Make a Decision – Please!

My high school football coach often employed a memorable axiom about making mistakes.

He would always lecture his players that if they made a mistake, at least make sure it’s an aggressive one. I road tested that theory in a late-season game when I took it upon myself to blitz the quarterback from my safety position getting there a millisecond too late and leaving my assigned wide receiver to gather in a soft pass and waltz into the end zone.

Instead of getting his usual reaming if a play blew up, he consoled me and said he liked the fact that I at least took a chance.

My father often spouted a similar philosophy, “a bad decision is a bad decision but it’s better than no decision.”

I don’t think that happens very often in the CPA world.

During my 20 years of either covering or consulting on the profession, I have seen little evidence of brazen decision making – particularly when it comes to succession planning – or more accurately, a lack thereof.

In fact, I have witnessed quicker decisions from nervous first-time skydivers jumping out of a plane.

Case in point. Earlier this month I was consulting with a two-partner firm in the Northeast whose owners were each 64 years old.

My Social Media Guidelines – take it or leave it!

I have been a Facebook user since 2007, three years after it made its debut. Like many other things’ technology, I’m always a bit behind the curve.

Ditto for LinkedIn. I first became a member in 2009 – some six years after it launched. Since then I’ve accumulated rather modest totals of Facebook “friends” and LinkedIn connections.

For those keeping score at home it’s 117 for the former and just over 300 for the latter.

I realize those numbers pale in comparison with others on both platforms some of whom have recorded over 1,000 Facebook friends and as much as 2,000 LinkedIn connects.

Wanna know why?

Because as elitist as it sounds, I’m very selective on whom I connect with on each. You would not invite people you didn’t know over to your house for drinks, right? Then I never understood why people agree to instantly connect with everyone who reaches out to them. Particularly on the socially-leaning Facebook which reveals reams of personal information – no matter how many safeguards they install to block them.

My rule is simple – if I don’t know you – or in the case of I know you but don’t like you – your connection requests quickly meet the delete key. I know someone with 2,365 Facebook connections. And no, that’s not a misprint. I’m sorry, it strains the bounds of credulity that they could know each one of them let alone share personal information.

I had a one-time boss whose ineptness could have filled a week’s worth of Dilbert cartoons who, after he was mercifully fired, wanted to be my LinkedIn buddy.

Uh-uh.

Why Didn’t You Do That Before?

As someone who has reported on two large industries since the mid-1980s, as you may imagine I have written and commented on the omnipresent issue of employee turnover. While an employee revolving door would be more frequent say, in the restaurant industry as opposed to the accounting profession, nevertheless it remains critical metric for CPA firms.

Which is why I’m still astonished at how many remain reactive to employee retention as opposed to proactive.

Case in point.

The other day I was at my local health club when a former partner at one of the super-regional CPA firms and now on his own, was bemoaning about the loss of his long-time senior manager. He explained that the manager was with him nearly eight years but left for a firm that offered more money and a faster track to partnership.

He said he matched the money to get him to remain to which I replied that if he matched the money it meant it was there in the first place so why wasn’t he more proactive about raises and merit promotions?

The ensuing silence reinforced the fact I had brought up an uncomfortable truth. Sadly, that’s more the rule as opposed to the exception.

Closer to home my spouse is leaving her position after 18 years with the same company for a sizeable leap in salary and perks. Her resignation letter set off a panic within upper management and they made a furious charge to convince her to stay – matching the money and the benefits. I pointed out that they hadn’t given her a raise in three years and now additional funds were miraculously available?

These Folks Are Simply Relentless

As one who received a fair amount of spam both written and verbal, you can imagine I’ve fielded one or two calls from folks in downtown Bangalore or Mumbai pretending to be from the Internal Revenue Service and demanding immediate payment for unpaid taxes.

As opposed to those unfortunate souls who have been scammed into tendering their credit cards for tax liens they obviously didn’t owe – I like to have fun with these dolts – asking basic questions such as why are they calling when the IRS always sends letters? Or how is “so and so” who works in your department? The stammering on the other end – complete with a foreign accent and followed by an abrupt hang up – always puts a smile to my morning.

However, these scamsters may be getting smarter.

Recently the IRS has issued a warning to taxpayers and tax practitioners about an email “phishing” scam that impersonates IRS officials with subject lines like “Automatic Income Tax Reminder” or “Electronic Tax Return Reminder”.

The emails include links that show an IRS.gov-like website with details purporting to be about the taxpayer’s refund, electronic return or tax account. The emails contain a "temporary password" or "one-time password" to "access" the files to submit the refund.

You Don’t Always Get What You Pay For

In our line of work, we get asked about value and valuations on a daily basis. It’s only natural CPA firm owners who have worked most of their adult lives to build up a profitable practice and are now ready to take a step back want to know what they can expect to be paid for their years of sweat equity. 

The answer unfortunately isn’t always so simple – there are multiple factors that go into determining a fair valuation for a firm. It’s not a basic asset sale or service where you pay a set price and in return acquire a business or sign up for cable.

I realize this is a bit far afield from accounting, but I wanted to regale you with a value-oriented vignette regarding my local newspaper.

In full disclosure I’m a print newspaper junkie. I read two papers religiously with my morning coffee- my local paper and one of the New York-based tabloids. The newspaper closer to home keeps me up to date on what’s happening in terms of news, taxes, culture and education within my zip and area codes. But like many print businesses, it’s suffered at the hands of digital publishing in terms of readers and revenue.

“Forgive” Does Not Mean “Forget”

I grew up the product of a mixed marriage. No, not ethnically or religiously, but rather politically.

My father at the time of my youth was a staunch Goldwater Republican, while my mother was “All the Way with LBJ.” The old man has since mellowed a bit, but my mother with the curious exceptions of being a fan of GOP lifer Pat Buchanan as well as anti-immigration, has steadfastly clung to her Democratic roots.

In full disclosure, I have tended to lean more toward my father’s beliefs as opposed to my mother’s especially during Presidential and Gubernatorial elections. The opposite has been true however in local and county races.

But on to today’s missive.

One of the many issues that has surfaced during the initial round of debates among the expansive field of Democratic candidates for the Oval Office is the obscene costs of a college education and the subsequent $1.6 trillion in outstanding student loan debt.

Two of the candidates, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, have posited the absurd solution of canceling all student debt – yep, all of it.

To put that $1.6 trillion figure in perspective, that’s more than the gross national product of England, France or Italy.

The Right Way to Market

Like most folks, I regularly get solicitations in the mail - whether snail or electronic - from various entities looking to drum up business. If it’s not an insurance company promising they can cut my auto and home rates in half, it’s financial and estate planners warning me about the dangers of suddenly expiring without a plan or will.

But lately I have been getting inundated with e-mail and or phone requests for the following: to meet in person for a custom-fit suit; with representatives from a sales lead generation company; a pushy sales person wanting to immediately speak to the person in charge of our company’s phone system (that was a quick hang-up); a staffing firm wanting to know if Transition Advisors is in the market for senior level tax managers or auditors; and finally, a clinic that recently opened in my neighborhood that specializes solely in stretching.

As I am to flexible what a rusted bolt is to a pair of pliers, the last one hurts just thinking about it. I predict I will be able to perform a full split about the same time our national deficit is eradicated.

Believe me I have tried to put a stop to this.

Painfully I have discovered that contacting the “Do Not Call” registry has been about as effective as the time my principal ordered a series of “no smoking” signs put up around school property.

Which in a sort of roundabout way brings us to my message de jour – the right way and the wrong way to announce a merger to your accounting clients. It’s more about packaging as opposed to marketing.