CPA_Practice_Advisor_June_2020 - 24

THE MILLENNIAL ADVISOR

One Certainty in an Age of None:
He Who Hesitates is Irrelevant
DO YOU REMEMBER pin the tail on the donkey? You were blindfolded, spun around until
you were dizzy, and then tried to make your way with that tail to the poster of the
donkey just a few feet away? Moments earlier, it was right in front of you. Just a few

GARRETT WAGNER, CPA

CEO/Founder, C3 Evolution Group
garrett.wagner@cpapracticeadvisor.com

spins later, you had no idea where you were going or where to begin.
The game describes what many
things made sense. Our process was
ACCEPTANCE
accountants across the country are
feeling right now. We all knew the
right direction only yesterday, but no
matter how hard we try, the rules,
guidelines, and just about everything else seems to have changed
overnight. Today's challenges no
longer revolve around understanding something as simple as the tax
code. For example, we are tasked with
understanding the Payroll Protection
Program (PPP) and all its rules, most
of which have yet to be written yet.
Yet, they still impact our clients, and
therefore, our practices. Caught in an
endless game of the pin the tail on the
donkey, frankly, it's driving us crazy.
How can we help our organizations and clients navigate the new
normal, when it seems the rules of
game no longer exists-they just keep
shifting below our feet?

EMBRACING THE
UNKNOWN
We are valued for our abilities to
make sound decisions in the face of
great complexity. We read the tax
code, case law, IRS publications, and
so on. Gathering these diverse facts
and sifting masses of documents-we
formulate decisions or recommendations that can steer the fortunes of
families and businesses.
We don't make those decisions
without great diligence: reading
the tax code, using tax software,
analyzing the data, reflecting on
the facts and unique circumstances
of our client. In the old model, these

24

JUNE 2020 ■

linear and fixed, where we followed
steps and logic towards a conclusion.
Suddenly, we live in a world where
facts rarely have time to gel, data
never sleeps, information is always
incomplete. So, how do we come to
a logical conclusion in an illogical
process?
We embrace the unknown and
learn how to be flexible with our
mindsets.

HE WHO HESITATES IS
IRRELEVANT
This new normal calls for a shift in
our mindset. The flexibility to solve
problems must be greater than
ever-to levels that might make our
favorite mentors anxious to disown
us. Indeed, our professors of old, we
must confess, might even prove irrelevant in today's fluid, ever-changing
regulatory, global landscape.
Waiting too long when playing pin
the tail on the donkey agitates the
crowd. The whole point is to make a
decision, to move forward. Perfection,
it seems, may not even be the point
any longer. If stasis is death, then
it seems to apply to the accounting
profession to some degree, too.
The idea of making decisions
without all the information is
unsettling, to say the least. We are
not paid to approximate. We always
favor having more facts, more data,
more research-and more time. It
is okay to admit you feel this way,
too, it is intrinsic to the mindset of
accountants everywhere.

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Our path through this
apparent constancy of
chaos starts with accepting that our roles as an accountant,
finance department head, CPA, or
whatever title we may hold, shall now
encompass living with uncertainty.
It is impossible to know
everything and get extensions on
a well-established schedule. Our
desires to have all the data, all the
time always was an illusion and a
kind of academic exercise at best.
Even with the tax code, few do the
research to understand 100 percent
of the situation. Being honest, we
tell ourselves we did. In the world's
current state, we face this issue of
living with degrees of uncertainty
and unfinished business in almost
every scenario we face. We accept
that we cannot and will not know
everything. We realize knowing
everything is simply impossible.
Instead, we provide advice and
recommendations based on the
knowable knowns-and what we
know that we do not know. We need to
use our knowledge to make educated
assumptions and "guesstimates."

SOLVE FOR WHAT YOU
KNOW...& DON'T KNOW
Ultimately, those who seek our wisdom and guidance are fully aware
that we are not omnipotent and all
knowing. They seek someone to
help them clarify their choices and
navigate the confusion. It is a team
sport; you are the utility player in

your field of trade.
Instead of getting consumed with
everything you don't know, focus on
the known variables. Going back to
the example of the Payroll Protection Program, recommend a course
of action based on what you know
today. Make clear in your work that
what you are doing is applying the
known facts and expressing a few
assumptions. Solve the problem in
front of you with what is in front of
you. Step forward fearlessly and pin
the tail on the donkey.
Those who give advice to others
need to accept that they are not
all-knowing. Surprise, others do not
expect you to be.
Better to pin the tail on the wrong
end of that donkey, than to stand
still, frozen by fear and inaction.
Your audience will walk away having
received no value whatsoever.
And you'll never get another turn
again. ■
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