Engineering Inc. - March/April 2013 - (Page 40)

Business Insights Engineer Your Business As Well as You Engineer Your Projects Managing your A/E business for success requires technical knowhow coupled with awareness of today’s best multidisciplinary business practices. Firm managers also must know the rules of finance and how they work in the real world—from reading straightforward income statements to making complicated investment decisions. Effectively meeting these and other business challenges in an uncertain economy requires: • Understanding human relations and related legal elements; • Creating and managing client relationships and expectations; • Managing risk and drafting/adapting contracts; • Knowing the fundamentals of business development; and • Understanding ownership transition and employee satisfaction. ACEC’s Business of Design Consulting course is a comprehensive 2013 update on the primary underpinnings of the successful A/E business and serves as a playbook for building leadership and managing your firm at the most effective levels. Join us March 20–23, in Denver, where ACEC’s experienced faculty of industry practitioners will cover contemporary best practices and critical operational management methods. The program highlights current strategies for a wide array of critical, need-to-know business topics that will keep your business thriving despite a challenging economic environment. Attendees will learn specific skills and techniques to help them manage change and build success in performance management, strategic planning and growth, finance, leadership, ownership transition, contracts and risk management, marketing and more. Visit www.acec.org/education/eventDetails.cfm?eventID=1405 for more information. March 20-23, 2013 • Denver, CO The Business of Design Consulting A management intensive for developing A/E firm leaders Engineer Your Business as Smartly as you Engineer Your Projects Engineers’ RCEP REGISTERED CONTINUING EDUCATION PROGRAM Earn 22.5 PDHs! Expert Witnessing: Your Firm Could Realize a Profitable New Income Stream in 2013 Engineers are experts in a variety of technical arenas, which is why they are often asked to provide expert witness testimony in court settings and administrative hearings. But there is more to being an expert witness than technical knowledge. An effective witness has significant field experience and can provide credible and substantial testimony, can focus on providing specific information without getting sidetracked by opposing counsel, and is sufficiently familiar with court or agency procedures. Is there a possibility you might be asked to serve as an expert wit40 ENGINEERING INC. MARCH / APRIL 2013 ness—for your own firm or a client? Expand your courtroom savvy and confidence—as well as your firm’s revenue stream—by signing up for our Applying Expertise as an Engineering Expert Witness course June 20–21, in Chicago. The program will feature insights from Guy Vaillancourt, president of Woodard & Curran; the Hon. Arthur Bergman for the Superior Court of New Jersey; and Jim Lee, an attorney for Lee & McShane in Washington, D.C. Successful completion of this course qualifies participants to apply for the ACEC Expert Witness designation (EXW), as well as to have their names listed on ACEC’s online directory of EXW professionals. Please visit www.acec.org/education/eventList_Specialty.cfm?el_ ID=30 for course highlights and to get registration information. CASE Guideline 962-G: Performing Project-Specific Peer Reviews on Structural Projects Increasing complexity of structural design and code requirements, compressed schedules and financial pressures are among many factors driving increased peer review of structural engineering projects. Peer review of a project by a qualified third party can improve a project with less risk to all parties involved, including the engineer, owner and contractor. Peer reviews can be performed voluntarily by the engineer of record on a quasi-voluntary basis, sponsored by the owner/client, or conducted on a nonvoluntary basis by the jurisdiction that is responsible for approving the project. Many aspects of a successful peer review process must be established prior to the start of the review to ensure the desired outcome. These items include specific goals, scope and effort, the required documentation, the qualifications of an independent peer reviewer, a process for the resolution of differences, the schedule and the fee. The CASE Guideline 962-G: Guidelines for Performing ProjectSpecific Peer Reviews on Structural Projects materials address only technical peer reviews and are designed to increase awareness of critical issues, assist in establishing a framework for the review and improve the process for all interested parties. CASE products can be purchased at www.acec.org/bookstore. The ACEC Institute for Business Management provides comprehensive and accessible business management education for engineering company principals and their staffs. Visit ACEC’s online educational events calendar at www.acec.org/calendar/index.cfm or bookstore at www.acec.org/publications, or call 202-347-7474, ext. 338, for further information. http://www.acec.org/education/eventList_Specialty.cfm?el_ID=30 http://www.acec.org/education/eventList_Specialty.cfm?el_ID=30 http://www.acec.org/education/eventDetails.cfm?eventID=1405 http://www.acec.org/bookstore http://www.acec.org/calendar/index.cfm http://www.acec.org/publications

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Engineering Inc. - March/April 2013

Engineering Inc. - March/April 2013
Table of Contents
From ACEC to You
Market Watch
Legislative Action
A Fresh Look at U.S. Energy Policy
Record-Setting Year for ACEC/PAC
Protecting Your Interests
Sky’s the Limit
6 Ways to Keep Cash Flowing
2013 Annual Convention Preview
Guest Column
Decision Makers
Business Insights
Members in the News
Mergers and Acquisitions

Engineering Inc. - March/April 2013