Two Miles-ism

Many companies have been affected by the decline of economy. According to the media, it is very bad....... How are our clients doing?

Some of our clients have suffered, but it seems that many of our clients have not suffered much. It is clear that the companies are not affected by the economy as much as what they did or did not. Those business that are suffering did not do what they were supposed to do. Now they are forced to change. It is a hard time for those business, and I hope they will come back strong.

So how can we be a team that will not only endure the changing circumstances, but will benefit from the changing circumstances? We always need to change.

We need to improve ourselves, be flexible, and always try to do our best. I believe that is the surest way to be a true leader that our clients will look up to. Teddy Roosevelt said, "We need to be the best before being the first." I think this is true. We need to be the best everyday and never stop changing.

Iso

Change is often very frustrating.

We are living in an imperfect world. Most things do not go the way we want. That is why worthy changes are challenging.

Probably the most challenging thing about change is that it involves people. People will not change their ways very easily. Even for simple changes such as workpapers, and work process, actual implementation is not that simple. When it comes to intangible matters, it will be much more challenging. Any one who has tried to make a change knows this. If you don't know this, you have not tried to be a leader. However, even if you have not tried to be a leader, you know what I mean if you JSAT about leading yourself. Yourself is the hardest one to lead. You will have probably reached your dream already if you were always able to lead yourself.

You will need to understand this and be very patient when you lead. You will probably have to say the same thing, show the same thing, at least 3 times before people will start to change. If you don't know this, you will just be frustrated. But knowing this will help you in leading the project, your clients, and probably yourself.

Leading is patience. You can talk about your dreams and your aspirations to try to guide and influence people, but if you really want to accomplish change, patience is what you need. If you do not want to be patient, you are not ready to lead in that particular area.

I am not writing this to scare you away from leading. I am writing this to remind you of the fact that being a leader is to be patient. Also, asking every one to assist those who are trying to lead. Because change cannot be done by the leader alone.

Iso

Change is challenging.

By the way, I like the word challenging. It is used as a synonym for "difficult." I think it sounds much better, and in often cases is more positive.

Change will not come easy. There will be pain. I don't know of any worthy organizational change that was achieved without pain. If we really want to change ourselves, we cannot be afraid of the pain we will inevitably face.

Nobody likes pain. Of course, I don't like pain. But as the old saying goes, "no pain, no gain" we cannot be afraid of the pain. Being afraid of pain is something that a leader cannot do. If you want to lead (you all are leading in one way or another) you cannot try to avoid this too much. We need to face it and deal with it in order to grow.

What is your fear? Are you facing it? Or trying hard to avoid it? A worthy change only can come with some pain.

Iso

Making change is not an easy thing. Change is changing direction, sometimes turning around. Change is a challenge.

Change is inevitable. As Bill Gates said, "If we don't change, the competition will make us change."

Because change is difficult, there needs to be a lot of thinking.

We are making changes at the firm level, which is especially difficult. It needs planning, methodical execution. It will require a lot of patience and repetitive requests in different ways. Our R&D group is leading this.

The firm level change cannot be made without changes of each individuals. Each individuals will be requested to be flexible, and participating with ideas.

I hope we will be successful in transforming ourselves to the next level in 2009 before circumstances will force us to change.

Iso

We don't need the same workpaper for all clients. There may be some advantages, but there are a lot of pit falls in a standardized workpaper.

The standard workpaper needs to be minimum. However, certain areas of particular clients needs to be documented very carefully.

Let's call this a risk based procedure. We need to look at a lot of areas when performing book closing and preparing tax returns, but some areas are much more important than others.

For example, if a client sells a big piece of land, the workpaper for that transaction needs to be documented in details. Not only the numbers, but the accounting/thinking process needs to be documented in details. All workpaper need some kind of comment on it, and especially areas of high risk requires good comment and conclusion.

To be able to show your thinking process is very important for the following reasons; 1) clarify your thinking process, 2) have the review understand what you are doing, and 3) for future readers of the workpaper.

Standardized workpaper is good, but is not good enough. I believe the standardized portion needs to be minimum. (good example is Hiroshi's WP of Mooneyes, although the general tab is missing) It is important for the reviewer and preparer to identify the risk factors and use more time to prepare a good workpaper for that portion. This will probably contribute to the growth of the team members also.

If the item is apparently not very important, don't be afraid to "pass" it. As long as we know why it was passed, we can explain to the client as well as the IRS when audited.

Again, identify the risks. This needs a lot of getting used to, but probably will contribute a great deal to your growth as a CPA.

Iso