I “Right” Real Good

There used to be this rather dated joke about accountants and their inability to assume risk and it went something like this: “A CPA’s idea of risk taking is deciding to replace a traditional conservative tie with a bright red one.”

Ba dum dum.

To be fair one or two things have changed in the profession since then (I wouldn’t put the number too much higher than that). While accountants have unquestionably become more sartorially resplendent since say, the mid-1970s, other areas have honestly not kept pace.

Communications to name one.

While no one expects their accountant to be able to fill in for a national news anchor or pen the great American novel, it’s still astounding to me how few have what I would consider good communications skills.

And apparently, I’m not alone in that opinion.

Last week, a report from one of the state societies came out listing the top “soft skills” that accountants are currently lacking. And guess which one headed the list?

And again to be fair, it’s not all their fault.

Few accounting curricula stress or emphasize communications as an integral piece of what accountants do. And what they do besides dispensing technical advice and services to clients is building relationships. And that requires communication skills.

The No. 2 culprit in my humble opinion is technology.

Now it’s inarguable the quantum advances technology has brought to the profession. Without going out too far on a limb, it’s not only revolutionized the back office functions but also ushered in the era of the “virtual firm” – where the proliferation of cloud applications has allowed budding entrepreneurs can start their accounting businesses in a local Starbucks.

Conversely, it’s also stymied client interaction and by proxy, communications. While CPAs may email or even call their clients frequently, think about how many times they’re actually face-to-face with them in the office.

If they’re like 85 percent of the firms in the country, it’s probably just once a year – at tax time.

But it’s not only CPAs who have experienced technology’s law of unintended consequences with regards to blunting the development of communication skills.

Next time you’re out to dinner and you see a family seated next to you – check if they’re actually speaking to each other or texting on their phones. Or activate your spell check and monitor a sample of 10 emails for grammar and composition – the results may startle you.

I was speaking recently to a recent accounting college grad that was poised to begin sending out his resume when he asked me to take a look at his cover letter. In three paragraphs, I found four spelling and grammatical errors and told him that unless he wants to live with his parents forever he’d be wise to review what he sends out far more thoroughly.

He actually emailed me by saying “Tanks for revueing it.”

Need I say more?