Are you a Fan?

Are you a fan of McGladrey on Facebook yet? Our fan base has more than doubled over the past two months, and we are closing in on 1000 fans! Why become a fan?

• It's a great place to ask questions. We have had a steady stream of questions from our fans over the past several weeks. We answer every question presented to us on our Wall either with a comment or with a direct message back to you.


• Access to Success starts here posts. We carry a feed of posts over to our Facebook page. Become a fan and you will be notified whenever we publish a new post.


• Videos! Watch some of our videos on the video tab.


• Photos! Curious what our offices look like? We have pictures from a number of our offices around the country in our 'Office Views' photo album.


• ... and more coming soon!

Will you be our 1000th fan? Become a fan today by visiting:

http://www.facebook.com/mcgladreycareers

Another Great Week for Golf and McGladrey at Pinehurst

The 3rd annual McGladrey Team Championship ended today with the Southern California PGA Section winning by 7 strokes. Once again this year, thousands of amateur golfers from around the country competed for the opportunity to play in the Championship event held this week at the beautiful Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina. Many McGladrey employees participated at various stages of this tournament, which started with local qualifiers earlier this year, including two employees from our New York office who competed this week as part of the Metropolitan PGA Section team.

This year's event had a number of additional highlights, including:

• A VIP Invitational which included a Skills Challenge with Team McGladrey Members Chris DiMarco, Natalie Gulbis and Zach Johnson
• An auction which raised nearly $35,000 for the Special Olympics, which was in addition to the $140,000 already raised by related McGladrey and Championship events
• The unveiling of our new advertising campaign, "The Power of Being Understood"

The McGladrey Team Championship gets bigger and more exciting every year. This unique tournament offers amateurs an opportunity to compete in a team format with the opportunity of playing for the national title at one of the most storied golf courses in the world. Our partnership with the Special Olympics and with the Team McGladrey members make this an annual event that we at McGladrey are all very proud of.

How McGladrey Helps You Prepare for the CPA Exam...FAST!

OK, so you graduate from college with your Accounting degree, and a few months later you start with at a CPA Firm where you are expected to complete your CPA Exam Preparation and the Exam itself on your time (and maybe on your own dime) while also getting started in your new job (and during busy season no less!). Sounds tough huh? It’s no wonder that it takes many new Associates months, if not a couple of years, into their new career to finally pass the CPA exam and gain their certification. This can have the harmful effect of potentially delaying their career growth opportunities.

McGladrey made a conscious decision however earlier this year that this doesn’t have to be the case, that the firm could make it easier for its new Associate hires to complete their exam preparation and the exam itself much earlier in their career (or before they even start work), and at very little out-of-pocket cost. How you may ask? First, we partnered with the Becker CPA Review to be the exclusive provider of CPA review programs for McGladrey employees. Review course costs are billed directly to McGladrey, and program participants are incentivized to pass the exam within a certain time period. The only cost that a participant incurs is the cost of sitting for the exam, which the participant is reimbursed for after they have become an employee. The other component here is that our new Associates are starting slightly later this year (early November) than in previous years. When the new CPA program was introduced in the Spring, we strongly encouraged all of our new Associate hires to take advantage of this extra time and complete as much of the review and exam as possible prior to when they start their employment. And if they don’t complete the review and exam by the time they start, we still offer additional time off to study and sit for each section of the exam.

Even though we have made it easier to complete the review course and the exam, that doesn’t mean that the review course and the exam itself are any easier. Rachel, a guest blogger and former McGladrey winter intern from early 2009 who will be starting as a new Associate with us in the Fall 2010, will be sharing her CPA preparation and exam experiences with you in the coming weeks and months via Success Starts Here. Rachel tells it like it is, so please check back for what we're sure will be a revealing look at the various challenges that one faces in obtaining this all-too-important certification.

Are you following us on Twitter yet?

So are you? If you are looking for a job in accounting, FINS thinks you should. FINS, which is a part of the Wall Street Journal Digital Network, released today a list of the Top Five Twitter Feeds for Job Hunters in Accounting. Along with @AccountingMA, @Big4Alum, @KuninAssociates, and @CPA_Trendlines, @lifeatmcgladrey was recognized on this list for being one of the "five worth following".

@lifeatmcgladrey has been around for close to a year now, and in that time has gained (as of today) 824 followers. @lifeatmcgladrey is a great place to stay current with everything about McGladrey, plus it's a great way to be informed every time there is a new post here on Success starts here.

Follow @lifeatmcgladrey today by visiting http://twitter.com/lifeatmcgladrey.

Career Options Abound in McGladrey Tax Practice

When I started my professional accounting career in the tax practice many years ago, I found I was not well informed about all the different disciplines available within this line of business. My knowledge at the time was limited to the one individual tax class offered during my undergraduate degree. Only after joining a Big 8 firm after graduating from the University of Illinois, did I find there was a lot I didn’t know which might have affected some of the early career choices I made. With hindsight being 20-20, I wish I was afforded the opportunities in college that most students today now have. These days, most accounting programs offer masters degrees, many with tax tracks, that do an excellent job at educating soon-to-be college graduates about issues with pass-thru-entities, State and Local Taxes, International Tax issues and High Net Worth planning. These courses help open the eyes of future accounting graduates to the exciting and rewarding tax career options that are available within most large firms.

Today, McGladrey employs over 1,700 professionals within our fast growing, multi-faceted tax practice. We are continuously looking for ways to support colleges and universities by helping raise the awareness level that there are other options available than beginning an accounting career in audit/assurance. To this end, we have posted tax specific service line profiles to our career site to allow you to explore these areas further.

On each of these pages, you will also find podcasts by the leaders of these respective areas, where you can listen to how they describe their practices. Click the links below to explore and learn more, it may change the way you view your future.

• Federal Specialty Services
• Tax Advisory and Compliance
• International Tax Services
• State and Local Tax Services
• Retirement Resources
• Private Wealth Tax and Advisory Services

McGladrey Sponsors NABA Central Region Student Conference

McGladrey is proud to have participated as a corporate sponsor for the past three years in the National Association of Black Accountants (NABA) 2009 Central Region Student Conference. This year the conference was held October 1-3, 2009 in Indianapolis, IN. The NABA conference brings together approximately 250+ minority students from colleges and universities in the Midwest to assist employers with their strategic staffing needs for internships and permanent employment.

At the conference, McGladrey provided a scholarship award to a NABA student. This year our recipient was selected by NABA to be the master of ceremony at the Scholarship Luncheon. In addition, one of the guest speakers at the luncheon was Judge Mathis of the "Judge Mathis Show."

Akelo C. (Audit Supervisor), Jamie K. (Sr. Tax Associate), and Murielle B. (Human Resources Manager) represented McGladrey at this year's conference.

New October Poll and September Poll Recap

Time for a new monthly poll. We are in the heart of our busy recruiting season right now, and we would like to hear from you, what are the Top 3 resources and factors that influence you the most in deciding to apply for employment with a company?

As for our September poll, interesting results once again. First of all, another great response with over 95 of you participating in our poll. Thanks to all of you who did. What did the results tell us? A majority of you (44%) said that you don't access Facebook at work, only after hours. Even more surprising, 26% of you said that you don't even use Facebook. Really? I thought that a vast majority of our readers would be Facebook users. Guess not. I was also a bit surprised that only 7% of you access Facebook via a mobile device. You hear a lot today about how popular Facebook 'apps' are on mobile devices, the IPhone especially. Finally, 17% of you said that access to Facebook at work was important, but not critical, and only 4% of you said that if a company didn't offer Facebook access, then you aren't working there.

Facebook has become a critical component to how many people interact with each other and stay connected virtually. I myself have made many great connections with friends new and old there, including a friend who I haven't seen in almost 20 years who is coming into town to run a marathon this weekend. The bottom line according to this survey though seems to be that as important as Facebook is to some, most of you who responded to this poll either deal with it out of the office or not at all.

Back to the new October poll, we'll leave this one up until the end of the month. I look forward to more great participation and more interesting results!

Podcast: Phil Li Wraps Up His Summer Internship Experience

Phil Li just recently finished his summer internship with McGladrey, and was good enough to share his expectations, his initial experiences, and now his overall internship experience. I met Phil at the Capstone Summer Intern Conference, and was immediately drawn in by his energy and his enthusiasm. He had a smile on his face the entire time and wanted to take in everything that the internship had to offer.

McGladrey is fortunate to have interns like Phil as they represent a pipeline for our future. Phil will be continuing with the MAcc program at USC, and is considering a full-time position to start with us in the Fall of 2011. Take a listen here to Phil as he wraps up his summer experience with McGladrey. If you are considering doing an internship with McGladrey, listen to what Phil has to say to get a good view of what an internship experience with McGladrey is like.

Click here to listen to the Podcast

McGladrey receives More Recognition in the O.C. as Best Place To Work

For the past several days, we have been celebrating a number of awards that McGladrey has received recently for being a great place to work. Sometimes the awards we receive are national in nature, sometime they are local. Today, we celebrate our being named as a Best Place to Work in Orange County, CA by the Orange County Business Journal (OCBJ).

Earlier this year, the Orange County Register listed McGladrey on their Top Workplace List. It's great to see our Irvine, CA office receive such great recognition once again. Having been to the office personally on a couple occasions, I can vouch for the pleasant office atmosphere and the close proximity to the airport, great restaurants, and the Pacific Ocean (less than 5 miles away!) The palm trees outside the office windows are a good thing in my book too!

Approximately 100 companies participated in OCBJ's selection process this year. Based on the ratings compiled from the employee surveys, 40 companies were then selected for providing a high quality work environment.

Interested in working at one of the best employers in the O.C.? You're in luck, as we have a few jobs currently open at our Irvine office, including the ones listed below!

Tax Manager, Private Wealth & Advisory

Wealth Management Advisor - Director