Business Optimism Rising Among Finance Leaders

Just when you thought you had inventory accounting under control, here comes NIFO.

Where LIFO and FIFO are at least sort of intuitive, standing for Last In First Out and First In First Out, NIFO stands for Nose In, Fingers Out.

Huh?

Don’t worry, no accountancy board has adopted NIFO as any sort of standard, and none will since it’s a leadership guide to remind managers to, as Accounting Today explains, “lean in and be helpful (nose in); be a mentor, not a micromanager (fingers out).”

Wondering just what this has to do with accounting?

“NIFO is about providing guidance so a client (or member of your team) can make their own decisions about how to solve a problem or get things done,” writes Kyle Walters, author of The Personal CFO and partner at L&H CPAs and Advisors.

Addressing accounting firm managers and executives, Walters says, “Your job as a leader is to lean in and help people work through a problem without sticking your fingers all over their business.” In other words, accountants should consider themselves a member of the board of advisors for their clients.

It’s the responsibility of an advisor, Walters says, “to provide perspective and to ask the management team insightful questions to help the organization solve its own problems. You are not supposed to interfere with day-to-day operations.”

Apply the same thinking to the members of your firm and your team, he adds.

“As a leader at your firm, NIFO means helping your team members become problem solvers. You’re helping them think through problems.

“Don’t just give them the answer the way a micromanager does; make them come up with the answer.”

“This mindset,” Walters insists, “is more important than ever in today’s work-from-home era when managers are rarely in the same office as the people they supervise.”

“LIFO and FIFO can be handled by computers these days. Your new job is NIFO.”

Photo by Volkan Olmez on Unsplash

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The first group of accountants to take the CPA exam under the new continuous testing policy will begin to get scores Friday. Those who passed, will be celebrating. Those who didn’t will, for the first time, be eligible to retake the test almost immediately.

As of July 1, the rigorous 4-part, 4-hour exam for accountants who want to earn the coveted Certified Public Accountant designation is offered throughout the year. The new “Continuous Testing” approach replaces the previous schedule where candidates could take one or more parts of the exam only once during each of the four annual testing windows.

Now, as soon as a candidate gets their results, they can retake the failed part within a matter of days.

Continuous testing has been under discussion by the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy and the American Institute of CPAs for a few years. Supported by college accounting departments, state accounting boards and other organizations, candidates have long asked for a more frequent testing process. The COVID-19 pandemic shutdown spurred the accounting organizations to act.

“Continuous testing has been a goal for some time, and it comes in direct response to feedback from CPA exam candidates and their desire to test more frequently throughout the year,” said NASBA Executive Vice President & COO Colleen Conrad, CPA.

“NASBA is proud to work in collaboration with the AICPA, Prometric (the testing administrator) and the 55 U.S. Boards of Accountancy to continue to ensure the security of the exam and to implement a successful transition,” she said in a statement issued the day the continuous testing program began.

The CPA exam is administered nationwide, however CPA licensing is the function of each state and territory. While most states have approved the continuous testing change, each had to implement the transition. According to NASBA’s testing status map, three states had not yet completed the process, but were expected to by the July 1 start. It is not clear they made that deadline. South Carolina will not offer continuous testing until next year.

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