Link to article: http://blogs.wsj.com/briefly/2016/02/12/5-things-to-watch-on-the-economic-calendar-106/
5 Things to Watch on the Economic Calendar
The state of the economy is a hot topic amid volatile stock markets and rising fears of a recession. After the Presidents Day holiday, measures of industrial production, home building and inflation highlight the week of economic indicators.
Output by major industries–factories, mines and utilities–is one of the main indicators economists pay attention to when trying to gauge the economy’s health and the risk of a recession. Industrial production has slipped for three straight months. The report on January industrial production, out Wednesday by the Federal Reserve, will show how much lower oil prices, the strong dollar and weak exports are continuing to weigh on output.
The precipitous decline in oil and global economic weakness are tamping down inflation, making the Fed’s job that much tougher as it considers lifting short-term interest rates further. Look for an update on the inflation picture with the Labor Department’s release of the January consumer-price index, out Friday, and the producer-price index, out Wednesday.
3 Rising Home Construction
The housing market–including sales and construction–helped buoy the U.S. economy last year. Housing startsdeclined in December from November, but for all of 2015, they were up nearly 11% compared with 2014.Wednesday’s release of January housing starts, along with Tuesday’s release of the National Association of Home Builders survey for February, will show whether the sector is sustaining momentum.
10.8%Increase in U.S. housing starts in 2015 compared with 2014
4 Fed Thinking
The week will also bring clues about the Fed’s thinking on the economy and future interest-rate increases. Wednesday, the central bank releases minutes from its Jan. 26-27 meeting, when it left doubts about whether it would raise rates in March. Meanwhile, a slew of officials are set to speak publicly, including San Francisco FedPresident John Williams–considered a policy centrist–on Thursday and St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, a voting member of the Fed’s policy committee, on Wednesday.
James Bullard
DAVID ORRELL/CNBC/GETTY IMAGES
5 Manufacturing Woes
The strong dollar, weak exports and lower oil prices have walloped U.S. factories. Two reports on regional factories–the New York Fed’s Empire State survey Tuesday and the Philadelphia Fed survey Thursday–will offer a peek at how the manufacturing sector is performing. Each survey covers activity for February.
Employees work on a motorcycle at a Harley-Davidson Inc. manufacturing facility in York, Pa.
• Compile and analyze financial information to prepare and post entries to general ledger accounts and to document business transactions.
• Perform and review general ledger functions to assist with monthly accounting activity and closings.
• Prepare monthly reconciliations of balance sheet accounts to general ledger, and may review and approve monthly balance sheet reconciliations.
• Prepare and review bank reconciliations and may perform other banking activities, such as letters of credit or collateral for specified accounts.
• Proactively detect, research, and resolve reconciliation items.
• Analyze and document revenue and expenditure trends and variances in account balances between periods and against budget.
• Prepare financial reports such as balance sheets, income statements, cash flow statements, budgets and footnote schedules.
• May assist with preparation and review of quarterly and annual SEC filings, as appropriate.
• Prepare financial reports such as balance sheets, income statements, cash flow statements, etc.
• Analyze revenue and expenditure trends and recommend appropriate budget levels, and ensure expenditure control.
Job Requirements
• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting or Finance or a related field or the equivalent education and/or experience
• CPA designation or progress towards CPA designation preferred
• Minimum of five years of relevant and progressive professional experience in accounting and/or finance
• Solid understanding of GAAP a
100 Essential Questions That Will Change Your Career Path (for the Better)
These 100 questions will help you understand where you are in your career versus where you want to be and help you to identify actionable steps towards making a powerful vision a reality
When we are not sure of ourselves, we often turn to family, friends and mentors for advice. We ask them what we should do about our jobs, relationships, opportunities and dilemmas. We often seek the approval of the majority, and use the opinions of others to make assessments of ourselves.
While we love the people in our lives from whom we seek advice, they are not always objective. In fact, it’s pretty hard for anyone to be objective and truly offer great guidance. That’s why great mentors and coaches are such game-changers: they help silence the noise of society and unearth your own truth.
I believe it’s easier to find your truth than you expect. The answer always lies within us–it just takes some time to excavate. Asking questions is a great way to be more objective about your situation and to discover new things about yourself and the path you want to be on.
These 100 questions will help you understand where you are in your career versus where you want to be and help you to identify actionable steps towards making a powerful vision a reality. Answer them honestly. Step away and then come back and read your answers with a fresh slate. You’ll know what you need to do.
What do you like to learn?
What do you do in your spare time for fun?
Do you do certain activities because you think it’s what you have to do?
Are you creating a career for your parents, society, from your own excitement or for money?
Do you believe that making money will make you happy?
What is your definition of work?
Do you believe that you can love what you do and make money doing it?
What is your dream?
Is that dream realistic?
Do you believe in yourself?
What challenge excites you the most in your life right now?
What impact do you want to have on other people’s lives or in the world?
Do you feel confident that you are exceptional at something?
Who can you count on for support?
Do you believe that with hard work and focus that you can do whatever you set your mind to?
Do you think your intelligence is set?
If you think it is, how does that affect your career choices?
If you think it’s not, how does that affect your career choices?
Who do you get career advice from?
Can these people be objective about you? (i.e. they are not family or friends)
When you were in college, what did you envision for yourself and your career?
What do you want: more joy or more power?
Do you want to be like your parents?
Why or why not?
What do you do that builds your confidence?
Can you do that more often?
If you can’t, why not?
Do you exercise, eat healthy and take care of yourself?
If not, why not?
Do you like your job?
Do you feel like you are valued?
Do you trust your superiors and your colleagues?
Do you wake up excited to be working in this job?
If no, why not?
What excites you about the work you are doing?
How often are you bored?
Are you pro-active about sharing your ideas with your team and managers?
How would you describe the work culture?
Does that culture work for you?
Do you laugh at work frequently?
Are you inspired by the leaders in the organization?
Do the leaders talk to you?
Are you clear what the next level is for you at this organization?
Does that excite you?
How important is loving your job to you?
How important is it that people you work with love what they do?
Do you have a career vision?
Do you think of that vision often?
How important is security to you?
Are you willing to take a risk with your career and your comfort zone?
When was the last time you did something that scared you?
Was that exhilarating?
Do you feel fulfilled by your work?
Do you care about being fulfilled?
What is the advantage of being purpose driven, if you are not currently?
Who do you admire most?
Are they passionate and purpose driven by their work?
Do you think you deserve to have a job you love and get paid well?
Are you confident most of the time?
What is your number one confidence barrier?
What can you do to work on that barrier?
What is your greatest fear?
What new behavior would help you achieve your goals?
Do you think you are the best at what you do?
Why or why not?
Do you care what other people think of your success?
When you make decisions about your career, do you often consider what other people will think of your decision?
Are you money or power driven?
Why or why not?
What advice would you give to yourself today about where you are in your career based on where you want to go?
If you are an entrepreneur, have you always believed you were meant to be an entrepreneur?
What is your favorite part of running your own business?
Least favorite?
Are you in your dream job?
If not, do you know what your dream job is?
Do you feel confident most of the time or do you struggle a lot?
Do you enjoy working alone?
How do you do your best thinking?
Where do you do your best thinking?
Do you feel fulfilled by the work you are doing?
If you don’t, why not?
Do you give yourself time to think?
Do you feel like you are efficient with your time?
If not, what is your main distraction?
How can you eliminate that distraction?
Do you have a clear vision for yourself and your business?
Is the work you are doing a reflection of your greatest strength?
If not, can you hire someone to support you in doing work that is not in line with your strengths?
What do you think your performance barriers are? What behaviors are holding you back?
Do you have a plan for eliminating the performance barriers?
If no, why not?
If yes, what is it? Can you start that today?
Are you pushing your comfort zone at least once a week?
What can you do to ensure you are getting out of your comfort zone more regularly?
Do you feel successful?
What does success mean to you?
What is driving you?
Do you use that driving force in your business?
If you don’t, how can you bring more of that to your daily work-life?
What have you learned about yourself and your status by answering the above questions?
Today’s Hot Job! I am looking for a Compensation Analyst in Houston, Texas.
Evaluate and analyze salary data and jobs for market and internal competitiveness
Conduct market research and salary surveys
Review, approve, and communicate compensation related transactions
Maintain a current knowledge of state and federal laws regarding compensation activities
Administer compensation programs
Work with business partners to create and maintain job descriptions and matrices
Recommend, review and analyze current and proposed compensation programs, policies and procedures to ensure regulatory compliance as well as project potential cost
Create and prepare reports and presentations
Participate in compensation surveys
Qualifications:
Bachelor’s degree in Business, Accounting, Mathematics or relevant field of study preferred
2+ years of compensation or analytical experience preferred
Executive and equity compensation experience preferred
Looking Back — Economic data for ’15 continue to trickle in. Oil prices, the rig count and drilling permits finished the year well below where they started. Home sales continued at a brisk pace until the early fall, then began to trail off. Construction followed a similar path. By October, the metro area managed to generate modest job growth. And the region set an annual record for vehicle sales. Given the challenges the region faced all year, ’15 turned out better than many expected.
This issue of Glance focuses on how seven economic measures—employment, energy, manufacturing, commercial real estate, home sales, construction and consumer prices— fared in ’15. The details follow. Tepid Job Growth — The Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land Metro Area1 created 23,200 jobs in ’15, a 0.8 percent increase, according to the Texas Workforce Commission. That’s in line with the Partnership’s July forecast of 20,000 to 30,000 jobs by year’s end.
Job growth fell well below the pace of recent years: Houston added 491,500 the previous five years. Given the flood of layoff announcements throughout the year, weaker job growth was to be expected. The Partnership anticipates the metro area will create approximately 21,900 jobs in ’16. 2
Our client is growing! They are currently looking for an Accounting Manager (with full charge bookkeeping responsibilities) to join their very family friendly team what allows for flex hours!
Solomon software experience is required for this role!
Responsibilities include:
Pay supplier invoices in a timely manner
Take all reasonable discounts on supplier invoices
Issue invoices to customers
Collect sales taxes from customers and remit them to the government
– Advanced fund accounting (AIV, SPV, CLO) and financial statements
– Coordinate portfolio company quarterly invoices
– Coordinate active deal announcements
– Coordinate quarterly statements and compliance requirements
– Coordinate document custody and weekly LP metrics
Requirements:
– Bachelor’s degree in accounting; minimum GPA 3.2 (cumulative)
– Public accounting experience; Big Four experience preferred
– Demonstrated progress towards professional certification; CPA preferred
– Two to five year’s professional experience; private equity experience preferred
– Good attitude, judgment, self-starter; accurate, independent, and efficient work
Houston's F&A Recruiter and Talent Connector 