Doug's “Just Thinking”

By Douglas H. Thompson, Jr., CPA
President and CEO, CPAmerica International
Read Doug's biography (13KB, PDF)

7/1/2008: We have three choices – Improve and grow, merge or sell, or die/downsize; Most CPAmerica members have heard me make this statement for at least 15 years. It applies to our firms, to all business entities and to CPAmerica. My choice? It's "Improve and Grow" at least 80 percent of the time when I work with our members on consulting engagements.; Read the full story.

6/1/2008: Amazing numbers at large Southeast firm; CPAmerica president Douglas H. Thompson, Jr., CPA, discusses wide-ranging topics of interest to CPAs.; Read the full story.

5/1/2008: Good times for CPA Mutual: Surplus increased 28% in three years; CPAmerica president Douglas H. Thompson, Jr., CPA, shares his thoughts on wide-ranging topics.; Read the full story.

4/1/2008: Recruiting – Some good news; CPAmerica President Douglas H. Thompson, Jr., CPA, shares his views on a wide range of topics.; Read the full story.

3/1/2008: Don’t be ‘vished’ in 2008; CPAmerica CEO shares wide-ranging thoughts on a variety of subjects.; Read the full story.

2/1/2008: E-mail overload? Try ‘no e-mail Fridays’; The average American professional spends 40 percent of the day dealing with e-mail. Unless we can learn to conquer the glut of e-mail in our inbox, our productivity – and the productivity of those who work with us – will significantly decrease. And, our stress will continue to increase.; Read the full story.

1/1/2008: Set your improvement goals now for 2008; Have you, individually, and your firm as a team, adopted your goals for continued improvement and success in 2008? Do you have a vision of where you want to be one year from now? A vision is a dream. A dream is an idea. A goal is a dream with a deadline.We must dream and set goals if we want to improve. Few things happen by accident.; Read the full story.

12/1/2007: May God bless us, everyone; 'Tis the season to be jolly and write my holiday column as has been my tradition now for 20 years. This year, I'm going to focus on A Christmas Carol and its wonderful two main characters – Tiny Tim and Ebenezer Scrooge. Dickens' story is universal and can be appreciated by everyone, regardless of their religious affiliation.; Read the full story.

11/1/2007: Thoughts for a happy, fulfilling work life: Be careful what others may tell you; There’s an entire army of so-called "life and career coaches" making a killing on naïve, midlife career changers. These people tell their gullible audiences, "Go for your dream! Give it all you've got! You can do it!" They offer quick, often not very deep, motivation fixes to some of life's biggest challenges. Sorry, from my over 40 years in the work place, there are few, if any, quick fixes or formulas for instant success. Nine times out of 10 – no, make that 99 times out of 100 – the only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.; Read the full story.

10/1/2007: A fishing paradise in Southwest Florida; If one believes that "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the number of experiences that take our breath away," my son Scott and I had a "take your breath away" experience on Father's Day weekend on Pine Island, 10 miles north of Fort Myers, Fla.; Read the full story.