Exciting news! Yours truly was named one of the “Top Accounting Influencers of 2018” by the popular web resource for small businesses and freelancers, Fit Small Business.

I have three initial reactions to this extremely high compliment:

1. I am humbled and honored to be in the same space as some of my most respected colleagues. Just recently at a retreat for bookkeeping professionals, Cindy Schroeder introduced one of the speakers — Geni Whitehouse — in the context of how long she had admired and respected her. Cindy shared the experience of when she once discovered she was on the same list of conference speakers as Geni… and how in that moment she felt she had really “made it”. I can now second that wonderful feeling, as Geni is listed immediately next to me on the Accounting Influencers article.
2. I could not do what I do without the incredible support of an amazing staff. Jessie Goldbaugh takes care of the lion’s share of bookkeeping and staff accounting services in the firm, and Ali Szymanski and Heidi Jacobson provide all the administrative support (and in Heidi’s case, probably most of my emotional support as well). My husband, Mark McClelland, is my personal IT guru and help-desk. Without the dedication of these hard-working folks in my life, I could not spend nearly as much time researching, pursuing continuing education, consulting and writing up related findings.
3. Ultimately, it all comes down to providing services for my fabulous clients. It is their needs that cause me to constantly push forward, always learning something new, continually taking continuing education webinars, attending conferences and retreats, and researching — and then synthesizing and publishing, in the form of my blog — what I have learned. Were it not for them, there would be no point in it, and I would not be able to take a passion and turn it into a living. So, thanks to all the beautiful small businesses who give us the opportunity to be on your team.

P.S. In the interview process, Fit Small Business asked me for a list of three “top accounting tips”, and they picked one for the article. I figured in announcing the award, I should share all of the tips I provided in a related post — here. Enjoy.

Source: Accounting Software Reviews You Can Trust: Influencers

I’m very excited to announce that I’ve created a page on The Dancing Accountant website linking to some of my clients so that you can find them and become a patron. I couldn’t be prouder of their accomplishments and I wanted to share my enthusiasm with blog readers… and maybe inspire you to share yours as well.

If you follow my blog, you already know that my work isn’t just a job. I honestly feel it’s a calling — a mission. I try to keep my prices low for the industry, offer payment plans, remain accessible to clients at all times, and offer services outside-the-box… stretching my knowledge and abilities as far as I can, taking approximately three times the required continuing education each year, in wide-ranging topics that affect my clients.

Why? Why bother? As I’m reminded regularly by colleagues, salespeople, networking contacts and self-proclaimed “coaches”, I could make so much more money working at a large CPA firm. Or: “Any continuing ed beyond the requirement is a waste of non-billable time.” Or: “You have a waiting list? Well, that’s proof that you should raise prices.” Or: “You should outsource your [fill-in-the-blank] to India; you’re stifling your growth otherwise.” (Note: these are all actual quotes I have been told more than once.)

I struggled for years asking myself why I had such emotional resistance to these criticisms. Aren’t I an astute business-person? Then why am I being insulted as being naive or idealistic or non-business-minded?

The answer is easy — at least now (it took years of soul-searching). I love working with small businesses, and I don’t want to price myself out of their ability to use my services. Part of that is a personal mission and part is selfish; I really want to support the small business economy, especially in my own neighborhood, where daily I see my clients being priced out in favor of big chains. These folks make our neighborhoods quirky, vibrant, and engaging… then people want to shop/dine there… then rents go up… then chains replace them. It’s so painful. I don’t want to be a part of that cycle.

And I want to offer them the services that they need — not just the ones on a pre-determined list of CPA offerings. I want to be able to answer their questions about running a business, not just keeping the books clean and paying taxes. I want my work to be personally rewarding. I love shopping at my clients’ stores, engaging their services, and eating at their restaurants. I love living in a place like Cheers — where everybody knows your name.

Shopping small and shopping local — you’re hearing more about it these days, as large chains and online retailers crush once-vibrant communities. We don’t have to be a part of that. An article in Forbes summed up some great reasons for supporting small businesses.

• Job creation: Did you know that about 63% of new jobs are created by small businesses?
• Local business owners give back to their communities, shop other small businesses, and support local B2B systems. 71% of dollars spent at locally-owned businesses stays in the local economy.
• Customer service is often more personalized and higher-quality at small businesses, and offerings are often tailored to the clientele.
• Local businesses help sustain vibrant, walkable neighborhoods and reduce unnecessary shipping and packaging.
• Independent business owners give approximately 350% more to non-profits than non-locally-owned ones.

So: please Shop Our Clients! Shop yours. Go find a small business in your neighborhood you’ve never been in, and pay them a visit today. If you enjoy ordering online, try to choose websites of independently-owned businesses, or platforms like etsy that provide small businesses a sales venue. It’s a win-win-win.

(Note: if you are a client of mine and would like to be listed on The Dancing Accountant’s Shop Our Clients page, please comment below or contact me directly!)

Short, excellent article on how to balance workload between the data entry folks and the tax return reviewers at a CPA firm.  It’s all great advice — I recommend reading all the points the author makes regardless of whether you file your own returns, run your own firm, work at a large firm, or even do taxes at all.  Many of the comments regarding staff training, systems, and creating a culture of excellence hold true no matter what kind of work you’re doing — accounting, taxation, or… heck, architecture, human resources, photography.  Anything.

However, people are particularly emotionally stressed about their tax returns.  You simply cannot be careless with them.  And taking the time to go through someone else’s work line-by-line and sending back feedback would make me insane.  Worse, I could do as the author suggests and have someone else go through their work line-by-line — it’s a great idea, but I don’t think I could handle that… for accounting, yes.  There’s a materiality threshold.  But not for taxes.

(I’d find myself sneaking in a line-by-line verification myself regardless.  If my name is going on that return, it’d better be my work.  My mistakes.  Even if someone on my staff were perfect, I’d wonder and worry.  Not worth the stress.)

People often ask why I don’t expand further.  I have one staff accountant who is almost full-time, two very part-time Excel experts, and two very part-time bookkeepers.  The bottleneck is that I am the only staff member who prepares tax returns, so we can only grow so much.  I turn away a few clients a week.  And I’ve come to the conclusion that this is just fine.  My personality demands perfection — I don’t always achieve it, but I always strive for it.  And I read an article like this and immediately think, “oh my goodness, I’m so glad we don’t have to deal with that at my firm.”

As Khalil Gibran said, “Work is love made visible.”  Do your work and do it well.  It’s okay if you don’t make as much money as you could otherwise.  It’s okay if you don’t grow as much as other people think you should.  What’s most important is that you love your work, and that your clients can see this in everything you do.