My Autobiography as a CPA

Over the past four years I have been writing a short autobiographical column about my experiences as an accountant, what I have learned and how I applied them in my practice and with clients. These have been posted on Accounting Today web edition and here is a link to many recent columns https://www.accountingtoday.com/author/edward-mendlowitz.

Rick Telberg of CPA Trendlines asked me if he could publish the columns which he felt would include a wide body of knowledge in an easily accessible book. How could I deny him this pleasure…..As a result there is a 400+ page book with the first three year’s columns. It’s title is Call Me Before You Do Anything and enjoyed reliving these circumstances as I wrote each column. I have been truly fortunate to enjoy working in this fine profession with great partners, bright staff and clients that are the smartest people on earth – entrepreneurs and corporate executives and directors, and managers of not-for-profit organizations.

While my experiences were as an accountant, most of what I encountered can apply to anyone in business or in a managerial position. You don’t need to be an accountant to manage staff, get new business, satisfy clients and customers and provide exceptional service and value, develop a brand and emphasize your USP (Unique Selling Proposition) and promote your business, or to deal with pricing your services and collecting what is owed to you. You can access much of what I wrote for free at the above link. However, you can also buy the book and have it near you at all times to flip through to find a solution to a current problem that I might have had quite some time ago and worked out in an effective way that I shared in a column.

I have to admit that I really like what I wrote and hope you can share, relate and benefit from my experiences.

Here is a takeaway for you based on my experience (to make this blog useful besides being a “commercial” for my book). Throughout my years of practice I realized that the most successful accountants are not the smartest, or those who had the highest GPA in college, or the best organized, although many very successful accountants are all three. The most successful are the ones that remembered what they worked on if and when the situation reoccurred; know experts to go to when confronted with complicated issues; meet deadline commitments; are fully accessible to their staff and clients; are clear about their pricing policies; and are able to train staff to get the right work done the right way at the right time. Oh yeah – they also look for every opportunity to learn new things, and are obsessive about systems and procedures and creating value for their clients. Consider if you meet all of these “success” attributes and if not, then start doing so.