How to Compete Successfully in a Public Accounting Practice

Book Description

How do you maximize your company's competitive advantage? In the past, the answer was technology. But in today's global marketplace, nearly all corporations are technology-oriented. The new competitive edge is human performance. Unfortunately, few executives realize that a technology exists for developing and managing performance. That's where this book comes in.

How to Make Smart Decisions About Training provides training and human resource professionals with a practical, step-by-step guide to:

- Assessing the value of proposed training programs
- Choosing training programs that will deliver intended results
- Ensuring that training focuses on critical skills learners need to perform their jobs competently
- Securing needed buy-in and support from key stakeholders

Customer Reviews:

A Good Read!.......2004-03-02

Author Paul G. Whitmore elucidates the advantages of a criterion-referenced instruction program based on having employees practice new skills and tasks. This differs from traditional or academic training programs in that skills are evaluated through performance rather than tests. As he explains it, you can feel how much he believes in teaching job competence through practice. However, while this approach might work well for certain skills that lend themselves to being taught readily through repetitive practice, it may not work as well for tasks that involve creativity and non-routine thoughtful activity. Thus, he may overstate the advantages of his one-size-fits-all approach. The book provides voluminous detail about creating systems to organize and deliver skill-based training, so we believe it will have specific appeal to its target audience: learning officers, training managers and human resource directors.

Customer Reviews:

Comprehensive.......2006-02-25

Very complete and up to date information on Arboriculture. Chapters are well organized, highlighting what you need to know. Does a great job of covering the basics, but also gets into details and is fairly technical, without becoming unreadable. A must have reference book for the Landscaper.

Overflowing with information.......2003-06-24

Arboriculture is a science and art that is made up of many different contributing factors. This book does a very good job of covering them all. Any one of the chapters could be expanded into a book in itself. This thoroughly researched and written book is for the person who wants all of their information in one place. It is a textbook for the technically minded arborist, tree surgeon, tree farmer, or hobbyist. Don't look for this book to be entertaining or philosophical. Instead, buy this book for the knowledge held within. There is a lot to be learned from it. Every single page is filled with facts, figures, methods, and recommendations. You will find yourself reading every page a second or third time in order to catch it all. I refer back to this book on a regular basis, because there is no way I can remember it all. If you have any questions about the management of trees or shrubs, you will likely find it in this book.

The Book.......2000-01-09

Harris wrote the first edition of this book when trees were "trimmed" by the same people who patched asphalt and repaired park benches. It was a breath of rationality in a field that relied mostly on anecdotal information.

The new edition reinforces this work as the compendium of current thinking about how to care for trees. Clark and Matheny build eloquently on Harris's solid foundation.

The public participates actively in caring for trees and demands to know information found in this book. Why not plant the biggest caliper tree you can find? Can't you do something about the tree roots "breaking" up my sewer? Open the book and show them the brief but definitive answer that is easily found here.

I wish more citizen tree advocates would read this book. For that matter, I wish more arborists would too.

Average customer rating:
Arboriculture: Integrated Management of Landscape Trees, Shrubs, and Vines
Richard W. Harris
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall College Div
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OHQGOS

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Arboriculture: Integrated Management of Landscape Trees, Shrubs, and Vines, Fourth Edition
et al Richard W. Harris
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OI3VC2

Book Description

Physics of Planetary Rings describes striking structures of the planetary rings of Saturn, Uranus, Jupiter, and Neptune: Narrow ringlets, spiral waves, and a chain of clumps. The author has contributed essential ideas to the full understanding of planetary rings via the stability analysis of dynamical systems. The combination of a high-quality description, the set of interesting illustrations, as well as the fascinating and natural presentation will make this book of considerable interest to astronomers, physicists, and mathematicians as well as students. There is no competing text for this book so far.

Book Description

Provides up-to-date information on all aspects of basic and applied research on quinoproteins and quinonoid co-factors such as pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ) - exploring the scope, direction and potential value of investigations in this multidisciplinary field.

Principles and Applications of Quinoproteins

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Principles and Applications of Quinoproteins
Victor Davidson
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MUGOLM

Book Description

This book takes a novel look at the topics of school mathematics--arithmetic, geometry, algebra, and calculus. In this stroll on the mathematical seashore we hope to find, quoting Newton, "...a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary..." This book assembles a collection of mathematical pebbles that are important as well as beautiful.

Customer Reviews:

An Interesting Guide to the History of Mathematics.......2004-09-30

This is definitely a very interesting book for anyone interested in Math. Most people, including myself, originally studied Math only to find out how to solve particular problems and never learned any of the interesting history associated with Math. A Smoother Pebble presents many interesting aspects of this history: for example, the horribly awkward use of Egyptian Unit Fractions and of Babylonian's Sexagesimal Number System. It also describes the mathematical ratios involved with the musical scales.

I also found it interesting how the early use of graphs developed and the connection between Algebra and Geometry and the history involved in trying to find the path of fastest decent. I'm sure that a reader will also find other areas of particular interest.

A Smoother Pebble.......2004-02-02

This was a very interesting book. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in math.

A Smoother Pebble: Mathematical Explorations

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A Smoother Pebble: Mathematical Explorations
Donald C. Benson
Manufacturer: Oxford Univ Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OLZRNK

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Smoother Pebble: Mathematical Explorations.
Donald C. BENSON
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OKSRBK

Book Description

Here is the untold story of how Rumsfeld shookup the military brass and outmaneuvered national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and other administration officals to remake America's military into Special Forces-driven institution.

Customer Reviews:

Ótimo livro. Merece ser lido........2006-11-20

Ótimo livro. Merece ser lido. É um livro abrangente, pois aborda fatos históricos acontecidos com o protagonista, deixando de somente preocupar-se com os fatos atuais. Mostra claramente o emaranhado do poder existente no Capitol e também na Casa Branca. Desconsidera qualquer tipo de importância latente, atual ou mesmo futura, da América Latina. Resume a abordar tendências estratégicas dos EUA e potenciais interesses nas áreas críticas do mundo atual. Recomendo a leitura.

Why is he still the Defense Sect.?.......2006-11-07

I have not finished it yet as it is a lot to digest

Anolther incompetent in the Bush team.......2006-11-05

The author finds a lot to praise in R's performance. That alone disqualifies this as a serious book. Rumsfeld is the man who had no plan for an occupation of Iraq. He expected the population to be grateful to an alien army in their midst.

he fired the Army Chief of Staff who tried to tell Rummy that occupation would be challenging and troop-intensive.

sent in troops without adequate body armor or armored humvees.

a guy who is so abrasive that most generals who work with him find him impossible.

He is so incompetent that Bush refuses to fire him. Like speaks to like.

This was most likely written by the fool himself.......2006-10-03

Rumsfeld is not only a disgrace to the American Nation, rather he is a disgrace to humanity and all that it stands for. Apparently the author fails to confront any actual news sources, instead taking tiny tidbits that the idiot Rumsfeld had accomplished (believe it or not, he was able to "assassinate a terrorist"), and blows them to epic proportions, portraying Rumsfeld as some sort of mythical god. This book is a digrace to the American Nation. If the crap this author wrote is considered "factual", than apparently the War in Iraq is going just as planned, and believe it or not, the Iraqi insurgents love us! This book is absolutely disgusting. Resign Rumsfeld, resign now.

Revolt of the Wimpy Generals Explained.......2006-05-25

Though Rowan Scarborough wrote this book a good two years before a half dozen retired generals decided to publicly reveal their lack of the necessary intestinal fortitude to bandy sharp words with a septuagenarian, his book makes the reason for their incessant whining crystal clear: as a boss, Donald Rumsfeld is a real hard-ass.

He doesn't suffer fools, he won't tolerate public disloyalty, he figures that anyone younger than he is can work his hours, and if he doesn't think you know what you are talking about, he will call you on it. Now one doesn't have to universally endorse this style of management (I doubt that I'd enjoy working for him, and he'd clearly be a disaster managing a bunch of sensitivity trainers) to realize that if it can work anywhere, it ought to work at the Pentagon. Rummy's direct reports are people whose job description involves sending people out to fight and kill and die; if they're too intimidated to defend their positions in a meeting, why should we believe them capable of defending their country on a battlefield?

To his credit if you think Rumsfeld is wrong and are willing to stick to your guns and show him where he is wrong, he'll not only back off, but he'll respect you for it. As Scarborough quotes Newt Gingrich saying, "I think that one thing that made Tommy Franks so successful was that Franks figured out in the second or third meeting that we just got to go toe-to-toe and disagree or I'll never get anywhere with this guy. And as a result they developed a very good relationship."

All in all a fascinating read. Defects? If you take away the Acknowledgements, the Index, the blank pages, and the 65 pages of blatant padding labeled Appendix, you have a total of 164 pages of fairly large type laid out in such a way that there are about 10 less lines per page than in books of comparable size. I don't remember if there were any prepublication excerpts printed in newspapers like Scarborough's Washington Times, but if they weren't careful, they could have accidentally printed the entire book in less than a week! Frankly there is more biographical material about Rumsfeld in James Mann's Rise of the Vulcans: The History of Bush's War Cabinet despite the fact that it covers five more people than this slim volume! Maybe sometime in the future, Mr. Scarborough will get around to expanding this glorified feature article into a full biography of arguably the most influential SECDEF in US history.

Rumsfeld's War: The Untold Story of America's Anti-Terrorist Commander

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Rumsfeld's War: The Untold Story of America's Anti-Terrorist Commander

Manufacturer: Tantor Media
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: 1400101158

Book Description

The man in the cockpit fighting the war on terror. When terrorists crashed a plane into the Pentagon, he was there-helping carry the wounded to safety. And he's been there-leading the war on terror, directing its operations around the world in both open and covert missions, and bluntly focusing on one primary goal: killing terrorists. He is Donald Rumsfeld. His great fear was a second Pearl Harbor. When it happened on September 11, 2001, he led the charge to make sure it never happens again. This book takes you inside Rumsfeld's Pentagon, detailing the far-sighted, courageous decisions he has made to enable our military to fight this most unconventional of wars. Rowan Scarborough, veteran national security reporter for the Washington Times, has had access to Rumsfeld himself as well as to numerous never-before-released documents that show not only how Rumsfeld is fighting the war, but how he is fighting the bureaucracy and remaking the American military, shifting the focus from the ingrained "can't-do" bureaucracy to the special operations Green Berets, SEALs, and others who live by "can-do."

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Rumsfeld's War: The Untold Story of America's Anti-Terrorist Commander
Rowan Scarborough
Manufacturer: Tantor Media
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: 1400131154

Book Description

The author of Rabid dogs in the East takes us through the chiropractic profession's struggle to gain acceptance. The reader experiences the frustrations of a young chiropractic graduate who finds himself in a very hostile environment. Medical opposition in the 60s turns to inhuman, determined and illegal protectionism in America, where leading anti-chiropractic crusaders described them as "rabid dogs," 'killers," "unscientific cultists" and of course "quacks". Dr. Bruce Vaughan found a similar attitude when he opened his practice in Hong Kong. Rabid dogs in the East describes the constant fight he had to build his own practice as well as a recognized profession in the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong and latterly the Special Administrative Region of China. It is a fascinating insight into life in Hong Kong as it goes through the changes from the fifties to the present day, as seen through the eyes of an American trained British chiropractor. Rabid Dogs in the East, although interspersed with humor, does not pull any punches or hide the anger that has built up over the years of antagonism.

Customer Reviews:

A good read.......2004-11-05

Dr. Bruce Vaughan, former president of the World Federation
of Chiropractic, has written a first-person account
of chiropractors' struggle for survival, legitimacy and licensure
in the former British Crown Colony of Hong
Kong. A graduate of the Palmer College of Chiropractic
in 1966, he has practiced in this capitalist outpost in China
ever since. The founding president of the then threeman
Hong Kong Chiropractic Association, his career has
involved a continuing confrontation with an entrenched,
multi-tentacled bureaucracy dominated by political medicine.
For those who know about chiropractors' quest for
licensure in the United States, the thrusts and parries will
be all too familiar: disputes over title (should chiropractors
be called "doctors"?), resistance to referral, the arrogance
of medical gatekeepers, social ostracism and the
insult of boldface lies, confrontation in person and in
print, arrests on various dubious charges, and endless political
lobbying for legal recognition.
The opening chapter recounts the legislative session
wherein the colony's chiropractors finally secured legal
recognition, this after decades of opposition from an entrenched
allopathic establishment. The account then
backtracks to earlier times: Vaughan's youth (he's lived
in England, South America and elsewhere), first encounter
with chiropractic, his training at Davenport, Iowa, and
his return to Hong Kong to establish his practice and the
small, local professional society. Dr. Vaughan's practicebuilding
coincided with his early political education.
There were peaks and valleys, some the result of the colony's
crises and tribulations and others the product of a
medical domination of health care that in some respects
more closely mimicked the American than the British experience.
However, the flavor is ultimately unique, as is
Hong Kong, and the young chiropractor's crusade embedded
him in various elements of the culture: government
and its bureaucracies, the media, local merchants
and the courts. As has so often been the case in chirohistory,
patience and perseverance would pay off, although
this is not so clear to the swimmer struggling upstream.
The influence of international organizations and events
is related in sections dealing with the New Zealand Commission
of Inquiry, the flicker of free speech in Peking's
Tienanmen Square, the World Federation of Chiropractic's
visit to Hong Kong, and the transfer of authority
over the colony from Britain to China. Vaughan skillfully
pulls this all together, and helps us to understand how the
individual threads weave through the broader tapestry. As
he suggests, the chiropractors' experience in Hong Kong
offers an "accelerated version" of the profession's journey
through the last century: a microcosm of the broader
chiropractic yarn.
What may come as a surprise to insular American DCs
is that much of this saga unfolds after 1974, when Louisiana
became the last state to authorize the practice of chiropractic.
What makes this book special is Bruce
Vaughan's skill as a raconteur. Written in a very readerfriendly
style, Dr. Vaughan tells us enough about himself
to make his professional crusade vivid and understandable.
He spices the text with anecdotes and perspectives
that carry the reader along willingly through drudgery
and crisis. Vaughan balances the frustration inherent in
this tale with a frequently dry and subtle humor that hints
at his British roots.
The book is interesting also for the glimpses it offers
of Hong Kong and its evolution during the past 35 years.
Chiropractors and historians will value this work for its
detail and documentation of the quest for legitimacy in
this little bit of England in Asia. Offered in paperback at
very modest price, one can't go wrong: a good read.
Joseph C. Keating, Jr., PhD
Phoenix, Arizona Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic Association.

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