As Blockchain technology finds it’s way into myriad industries, the potential for accounting and regulated business sectors is ripe for mass adoption.  This will also become a valuable tool for nonprofits to validate their income to expense ratios.  The trustless and immutable nature of a distributed ledger will transform the ease by which regulatory agencies verify audits.  This will eventually become adopted and divert working capital from non-revenue generating accounting and compliance expenses toward areas such as marketing, innovation, debt reduction and reduction of the cost of capital.  To read a Deloitte Whitepaper on this topic, Click Here.  CFO’s, Controllers…

In the January 31st, 2018 report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, regional compensation and benefit cost increases are explained.  Chicago area wage and benefit increases are within national averages.  We are seeing increasing willingness for small to mid size companies in the Chicago area raise their target compensation levels for Controller and similar level positions.  Continuing a trend in Illinois, government worker wage and benefit increases exceed those in private sectors.  For the BLS report Click Here

In a recent report published by the National Association of Business Economics, they found an increase in predicted hiring in coming months while companies expecting downsizing held steady.  This among other factors we believe will be a pressure that will finally begin to drive wage increases.  For more information on the report Click Here.  This reinforces the public sentiment of higher wage expectations as reported on January, 16th by Bloomberg.

To pile it onto an already hostile and competitive industry, Illinois saw fit to add undue reporting burdens to certain sectors of the staffing industry.  The original version was even worse, but the final bill signed by Governor Rauner is still bad and put’s the state in yet another competitive disadvantage. For the full article go to https://www2.staffingindustry.com/site/Editorial/Daily-News/New-Illinois-law-imposes-more-legal-requirements-on-staffing-agencies-The-Staffing-Stream-43894

Torrey & Gray is a recruiting and staffing firm in the Chicago area that has expertise recruiting professionals for CECL, Risk Modeling and other finance related positions for financial services organizations.  In this article from the ABA Banking Journal, the potential effects of the upcoming Current Expected Credit Loss standard (CECL) is explored from several viewpoints. As with past regulatory reporting requirements, a significant amount of time and resources may be needed to effectively capture and assemble the data needed by banks to begin the process.  The requirement may impact smaller banks more adversely as their cost of obtaining reliable…

For those willing and able to work on temporary positions for disaster relief efforts in hurricane struck areas of the United States, here is information from the Federal Emergency Management Agency: Thank you for your interest in helping survivors of Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma. When disaster strikes, America looks to FEMA to support survivors and first responders in communities all across the country. We are currently seeking talented and hard-working people to help support the response and recovery efforts. Immediate temporary jobs are available in several locations. (updated on 9/20/17) Please read the full job announcement by clicking on the…

They are here – Millennials may comprise more than 50% of the workforce by 2020.  Unemployment is continuing to inch down.  What are you doing to prove to Millennials that you are worthy to have them come work for you?  One small public accounting firm chronicles an innovative (well, it has been around for at least 25 years) way to  increase career awareness at the high school level.  Before the Big 4 campus recruit away all the top talent, before their name brand is all students see at campus recruiting events, before they even decide to NOT pursue a degree…

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported an increase in Temporary Staffing and a relatively low unemployment rate of 4.4% (only 2.4% for college level education required positions).  Overall penetration of temporary staffing in the workforce is remaining above 2% and is expected to continue to rise. All of these factors will at some point lead to wage increases.  Wage increases to keep employees, wage increases to lure top talent away from their current employer.  It has taken a very long time, but employers of all sizes are beginning to realize that it may take a little more compensation to attract…

Here is a good article from my colleague Crystal Blackwell.  Click Here to read her article.