CPA Practice Advisor - 4

FROM THE EDITOR

The Client is (Always? Usually?
Sometimes?) Right
NUMBERS ARE NUMBERS are numbers, right? If it were all about the numbers, accountants would have seen themselves replaced by computers by now. And, in fact, many
accountants are worrying about just that scenario, as computer software becomes more

GAIL PERRY, CPA

Editor-in-Chief
gail.perry@cpapracticeadvisor.com
@gperrycpa

savvy, more predictive, more analytic. But, at the end of the day (or month, or quarter,
or year), there are still the people relationships that matter. So what happens when the
client expectations don't match up with the service that you're offering?
I like to tell a story about an
experience I had in my early days
as an accountant. I was working
as a tax accountant, taking care
of the taxes for a particular business that was run by a man who
had strong opinions about the
place of women in the business
world. He felt women were meant
to do administrative chores. And

CPA

Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm

so, he made a point of telling my
co-workers that he didn't want any
women working on his accounting
projects, including his tax returns.
The problem with that (well, I suppose there were many problems with
that...) was that I was hired because I
specialized in state and local taxes, I
was the SALT expert in our office, and
his tax situation required someone

NSA

who understood the tax ramifications
of doing business in multiple states.
That would be me.
Rather than give him a hard
time about his attitudes and beliefs,
and rather than turn his account
over to someone less qualified in
this area, the firm came up with
what, at the time, seemed like a creative and workable solution. When
the client would come to the office,
we would have a male accountant
meet with him. I provided the
accountant with a list of questions
I needed to have answered in order
to take care of the client's tax matters. Furthermore, to make sure I
got the information I needed, I was
positioned behind a partition so
that I could hear the conversation
with the client but he couldn't see
me. Crazy, right?

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VOLUME 29, NUMBER 4
Publisher: Barry Strobel
Editor-in-Chief: Gail Perry, CPA
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Jim Boomer, CPA.CITP
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Randy Johnston
Roman H. Kepczyk, CPA.CITP
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Amy Vetter, CPA.CITP, CGMA
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Brian Tankersley, CPA.CITP, CGMA
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MAY 2019 ■

Editorial Advisory Board:
Jim Bourke, CPA.CITP, CGMA, CFF
Jim Boomer, CPA.CITP, CGMA, MBA
Bob Cedergren, CPA.CITP, CGMA, CISA
Randy Johnston, MCS
Greg LaFollette, CPA.CITP, CGMA
Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA
Doug Sleeter
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This probably wouldn't fly in
today's professional environment,
but at the time, it was just something we did to make our client
happy. I didn't care that we did it
that way - given his attitudes, I
really didn't want a relationship
with the man. My relationship was
with the firm and that was who I
was working for. Today that scene
seems outrageous on several levels,
but at the time, it was just a funny
story about a weird client.
I wouldn't be surprised to
hear that you've had a story or
two about clients with surprising
expectations. Maybe it's part of
what makes this job fun, or maybe
it's just exasperating. In any case,
it's part of the path we've chosen. ■
- Gail Perry, Editor-in-Chief

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