Sometimes, there’s no use trying…

Some people are just oblivious to reality despite all evidence to the contrary.

Take my neighbor for example. Since the day his daughter was incredulously given a driver’s license, she has had three fender benders, smashed into my mailbox while backing up and just recently was clocked at 93 miles per hour on a highway with a 65 speed limit.

Her fault right?

Not a chance. The father is taking the case to court, charging that the highway patrol “did a lot of things wrong?”

Like what? Citing her for driving nearly 30 mph over the speed limit and endangering others?

Sometimes there’s nothing left but to simply shrug your shoulders.

Let’s face it we’ve all known people like that. And there’s no amount of trying to sway their way of thinking.

And many CPAs are no different.

This weekend I ran into a New York-based practitioner who happens to belong to the same health club I do. He runs a very successful firm  - but not without a price. And that cost comes in the form of him working 70-plus hours a week. So on weekends when I see him he is always on his way to the office. His partner is slowing down from full time, so that places an even heavier burden on his not-so-broad shoulders.

He confided in me that on a recent religious holiday he worked 14 hours. Yet he steadfastly has rejected the idea of merging up despite my efforts to show him that a larger successor firm will free him from all the administrative duties he currently performs in addition to managing an oversized book of business.

“No one can do what I do.”

Want another example because I’ve got plenty.

We once worked with a practitioner on Long Island who, as he approached age 70, was still logging in 65-80 hours a week. We managed to set him up in a number of meetings with larger firms, but he somehow found faults with every one of them, claiming that he “runs a very sophisticated practice” and those potential successors could not match the service quality he provides.

Sadly the reality of it was he ran a very average practice with $300-$400 returns, many clients of which any buyer firm would most likely not want to keep. But again, explaining this to him was like trying to show a toddler how to solve a quadratic equation.

So in the end my neighbor’s daughter is somehow still driving and the two aforementioned practitioners are still working sweatshop hours.

I feel I can still help them if they’ll only listen to reason. As for my neighbor, I now park my car safely in the garage.