog and entrepreneur, recently asked me to take a look at his website, www.HoustonTexasRealEstate.com. It has all kinds of information about the Houston real estate market.

There is an interactive Q&A section where local professionals (agents, mortgage brokers, appraisers, etc.) answer your questions. Everything from home inspections to school districts is covered.

Another section details Houston’s neighborhoods. Each description provides general information about the area, average home price and commute time. 

They also have a blog where professionals contribute on a regular basis. Topics range from 10 things you should know when buying a home to where to find a home inspections school if you want to become a home inspector. 

All in all, if you’re looking to move to or within Houston, this site is a good resource to check out when you’re doing your research. 

Thanks for alerting me to your site Reed!

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Inc. Magazine is now accepting applications for the annual Inc. 5000 list. 

To be considered companies must have been founded and generating revenue by the first week of 2004, and be able to show four full calendar years of sales. Additionally, they must be U.S.-based, privately held, for profit, and independent—not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies—as of December 31, 2007. Revenue in 2004 must have been at least $200,000, and revenue in 2007 must be at least $2 million.

With 13 FastTech 50 and 4 Aggie 100 companies on the 2007 list, the readers of the blog have a successful track record. Last year the Houston area had 75 companies on the list. Hopefully this year the number will be higher. I would encourage any entrepreneur who meets the criteria to submit themselves for consideration.

The entrepreneurs of Houston are an innovative bunch and you deserve as much recognition as possible! Last year’s #5000 had 20% growth and the 2006 revenue was $2.4 million. It proves that you don’t have to be a mega-corporation to be a player in the global marketplace.

If you choose to enter, good luck and let us know if you are included on the 2008 list!

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Welcome back! I hope you had a safe and happy New Year! To ease you back into work and to get you thinking about where your business is headed this year, here are a few more nuggets of wisdom from the Aggie 100 class of 2007.

Organization and persistence are essential for success; be consistent and never slow down. -Kurt Lobpries

Never stop learning! -Douglas Frey

If you fail to plan you should plan to fail. -Robert J. Albers

Trust your luck and always remember "the harder you work the luckier you get." -Gene R. Birdwell

Speak the truth. Provide great service and value for your customers. Don't be afraid to try and fail because your mistakes will lead to your successes. -Scott Moscrip

Listen to your customers and your employees. Your success depends on the satisfaction of both. -Steve Berry

To read the rest of the nuggets of wisdom click here.

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New Year’s Eve offers a period of both reflection on the year behind us and a look ahead to the year to come. 

How did this last year go? What are you going to change in the new year? What do you want to accomplish? These are questions you can apply to both your personal and professional life. 

Good things are coming in 2008 for the blog. The publishing platform we use now allows us to post images, so keep an eye out for pictures from events I attend like the Aggie 100 and FastTech 50.

The guest spotlight column with become a more regular feature. There has been a positive reaction each time a guest author blogs for us. Let me know if there are topics you would like to see featured.

Thanks to everyone who read and commented on the blog this year, it’s been a great year and I’m looking forward to 2008. Happy New Year!

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Merry Christmas to all of my readers! I hope today finds you healthy, happy and with loved ones. 

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This year Inc. Magazine named Elon Musk, co-founder of PayPal, its Entrepreneur of the Year.

Musk has also founded several other companies including SpaceX, an aerospace start-up that planes to take astronauts to the International Space Station by 2010. That’s pretty cool!

To look at these two companies, they seem miles apart in purpose and function. How can the same guy be responsible for such different companies? The answer is simple. Vision.

All of the entrepreneurs I meet through the Rice Business Plan Competition, Aggie 100 and the FastTech 50 share that trait. They have a vision and work hard to see that vision become a reality. Sure there are bumps along the way, but as the article says, small ideas can grow into Google.

What small ideas do you have? How can your small idea grow into Google? What advice to you have for other entrepreneurs who are trying to make their vision a reality?

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One of my colleagues, Mark Daugherty passed along this interesting article from CIOInsight.com about how the different generations perceive technology.

The reporter, Eric Chabrow, made an interesting point that the younger generation rarely notices the technology in the devices they use and that they use technology differently than my generation of Baby Boomers.

I definitely see this everyday, both in the office working with the twentysomethings, and at home with my kids. To them technology just is. It’s always been there. They don’t remember computers that took up whole rooms and had less memory than the smallest iPod. They’ve always known a world with the internet and they are constantly connected and plugged in. From texting on their cell phone, to instant messaging and postig on facebook/myspace, they are in constant communication. 

To an extent, my generation is too. We are glued to our cell phones and Crackberries, but there isn’t necessarily the constant need to put our whole life out there all the time. The way we communicate is different. Texting still is not a primary form of communication for me and my peers. I do text people other than my children, but it’s not with any great frequency.

It makes me wonder if the next generation is losing the personal touch by using the newest technologies. They communicate more, but whereas 20 years ago parents would have been concerned with their teenagers tying up the phone line after school, they are concerned with how much time their children are spending online and how much texting they are doing. 

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In last week’s PKF Texas – The Entrepreneur’s Playbook, we ran the first of our series of New Year’s resolution for your business. They are excerpted from an article written by Maggie Fleming, CPA, a senior manager in our Entrepreneurial Advisory Services department. 

Here are a few more resolutions for you to think about for your business in 2008. 

1. Analyze your competition. Prepare a listing of competitors, the products they sell, and note their strengths and weaknesses. Compare this information with your own company’s data. This step should enable you to develop ways to maximize your competitive advantage in the marketplace.
2. Update your marketing plan. Where would any company be without customers? Success comes from being able to attract and retain satisfied customers. It’s important to evaluate products and services, and determine which are the most profitable. Is a change in your product mix warranted? Should one product be promoted more than another? Be sure to evaluate your current customers: Consider weeding out those that are unprofitable or disruptive to your business. Remember: “Profitable sales” add dollars to the bottom line.
3. Plan for capital expenditures. Consider the future capital needs of the company. Prepare a statement of capital needs, including a projected timeframe for implementation, and incorporate these costs into your budget. Schedule a meeting with your banker to discuss your business and obtain the criteria that will be used to evaluate financing needs.
4. Schedule a tax planning appointment with your accountant. Inquire about tax law changes that could affect your business, and tax strategies to minimize taxes, such as establishing a Section 125 Plan for you and your employees. Set strategies in place early in the year in order to maximize your tax savings.
5. Evaluate your employees. Consider the strengths and weaknesses of each, and use each employee’s skills to develop a strong team. Consider a New Year planning workshop for key employees: develop strategies, set goals and hold your team members accountable.
6. Read at least one management book. Check the Internet or go to your favorite bookstore to search for a topic of interest. Don’t overlook books on leadership; being a strong leader is one of the keys to building a profitable business and one of the most effective ways to influence people. Read trade magazines and industry-related data to keep abreast on trends within your industry. Attempt to identify synergies that could help you expand your business.
7. Develop an exit strategy. It’s never too early to start planning. Whether considering a liquidation, passing your business to the next generation, selling or being part of an acquisition, the better your plan, the more profitable the outcome.

What do you think about these resolutions? What are we missing? What are your resolutions for your business?

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Flipping through my latest issue of Inc. over the Labor Day holiday, an article interviewing Scott Cook, the founder of Intuit, caught my eye. He had commissioned a study on how the small business economy is evolving, from the Institute for the Future.

He provides many great insights. He mentions the entrepreneurial aspirations of the Next Generation.

The idea that stands out most to me is “You must find something you just love doing and find through that passion a way to change a customer’s life, to change the world for the better. That’s where your entrepreneurial destiny will lie.”

This is great advice to entrepreneur’s of all levels. I think most of the entrepreneurs I meet through the Aggie 100 and FastTech 50 would agree.

I also see that passion from the students who compete in the Rice Business Plan Competition. They have the drive and passion to compete at the highest level and to see their businesses succeed. It’s great to see this spirit in the Next Generation.

Let me know what you think of Cook’s article. Do you agree with his ideas?

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I hope everyone had a fun and safe Labor Day holiday!

It seems that lately everywhere I turn there is another news story about social networking. CNN.com, Business 2.0, Inc. and many others have run stories in recent weeks. 

The latest hot site for the business executive is a site called LinkedIn.

I want to pose the question to my readers, what are your thoughts on social networking? Are you members of any sites other than the big two of Facebook and Myspace, which right now are predominately dedicated to my kid’s generation?

Do you see any advantages to joining a site like LinkedIn or multiple sites for that matter?

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This year the annual Inc. 500 list has given way to the Inc. 5000. 

Congratulations to all the FastTech 50 and Aggie 100 companies who are on this year’s Inc. 500/5000 list. I’m glad to see Inc. likes our choices!

By my quick count, 13 FastTech 50 companies and 4 Aggie 100 companies are on the list this year. 

The Houston area has 7 companies in the top 500 and 75 on the overall list. Texas has a whopping 326 companies on the list! This reinforces how the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in Houston and Texas. 

Take the time to look at the Inc. 500 web page, as there is lot of great information, including podcasts, articles and in-depth top 100 lists.

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Yesterday evening I had the pleasure of attending my Eighth Rice Alliance Kick off Celebration over at the Jones School at Rice University. Each year Brad Burke and the staff of Rice Alliance do a wonderful job with these emerging business community collaboration events. Brad, you and your staff deserve a well round of thanks for such a fantastic evening! Over 450 people attended this event including several of my colleagues from PKF Texas.

The keynote speaker for the evening was the Honorable Michael G. Oxley (the former congressman from Ohio) who co-authored the Sarbanes-Oxley Act while he was Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.   It’s not often we get the opportunity to meet and ask questions of such an important person that has influence on the capital markets and the confidence of public investing. When you do, you want to take advantage of them to gain their perspective on the US and World Economy.

Mr. Oxley is currently the Vice Chair of The NASDAQ Stock Market, Inc. In this capacity he serves as an advisor to the Executive Management Team and Board.  Thanks to the Rice Alliance and the NASDAQ for co-hosting the event. I also want to say thanks to Locke Liddell & Sapp for being the co-event sponsor with PKF Texas.

Mr. Oxley opened his remarks with several kudos and recognition of the Rice Alliance and its impact on emerging business, start-up companies, and the Rice Business Plan Competition. A strong proponent of seeing emerging businesses grow into successful companies, Mr. Oxley gave due recognition to the Rice University and the Houston business community.

Some facts that he shared with the audience:

• Texas is the 5^th largest state of with companies on the NASDAQ. (OK that’s something we need to work on for sure! Texas should be 1, 2, or 3)
• The 161 Texas companies on the NASDAQ have a $144 billion market capitalization.
• A little over a 1/3 of the Texas companies are Houston based.

As he continued his remarks he made mention of some interesting points or his keys to success for public companies in today’s world.   Those included companies that are have attributes towards:

• Public Awareness working out in the open, and seeking public support.
• Transparency in the business, their model
• Competatitive in the nature of the business
• Global in their thinking

Some US companies today compete against foreign entities that are supported wholly or in some partial way by their own governments. Even though many global entities outside the US are attractive investment opportunities, Mr. Oxley commented that the US still has the largest pool of private equity capital in the world. Mr. Oxley presented his views on the local economy, the impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation in the US capital markets, and what he sees coming in the future with more globalized business opportunities. After his prepared remarks, he took questions from the audience for about 25 minutes.    Some of the questions where pretty direct on the impact of government regulation and he did a good job of expressing his thoughts on these areas.

Thanks again to the Rice Alliance and thank you Mr. Oxley for sharing your evening with us! By the way you look great it that Cowboy Hat. I hope you wear it often and think of us here in Houston at the Rice Alliance.

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"Globalizing is risky. Entrepreneurs embrace risk. Therefore entrepreneurs embrace globalization." - Leigh Buchanan | Editor-at-large | Inc. Gone Global, April 2007

I ran across this quote the other day and thing there is a lot of truth to it. Entrepreneurs these days almost can’t even dream about their next venture with out thinking globally.

Houston, for example, is one of the most international cities in the US, with more than 80 foreign consulates and a port that ranks first in the US for foreign waterborne tonnage.

The number of resources we have here for entrepreneurs thinking globally is seemingly endless, from the Greater Houston Partnership to the District Export Council to foreign chambers of commerce. 

What advice would you give to entrepreneur’s thinking globally? If you’re an entrepreneur who does business globally what are some tricks of the trade you have learned?

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Last Monday I posted PKF Texas’ invitation to the Rice Alliance Kick-Off event featuring Michael Oxley on August 23^rd.

I’ll be attending and will post my thoughts on the 24^th. The impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation has been huge in our industry and is still a hot topic, especially in light of the current December 15, 2007 deadline for non-accelerated filers (small public companies for my non-accounting readers) to start complying with Section 404 of the legislation.

This will definitely be an interesting speech and I’m curious to see what he has to say about it 4 years removed from the signing of the legislation. If you will also be attending, let me know your thoughts, so those who can’t attend will get the benefit of multiple perspectives. 

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Over the weekend I was checking out Business 2.0 online and discovered a great, relatively new feature. They now have a blog called “Ask Business 2.0.” You can ask business related questions and CEOs and other entrepreneurs and experts will answer. 

Definitely a great concept and service from the magazine. Let me know if you read any posts you think would be valuable here and I’ll link to them. 

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I ran across a recent study this weekend that said almost 90% of Smartphone users skim email on their phone, then wait to really read the full email later. 

Count me in that 90%. If there’s a non-urgent email, especially one with links, I’ll wait to get back to the office or home where I can view the information full screen. While I appreciate the ability to view an e-newsletter for example on my phone, there’s something to be said for not squinting to read the information.

That said, I do enjoy being able to read, edit and send Word and Excel documents from my phone. It’s convenient and good for getting things turned around quickly. 

How much do you use the “other” features on your phone? Do you actually spend a significant amount of time accessing the internet or is it simply too much of a hassle? What changes do you think the iPhone will have on the features for other smartphones?

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Can you explain what your company does in 30 seconds? More importantly can you explain what you do in 30 seconds? What’s your elevator pitch for your company and yourself?

The elevator pitch is an important skill in the business world that many overlook. The trick is to say enough to pique the listener’s interest without droning on about how great your company is.

As part of the Rice Business Plan Competition, teams have to give and are judged on their elevator pitch for their company and product. I’m glad to see Rice includes this in the competition as it allows the students to hone their networking skills.

You never know when you might use your pitch, everywhere from standing around at a soccer game to a formal networking event. How often has your elevator pitch resulted in business for you or your company?

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I know I question the need to be connected and plugged in, on a regular basis, but there are times when it’s great to have the internet and email a button push away.

My son recently got back from his study abroad program where he spent four weeks in Italy. We were texting back and forth the whole time. He’d let me know all the cool things he was doing and I’d fill him in on what the family was up to.

Fifteen years ago, we wouldn’t have been able to do that. It was great to be able to keep up with him without spending $100 on a ten minute phone call. It also made me accept that texting isn’t just for the next generation. 

What technologies are your kids making you learn how to use? Is your life really easier because of it?

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I was out of town last week and had some time to catch up on my reading. The current issue of Business 2.0 has published their second annual “The 50 Who Matter Now” list. 

Taking a page from Time Magazine’s Person of the Year, Business 2.0 has included “us” on the list. “We” have the capability to continue to change the media landscape. As bloggers and blog readers, we play a huge part in that change. It’s going to be interesting to see what the next big phenomena is.

Other individuals of note:

Tim O'Reilly - Founder and CEO, O'Reilly Media
“Why he matters: The man who coined the term "Web 2.0" has a talent for planting himself in the heart of the action.”

Nicholas Negroponte - Chairman, One Laptop Per Child
“Why he matters: The MIT Media Lab co-founder's nonprofit group, One Laptop Per Child, has created an inexpensive notebook computer for children in developing nations. The goal is to make a machine that sells for $100.”

Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom - Co-founders, Skype and Joost
“Why they matter: Call them the Disruptive Duo. First they undermined the music industry by unleashing the Kazaa file-sharing network. Then they rattled the telephone industry by creating Skype, a free Internet phone network.”

Of course there are many more, but you’ll just have to check out the list. Thoughts? Anyone missing from the list? 

Since Wednesday is the 4^th of July, the next entry will be Thursday. Have a happy and safe 4^th!

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With Terry Semel’s resignation from Yahoo! on Monday, will Yahoo! be able become more competitive with Google?

Jerry Yang, incoming CEO, has said that “motivating, developing and attracting talent” will be a priority. 

This is exactly what the accounting industry is facing right now. The need for top talent and the retention of that talent. This is a problem more industries are facing now that the Baby Boomers are retiring and the Next Gen’ers, who are looking to the Google model of effective life/work balance, are filling their shoes. 

Will Yahoo! be able to jump in and compete with Google for talent? Time will tell, but unless all of our industries, not just technology and accounting, take a step back and look at the bigger picture and address this issue, we will all be trailing the Googles of the world.

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Ran across an interesting blog by Jon Hansen the other day. http://procureinsights.wordpress.com/

It’s a new blog for procurement professionals, and has good information about supply chain management. We’ve covered supply chain management several times in PKF Texas – The Entrepreneur’s Playbook.

Let me know what you think of Jon’s blog and feel free to pass on any interesting blogs you may run across. I’m always on the look out for interesting reads.

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Continuing from my last post about entrepreneurial periods in the U.S. history has shown that our economy is stronger during periods of entrepreneurialism.

One interesting thing to look at is Taiwan’s economic rise. They were one of the poorest countries in the world following World War II and are now one of the wealthiest per capita. 

The reason for this is that the Taiwanese government nurtures the entrepreneur. They create as many opportunities for people as they can. Taiwan plays a very important role in the global marketplace and other countries can use them as a model for how to turn an economy around in two generations.

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I read a great article in The Conference Board Review Magazine by Larry Farrell, author of several books on entrepreneurialism and host of www.TheSpiritofEnterprise.com, and it got me thinking.

The gist of the article is that entrepreneurship is an integral part of our country’s history and our economy. The entrepreneurial spirit is what drove the founding of the country, and the expansion to our west coast. We really hit our entrepreneurial stride during Reconstruction after the Civil War, and again during the 1920’s following World War I and before the stock market crash in 1929.

Right now we’re in another period of increased entrepreneurialism. Like I mentioned in Monday’s post, the Next Generation is driving this wave. We can look to the late ‘90s .com boom. 

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I’m a frequent reader of David Maister’s blog, Passion, People and Principles. A couple of weeks ago he pointed readers to an interesting blog, The Brazen Careerist.

It’s a very interesting blog targeted at Generation X and the Next Generation. There are many great posts and a lot of great advice for young professionals.

One section of the blog I particularly noted and liked was dedicated to entrepreneurship. Generation X and the Next Generation are both huge entrepreneurial generations. Just look at the .com boom and the success of university sponsored business competitions. 

For example, the Rice Business Plan Competition (RBPC) is one of the largest in the world, awarding over $120K in cash and $200K total. The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in young people across the globe. I wish the mainstream media would publicize and feature competitions like the RBPC more often. 

The fact that the RBPC is such a large and successful competition and draws participants from all over the globe is a testament to the entrepreneurial spirit of this generation. In this vein, I read an interesting article about entrepreneurship across the generations. Look for my comments on it on Wednesday.

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Have you perfected the art of checking your email during a meeting? 

A recent survey of executives showed that 86% said that it is common for colleagues to read and respond to email during meetings. 

86%! That figure is way too high. The disturbing thing is only 31% disapprove of the practice!

Why do the other 69% find acceptable or at least tolerable to check email during a meeting? 

Presumably the meeting is important, or it would not warrant the face to face time. Why should it be acceptable to not give it the full attention it deserves?  It’s inconsiderate to the meeting organizer and other participants, not to mention critical information might be missed.

Recently I was interviewed via telephone about the blog. Though it was a phone interview and the journalist couldn’t see me, I turned off my pocket PC so my entire focus was on the interview. Had there been some kind of emergency my assistant would’ve been notified and I would have been alerted.

AccountingWeb has an article here where they offer some tips if you must check your email during a meeting. The most important of which is to excuse yourself quietly from the room and check it outside. 

Is it just me, or is this one of your pet peeves too? How many of your colleagues check email or their Crackberries during meetings?

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Last week’s Crackberry shutdown got me thinking once again about how reliant we are on mobile technology. How many important emails were lost or delayed because the system shut down?

What did everyone do for the 24 hours the network was unavailable? Compulsively keep checking to see if it was back up? Simply put it in a drawer and ignore it until the next morning?

Research In Motion’s shutdown might have been the push many Crackberry addicts needed to start their “rehab.”  So maybe it was a good thing. Maybe it made people pause and reevaluate their dependence on their Crackberry. Maybe not…

If you’re one of my many readers with a Blackberry, how did the shutdown affect you?

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The annual Fortune 500 list is out. Once again, Houston is home to 22 corporate headquarters. We’re second only to New York City. Dallas follows us in the #5 spot. Not surprisingly, the majority of headquarters located in Houston are related to the energy and oil and gas industries. 

What are your thoughts on the list? Were you surprised that Wal-Mart overtook ExxonMobil?

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Guess what? Thanks to you, my great readers, I’ve been nominated for Best Corporate Blog and Best Blog About Stuff for the Bloggers Choice Awards!

This award is voted on by the public, so you can help the blog win! Here’s what you need to do:

• Go to www.bloggerschoiceawards.com. 
• Click on ‘Best Corporate Blog’ or “Best Blog About Stuff” and look for fromgregshead.com. It will move up as more people vote. 
• Click on the ‘vote’ button – they’ll ask you to create an account for voting purposes because you can only once per blog, per category .

That’s it!  Voting at BloggersChoiceAwards.com closes on May 22 @ 11:59pm.

Thanks to everyone who has supported the blog. If we win, this award is for you!

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I ran across an interesting website last week: http://crackberry.com. It’s dedicated to all things Crackberry. The website is intended to be a humorous look at the Crackberry culture, but also has a lot of useful information as well.

There are pages for everything from a “Rehab” message forum to the features and functionality of the latest Blackberry models.

One of my favorites is the Crackberry rehab page, detailing thirteen steps to breaking the addiction. It goes along with my post about email addiction.

Take a look at the site. Do you see yourself reflected in any of the posts? I know I do, though I’ll refrain from elaborating on which ones!

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After learning about Microsoft’s “Myspace” for accountants at Convergence, and then seeing articles about it popping up in the last week all over the web, I decided to check it out for myself. 

http://community.microsoftdynamicslive.com/

While it is a “community,” it’s more of a message board type environment. The networking function is coming soon and could be like Myspace, but the rest of the site really isn’t.

Microsoft may have miss-labeled it as a “Myspace for financial professionals,” when in reality only a portion of the site could potentially resemble Myspace. By labeling it as a “Myspace” they conjure up certain expectations that the current site does not fulfill. (A quick note of full disclosure, I am not a Myspace user, but my kids and many of the young professionals at my firm do use it, so I’m aware of how it’s used and its functionality.)

This seems to be an example of corporate America trying to piggy back on a trend that grew from a cult following to mainstream in a short time. Is Microsoft trying to hard to be trendy and trying to force something that really should be an evolvement? My advice is to take the concept to the next level by improving it and then don’t label it something it’s not.

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Hello from Rice University!

The 2007 Rice Business Plan Competition is underway and the first two presentations were very good.

The weather is cooperating so all of our out of town visitors have a flavor for the weather...Sorry about the pollen guys.

Flight 5 Update 1

Cateko Diagnostics from Rice University with some technology from UTMB went first.

Heather Borden, Robert Norsworth and Mike Lowe lead off our flight with the presentation on Cateko. Cateko will offer two medical tests that diagnose a woman's risk of preterm labor.  One test prior to pregnancy and another near delivery.

I liked the presentation and I understood the concepts.  Unfortunately, the team didn't get to finish their presentation.  I am guessing that they had 2-3 minutes left to go.  Everyone can see the benefit of extend term pregnancy and the impact to the child and the insurance/hospitals, not to mention good mom and dad.

Good presentation guys and good luck.

Next up, Certo Labs from the University of Toronto.  Certo is a scientific instrumentation company aiming to commercialize a novel lab instrument known as the Automated Sample Extractor to be used by the Pharmaceutical and Food Industries. 

The two presenters were very personable young men and I really enjoyed their passion and humor.  Their product and its potential value was not as clear as I would have liked to see.  The young men have done a great job of getting larger and well established companies in their sector to back their sweat equity.   I think their plans needs a bit more work before making a run at a competition of this type.

Good presentation and good luck to you as well.

I have to break now....UCLA with EyeLight is up next.

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Where do you find your technology/web developers or designers? Do you seek out referrals or hire a recruiter?

A recent survey conducted by the American Marketing Association and Triple Dog Dare Media in Austin, found that over 52% of respondents relied on referrals or word of mouth and another 8% hire family members, friends or neighbors. 

Those responses bring to mind the old adage, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.”

Have you found with our increasing connectivity that it’s easier to network and seek out referrals for finding both employees and clients? If not, what roadblocks have you found? 

Have you hired employees or had potential clients who found you via word of mouth?

There doesn’t seem to be one standard answer to these questions, but I’d like to hear your thoughts on what’s worked best for you and your company.

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My colleague, Jen Lemanski, in the Practice Growth department, sent me an email this morning about the Texas Public Relations Association (TPRA) awards banquet Saturday night, at which we won a Bronze Best of Texas Award.  Since I am at Convergence, I couldn't attend the banquet.  She and Raissa Evans, the Marketing Manager, attended on my behalf.  Here’s what she had to say:

Greg,
Hope you’re having a good time at Convergence.  San Diego would be great right now!  The awards ceremony went well.  In our category (website) we were up against Half Price Books, Shell Oil, The Woodlands, the City of McKinney and the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau.  The order was as follows:

Silver – Half Price Books –  www.deletecensorship.org
Bronze – PKF Texas – www.fromgregshead.com
Bronze – The Woodlands –  www.thewoodlands.com
Merit – Greater Houston Convention & Visitors Bureau – www.visithoustontexas.com
Merit – Shell Oil Company – www.shell.com/us/energizeyourfuture/
Merit – City of McKinney – www.mckinneytexas.org

They don’t award a gold level, so we were the 2nd tier!

Jen

Once again, I would like to say thank you to everyone who reads and comments on the blog, our guest columnists, and everyone who works behind the scenes to make everything run smoothly.  The blog wouldn’t win any of these awards if it wasn’t for all of you, so congratulations! 

I am off to my next session.
 
Before that I am going to meet with Dennis Smith, one of my fellow NAV partners from Dallas.
He has a prospect that its interested in NAV and I am going to answer any questions the prospect has about the product.
 
BTW.....the weather is sunny, 75 and beautiful.  And if I didn't tell you sunny and beautiful.

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Chris Devonshire-Ellis, who wrote a guest blog for us a couple of weeks ago, has a blog of his own, www.2point6billion.com. The blog is “specifically dedicated to comment and dialogue on matters of China & India trade, development, investment opportunities, politics, and the impact these two huge emerging markets are having on the international business community.”

The link to his blog will remain in the links section so you can access it on a regular basis.

Chris has a lot of great information that many of you may be interested in. From time to time I’ll highlight entries of particular interest. If you see something you’d like me to comment on, let me know! 

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For regular readers, you know my thoughts about our increasing connectivity and our need to be constantly “plugged in.”

There is now a 12-step program developed by executive coach Marsha Egan to aid in the fight against email addiction.

Seems a little much doesn’t it? Needing a 12-step program to cure email addiction? This is definitely not a problem for our parents’ generation. The need to be constantly connected has ingrained itself in our society and I think it’s only going to get worse before it gets better.

I’m glad people who recognize they have a problem are getting help. I think it’s time we all took a step back to evaluate our own technology dependence. Does John really need an answer via email in the next two minutes? Probably not, and if he does he should make a phone call or if you’re in the same office, walk down the hall. 

Person to person contact, remember that? Email is convenient and has its place in business, but our reliance on it as the main form of communication is getting to be too much if it requires a 12-step program to “get back on the wagon.”

For the curious, here’s the link to the 12-steps.

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Who knew that August 8, 2005 would cause another mini-Y2K in 2007? The US government decided in 2005 to extend Daylight Saving Time. We will now “Spring Forward” the 2^nd Sunday in March (March 11^th this year) and “Fall Back” the first Sunday in November (November 4^th this year).

Anyone running a Windows Operating System other than Vista, will need to make sure their computers at home and work are prepared. Microsoft has created a patch for the issue. Click here for the Microsoft Daylight Saving Time Help and Support Center. Also, they have provided a list of products that will be affected. Click here to see the list.

How, if at all, will the extra month of Daylight Saving Time affect your business? Have you already applied the necessary patches to any software you use?

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I received some great news last week. The blog has won another award!

The Texas Public Relations Association has honored us the Bronze Best of Texas award in the Website category. I say “us” because without all the great people who read and comment on the blog it wouldn’t work.

The Best of Texas award recognizes outstanding achievement using communications tools. I’ll let you know who else won after the awards ceremony on March 10^th. 

So once again, thanks to all of you who jump in inside my head and take the time to comment!

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I want to take this opportunity to recognize my friend, Paul Frison. He recently stepped down as CEO and President of the Houston Technology Center to spend more time with his family. 

Paul has been with the HTC since its inception in 1999 and has been instrumental in the evolvement of the HTC. The creation of the FastTech 50, the move to the new space in Midtown, and guiding us through the beginning years of the HTC have all come under Paul’s watch. 

Though spending more time with his family tops his list of post-HTC CEO to-dos, he’s not leaving the HTC entirely. He’ll continue as the Executive Vice Chairman, which includes attracting tech companies to become tenants in the new facility as well as directing and promoting major HTC events.

Congratulations Paul for all you have achieved with the HTC. There is only going to be one start up time for the HTC and the leadership you have shown during this fun and challenging period has assured the everlasting success of the community's investment in the HTC! It could not have been done without you! 

Congratulations Walter Ulrich for your election to CEO and President. I believe the HTC will continue to flourish under your leadership and I’m looking forward to seeing what’s next.

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It’s been roughly a year since I first entered the blogosphere. I want thank all of my readers and everyone who has commented on the blog. It wouldn’t work without you!

Some of the things to come out of the blog, have taken on a life of their own, namely the PKF Texas Entrepreneur’s Playbook. Our stats show that more of you log on to read the blog Fridays when we post the PKF Texas Entrepreneur’s Playbook than any other day of the week. Hopefully you are finding these tips useful in your business. If there are specific topics you would like me to address, just let me know. I’ll work them in. 

Like I said in Monday’s post, Houston is a great place to live and work. The Houston business community is important both to Texas and nationwide. I am proud to be a member of such a dynamic community. With events like the FastTech 50 and the Aggie 100, we are showing that we are unique and have positioned ourselves as a force in the marketplace.

We’ve got some interesting things planned for the blog this year that I’m really looking forward to. Keep those thoughts and comments coming and thanks for jumping inside my head every week!

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Yesterday at the annual Macworld expo Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone, a slick looking phone that incorporates an iPod and web capabilities. 

I’ll be curious to see how the iPhone stacks up against my Cingular 8525. Coincidentally, Apple has reached a deal with Cingular to be the exclusive provider of the phones through 2009.

In the coming weeks it will be interesting to read the reviews and see if it lives up to the hype. 

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Happy New Year to all my readers! I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday season.

While catching up on some reading over the holidays, Business 2.0’s “15 Surprises Ahead in 2007” piqued my interest. Chris Taylor’s list includes such innovations as India and China’s race to the moon, Big City WiFi (something I’ve discussed in previous posts) and wireless USB “cables”.

The concept of wireless USB is particularly appealing on a practical level. Can you imagine your computer and desk free of cords?

No longer will you have to deal with the rat’s nest of cords connecting your computer to your printer, mouse, keyboard, monitor, etc. The mind reels just thinking about all the extra desk space. And think of all the time saved not having to think about which cord connects where. 

This is definitely something I’m looking forward to this year.

As business people and entrepreneurs, we celebrate and encourage innovation. What have you heard or read about that you’re looking forward to this year? If you could develop something to make your life easier and less cluttered what would it be?

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Looks like I’m ahead of the curve again. The December 11, 2006 issue of Information Week  has an article  on “intelligent phones” capable of allowing the user to read and edit Excel, Word and PowerPoint files. The scheduled roll out for this business intelligence software from Cognos, designed for Blackberries is “early next year.”

Sound familiar?

If the author of the article had read my December 4^th blog, she would know that Cingular already offers a phone that does pretty much everything she listed.

We already have cameras, internet, and email built into our phones. So, what’s in your phone? 

With Christmas rapidly approaching, did you ask “Santa” for the latest and greatest phone or pocket pc? Is that even something you would want for Christmas?

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I’m proud to let everyone know that PKF Texas has been recognized as one of the fastest growing accounting firms by CPA Practice Management Forum. 

Ranked 19 out of 100 companies, PKF Texas reported a 29.1 percent growth in net fees for the 2005 calendar year. 

The list is compiled by Public Accounting Report, and published in CPA Practice Management Forum. It includes a variety of distinguished firms from across the U.S. with growth in net fees ranging from 11.7 percent to 131 percent.

Our inclusion on the list is the result of the hard work and dedication by our great team and the great clients we serve.

Congratulations to everyone!

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Every year Inc. Magazine names the entrepreneur of the year. This year it is Ken Hendricks of ABC Supply, the nation’s larges wholesale distributor of roofing, siding and gutters. Click here to read the whole article. 

In the article he offers some great advice. The point that resonated with me is, “Whatever you do, do the best you can and never set a limit on how far you can go.”

This advice can be applied to both your professional and personal lives. The entrepreneurs I meet through the Aggie 100, FastTech 50 and various other events, all have followed similar advice. 

If you don’t take pride in your business and believe you can succeed no matter the obstacles in your way, you aren’t setting yourself up for success. 

Ken Hendricks is like many “serial entrepreneurs” I’ve met, taking the lessons learned and the successes from one business and using that knowledge in another business venture.

How have you overcome obstacles to run a successful business? Were obstacles easier to overcome when you were 100% dedicated to the venture? What advice can you give to other entrepreneurs?

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I think I may have found and answer to the Crackberry, at least capability wise. The Cingular 8525 pocket PC. It does pretty much everything but wash my car. Click here to read about the full capabilities of the phone.  

One of the best features is the ability to access and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents. You can’t do that on the Crackberry! 

When you access the internet, the quality is great and you can actually read the information you need to read.

The phone itself is fairly streamlined. It’s not as clunky as the Crackberry and similar devices.

Now that I have one, I can just hear my sons now when they come home from school for Christmas break, “Dad, that’s really cool. When are you getting me one?!”

It still doesn’t solve the connectivity problem that comes with being a Crackberry owner, but it definitely makes things more fun.

Have you found a viable alternative for your Crackberry? If you don’t have Cingular, does your phone company offer something similar?

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Your life flashes before your eyes the instant you realize your “Crackberry” is missing. Trying to recall all of the information you have stored for convenience. Account numbers, passwords, birthdays… The list goes on.

My friend Richard Scruggs at the CNVE recently left his Crackberry on the roof of his car and drove through a stop light and three turns before it fell off in a CVS parking lot. 

He details his saga in the latest CNVE newsletter. Click here to read the whole article. In the article he brings up some valid points. 

It’s difficult to not keep our most sensitive information on our PDA’s, but many of us hesitate in keeping “minor” account information like our Amazon.com account number and password easily accessible. If someone accessed your account and decided they needed to purchase a rare first edition of Crime and Punishment, with one-click purchasing, your wallet would be significantly lighter.

In this era of convenience and the need to have everything at our fingertips right now, how do we solve our dependence on the Crackberry? Where should we keep our sensitive and not so sensitive information? At home buried in a box in the backyard? Is it even safer at home? Maybe we should just play Russian Roulette and hope we don’t lose.

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I’ve detailed several human capital best practice tips for the Entrepreneur’s Playbook here in my blog. The topic of the shortage of talent in the marketplace is being discussed in boardrooms across the country. 

I received an e-newsletter the other day detailing some interesting human capital software.

The ProfileXT software, from The Leadership Edge, Inc., is an assessment tool developed to “put the right person in the right job, reducing employee turn over.”

How does this software play into the human capital discussion? If the software can place the right employees with the right job the employees will be more productive and less likely to leave. This is all well and good, but what about the person-to-person aspect? 

Are computers better at determining whether a potential employee is a good fit for a company or not? Shouldn’t we trust the interview process? 

One interesting thing to note, the newsletter called the loss of a talented employee “brain drain.” They define it as:

“…each time one of your key employees resigns, you risk the loss of customers or even the loss of proprietary information to your competition…”

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A few weeks ago I wrote about Katy Tanner in London and how she was dismissed from her job via text message. It seems like bad taste has hopped the pond and is in our own backyard. 

RadioShack, based in Fort Worth, recently decided to let almost 400 employees know they were dismissed, as part of planned job cuts, by e-mail.

Where is the personal touch? What has happened to the proverbial pink slip on your desk?

The spokeswoman for RadioShack, Kay Johnson, said the employees were told prior to the dismissals that they would be carried out electronically. She went on to say, “It was important to notify people as quickly as possible.”

Click here to see the original story from abc13.com.

Are we so concerned with speed and efficiency that we lose sight of how important it is to communicate on a personal level? 

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I’m not going to rehash the hundreds of stories in the media this week about the first anniversary of Katrina. The Houston Chronicle is full of survival stories, articles about what happened and many other related stories.

What I’d like to concentrate on is disaster preparedness – are we really ready if another disaster like Hurricane Katrina – or even Rita – occurs? Think about it. If a hurricane or other natural/man-made disaster were to happen right now, is your business prepared for a loss in productivity, revenues and personnel? Do you have adequate software and hardware backups or even a hard listing with a phone tree that all employees have on their PDAs and at home?

An interesting phenomenon that is springing up in Houston, and most likely around the country, are businesses that focus on helping companies survive disasters, but more than that, give them the tools to put themselves in a disaster-ready position.

For example, Employee OUTPOST is a Houston-based company specializing in building Web-based communication “outposts” for businesses that are in trouble through a natural of man-made disaster. This site comes from Easterly & Company, the same people who brought us KatrinaPeopleSearch.com (and incidentally, Easterly offers communications and marketing services).

A press release in PDF describes what Employee OUTPOST offers. Especially interesting to me are two of their services: “Employers have the ability to contact employees using blast e-mail by text messaging (SMS)” and Graphical Mapping of employee contacts using Google maps.”

Hmm. Proactive rather than Reactive. Who would have thought this possible? 

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You would have to be living under a rock not to have heard about Dell’s recall of its laptop batteries. I did a quick Google News search and hundreds of stories popped up – literally extolling and scolding Dell for this problem that, in actuality, is a Sony problem – not Dell.

The pundits are already out. ABC news recently ran a story, “Has Dell Lost its Way?” in which the writer says:

‘Dell as poster child did a remarkably good job of getting in front of the problem, with open talk about where and how they think the Lithium Ion batteries failed and a Web site that made it dead simple to figure out if you had a conflagration-prone battery.”

“Yet questions persist. Why did Dell tell the media last month that the Japanese businessman's exploding Dell laptop was an isolated incident? Why did it take two solid years of laptop sales for Dell to identify the problem and do something about it?”

Regardless who takes the blame, I think Dell has a unique opportunity to improve its reputation. The ABC news story begins to talk about how Dell did a good job of facing the problem head-on, but what Dell can do with the immense task of receiving the goods, replacing batteries and shipping them back out, a timely basis, can be a huge PR fete for them.

I think this speaks to customer service in a different way than we usually see it – in that Dell can atone for its mistakes, but also can seize the opportunity to come out shining. I know Dell’s dollar per share price dropped dramatically at the end of last week, but we know these things are cyclical.

Dell can improve its image, don’t you think?

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The July issue of Business 2.0 had a really good article, “The 50 People Who Matter Now” that I think everyone should read.

Interesting mix of personalities – from politicians to business “name” to entertainers. Here are a few of my favorites:

·         Ben Bernanke – chairman, Federal Reserve Board. Stepping into Alan Greenspan’s shoes can’t be an easy task.

·         Bill Gates – what’s most interesting about his entry in the aricle is that it lists him (accurately) as “Benefactor of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.” He’s already started the transition process … let’s see how high profile he continues to be this time next year.

·         Steve Jobs of Apple – I guess any list with Bill Gates wouldn’t be complete without a mention of Steve Jobs. Business 2.0 calls him, “Easily the greatest marketer since P.T. Barnum.”

·         Janus Friis and Niklas Zennström – co-founders of Skype. With the recent news about security issues surrounding VoIP, the future of this still-new technology to most of us should be even more in the news this coming year.

Who are your favorites? Business 2.0 already received some reader feedback. One person, for example, indicated the absence of Thomas Friedman on the list, while another thought Comcast CEO Brian Roberts should have been included.

Let me know what you think and I'll post your suggestions.

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Have we become a society that only communicates via technology?

Here’s a twist on making technology work for today’s modern, connected society. A new story out of London reports that a young woman was “sacked” by her employer – but what makes the story compelling is how she was told: by text message on her cell phone!

According to the report: “Katy Tanner, a 21-year-old sales assistant, received the message while she was off work with a migraine. The text message said: ‘We will not require your services anymore ...Thank you for your time with us.’"

I wonder what Houston’s own Miss Manners would say about that?

The report continues: “Store director Ian Besbie added that the dismissal method was fair because texting was a part of ‘youth culture.’” Besbie: We are a youth business and our staff are all part of the youth culture that uses SMS (text) messaging as a major means of communication.”

Turns out the store handles tattoos and body piercing.

Although this example is somewhat satiric, I hope you get my point. We should make more of an effort to communicate in person versus mostly with technology. It’s like a friend of mine says, “What did we do before e-mail?” I usually respond, “We had Fedex.”

What do you think? Have we become a society exclusively mired in technology to communicate?

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I know we take technology for granted. We plug in, log on and expect it to always work – and be available at the same time.

Did you ever stop to think that not everyone has DSL, cable modem or even dial-up?

I opened up my new Inc. Magazine and found an interesting article, “Pioneering the Web’s Last Frontier: A Plan to get Rural Businesses Online” (the magazine is so new that the article isn’t even online yet – as soon as it is, I’ll provide the link). The article is about Brandon Spear, senior vp of operations for Quadrem, based in Plano, Texas. Quadrem is an online marketplace for buyers and suppliers of products and services used in the mining industry.

I think he, too, took the Internet for granted when he traveled to South Africa:

“Spear expected rural suppliers to be behind in terms of technology, but he didn’t realize that, in many cases, phone and fax machines were their only means of communication.”

It’s a rhetorical thought – of course – to imagine that the entire world is connected. Hey, the cable and wireless ads tout this, so don’t we all believe it?

As business leaders, we can make an impact by encouraging telecommunications providers to finally increase their infrastructures so that countries like those in Africa can get connected. If we’re supposed to be living in the global economy, then let’s start acting like it.

As business professionals, how do you think we can make more an impact? I’d like to hear your comments.

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I found an interesting item when I scanned the headlines in the business section of The Dallas Morning News. Seems that the Federal Trade Commission placed Houston ahead of Dallas in 2005 for the number of people in each metro area who filed complaints about identity theft.

However, according to a new study by Sperling’s Best Places, the Houston area ranks behind Dallas/Fort Worth based on various factors to determine the “riskiest” cities for ID Theft. Sperling considers 80 factors in four categories to determine the outcome. The four categories include the impact of technology, lifestyle risks, transaction habits and at-risk behavior.

Sounds kind of scientific, but whatever the outcome, the Houston-Baytown-Sugar Land area was ranked 22^nd out of the 50 metro areas. San Antonio was ranked 35^th, while Dallas came in at #13.

While experts can look at any factors they want to when figuring out what makes us tick and what constitutes “risky” behavior, I’ll say once again that we need to be more careful with our personal information, even if it means perhaps buying less stuff on the Internet and offering sensitive data to perfect strangers who seem legitimate.

Houston: Let’s try to curb our risk and rank even lower next year.

What do you think? Send me a comment.

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How many credit card applications do you receive on a weekly basis, and better yet, how many do your children receive?

The State of Texas recently did a good thing when Governor Perry signed two financial literacy laws. Both programs start this fall. The first one creates personal finance pilot programs for up to 25 school districts, while the other requires Texas high schools to make personal finance education a requirement for graduation from public high schools starting in the 2006-07 school year. That means high school freshmen who graduate four years from now will have financial education as a component of their education.

Some news reports say this education – including everything from learning about bankruptcy to credit card debt to investments – will be worked into a senior-level Economics class, while others believe it could encompass a “personal finance” stand-alone course.

Whatever the process – this is great – and high-time the state stepped up efforts to educate tomorrow’s leaders.

Of course, the state isn’t the first group to come up with this idea. Locally in Houston, for example, Kanaly Trust Company has its own Foundation for Financial Literacy, an effort to educate the public on personal finance and related issues.

I wish more organizations would take a page from companies and businesses like Kanaly. Imagine how much more financially savvy our children might be.

What do you think? Send me a note and we’ll start a conversation on this.

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Now that I’ve been writing FromGregsHead.com for a number of weeks (heck, months), I regularly scan the Web for stories about blogging. Hey – even I’m open to improvement!

Jupiter Research reports that 34 percent of large U.S. companies have a corporate blog, while another 35 percent will have one by year-end. However, a closer look reveals that “large” may be a misnomer: less than 6 percent of Fortune 500 companies blog on an ongoing basis.

Who’s doing all the blogging?

In an eMarketer article, Makovsky & Company commissioned Harris Interactive to figure this out. Harris Interactive asked 150 Fortune 1,000 senior executives for their opinions on blogs. Only 30 percent of the respondents even had a thorough understanding of the term "Internet blog." According to the article, this may shed some light on Jupiter's numbers; many businesses may think that their discussion forum, e-mail newsletter, intranet bulletin board, or other communication, constitutes a blog.

Of course, it doesn’t. A blog is a blog is a blog.

I’d like to hear your views – what do you think? Are you seeing more blogs and are you participating in these with comments? Send me a note.

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How satisfied are your customers? Do you really know how they feel about you and your product or service?

There was an interesting story on CFO.com the other day that spoke to the way technology blends with customer satisfaction surveys. GE Capital uses something they call the “Net Promoter Score:”

“NPS was developed by Fred Reichheld, founder of the customer-loyalty practice at consultancy Bain & Co. and author of the book The Ultimate Question. Although theologians and philosophers may beg to differ, the "ultimate question" turns out to be (with apologies to Sally Field): "Do you like me? Do you really like me?" Reichheld's influence on customer-centrism goes back a decade, when he co-authored (with Thomas Teal) a book titled The Loyalty Effect, which postulated that 10 percent of a company's customers create 50 percent of its profits. Keeping customers satisfied, happy, and loyal suddenly became the essential sentiment of every company's mission statement.”

Known as “Enterprise Feedback Management,” the article talks about how Internet technologies spawned EFM and its efficiency in understanding how the customer (or client) feels about you.

Can’t we just pick up the phone and ask the question? In a huge business with millions of customers, this probably isn’t going to happen without using technology to help the effort. However, I think a small business can do a whole lot of good by asking questions that might reflect customer satisfaction.

As to the nay-sayer who wants to remind me that customers will not be honest with their answers except to an institutionalized survey company … if you really knew your customers and they trust you – then it’s a no-brainer. Ask them how they feel!

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I posted a blog entry on June 21 about “fun” summer vacations – but clearly, not everyone is having fun.

Just yesterday, I heard a report on Good Morning America that Americans are awarded fewer vacation days than any other culture. Most notably, the French have an astounding 39 vacation days, while we have an average of only 14.

Still, I’ll take two weeks over two days any time, but can you really get away from it all? According to the GMA report, one in three vacationers reported they felt more stressed if they did not check their e-mail during their trips.

How can you de-stress your vacation? Taken from the GMA report, the author offers her views:

Identify a back-up. With productivity demands on workers today, it's very realistic to assume that some of your work will have to be addressed while you're away. Identify a colleague who'll serve as your back-up - brief him or her on any key issues and tasks, leave organized files and notes. Offer to reciprocate when that person goes on vacation. This buddy system will lessen the pile-up of work and will lessen any disruption in work flow.

Change greetings. Make sure your voicemail greeting and out-of-office e-mail greeting clearly state that you're on vacation with no access to messages. Offer an alternate colleague's contact information for any time-sensitive issues. And be sure to reiterate that you will not respond until you return. That way you don't have to worry that a client or contact is left uncared for — or thinks that you're just not responding.

Give contact info to one person. Don't tell everyone where you're going or how to reach you! Let one key person know where to get you if something urgent arises that requires your attention. Really get away — which means they don't call you, and you don't call them.

Set limits on work. If you're someone who just has to stay in touch, either because your boss expects it or because you want to, there's nothing wrong with checking email here and there — as long as you're not ruining your family's vacation. But if your phone is constantly ringing and you're clearly preoccupied with work, it's not fair to everyone else. I spent my 10-day Christmas vacation working the whole time because I had a deadline to meet, and I didn't realize how it was affecting my family until we got home and my daughter told someone that mommy worked the whole time. I'll never make that mistake again. It wasn't much fun for me, and clearly it wasn't good for my family either. They put up with my work schedule all year round. The least I can do is give them 10 days of fairly undivided attention while on vacation. We all owe that to ourselves and the people we love.  

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Ok - so not all of my blogs are serious and I'm not always on my soap box.

It's summer in Houston, which means hot-as-Hades weather … but it also means summer vacation. Those days when we can get away from the world of meetings, e-mail, reports, deadlines, e-mail, the phone, e-mail - well, you get the point.

Recently, I ran across a few Web sites with some good listings on the ideal summer vacation. See what you think and send back a comment on your own fun vacations or resources for others to view.

Summer Vacation: A-Z

Best Summer Vacation Cars (why drive something you usually drive?)

Coping With Summer Vacation

Saving on Summer Vacations

One Weird Summer Vacation (It's all here in North Carolina: Monster Truck Rides, Hillbillies and the Dinosaur Museum)

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The number of security breaches and stolen identities gets longer and longer all the time. Let's put it this way: You know the list is long when Web sites start to chronicle and categorize the number of incidents. Just ask the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse - they've put together a list of all incidents since the ChoicePoint incident of February 2005.

Who are we going to blame? The quick response is to blame the hackers who infiltrate our systems, but at second thought, I'd like to put partial blame on the backs of big business and government who have not spent enough time or resources on ensuring their systems are secure, or paid enough attention to their employees - a prime source of what we call the "inside job."

The breach on May 22 involving the Department of Veterans Affairs concerns some 26.5 million veterans whose IDs were put in jeopardy after an employee's laptop was stolen. The employee took the laptop home (unauthorized) and when the person's home was burgled, the laptop and its hard drive with the Veterans Affairs' records, was stolen.

I'm going to repeat that number: 26.5 million! However, a number is just a number. Compare that to the American Red Cross's breach of 1 million (check the Privacy Clearinghouse list again - it's toward the bottom on May 24). Although not nearly as large, the effect is still immense.

We can point fingers all day. At the end of the day, we need to be more responsible to our companies and ourselves to make sure we're doing everything we can to protect and ensure accuracy.

Who do you think should be held responsible for security and privacy breaches?

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Richard Scruggs' article from the Center for New Ventures & Entrepreneurship's May newsletter - "Lessons Learned From an Aggie Ring" - really hit home for me.

When was the last time you stopped and assessed your progress during a project or client/customer engagement?

Take a look at an excerpt of Richard's article:

"I wondered if we celebrate interim milestones enough. I wondered if managers remember the value of celebrating the little accomplishments that add up to success. I wondered if we all remember the how it feels to be told that you are on the right track, making good progress and we're confident you'll get to the goal.

"For 25 years I worked in project-oriented companies. I remember many end-of-project dinners, parties and happy hours. I remember very few mid-project celebrations. I remember mid-project get togethers that were more team building than celebration. I remember many interim events that were driven more by the staff than leadership.

"I know a lot of celebrating goes on in business. I'm also sure we can do more - especially celebrating interim accomplishments. It is important to let people know that they are on the right track, that they are making meaningful progress and that, while the goal may be a ways off, we know they will get there."

We're usually so wrapped up with expectations and outcome that we sometimes forget that an interim temperature check is just the remedy to ensure you're on the right track. More than that, it gives you time to change your processes and actions in case something is inaccurate or just plain wrong.

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Buried within Inc. magazine's recent report, "Boom Town '06," is a factoid of some interest. Our very own Sugarland ("Texas," for those who are not from around these parts) has the 4th highest percentage of adult residents with advanced educational degrees in the country.

Who would have guessed that to be the case?

In the story, coming in #1 was Washington, D.C. (26 percent of residents with advanced degrees), followed by Seattle (21 percent) and San Francisco (19.5 percent). Sugarland came in just behind the Bay City with 19.2 percent.

Makes sense to me. While Houston has some of the finest educational institutions around (Rice, for example), the fact is more significant and substantiated by the residents who live and work here. They, or rather "we" are here because of our local economy and national/international scope.

So if this is the case, then why don't we do a better job of promoting ourselves? When will we cease to be known as the city of Urban Cowboys and begin to be admired for our business marketplace, culture and lifestyle?

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I've heard of acting like a chicken, but not of "playing e-mail chicken."

In "The Last Word" on Inc.com, Leigh Buchanan describes e-mail chicken as a game that people play to try and gain control over the opponent, or in this case, the person they're sending the e-mail to. The objective of e-mail chicken is to constantly be on the attack by attempting to seize the last word from your opponent.

This form of guile is exercised quite often by the corporate minds of this world. This includes a CEO, who might try and take control of conversation by always having the last word. By responding in an e-mail with an explicit call to action, such as "Kindly get to that report by this afternoon," the CEO's message implies to the receiver of the message that he's not expected to reply, but should, instead, look for that report.

I believe this hit-and-run tactic that many people use only makes them appear as if they are playing games. These lunatics should focus on the paramount information at hand rather than antagonize their opponents. In most games, the object is to win with class and dignity.

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Now that all of us have had several years under our belts with regard to telecommuting, how has it fared for you and your organization?

a)It has made our business more productive
b)Our bottom line is about the same
c)I can't find my staff when I need them, therefore, they are probably spending too much time on their tans.

OK, so the "c" answer isn't really valid - or is it?

In our office, we have three staff who telecommute: Melissa Bland, our Recruiting & Retention manager; Sam Corona, senior associate of Consulting Solutions; and Alison Muecke, CPA, senior manager in our Tax Division.

I happen to work very closely with Sam, who isn't located in Houston … he's in El Paso! Without a camera on him 24/7, I really have no idea where he really is during the workday; all I know is that the work is getting done (and yes, Sam goes the extra mile each time).

Having said that, I think the first rule of telecommuting is TRUST - without a doubt. How can you hold people responsible and accountable to you and your organization if you can't trust them? With telecommuting comes a lot of pressure to perform, show up in person as often as you require and a host of other tasks.

Without trust, where are we?

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There's a new and very interesting article on Inc.com that reveals the results of a survey focusing on future M&A activity and joint ventures.

In a survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers, it seems 50+ percent of respondents in companies with annual revenue ranging from $5 million to $150 million believe joint ventures, strategic alliances, and acquisitions are critical in order to grow business and move into new markets.

However, that news comes with a proviso:

"Close to a majority of the 339 respondents also said they will not look to engage in any acquisition or merger activity in the foreseeable future, citing concerns over costs, lack of attractive business targets and unsuccessful post-merger integration."

Based on these responses, I can see their point, but on the other hand, if an entrepreneur is truly an "entrepreneur," then he or she is willing to take a risk.

With risk comes reward. What do you think?

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I saw an interesting story the other day in the Houston Business Journal regarding how Texas is the second highest center for IT jobs. According to a report released by the AeA Council:

The Lone Star State ranked second in the country in terms of jobs, with high-tech firms employing 435,400 Texans throughout the state. The industry also had a payroll of $31.5 billion in 2004, and high-tech workers earned an average salary of $72,300.

According to the report, high-tech manufacturing industry employment grew by 3,300 jobs between 2004 and 2005, the first growth since 2000.

Sounds good to me, but let's put our money where our employment is by spreading the word on how great the state is in providing high-tech work. We can do this by re-emphasizing our commitment to local resources and, on a larger scale, international relations.

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A recent article in Inc. magazine caught my eye, especially because it deals with privacy.

Jeff Bedard, CEO of Crown Laboratories, saw a 30 percent increase in his company's healthcare bill during the past year. Reflecting on what could occur to turn around this trend, he came up with a new wellness program designed to reward employees for better health:

"Each worker is required to get an annual on-site health assessment. Based on a number of indicators--including blood pressure, weight, physical activity, and cholesterol levels--the individuals are given a "wellness number" of up to 24. Those who improve their scores by at least three points a year, or maintain a score of 20 or more, will get a $500 bonus and extra days off."

Smoking is another one of his pet peeves, to the extent that he wants employees to begin paying for their own premiums if they do not stop smoking:

"Smoking is now officially against Crown policy--even during off-hours--and nicotine levels are measured in the health assessment. Smokers have until January 2007 to kick the habit. If they don't, they'll have to start paying their own health insurance premiums."

I value my privacy as much as anyone, and yet I also think it's interesting to make people accountable for their health. How accountable and how far can we go? The Inc. article lacked depth in that area, but how do you feel? Let's begin a dialog on this very important issue. Send me an e-mail or submit a Comment and we'll post it.

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Here's a thought about being mobile.

Not "mobile" in the sense that you can connect wirelessly and remotely, but "mobile" based on a new study by SustainLane.com in an article from the Houston Business Journal.

Seems Houston is a middle-of-the-road city (#25) when it comes to its ability to survive in our world of high gas prices.

#1? New York City. Go figure. They have a subway.

#50? Oklahoma City. Enough said.

SustainLane.com based its evaluations on how mobile the city is in terms of public transportation and the ability to move people from one place to another:

"The top cities in SustainLane.com's ranking boast strong public transportation networks, which would allow citizens to commute to jobs and schools, as well as do their shopping, if car travel is not affordable. Farther down the list, however, rank cities whose commuters would be stranded, grinding the local economy to a halt. The ranking also takes into account factors such as access to locally grown fresh food and robust wireless networks for telecommuting."

Houston has a Light Rail System, but it only extends throughout a certain portion of the city. Proposed plans are the works for expansion, but it might be years before something's actually done.

I don't mind being in the middle, but isn't it time our city leaders did something about this? Last time I filled up at the pump, it was agonizing, yet we can't live without our cars. Or can we?

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"Trust is earned. If you can do that, people will share more data, which in turn leads to better data."

When I read this statement by Larry Poneman of the Poneman Institute, I immediately thought, "What kind of Pollyanna world is this guy living in?"

Poneman's insights were detailed in "Insights and Privacy," a recent article by Michael Risse, General Manager of Midmarket Business in the US Small & Midmarket Solutions & Partners Group for Microsoft.

Michael writes:

"It is one of the great paradoxes of technological society. At the same time we have enacted laws designed to keep information private (such as HIPAA for the healthcare industry and Graham-Leach-Bliley for the financial services industry), we have also enacted laws designed to make certain information public (such as Sarbanes-Oxley).

Customers like personalization but will only submit to it after you've developed a relationship with them. A similar paradox extends into your customer relationships. To give customers better service and to develop better product offerings, you need to know more about their preferences. But even though customers want better service, they may be loath to give you personal information."

He then introduces Poneman, who offers his insight on segmenting U.S. consumers into three categories: privacy-centric (15 percent), privacy-sensitive (65 percent) and privacy complacent (20 percent).

Poneman: "The complacent don't care much; the sensitive will stop doing business with a company if something truly awful or offensive has transpired. But, perhaps most important, the privacy-centric will stop shopping at a particular store if there's a privacy breach.

Ok - I'll buy that rationalization as long as he can back it up, which he does:

"There is a high, though not a one-to-one, correlation between the privacy-centric and high-income demographics—presumably because they have more to lose. It may be only 15 percent of consumers overall, but if it's 30 percent of your customers, not honoring their wishes and treating their privacy according could represent a lot of lost business."

How do you feel about this? Working in a service industry with access to client information, we are always diligent in maintaining confidentiality of our client's information. As technology integration increases, we will continue to see challenges in this area.

Good food for thought. If we sold widgets, we'd be more concerned about privacy, but we sell our services, which brings with it a whole new set of criteria.

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One of our most esteemed contemporaries in accounting and consulting is David Maister. I enjoy his blog immensely and think you will, too, because it hits on tons of current issues within the business environment - topics many of us are afraid to touch or read about for fear WE are the ones he's talking about!

For example, his blog from April 9 called "Passion, People and Principles" covers what you should do if you are assigned work in which the task or outcome is unclear or confusing.

I don't know about you, but this happens all the time!

David offers 11 remedies, and there's something for just about every situation.

Check it out.

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I listened to a fantastic presentation from Strong Data this afternoon. Best of the day.

Strong skills from the presenter - he was passionate and knew his topics very well. An easy to understand idea, and a thorough analysis on the costs of entering the market. From this presentation I was particularly impressed with two items. First, their command of the industry and the barriers to entry was very good. Second, I was impressed with their industry contacts and their ability to make inroads with industry experts at some of the largest financial institutions in the country.

Interesting sidenote: Identity theft is something with little barrier. I know someone who recently had their debit card number stolen and used. The theft took place in NYC, but the person was in Texas. And, they managed to take more funds than was in the person's account. I didn't think you could do that! Maybe an inside job? Good idea.

Joker Enterprises
I just listened to a great bar discussion. Aside from the idea of pushing online gambling in Texas and Louisiana - and I agree it's a huge possible market - the legal, political and operational issues are huge. No one in the management team has any experience in either the bar or casino markets. IMHO, politically this plan is DOA at any state level. In fact, I know someone who used to be an Attorney General for a state who oversaw statewide gaming issues. The political and lobbying efforts aside from operational oversight are too numerous to issue.

Quite frankly I was disappointed in the gloss-over approach to the question of legality. I suspect they would spend $2 million or more to litigate the idea, and by then something else will have become available for online players.

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Renovus
This product is for folks with Ostony needs. What a messy subject to talk about before lunch! I thought the students did a great job of presenting their case for a need in the market. All of the presenters were very good and I was impressed with their case. I loved the identification of the problem and their overview of the solution. This team was very tight and on their "A" game.

Samplesaint
Interesting concept for sampling consumers regarding their desires. Also a great "push" technology for pushing coupons to the consumer. I was surprised by the comments about the competitors and the broad base of competition. By staying within the minority communities the presenters hope they can get there first and then exit quickly on the backend.

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Internet Security Company made a presentation on a device that they believe will help protect your computer for all the bad software that's out there. Some issues I have were that the team was not sharp in presenting a compelling story for the device. Quite frankly, the group of people in Houston that are familiar with the computer and security industry is pretty extensive. Some of the judges were very disappointed with the lack of depth and technical understanding of how/when consumers might buy the device.

Finally, I saw almost no discussion about the future per Microsoft and whether this product makes it with new versions of their software.

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I am in Judge Group 6 and our respective companies are as follows:

Glucose
Internet Security Company
Renovus
Samplesaint
Strong Data
Joker Enterprises

We are sitting in Room 212 and with my broadband access card I am able to do a real time update for the Blog on Rice Business Plan. As usual the facilities and logistics here at the Jones School on the Rice campus are outstanding. As a judge and long time supporter of the Rice Alliance, our facilities are second to none. I hope the students find the judges feedback "real world."

GlucoCor
Kicked off the session first thing this morning. This company has an idea about testing glucose levels for diabetics with a chip implanted under the skin for continuous monitoring of the glucose levels. I was impressed with the identification of a need for better and more consumer friendly testing. The speakers were nervous, but the financial guy was on his game and gave one of the best presentations on investment need, investor payback and how and when the funds will be used. I suspect my fellow judges will give similar comments on speakers. It might have been a distraction to the overall plan.

Internet Security Company
A device to make spy ware, malware, etc. less of an issue. More in a moment...

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I was able to see some of tomorrow's presenters a day early. The presentations were very good and I was impressed with what I saw. I hope the students are able to take advantage of the feedback they received.

Some things you see consistently in these presentations: nervous presentations, speaking to the presentation screen and not the audience, assuming everyone understands the respectively jargon and failure to understand structure of the deal for investors.

The evening's sessions went very well as well. I was very impressed with the student teams I met. I wish them all the best of luck.

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I don't know how you feel about it, but I'm pretty much incensed about what's going on with Google and the requests from the government for its search records.

An Associated Press story from last week stated that a federal judge intends to order Google to turn over some of its Internet records to the U.S. Justice Department, but the judge "expressed reservations about requiring the company to divulge some of its most sensitive data — the actual requests that people enter into its popular search engine."

What's going on here? I thought we lived in the USA?

There are many differing reasons the government wants these records - everything from monitoring terrorist activity to protecting our youth from online predators. While I applaud the need to protect our nation and our children, does this mean that the government can request other companies to turn over their records as well? Must right-wing groups turn over their membership records? Must video rental stores give their customer's rental habits/

You get the point.

Bottom line: There are certain freedoms we experience and these should not be compromised. Meanwhile, I am disappointed we can't find a way to resolve this without compromising our liberties.

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Friday Update
Well, I visited with Doug Burgum and got the lowdown on the future of Microsoft Dynamics NAV.
He said its all the rage …
Just kidding, fellow Dynamics consultants.

I attended Doug's keynote session and was pleased with what I saw and heard regarding the future for Microsoft Dynamics. A $500 million advertising and air cover campaign is about to be unleashed. They also showed us some of the early work on the product, which is directed at creating branding and awareness of the Dynamics brand. I thought it was pretty good work.

During a lighthearted part of his talk, Doug was in charge of rumor control and pointed out some falsehoods and corrections to various "rumors" floating out there. It's nice to see a senior executive who doesn't get too full of himself.

Doug opened and closed his presentation with a warm "Thank You" to all the folks who have been working hard to make MBS a success.

South Central Region Reception
I made it over to the Hyatt to attend the reception for the South Central Region, and found out when I got there that it was a little bigger than the South Central Region ... it turned out to be the whole Central Region. I met several Microsoft Partners and Microsoft Team members, and we all had a good time visiting and learning more.

I looked across the room and who do I see? Doug Burgum and Todd Cione from the Central Region visiting with partners.

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Well, I am here at Convergence and it seems that every year Microsoft sets a new attendance record. Sitting in the community lounge area, I noted that this year we are expecting in excess of 7,000 attendees at Convergence. That's up from a little less than 4,000 attendees in 2003.

Some things are better organized, and as you might expect some are not. Check-in was a breeze thanks to some smart thinking, but when a young lady directed me to open portal, things went amiss. Poor marks to the signage and coordination folks, who had some people going in two directions to hear the kickoff session this morning.

Listening to the speakers this morning - Jeff Young, Tami Reller and Satya Nadella - I was impressed with what I saw and heard concerning the Microsoft Dynamics product line and the future investments that are coming down the line. As a Navision reseller, (oops, Dynamics NAV reseller), I was pretty jazzed, but what is coming in version 5.0 of NAV product? Pretty cool stuff and something that I know our clients will like to see and use.

The kickoff Dynamics NAV session this morning with Mogens Elsberg (product manager) and Kim Ibfelt, was great. I saw some additional features of 5.0 up close and I was impressed. Lots of features and role-based activity coming to the user community. And, the interaction with Office is going to be fantastic! I know our clients will love it.

I also heard some great news today that some time in the past 30 days, NAV sold its 1 millionth concurrent session for end users. That's a great milestone for the NAV product … and NAV continues to be the number one seller in the Dynamics product group.

Well I have to leave now to go hear the Dynamics guru himself, Doug Burgum, pontificate about the future. This is usually pretty entertaining stuff. Later, the South Central Microsoft Business Partner group is holding a reception and I must stop by to see what tidbits they offer.

Stay tuned, and yes, Gates will be demonstrating Dynamics NAV 5.0 on Monday!

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I'm truly sick and tired of being outplaced, displaced and replaced by the Blackberry.

Who isn't? The fast and the furious who constantly have to check their Blackberry (or Treo or PocketPC) for the latest string of endless e-mails … the same ones who interrupt a conversation with you to look down to see who's calling.

There's a place for people like this - and it isn't in my circle of life.

Loren Steffy, business columnist for the Houston Chronicle, recently had an excellent article on this topic and some advice on the symptoms and remedy:

"I, too, was wired to the world, messages zapping into my waistband every few seconds. I walked with one hand hovering over my hip, ready to draw forth my BlackBerry at the first vibration like some e-mail cowboy. Friends, even family, rarely commanded my full attention. Every conversation was punctuated with glances toward the messages I held in my palm.

I left all that behind almost two years ago, when I joined the Chronicle and cast off my electronic harness. I quit cold turkey."

I certainly understand the need to feel in touch with your business and personal life, but we could all benefit if more of us simply followed the rules of common courtesy!

Have I made my point clear, or do I have to send a text message?

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Ok - maybe not 101 ways, but I've been thinking that ID Theft isn't going away any time soon. If you have become a "victim" of ID Theft, you have my condolences.

Seems you can't turn on any of the evening talk shows without an everyday person like you and me talking about how his or her identity was stolen - not because the person was negligent or careless with the information (after all, when was the last time YOU left your credit card in plain sight for a stranger's quick glance?) - but usually unbeknownst to the person until it was too late.

We know ID Theft wreaks havoc on your credit report, but did you know you could spend months and years repairing the damage done by someone using your Social Security Number without your knowledge?

Here are two very useful resources from the Federal Trade Commission for prevention and detection:
*"Remedying the Effects of Identity Theft"
*"What To Do If Your Personal Information Has Been Compromised"

In future blogs, I'll offer more resources and observations about the role of accounting and ID Theft/security fraud.

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Welcome back to the top issues affecting accounting firms and the clients we serve. As promised, here are my thoughts on two more of the American Institute of CPAs' Top 10 Technologies:

#3: Disaster and Business Continuity Planning - While disaster recovery has always been important, most business executives felt like the cost of this "insurance" outweighed the benefits.

However, as we have seen in the post-9/11 world, disaster recovery should be at the forefront of every CEO's or business owner's game plan. We have to be prepared for any type of disaster that may strike our cities and businesses. And, as we have seen in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, natural disasters can be as devastating as those caused by terrorists.

#8: Application and Data Integration - We have many new applications and software tools that allow us to work with a multitude of solutions. The process of developing standards for data mining and sharing of information can help us do more with the tools that we have everyday.

Share with me your own thoughts about these technologies - how do they affect you and your organization?

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Understanding how technology affects the delivery of accounting and consulting services is not only good for firms; it's good for clients too.

A more informed and educated client or customer = a higher value placed on the services it receives from professional services organizations, including accounting firms.

The American Institute recently released its list of Top 10 Technologies for 2006 - and to no one's great surprise, Information Security was once again #1 - for the fourth consecutive year!

Why such continued interest in security? As the always-on wired world continues to grow and become more a part of our daily lives, security and confidentiality become exposed much more often.

However, this vulnerable state also creates opportunities for those who seek to exploit these new venues by creating significant revenue opportunities. I know of at least a dozen folks who experienced some form of identity theft or piracy of information.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg …. Take a look at the rest of the Top 10 list:

1.Information Security
2.Assurance & Compliance Applications
3.Disaster & Business Continuity Planning
4.IT Governance
5.Privacy Management
6.Digital Identity and Authentication Technologies
7.Wireless Technologies
8.Application and Data Integration
9.Paperless Digital Technologies
10.Spyware Detection and Removal

Through the year, I'll continue to bring you more information on the Top 10, and in fact, stay tuned for Wednesday's blog when I cover Disaster Recovery and Data Integration.

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The Texas A&M Center for New Ventures & Entrepreneurship (CNVE) recently completed its 2005 Fundraising Survey of Texas companies seeking capital. Richard Scruggs, executive director of the CNVE, has made this survey available for the public.

This is a statewide survey, and several organizations across Texas participated in the information-gathering process. The survey is intended to provide the leaders of young companies with a foundation from which to build their capital-seeking efforts. Successful and unsuccessful companies, and their representatives, were contacted to provide the background on their results.

Some key findings include the following attributes:

*A formal board of directors is an attribute for success.
*Investors continue to fund deals/industries with which they are comfortable.
*Participation in an incubator was helpful, but a not a clear indicator of success.

Additional insight can be gained from reading the entire report. It's a free download.

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As most readers know, we launched the blog only a few short weeks ago, and thanks to industry insiders like Larry Bodine, we are grateful for the continuous coverage we are receiving. I espcially wanted to single out Larry and his Professional Marketing Blog - with a very special "thank you" to him for covering us.

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To upgrade or not to upgrade … a question clients, customers and even my co-workers ask me on a very frequent basis.

In its February issue, Inc. magazine examines the pros and cons of what it refers to as "upgrade madness:"

"The price tag for licensing a new version of a software product isn't the only cost to consider. A midsize company upgrading its financial or customer relationship management software might have to slog through a year's worth of information technology headaches to get the job done."

"Among the hassles: the bugs that invariably appear; the loss of all the customization performed on the old version; and the incompatibilities between the software and other types of software you might be running."

Good points, but I think the KEY point is to upgrade on a case by case basis. Not everyone needs to upgrade every time a new release comes out.

However, you NEVER want to drop maintenance because of the downside. It's really going to cost you time and money down the road if you ever do upgrade to new features. And in the case of Microsoft's business applications, a common code base is coming sometime in the next 2-3 years. Users will want the option of looking at the new code base when it makes sense.

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I'm on my soapbox again about Houston and Harris County's lack of Wi-Fi hotspots.

According to JiWire, not only did the number of worldwide Wi-Fi Hotspots surpass the 50,000 milestone in 2005 (with hotels and other location types that cater to the business traveler as the largest contributors), but the number increased by 100 percent!

This is more than a fad or trend … it's the way of doing business. With the technological innovations so prevalent in Houston, why can't we match and even beat the number of Wi-Fi hotspots in other cities?

Where are Houston's hotspots? Respond to the blog with your comments and share your thoughts.

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How do you define "success" in your organization?

An interesting new white paper, "10 Keys for Project Success" from Retail Process Engineering crossed my desk the other day - and made me pause a moment. When was the last time you even thought about how to make a project more successful - especially in technology-related activities?

We're all so busy building our business and meeting our deadlines that it's hard to stop and justify measuring the process, much less figuring out ways to make it better. However, two of the paper's suggestions caught my attention:

1.Prepare for the Inevitable - you've got to plan ahead and anticipate the blips that make up our daily lives. After all, when was the last time you started your day with a pre-defined agenda and actually accomplished everything on the page without interruption, diversion or a complete departure from the list?

2.Gain User Acceptance With Change Management - boy is this ever true! The paper says, "The project team needs to move users from one comfort zone to another," and I totally agree. When your organization changed its systems to improve your processes, did you actually stop to think about the users of your systems and software versus the bottom line? Too often, we're caught up trying to bring more efficient ways to manage our productivity, but more often than not, we forget that we have to influence the "people" perhaps more than any other factor.

Let me know what you think about these 10 keys, and what your own solutions might be … I'll post them in a future blog.

Note: You need to register as a user for Technology Evaluation.com to view the document. Once you register, search for the white paper.

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Recently, the Houston Business Journal had a great article emphasizing how we should all plan for the unexpected "bumps" in life - and this case, being late to a very important appointment. Laura Laaman, one of the HBJ's writers, summed it up perfectly:

We're all human, and we all make mistakes. The best of the best sales people and business people, however, plan for the unexpected. Sure they want to make the most of every minute, but they weigh the upside of spending a few more minutes doing whatever seems important with the downside of possibly being late.

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