Here we go again.

The disappointing number of jobs created in December has renewed calls for incentives to boost hiring by small companies. After all, goes the conventional wisdom, most new jobs are created by the puniest companies in our country, the backbone of the US economy.

Job growth has arrived. A number of companies are hiring again, including both small businesses and the largest corporations.

Trouble is, the data has not yet seeped into the government's reports, which politicians and policymakers eagerly seize and use to support their personal narrative.

The employment picture is expected to brighten in 2011, but in a rather unconvincing manner.

The big question is whether the long-term unemployed lose their patience, or worse, their marketable skills, before they find a job.

CFOs who cook the books are often bullied into it by overbearing CEOs that are looking out for their own equity stakes, according to a new piece of research by a group of global academics.

The research looked at why and when CFOs become involved in material accounting manipulations, and what factors increased the likelihood that CFOs would knowingly become involved in accounting fraud.

Contrary to what a number of politicians have asserted in recent days, the current jobless rate is not due to a pervasive desire to cash unemployment checks and lounge around or a desire to become "hobos," as Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) asserted earlier this year.

A new Deloitte study soberly concluded what many employers have suspected for years: The potential employment pool is becoming less and less qualified for the jobs that are available.

Small to medium-sized businesses (SMEs) are cautiously optimistic heading into the new year.

Nearly one-third (30 percent) expect the economy to improve in 2011, according to a new survey. This is just slightly more than the 28 percent who expect it to get worse.

It is all about growth.

Finance execs are more upbeat about their hiring plans. And this is happening at the same time they are concerned about issues like health care reform, the budget deficit and housing.

In a blog last week on the Chronicle of Higher Education, Vivek Wadhwa, director of research at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Research Commercialization at Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering, discussed the problems with cluster theory for economic development—wherein government incentives and a business park are brought together with venture capital and a nearby university to encourage the growth of clusters of entrepreneurial businesses with links to local academia to encourage innovation.

Wadhwa believes that many of these efforts have failed because they are missing out on some of the key features that necessarily must exist in order to encourage the kind of growth and development seen in a true success story, such as Silicon Valley.

Chief financial officers of middle-market companies are generally upbeat about the economy and their hiring plans.

Nearly half (47 percent) of the CFOs who participated in GE Capital's quarterly survey said they expect the US economy to be stable while another 37 percent said it is "improving" over the near term. This suggests little chance for a double-dip recession in the months ahead, GE Capital asserts.

This will be quite a week for women entrepreneurs. Not only is the first-ever gathering of East coast-West coast women entrepreneurs—and potential start-up investors—happening in Silicon Valley, but there are also events worldwide for women—and men—during Global Entrepreneurship Week.

Such events are critical for encouraging women to seek out financing and partnerships for growing their small businesses or business ideas.