This is my 572nd consecutive weekly Art of Accounting column in Accounting Today web edition, making this my 11th anniversary. Any "anniversary" is a milestone and cause for celebration, reflection and anticipation going forward.
These columns are all short quick fixes to problems colleagues called me about, some aha moments I wanted to share, or some things I've long ago started doing and find they are still perfectly relevant. If I eliminate duplicate ideas or some personal musings, I've posted at least 500 separate columns with quick fixes that readers could benefit from. Looking back, I am very proud of this and somewhat amazed that I've had that many ideas, tips and best practices to share.
Looking forward, I am eager to continue with more ideas than one might imagine, with more developing almost daily. Some I will write about soon, some I will incorporate into issues other accountants have discussed with me, and some will be pushed back for more urgent issues colleagues expressed and which I will use the column to provide them with a thought-out reply. After those are posted, I usually email the caller a link. Experience has shown me that few will reply thanking me, so I do not expect any replies. My joy is being able to help them and share that help with others who might have the same problems. I also get fresh material for other articles, speeches and some books I have written, including my recent "Memoirs of a CPA."
When I started this column, I prepared material for about a dozen columns and had a list of topics for perhaps another dozen columns. Not all of those two dozen ideas have been used, making way for newer or more current ideas. Actually, ideas are our currency. The more ideas we have, the better able we are to provide exceptional value to clients. Accountants and advisors do not live in a vacuum or are not cordoned off in a silo but are subjected to everything going on in the real world and in business and serving the needs of our clients.
Failing to add anything new dooms us to fail. The problem with that is that the lack of success helping clients is incipient and creeps up over time until there is a big boom of realization that there is more out there than we are able to handle and we lose the client. Not "we" since I do not lose the client for lack of attention or a dearth of value or fresh ideas, and not "you" since by your reading this column, you are demonstrating the same desire I have to help clients above and beyond the obvious. But other accountants who just trudge along, getting paid regularly, doing what they signed on to do, and even doing it "perfectly" but not providing any added value, insights, fresh outlooks or challenges to their clients, and minimal growth to their practices.
Anyway, preaching to the choir is not my purpose with these columns, but reaching the onlookers who are pretty much satisfied with everything and who shy away from the disruption changes cause. I try to write things that will attract the onlookers (as well as my many regular readers). If I do not post anything new, then the onlookers will never read it. If I post it, they might read it. I will go with the might rather than the never. The might is what excites me and a call from someone that read something of mine for the first time creates the excitement I get by continuing these columns.
I appreciate you reading this column today and if you send me a "congrats" to
Thanks go to Michael Cohn, who edits these columns, and he also has not missed an issue. We coordinate vacations and days off so our schedules mesh perfectly. He has become a good friend as well as a great partner in these columns.
Stay tuned for many more of these Art of Accounting columns that are posted every Monday afternoon, as they have been for the past 11 years; and do not hesitate to contact me at
