Scotty Scarano has recorded over 300 interviews at his Accounting High series. I appeared recently on my fourth podcast with him. He even dubbed me a superintendent of Accounting High. He mentioned that one of my podcasts was his ninth most listened to, so this is pretty impressive.
I like doing them because Scotty is fun to talk with and he does great preparation. He asks questions that elicit interesting responses, many with easy to do takeaways. You can find this entire interview on
We spoke for just under an hour and probably could have continued for many more hours. This is a lively practice management program with many practical suggestions of things you could do based on what was successful for me. Part of the impetus for the podcast was my Memoirs of a CPA book, but we really did not cover much that was in the book. However, we had an opening tit-for-tat where he mentioned that his daughter thought she might like to become a CPA. I sent her a copy of the book to read about my wonderful adventures as a CPA and what she could expect. The result was she decided to pursue a profession in psychology! So, sometimes things work out and sometimes they do not.
Some of the gems we discussed were that most businesspeople must have an accountant, but they don't have to use you. The object is to make sure you create that "must have to use you!" I tried and still try to create a WOW! opportunity at every interaction with a client. Scotty emphasized that if you do not give a client a reason to keep using you, you are giving them a reason to not continue using you.
We discussed the optimistic future of public accounting, and I suggested some services that I believe will continue to grow exponentially. These are client accounting services and asset management, with my reasons for this. I also took a look back at past problems that thwarted growth and are still with us as a profession. One is recruiting, training and retaining staff. Another is distinguishing your practice from everyone else's. I shared some successes long ago that can still be accomplished. Too bad we haven't moved past these. I have, and so has my firm, Withum, but too many practices are mired in previous techniques that did not work then, for them, and still do not work, and make no effort to change what they are doing in that regard.
I've always been aware of the importance of branding and establishing a firm culture. I might have been a pioneer in many of the things I did, which many firms are now doing. But many firms are not doing these things, and it seems to me what I instituted a long time ago can still be done today with updated innovations and developments refining, improving and powering them. The underlying concepts are the same, even though the iterations have altered how they are performed and recognized. What clients wanted and needed from their independent accountants yesterday remains the same today. What the services are called, how they are branded, and the speed and methods of creating the deliverables have changed. However, the end result is providing clients with trusted advice, counseling, guidance and data interpretation, making them feel more secure in the decisions they have to make daily. That's what we did, are doing and will continue to do.
Accountants have to stop focusing on the past data they generated, and the current situations they and their clients are in, and migrate to a future-oriented spotlight, understanding that a spotlight has a focus, but there are many diffusions emanating from it.
This short interview indicated the importance and value of a long view and is chockful of takeaways. Click the link above and use the podcast as a catalyst for your mind to wander from today into tomorrow.
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