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Public
Accounting As A Career Option. Sexy? You Bet!
As I start this month’s
column, I am sat here at night in my hotel room in Winnipeg,
Manitoba, during a visit here to host some PD courses for the
Institute of Chartered Accountants of Manitoba.
If you think February
and March are cold in the Toronto area, or Vancouver, get this
– it was minus fifty-one degrees here in Winnipeg this
morning!
Nature provides us with
such extreme weather circumstances and our clients often chip-in
to provide us with extreme work circumstances.
Just look at the work-flow
our profession has evolved – not enough hours in the day
in March and April, when busy season hits, yet often quiet periods
in July and August (I guess not many clients have year-ends
in the first quarter).
Another extreme that we
enjoy in the public accounting profession is the wide variety
of work assignments that clients provide us with.
And this leads me nicely
to the point I want to make this month.
Just think about it for
a moment. Let’s take a look at a day’s schedule
for a partner in a mid sized firm of CAs, let’s call him
Michael:
Michael’s day for
last Tuesday looked something like this (with Michael’s
comments in italics):
| 7.30am |
Breakfast meeting (second
interview) with a senior candidate thinking of joining
the firm
|
‘I love selling the
firm to new talent, especially when the candidate reminds
me of myself, only a younger version.’ |
| 9.15am |
Client meeting at the office to discuss
putting an SR & ED tax credit claim together for a
new client |
‘This is an area of work that helps
clients think we walk on water – which, of course,
we do.’ |
| 10.30am |
Staff Meeting |
‘While we sometimes have to
deal with serious matters at these meetings, I always
try to end them on a high note to have the troops leaving
pumped up.’
|
| 12.00 |
Lunch with a David Bates, Bank Manager |
‘David and I go back a few years
now and we’ve referred a lot of business to each other.
Looking forward to getting together with him again today.’
|
| 2.30pm |
Year-end meeting with a client |
‘We’ve done some great tax
planning work for this client – can’t wait to
see their reaction when I talk them through it and they
realize how much we can save them.’
|
| 4.00pm |
New client presentation |
‘We’ve put a lot of work
into developing a relationship with this prospective client
over the last eighteen months. It all comes down to this
– One hour with the executive committee to talk them
through our proposal.’
|
| 5.30pm |
Back to the office to review a couple of
sets of draft financial statements |
‘Not my favourite thing to do these
days, but hey, all part of the job, but it’s good
to keep myself involved.’
|
| 6.30pm |
Partner Meeting |
‘We try to have some fun at these
monthly sessions – but there’s often some serious
business to discuss. This month we are considering merging
with a smaller firm and I’m sure there will be some
hot debating about this.’ |
What other occupation
can you think of that provides such a rewarding and varied workload?
When we get close to our
clients and develop a good working relationship, it’s
amazing how much vale we can add to our clients.
Becoming a key part of
a client’s management team can be a big responsibility.
However, when it happens,
as often it will, you get to the point where the client calls
you to discuss any key issue that will have a major impact on
their business, and some great things start happening;
1. Clients start involving
you in more detailed and enjoyable issues
2. Fees are never an issue
3. Clients refer more new clients to you
We should try to dispense
with the myth that Accounting is boring. If you ask me, it’s
one of the sexiest careers any bright young graduate could possibly
choose.
© MFA Group 2007
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