Accounting
Art of Accounting: 11th anniversary of weekly quick fixes
Enjoy complimentary access to top ideas and insights — selected by our editors.
This is my 572nd consecutive weekly Art of Accounting column in Accounting Today web edition, making this my 11th anniversary. Any “anniversary” is a milestone and cause for celebration, reflection and anticipation going forward.
These columns are all short quick fixes to problems colleagues called me about, some aha moments I wanted to share, or some things I’ve long ago started doing and find they are still perfectly relevant. If I eliminate duplicate ideas or some personal musings, I’ve posted at least 500 separate columns with quick fixes that readers could benefit from. Looking back, I am very proud of this and somewhat amazed that I’ve had that many ideas, tips and best practices to share.
Looking forward, I am eager to continue with more ideas than one might imagine, with more developing almost daily. Some I will write about soon, some I will incorporate into issues other accountants have discussed with me, and some will be pushed back for more urgent issues colleagues expressed and which I will use the column to provide them with a thought-out reply. After those are posted, I usually email the caller a link. Experience has shown me that few will reply thanking me, so I do not expect any replies. My joy is being able to help them and share that help with others who might have the same problems. I also get fresh material for other articles, speeches and some books I have written, including my recent Memoirs of a CPA.
When I started this column I prepared material for about a dozen columns and had a list of topics for perhaps another dozen columns. Not all of those two dozen ideas have been used, making way for newer or more current ideas. Actually ideas are our currency. The more ideas we have the better able we are to provide exceptional value to clients. Accountants and advisors do not live in a vacuum or are not cordoned off in a silo but are subjected to everything going on in the real world and in business and serving the needs of our clients.
Failing to add anything new dooms us to fail. The problem with that is that the lack of success helping clients is incipient and creeps up over time until there is a big boom of realization that there is more out there than we are able to handle and we lose the client. Not “we” since I do not lose the client for lack of attention or a dearth of value or fresh ideas, and not “you” since by your reading this column, you are demonstrating the same desire I have to help clients above and beyond the obvious. But other accountants who just trudge along, getting paid regularly, doing what they signed on to do and even doing it “perfectly” but not providing any added value, insights, fresh outlooks or challenges to their clients, and minimal growth to their practices.
Anyway, preaching to the choir is not my purpose with these columns, but reaching the onlookers who are pretty much satisfied with everything and who shy away from the disruption changes cause. I try to write things that will attract the onlookers (as well as my many regular readers). If I do not post anything new, then the onlookers will never read it. If I post it, they might read it. I will go with the might rather than the never. The might is what excites me and a call from someone that read something of mine for the first time creates the excitement I get by continuing these columns.
I appreciate you reading this column today and if you send me a “congrats” to
Thanks go to Michael Cohn, who edits these columns, and he also has not missed an issue. We coordinate vacations and days off so our schedules mesh perfectly. He has become a good friend as well as a great partner in these columns.
Stay tuned for many more of these Art of Accounting columns that are posted every Monday afternoon, as they have been for the past 11 years; and do not hesitate to contact me at
Carr, Riggs & Ingram, a Top 25 Firm based in Enterprise, Alabama, has added CapinCrouse, a Regional Leader based in Indianapolis, effective Jan. 17, 2025.
The deal is CRI’s biggest merger in its history, and the first since it
CapinCrouse focuses on exclusively serving nonprofits, such as faith-based organizations and private colleges. The merger will add 40 partners, 185 professionals and 15 offices to CRI, which has 437 partners and 2,304 staff
After the outside investment, CRI split its attest and non-attest practices, as is common when accounting firms receive private equity or venture capital funding. Carr, Riggs & Ingram, L.L.C., as an independent licensed CPA firm, is providing assurance, attest and audit services. CRI Advisors, LLC (including its subsidiary entities) operates as a separate legal entity, providing clients with tax and business consulting services.
“This merger represents an exciting milestone in our firm’s history and a significant advancement for both CRI and CapinCrouse,” said CRI Advisors LLC chairman Bill Carr in a statement Tuesday. “We have previously invested in firms that specialize in serving faith-based organizations and private colleges. With the addition of CapinCrouse, CRI is now positioned to become the leading national provider in these vital markets. By combining our strengths, we will enhance the value we offer and greatly expand our national geographical presence. We are proud to welcome CapinCrouse to the CRI family.”
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. CRI ranked No. 24 on Accounting Today‘s 2024 list of the Top 100 Firms, with $455.36 million in annual revenue. CapinCrouse ranked No. 27 on Accounting Today‘s Regional Leaders list of the Top Firms in the Great Lakes region, with $35.51 million in annual revenue.
“We are very pleased to join CRI,” said Fran Brown, Managing Partner of CapinCrouse. “For over 50 years, our focus has been on providing innovative service to nonprofit organizations whose outcomes are measured in lives changed. CRI’s commitment to client service, respect, and integrity is an excellent fit with our mission and firm culture. We will continue to operate under the CapinCrouse brand and are excited to now have access to more offerings and resources to further drive exceptional client service.”
Koltin Consulting Group CEO Allan Koltin advised both firms on the merger. “It is interesting to note that this is CRI’s biggest M&A deal in its history, and it comes on the heels of their private equity deal with Centerbridge Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners,” he said in a statement. “CapinCrouse, a top 125 firm nationally, is viewed by many as the preeminent firm in the country when it comes to the audit and related advisory services of nonprofits and religious organizations. My intuition suggests that going forward, we will see CRI expanding its geographic reach nationally by combining with more top 200 firms.”
Last August, CRI added
In 2022, CapinCrouse acquired the
President Donald Trump named Mark Uyeda, a Republican member of the Securities and Exchange Commission, as acting chairman of the SEC, while confirmation hearings await for Trump’s official pick as chairman, Paul Atkins.
Uyeda has been an SEC commissioner since 2022 and a member of the staff since 2006. Last month, he
“I am honored to serve in this capacity after serving as a Commissioner since 2022, and a member of the staff since 2006,” Uyeda said in a statement Monday. “I have great respect for the knowledge, expertise and experience of the agency and its people. The SEC has a vital mission—protecting investors, maintaining fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitating capital formation—that plays a key role in promoting innovation, jobs creation, and the American Dream.”
Last month, Trump
As acting chairman, Uyeda announced Monday that he would be launching a crypto task force dedicated to developing a comprehensive and clear regulatory framework for crypto assets. The task force will be led by another Republican commissioner, Hester Peirce.
The task force plans to collaborate with SEC staff and the public to set the SEC on a regulatory path as opposed to pursuing enforcement actions to regulate crypto “retroactively and reactively,” according to a
“This undertaking will take time, patience and much hard work,” Peirce said in a statement. “It will succeed only if the Task Force has input from a wide range of investors, industry participants, academics and other interested parties. We look forward to working hand-in-hand with the public to foster a regulatory environment that protects investors, facilitates capital formation, fosters market integrity, and supports innovation.”
The task force plans to hold roundtables in the future, but in the meantime is asking for public input at [email protected].
In the blogs: To be continued?
America really could enter a golden age
To end birthright citizenship, Trump misreads the constitution
New 2023 K-1 instructions stir the CAMT pot for partnerships and corporations
The Essential Practice of Bank and Credit Card Statement Reconciliation
Are American progressives making themselves sad?
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