THE NEW YORK TIMES published an interesting story this week on the actions that the Big 4 are taking to build “climate and carbon shops” here in the USA.

Ernst &  Young, Deloitte, KPMG, and PwC have established practices in Europe to help companies deal with greenhouse gas regulation.  The Big 4 see huge opportunities in the USA to build business should the USA adopt Climate Law.

 It is believed that business associated with environmental consulting in the Big 4 “could one day rival tax compliance and financial disclosure in size and scope”.

Read the article at http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2009/07/07/07climatewire-the-big-four-of-accounting-will-be-among-the-77758.html?pagewanted=1.

Workforce Management published today a revealing article on the strategies that USA businesses are deploying in using temporary executives “to make difficult decisions” in today’s challenging economy.

According to Workforce Management’s New York bureau chief Jessica Marquez, experts are citing a growing trend where, in hard times, firms want executives “who can make difficult decisions and not worry about relationships”. 

Read more about this trend and personal stories from three professionals with experience in working as “temporary executives” at http://www.workforce.com/archive/feature/26/46/49/index.php.

The June 2009 issue of CFO magazine hit the DARTON offices last Friday and we were especially curious to read one of the featured cover stories.

The subject?

Financial consulting firms and how they regard the finance department as a “still-warm, if not hot, target for their services, thanks to the slimming down most departments have endured”.

According to Derek Smith, director of research for Kennedy Consulting Research and Advisory http://www.kennedyinfo.com, services specific to CFOs are the “bright spots” for firms like Accenture, Ernst & Young, and many smaller ones. 

That being said, it is critical for businesses to deploy best practices when using financial consultants.  Team DARTON fully agrees with the following tips for CFOs/project owners as highlighted in the article:

1. Structure projects to make consultants’ time as efficient as possible
2. Provide a clear sense of direction or tangible achievements
3. Select the best consultant for the job
4. Crisply define the tasks to be accomplished
5. Break tasks into independent phases so that spending can be turned off at any point
6. Rely on internal staff to monitor and streamline the process

To learn more best practices and the five-year forecast of consulting services growth, click here: http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/13691549/c_13720245?f=magazine_featured

Visit www.dartongroup.com for more information on DARTON and our highly experienced team of finance/accounting project and interim professionals.

A friendly reminder from team DARTON…

The next monthly meeting of Charlotte Business Professionals is scheduled for Tuesday, June 30th at Andrew Blair’s Restaurant (located at 1600 Montford Drive just around the corner from the DARTON office).

The face-to-face meetings of Charlotte Business Professionals offer a great opportunity for DARTON consultants to expand their existing networks beyond the traditional finance/accounting organizations in greater Charlotte.

For more information on the next meeting, click here:  http://www.charlottebp.com/corporate/headlines/date-set-for-next-cbp-meeting.html

If you have not yet signed up for a FREE membership at the newly launched website for Charlotte Business Professionals, click here:  http://www.charlottebp.com/community/registers

For more information on Andrew Blair’s, click here:  http://www.andrewblairs.com/

Today’s “Neighbors” section of The Charlotte Observer (06.21.09) features a front page story on Twitter (and other social media tools).  Written by journalist Esther Robards-Forbes, the story illustrates how people in the Charlotte area are using social media tools to benefit businesses, government and communities.

Mark Weber, DARTON GROUP co-founder, is quoted in the article as follows:

“The chances to put this (social media) to good use in business and community way are endless.”

Read the article at http://www.charlotteobserver.com/local/story/789717.html.

Follow DARTON on Twitter at http://twitter.com/DARTONGROUP.

As you may know, team DARTON joined the Twitter universe in early 2009 and we see some unique opportunities to put this innovative communication tool to work to serve our employees and clients.

Did you happen to catch Time magazine’s recent cover story on Twitter entitled “How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live”?

Read the article and you may very well walk away with a new perspective on Twitter (especially if you happen to be a skeptic). 

Read Time’s cover story on Twitter  http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1902604,00.html

10 Ways Twitter Will Change American Business  http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/0,28757,1901188,00.html

Follow DARTON on Twitter at http://twitter.com/DARTONGroup

Sarah Needleman, a reporter for CareerJournal.com, reported yesterday on recent signs of hiring in finance. 

Her article, entitled “In Finance, Recent Signs of Hiring”, references well known companies with a big presence in Charlotte including Bank of America, Wells Fargo and TIAA-CREF. 

Her take?

“Large and midsize financial-services institutions are hiring again, albeit modestly.”

And what skills are in greatest demand?

“Most desired are proven performers skilled in areas such as credit, refinancing, wealth management and restructuring.”

Read the full article at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124511318124517281.html#mod=rss_careers

The Charlotte Chamber has created a Career Center to connect job hunters with member employers and recruiters.

Check it out at http://www.charlottechamber.com/index.php?src=gendocs&ref=Resume_Bank.

Charlotte Business Professionals, the LinkedIn group, boasts 3,500+ members and ranks among the top percentage of all LinkedIn groups.

This successful group is well known in metro Charlotte – - not only for the group’s sheer size, but for its success in launching face-to-face networking meetings to build on the group’s web presence.

And the web presence just got larger.

Charlotte Business Professionals just launched its own website. 

Check out the new site at http://www.charlottebp.com/.

Creating and managing your online presence just got easier.

In addition to maintaining a strong presence on LinkedIn www.linkedin.com, team DARTON recommends that you manage the “search results” that occur when a potential employer googles your name.

Google recently introduced a new feature – - Google Profile- – that allows you to control how you appear in Google searches by creating a personal profile. 

Learn more about Google Profile at http://www.google.com/support/accounts/bin/answer.py?answer=97703&hl=en