Strategy and Business – A Fresh Look at the New Year

A member of my family recently asked me, ‘Are you done with school….FOR GOOD?’.  It was one of those questions slash statements that is not intended to receive an answer.  In 2013, I made the decision to earn a Masters of Accountancy degree.  I already have my MBA, but I wanted something more and focused on accounting.  The masters of accountancy degree is intended to refresh my skills and to provide me with the required credentials to teach university level accounting as an adjunct some day in the future.  What was amazing about the experience is how much has changed in accounting.  There is a much greater focus on tax and compliance.  The new class of students are graduating with noticeably different profile than when I graduated from college.  Once again, education proves its value and benefits.    Stay tuned for articles and professional development topics.  Oh.. and my answer to the family member, nope!  I will never be finished studying and learning.  There is too much to gain and to enjoy in the process.

Best regards,

Randy

http://www.strategy-business.com/blog/The-Keys-to-Leadership-Your-Brain-and-My-Grandmother

The Advantages and Benefits of Professional Association Memberships

For many that belong to a professional association, they often take advantage of nothing more than listing the organization at the bottom of their resume.  There are reasons for this…..many of these people are incredibly busy with their careers.   They might be starting their first job, getting promoted into a more demanding position, or traveling a large percentage of the time.   I’ve heard others use these reasons.  I include myself in this group.  From my perspective, there is no harm done by varying ones levels of participation in an association.  It is only natural as one progresses through their career.  I do recommend maintaining key memberships to associations that are relevant to your professional and industry skills.   The world is rapidly changing and it doesn’t take long to fall out of touch with what is happening in your profession.  If you maintain your membership on an on-going basis, the odds are much higher that your participation will increase over time simply by being easily accessed.

For working professionals who want to expand their knowledge of their industry and develop new skills, joining a professional association can be a great way to do it. There are endless associations and sub-associations focused on your professional discipline.  Examples being:

• Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)
• The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA)
• American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA)
• American Marketing Association (AMA)
• The American Institute of Architects (AIA)
• AITP – Association for Information Technology Professionals (AITP)
• the list goes on and on

These organizations can be beneficial for both career and personal development, and they can help you stay on top of what’s happening in your industry.  The advantages and benefits are endless!   I’ve read lots of articles recently that highlights benefits such as training materials, networking, national publications, professional development and certifications (one of my favorites), etc.     Here is one of the best lists that I found (“From the Office”, Michael Taylor, USECA Newsletter, August 2003)

• Large and prestigious organizational connections
• Access to the leadership in the industry
• Professional networking at local, regional, national, and international levels
• National publications
• Opportunity to attend Regional Conferences and National Congresses
• National, regional, and local seminars, workshops, and symposiums
• Professional Certification opportunities
• Web Sites – resources about the industry on the Internet
• Published and Internet Job Listings; service for members to post their resumes
• National and Local Awards and Honors • Programmatic Accreditation for colleges and universities
• Discounted merchandise rates
• Apprenticeship and Intern Programs

The article encourages you to ask yourself the following questions when choosing an association:

What are you hoping to accomplish?

Is this about furthering your career? Is this about growing your business?

Is it a social objective, or is it truly a professional objective?

I encourage you to belong to at least two organizations, one that will keep your skills “fresh” professionally and one to keep you connected locally or within your industry.    Nearly all associations will provide you with an endless stream of information (tweets, chats, on-line groups, discussions, etc).  At some point, you will find yourself reading their publications, attending a national conference, or joining a local networking happy hour.  I have used the Institute of Management Accounts national publications to get ideas for training topics for my staff at regional meetings.   I forward electronic newsletters from the American Associate of Public Accountants to peers when a topic is relevant to our business.   You will be surprised how easy it is to be active and to benefit from your membership.  You will gain professionally, and if your lucky, your company will reimburse you the membership fees if relevant to your role with the company.   Spoken like a true accountant.

Be Active!

Best,

Randy

Randy Moreau of the "Moreau" Doctrine

Establishing a New “Doctrine” — Our platform to share learnings

One of my favorite quotes is “To teach is to learn twice” by Joseph Joubert (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Joubert).    As of recent, I have been teaching myself a new set of professional skills and discovering that my friends and colleagues have a lot of teachings to share with me.   In our busy lives, we often have little time to keep up with our professional and personal development ambitions.  It has always been my intent and goal to share information with those that could benefit from the knowledge.   So as I “learn twice”, I plan to deposit these learnings in this blog for those interested in reading, commenting, debating, or expanding upon the topics.

The blog postings are not intended to be authoritative, but more preferably informative.   As I seek and stumble upon ideas on how to develop new professional skills, tap into career resources, current topics of interest, and ideas for improvement, I will share them in this blog.  The subjects will gravitate towards subjects that I feel most comfortable, such as:

• the accounting profession (on-going education, professional designation, and current topics)
• international business (ANYTHING that shows how the world is connected through commerce)
• professional development tools, tricks, and recommendations for any profession

If you have something to add, PLEASE do share via the comments or a blog entry.

I found the first challenge in setting up a blog was choosing a name for it.   I was about to choose one of my cheesy names that I had thought up, when it occurred to me to ask others on Facebook.   From the least likely source, a sister of a good friend recommended, The “Moreau” Doctrine.  It was the first and one of the best names to be posted.   Thank you Morelia!  Of course, I needed to research what the doctrine was about in the event that it was not something that is suitable for a blog name.  Funny enough, the key objective of the Monroe doctrine was to stop the colonization of the  “Americas” (North and South America) by European countries, and the promise of the USA to not interfere with other European colonies. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monroe_Doctrine).   Aside form the phonetic play on my last name is was fitting that the doctrine was focused on Latin America, a place that is key to my professional and personal being.   More on this in future blogs.

I’ll close with one of the many definitions of the word doctrine.

Doctrine (Latin: doctrina) is a codification of beliefs or “a body of teachings” or “instructions”, taught principles or positions, as the body of teachings in a branch of knowledge or belief system. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctrine

The Moreau Doctrine is our platform to share learnings and instructions in support of a belief that one must continuously expand his or her professional and personal learnings.

Randy Moreau

Randy Moreau of The "Moreau" Doctrine