It’s not often you meet someone and you have an instant connection with them. It happens, but all too frequently we are busy running around or have superficial conversations. But sometimes you meet someone whose immediate friendship or camaraderie you want to hold onto.
This past week was one of those meetings. While on the Intuit Firm of the Future Roadshow I met Bob. He is an accountant who came to the roadshow to learn about what is going on in the industry. While that may not seem unusual, his age was – Bob is 81 years old.
Industry Changes. We reminisced about the changes in the accounting industry, and then he filled in where my experience left off- reminding me of the old forms where you could lay one sheet over the general ledger paper to write out your sales and complete three steps in one, or the use of punch cards, and eventually to the more modern computerized accounting systems.
Bob then shared how he met the man who created a popular accounting package for his wife to pay the bills. (He was referring to Scott Cook creating Quicken so his wife could more easily pay monthly bills with a computer program that looked like a checkbook.) These disruptions in the accounting industry are no less significant than the ones going on now. And yet, here is Bob at 81 years old still learning.
Technology Changes. At the roadshow, we discuss technology changes, practice management for accountants using QBOA (or Karbon), the integration of QBO and Intuit’s ProConnect, and then dive deeper into other types of changes coming to firms.
Value pricing continues to be discussed and implemented in firms, and then we discuss how to grow your practice- specifically how to implement change among various personality types in your firm, to a methodology that actually engages the staff in the process and creates a winning environment as you implement tools and processes into the firm.
Always Learning. I meet so many accountants, and thoroughly enjoy it (and we have two more stops to go on the roadshow) – but meeting Bob this week was truly the highlight on a deeply personal level. He challenged me to continue to always learn, and to take time for those conversations that can make an impact on you.
I look forward to meeting you in Baltimore or Miami, or reach out and let’s connect.
