My 16-year-old daughter said, “Wow, Dad! You look like an accountant.”
And she wasn’t being complimentary.
Accountants are perceived as boring, heavy and conservative.
Over the years we have been the butt of many jokes. I have heard them all.
Why did the accountant cross the street? Because he searched for the file and that’s what they did last year! Haha!
What do accountants use as birth control? Their personality! Ha ha!”
Why accountants become accountants? They don’t have charisma to be undertakers! Haha!
What do you call an accountant at the bottom of the sea? A damn good start! Haha!
I think I am the exception.
That’s why I’ve started calling myself a business strategist and advisor. “You’re still an accountant,” says the teenage daughter.
I’m still an accountant and I’m still passionate about it like the day I started. Because accountants have an impact on people’s lives. The advice we give changes people’s businesses, which in turn changes their lives. I am excited in my role as an accountant.
Accounting is not heavy. Accounting is exciting. Accounting is cool! My ambition is to become the “cool accounting guy”. (Do they still say “dude,” do they still say “cool.” Remember that song: when I say, “cool, man, cool, I don’t mean cool, man, cool, I mean you leave me cold, Jacob.”)
We were brainstorming with some of our clients as we do from time to time, looking for that unique benefit that our firm provides our clients. That unique something that distinguishes us from other accounting practices.
One said, “It has helped me improve my business. Not only am I making more profit and have more to spend, but I also have more time to spend out of business. The more time I spend at home with my family, the happier I am.” my life.
When my wife is happy all kinds of good things happen, including our sex life improves. That is all! You can advertise that using Kelvyn Peters CPA and Associates improves your sex life.”
I do not think!
Sorry, we have not accepted your idea. He’s completely on his own in that department, but we can help improve his business and, by extension, his life. And your goal may not be additional earnings but more time to live! We know we can because we are doing it for others.
We repeat ourselves so often because the truth is the truth and there are only so many ways to tell it. You’ve heard this before. If you spend every moment of your life worrying about your business, there must be a better way. There are!
Accountants have been ripping off their clients for years.
In 1973 I attended a workshop for accountants at the Financial Management Research Center then directed by Dr. Keith Cleland. The workshop intended to drag the participants into the 20th century.
“Accountants have been ripping off their clients for years,” he told us. The 25 participants were shocked. These represented vibrant accountancy firms from across Australia, both large and small firms. They were at the forefront of the industry. Otherwise, they would not have been in this kind of workshop.
One person was annoyed by that comment and a colleague wanted to punch him in the nose. (It wasn’t me, but I would have held his coat.)
At the end of the week we discovered that we were charging high fees for things that our customers couldn’t understand, couldn’t use, and didn’t need. At the same time, we were neglecting the information they needed to increase their profits and safeguard their businesses.
20 years later, what has changed?
I attended a week-long seminar organized by CPA Australia in 1993, the aim of which was to train us in ‘client-based accounting’.
Dr. Cleland presented the initial module. He didn’t openly criticize the accountants this time—after all, it was the CPA that introduced him—but he delivered much the same speech (the same jokes, too) as he had 20 years earlier.
“These things are not taught in universities,” he said, “so the accounting profession has mostly ignored them. Small businesses have been shortchanged, but things are changing.”
Know-it-all Kelvyn Peters had to jump up and say that the doctor had told him the exact same thing 20 years ago. Where were the signs of change? Universities were not yet teaching accountants how to help their clients.
“This seminar with CPA Australia and the suggestion that they might make client-based accounting a specialty is a good sign,” he replied.
10 years later…
Nothing has changed. Our hopes have withered on the vine and small businesses must look elsewhere for help.
I was recently called to help a restaurant in crisis. We were happy to work with your current accountant. We prefer to keep things fun and let the accountant do the boring tax filing and compliance work.
In this case, the client insisted that we take over the entire accounting function.
The accountant was very unhappy. “They’re tough customers,” he said, “I’ve kept the rate lower than it should be and I’ve done more to help them.”
In fact, he had! The financial statements were beautiful to behold with color charts and key ratios compared to the industry average. (most accounts still don’t do that.
He had warned her that both the cost of wages and the cost of food were too high. Our focus was to form tactics to reduce them.
“But I already told them that,” said the Accountant, “what do they need you for?”
I told him that the customer knew that kitchen wages were too high and wanted someone to show him how to lower kitchen wages.
“I can’t do that,” he said, “I’m an accountant.” I’d have to camp down there at the restaurant to see what’s going on. And they wouldn’t pay the fee.”
Yes they would. They were going to pay me.
Most accountants see their role as providing financial statements, cash flow projections, and tax returns, and therein lies the rub.
Each of these is a tool, not an end in itself. It’s like giving the client a hammer and a saw and telling them to go build a house. You need more than the tools, you need to be taught how to use them.
Of course, the client will complain about the fees, whatever the level, if everything they receive is not useful to them.
Accountants are generally engaged in preparing financial statements and tax returns. Deadlines. They don’t have time to ‘smell the roses’. Anything that doesn’t help meet a deadline has to wait until later. It is often too late.
I may still sound like an accountant, even the cool bookkeeping guy, but there’s nothing I love more than talking to a business owner about their business. There is nothing a business owner likes more than to talk about his business and plan to make more money. He’s a lot of fun and he loves to pay me for it.
For the most part, small business owners know what their problems are. And above all they know how to solve them.
It’s just that they need a little help to implement the necessary changes. Very often your business just needs a little tweaking and at http://www.profitstrategies4business.com you will find Kelvyn Peters and Associates. They will give you the help you need.