Accounting
Art of Accounting: How to be a great employee, manager, partner, advisor and team member
Enjoy complimentary access to top ideas and insights — selected by our editors.
Being a great resource is quite easy. Just do what the person you report to needs you to do. Do it when you say you will do it and better than anyone else could do it. Also, never, ever upward delegate.
This should be a standard operating procedure but it rarely occurs except by exceptional people. The more exceptional people an organization has, the more successful it — and everyone there — will be.
I modestly suggest that a major reason for my success has been adhering to due dates and trying to do the work better than anyone else. Also I had a resolve to never leave my boss (when I started out) or client where they had to do something. It has always been my firm or me that had to follow through and never the boss or client. Additionally, when I was a staff member, I always tried to anticipate what my boss would do with what I was doing, and then tried to do some of that too. I never left part of what I had to do for my boss to clean up or complete. Likewise with clients I always tried to assume the responsibility to do as much of what the client would do as I could.
Whether you are the lowest-level employee or highest-level CPA firm owner or partner, your job is to provide services for the person hiring or engaging you. Those services include, and really demand, that the right work gets done at the right time in the right way. It cannot be simpler than that. Do what you are supposed to do without error while meeting the time commitment. And then anticipate the use of that information and try to do something extra to save the effort of the person above you, i.e., your boss or client.
Anticipating means two things. Understanding the purpose and use of what you are doing, and how it could meet or exceed that purpose, and/or whether alternatives might be more appropriate. This is how you become a trusted advisor.
My first boss told me that, since I was just starting out, I was not expected to know too much, but I was expected to do what I was told to do and to get it done on time without careless errors. He told me that as he would gain confidence in me, I would be given more responsibilities and higher-level work that I could grow from and advance my career with. This is a lesson for all of us. Prove your ability by doing the right at the right time in the right way.
Clients need you, and expect you, to suggest alternatives to their plans, better ways of doing things, with methods that will help the client accomplish their objectives more reasonably, efficiently and effectively. That’s what made me successful.
I also taught this to my staff, i.e., my team, and those who learned were permitted to continue working for me. They made my job easier, more valuable and more fun…and I reciprocated by doing the same for them.
Today there is a big emphasis on advisory services. The advisory services are not new, but the recent (in the last 10 or so years) emphasis on this is new. I always did that. If I did not, then you would never have heard my name or read anything I wrote because I would have had nothing new or different or innovative to write about. I also would not have had the clients that were open and receptive to what I had to offer them, and who recognized this. The recognition was not with accolades but with quick acceptance of, and payment of, my fees.
I also loved being an independent CPA, but I loved being a businessperson more. That is because if I could not succeed in my own practice, I would cease being a businessperson, but I would never cease being a CPA; my role would just have shifted to being an owner to an employee of a better businessperson’s CPA business.
I accomplished a lot and still do, but it has never been alone. I had partners, staff, support people and clients wanting to be exceptional and who wanted to work with exceptional people. I never compromised by doing less than the best anyone could do, and then some, and never accepted anything less from anyone working with or for me.
Anyone can do what I did. Just do what you say you will do, when it has to be done and the way it needs to be done. That’s all. That’s the secret sauce. If you are the leader of your firm, then lead with this standard. If you are a staff person, then everything you do should be following this standard. Whatever your position, you are part of a team. Be aware that no team could rise above the attitudes, skills and desires of its weakest members.
If you agree with what I just wrote, then do it. Start now. You can get started by using this standard and making any necessary adjustments or changes in your practice as the opportunities arise. Give yourself a year to get things working right. But get started.
If you do not agree with what I wrote, then email me and provide your phone number. I’ll call you and give you an opportunity to tell me why I am wrong and how it should be done. I am not too proud to ignore adapting better ways of doing things. After all, that’s how I grew.
P.S.: My checklist file for managing a practice and tax season is being added to, updated and completed. Information about how to receive it for free will be in my column next week. Look for it. If you want to request it now, send an email to
Do not hesitate to contact me at
The House unanimously passed four bipartisan bills Tuesday concerning taxes and the Internal Revenue Service that were all
- H.R. 1152, the Electronic Filing and Payment Fairness Act, sponsored by Rep. Darin LaHood, R-Illinois, Suzan Delbene, D-Washington, Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, Brad Schneider, D-Illinois, Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pennsylvania and Jimmy Panetta, D-California. The bill would apply the “mailbox rule” to electronically submitted tax returns and payments to allow the IRS to record payments and documents submitted to the IRS electronically on the day the payments or documents are submitted instead of when they are received or reviewed at a later date. The AICPA believes this would offer clarity and simplification to the payment and document submission process while protecting taxpayers from undue penalties.
- H.R. 998, the Internal Revenue Service Math and Taxpayer Help Act, sponsored by Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, and Brad Schneider, D-Illinois, which would require notices describing a mathematical or clerical error to be made in plain language, and require the Treasury to provide additional procedures for requesting an abatement of a math or clerical error adjustment, including by telephone or in person, among other provisions.
- H.R. 517, the Filing Relief for Natural Disasters Act, sponsored by Rep. David Kustoff, R-Tennessee, and Judy Chu, D-California. The process of receiving tax relief from the IRS following a natural disaster typically must follow a federal disaster declaration, which can often come weeks after a state disaster declaration. The bill would provide the IRS with authority to grant tax relief once the governor of a state declares either a disaster or a state of emergency and expand the mandatory federal filing extension under Section 7508(d) of the Tax Code from 60 days to 120 days, providing taxpayers with more time to file tax returns after a disaster.
- H.R. 1491, the Disaster related Extension of Deadlines Act, sponsored by Rep. Gregory Murphy, R-North Carolina, and Jimmy Panetta, D-California, would extend the amount of time disaster victims would have to file for a tax refund or credit (i.e., the lookback period) by the amount of time afforded pursuant to a disaster relief postponement period for taxpayers affected by major disasters. This legislative solution would place taxpayers on equal footing as taxpayers not impacted by major disasters and would afford greater clarity and certainty to taxpayers and tax practitioners regarding this lookback period.
“The AICPA has long supported these proposals and will continue to work to advance comprehensive legislation that enhances IRS operations and improves the taxpayer experience,” said Melanie Lauridsen, vice president of tax policy and advocacy for the AICPA, in a statement Tuesday. “We are pleased to work closely with each of these Representatives on common-sense reforms that will benefit taxpayers, tax practitioners and tax administration and we’re encouraged by their passage in the House. We look forward to continuing to work with Congress to improve the taxpayer experience.”
The bills were also included in a recent Senate
The House also passed two other tax-related bills Tuesday that weren’t endorsed in the recent AICPA letter.
- H.R. 1155, Recovery of Stolen Checks Act, sponsored by Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-New York, would require the IRS to create a process for taxpayers to request a replacement via direct deposit for a stolen paper check. If a check is determined to be stolen or lost, and not cashed, a taxpayer will receive a replacement check once the original check is cancelled, but many taxpayers are having their replacement checks stolen as well. Taxpayers who have a check stolen are then unable to request that the replacement check be sent via direct deposit. The bill would require the Treasury to establish processes and procedures under which taxpayers, who are otherwise eligible to receive an amount by paper check in replacement of a lost or stolen paper check, may elect to receive such amount by direct deposit.
- H.R. 997, National Taxpayer Advocate Enhancement Act, sponsored by Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, would prevent IRS interference with National Taxpayer Advocate personnel by granting the NTA responsibility for its attorneys. In advocating for taxpayer rights, the National Taxpayer Advocate often requires independent legal advice. But currently, the staff members hired by the National Taxpayer Advocate are accountable to internal IRS counsel, not the Taxpayer Advocate, creating a potential conflict of interest to the detriment of taxpayers. The bill would authorize the National Taxpayer Advocate to hire attorneys who report directly to her, helping establish independence from the IRS.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Missouri, applauded the bipartisan House passage of the various bills, which had been unanimously passed by the committee.
“President Trump was elected on the promise of finally making the government work better for working people,” Smith said in a statement Tuesday. “This bipartisan legislation helps fulfill that mandate and makes improvements to tax administration that will make it easier for the American people to file their taxes. Those who are rebuilding after a natural disaster particularly need help filing taxes, which is why this set of bills lightens the load for taxpayers in communities struck by a hurricane, tornado or some other disaster. With Tax Day just a few days away, we must look for common-sense, bipartisan ways to make filing taxes less of a hassle.”
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