{"id":131773,"date":"2024-10-03t11:59:17","date_gmt":"2024-10-03t15:59:17","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.g005e.com\/?p=131773"},"modified":"2024-10-25t13:01:03","modified_gmt":"2024-10-25t17:01:03","slug":"the-community-of-accountants-is-a-superpower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.g005e.com\/2024\/10\/03\/the-community-of-accountants-is-a-superpower\/","title":{"rendered":"the community of accountants is a superpower"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/strong><\/p>\n leave your silos and explore an incredible breadth of options.<\/strong><\/p>\n by liz farr<\/em><\/p>\n accounting, by its nature, is a solitary activity. but we don\u2019t have to solve our firm\u2019s problems alone. we don\u2019t have to suffer alone.<\/p>\n join <\/strong>liz farr at the linkedin 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 group<\/a> | more<\/strong> liz farr<\/a> | follow<\/strong> liz farr on t<\/a>he disruptors<\/a> wherever you get your podcasts: apple<\/a>,\u00a0google\/youtube<\/a>,\u00a0spotify<\/a>,\u00a0iheart<\/a>,\u00a0deezer,<\/a>\u00a0amazon music, audible<\/a>,\u00a0player fm<\/a>,\u00a0audacy,<\/a>\u00a0rss<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n all we need to do is reach out to others, listen, ask for guidance, and know we will be heard and supported.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n most of the time, we sit in front of a computer, and with our hands, we move bits and bytes around, shuffling the digital representations of numbers from one spot to another.<\/p>\n i used to call it \u201cworking in the number mines.\u201d i imagined that with every journal entry, every number i added to a calculator or spreadsheet total, i was shoveling numbers from one pile to another until every number was in the correct pile.<\/p>\n while we depend on the others in our firms to do their parts of the task after we pass it off to be reviewed, corrected or added to the pieces that other team members are doing, we still do most of our work in solitude, especially in today\u2019s remote or hybrid world. maybe there\u2019s a discussion around the mistakes in the work, or maybe we just get a list of points to clear before passing it off.<\/p>\n or maybe, as reviewers, we should not bother sending the work back to the staff and just fix the problems ourselves. \u201ci can fix it faster, so i\u2019ll just do it myself,\u201d we grumble, too frustrated and time-stressed to have that discussion. and the staff loses the opportunity to learn from mistakes.<\/p>\n audit \u2013 at least when onsite \u2013 can be different, with everyone gathered around the table in the client\u2019s conference room, working on their assigned parts, and asking questions from time to time. but even gathered around a table or sitting in adjacent cubes \u2013 or connecting via zoom or teams for a co-working session \u2013 we still largely work in solitude.<\/p>\n the power of conferences to connect to others <\/strong><\/p>\n however, even as an admitted introvert, the most powerful experiences of my time as a cpa have been when i have connected with a community of forward-thinking professionals, as i have had the opportunity to do in person at four separate conferences so far this summer: firm growth forum in san diego, aicpa engage in las vegas, scaling new heights in orlando, and bridging the gap in chicago.<\/p>\n my best experiences have been at smaller conferences like firm growth forum and bridging the gap, both of which were on the smaller side, with only about 200 attendees. there is a sense of community at these small gatherings that\u2019s not as palpable as at the bigger ones.<\/p>\n another peak community was the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 dinner for guests of my disruptors podcast at aicpa engage. that dinner was a who\u2019s who gathering of thought leaders in accounting. many of the guests have since thanked me for the invitation and the opportunity to spend time in an intimate setting with others. it was an amazing privilege to gather so many of my accounting heroes and heroines in one room.<\/p>\n i talked with my accounting friends about distinctly non-accounting topics at bridging the gap. we discussed mental health, lgbtq+ issues, spirituality, politics and health. speakers shared details about vulnerability, imposter syndrome, mental health journeys, leadership and self-care in sessions. we heard stories we\u2019d never heard and perhaps did not expect to hear. who knew that so many of the leaders of our profession have had so many struggles over the years?<\/p>\n we also heard how firm owners had created amazing firms that most cpas would consider an impossible dream.<\/p>\n become one of the few with the power of community behind you<\/strong><\/p>\n sadly, most cpas are fully unaware that such a reality exists. just last week, i had a conversation with the wife of my former tax partner\u2019s boss, who was astounded when i told her that firms exist where people do not work insane hours during tax season.<\/p>\n mathematically, it\u2019s no surprise that most cpas are trapped on the saly hamster wheel. 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research puts the number of people employed as accountants and auditors in the u.s. in 2023 at 1.4 million<\/a>. of those, about half are cpas<\/a>.<\/p>\n this means that only about 0.03 percent of u.s. cpas were at bridging the gap. the biggest conference i attended, aicpa engage, had over 5,000 in-person and virtual attendees in 2024, but it only reached about 0.7 percent of u.s. cpas.<\/p>\n when we stay in our silos, we remain unaware of the many ways other accountants have found to operate their firms. connecting to other accountants helps us explore that incredible breadth of options. i\u2019ve met accountants and bookkeepers worldwide and learned that no two firms operate similarly. fortunately, for the future of accounting, many firm leaders are breaking the mold of traditional firms and doing things differently.<\/p>\n the best description of the magic that happens in the community came from one of my conversations with mike maksymiw. mike is the executive director of the aprio firm alliance, a community of future-oriented firm owners. in a new alliance meeting, one member explained how his firm was doing something that worked well in his state. another member says her firm had a different approach to the same issue in her state. a third member didn\u2019t think either approach would work where he lived. however, another member suggested taking part of the first approach and combining it with part of the second approach. maybe that would work? boom! a solution that wouldn\u2019t have emerged without the power of community.<\/p>\n community is everywhere<\/strong><\/p>\n fortunately, connecting to a community of like-minded accountants is easy in today\u2019s online world. here are some ways to find the supportive communities you need:<\/p>\n community is powerful. through community, we are lifted when we need energy. we get ideas and inspiration to make the future of accounting better than the past or present. it\u2019s a sounding board when we need to vent or consider a new approach. we learn about the creative things that others are doing to create firms that improve the lives of their clients, their team members and the leaders of the firms. we don\u2019t feel like we\u2019re the only ones with this problem.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n
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