here’s what you’re looking for: edward mendlowitz

don’t make your job harder.

by ed mendlowitz
call me before you do anything: the art of accounting

it is very hard to avoid injecting bias in investigatory forensic work, but essential if you want to be successful. i had a great experience to illustrate this.

more: you must push the pencil | my boss hated the client | fired from my first job | staffers need to speak up with clients | bored by cpe? you’re missing out! | clients buy solutions, not hours | roger is my only client
exclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

first, very few people do things that are completely unbiased. most everyone starts with some sort of preconceived idea and, whether consciously or subconsciously, they lean toward that. maybe i should have said unconsciously. so many people do things without a clue, but that is a different story.
read more →

“his remarks were like a kiss of death.”

by ed mendlowitz
call me before you do anything: the art of accounting

early on, my boss took me to a client i was to work on. he started to explain what needed to be done and what the client did, but then he said, “i hate this client – everything is always messed up and nothing ever makes sense.”

more: when to keep some plans to yourself | the art of the deal: starts with listening | working for a jerk | the ‘wrong’ cpe | be a sounding board to your clients | make obsessed leadership work for you
exclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

he also told me my work area was in the factory. i would probably have to move a chair next to a carton that would serve as a desk, and he warned me the lighting wasn’t too good.
read more →

leave room to be surprised.

by ed mendlowitz
call me before you do anything: the art of accounting

planning is a trait of most accountants, including me. maybe that is one reason we become accountants. i always seemed to write out plans – for myself, partners, staff and sometimes personal activities.

more: the art of the deal: starts with listening | fired from my first job | staffers need to speak up with clients | bored by cpe? you’re missing out! | clients buy solutions, not hours | roger is my only client | blown loan covenants and how to recover from them | beyond the numbers: be a friend | perception becomes reality
exclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

one time i had a plan for a new staff person who became our tax manager and eventually ran our firm’s tax department.

read more →

be all ears. talk less. listen more.

by ed mendlowitz
call me before you do anything: the art of accounting

a client wanted to buy a business in birmingham, ala., and i went there with the company’s cfo to review the books, do some due diligence, kick the tires and negotiate a deal.

more: fired from my first job | employees have better memories than bosses | when writeups went extinct | kennedy’s acceptance speech | what consulting is | mendlowitz: why my firm merged with ws+b
exclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

the business was on the cusp of super success, but they ran out of money and my client was going to buy the company, provide working capital and retain the owner to run the business.
read more →

what i learned the hard way. so you don’t have to.

by ed mendlowitz
call me before you do anything: the art of accounting

my first job was with a sole practitioner friend of my father’s and lasted seven weeks.

more: employees have better memories than bosses | working for a jerk | the ‘wrong’ cpe | be a sounding board to your clients | make obsessed leadership work for you | client checklist: top 10 issues for real estate investors | working hard? or hardly working?
exclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

i was fired because i was terrible. i couldn’t do anything right!

here’s what i’ve learned.
read more →

5 takeaways.

by ed mendlowitz
call me before you do anything: the art of accounting

i started my third job one year and seven months after i graduated college. i was hired as a “junior” but felt i was more experienced because i was doing “higher level” work at my previous job.

more: the vanishing writeup | the ‘wrong’ cpe | be a sounding board to your clients | make obsessed leadership work for you | client checklist: top 10 issues for real estate investors | a cpa looks back across the generations
exclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

the first week at my new job, i was sitting at a long table in the staff room with two other junior accountants, footing 50-page, 10-column schedules and similar work. i mean footing. this was january 1965 and we did not have calculators or adding machines. there was one monroe calculator in the office, and if you wanted percentages you literally had to wait on line to get a turn using it.
read more →

why it was so valuable and how to gain that knowledge now.

by ed mendlowitz
call me before you do anything: the art of accounting

writeups are extinct. when i started in 1963, most small cpa firms primarily did writeups. after i started my practice in 1969, it became an embarrassment to say i did writeups. it connoted something beneath my “professional” status.

more: the ‘wrong’ cpe | bored by cpe? you’re missing out! | clients buy solutions, not hours | roger is my only client | top 10 issues for real estate investors | working hard? or hardly working? | it’s not always about the money | the value in value consulting | a cpa looks back across the generations
exclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

i think a problem today is that writeups no longer exist for younger staff.
read more →

make the requirement work for you.

by ed mendlowitz
call me before you do anything: the art of accounting

cpas are required to take continuing professional education courses each year. the amount varies by state, but every state has mandatory requirements.

more: clients buy solutions, not hours | what consulting is | mendlowitz: why my firm merged with ws+b | a long time ago, at a cpa firm far, far away … | when discounts don’t work | call me before you do anything | learning to delegate: slow is faster
exclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

some cpas, like me, take courses and look for ideas to be able to serve clients better.
read more →

selling by swaying.

by ed mendlowitz
call me before you do anything: the art of accounting

this is not about jfk.

more: make obsessed leadership work for you | roger is my only client | blown loan covenants and how to recover from them | beyond the numbers: be a friend | perception becomes reality
exclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

when he was nominated at the 1960 democratic convention, his acceptance speech was preceded with an introduction by chester bowes narrating a film about kennedy’s life and achievements.
read more →