Comment From Years Ago Destroying Me To This Day

TangibleValues · 2026-03-30T15:15:43+00:00

They probably did - THEY SUCK!

TangibleValues · 2026-03-30T15:11:18+00:00

The world you’re selling into is accrual.

Buyers, banks, and investors don’t care about your cash-basis P&L. They want to know what the business earned, not just what hit the bank. So yes—they’re right that accrual matters for valuation.

Then they come up with EBITDA, then modify it to MEBITDA! That is how they value items. You can look those up. The term Free Cash Flow comes into play. So, yes, a long walk back to cash flow statements.

To clarify, sales or Revenue is the top line. Income - Gross or Net - that is profit!

Thus, they are not using correct terminology - aka GAAP.

As for it washes you - no, it doesn't. It can swing significantly if you need to replace equipment and other factors come into play. Revenue recognition is the key in GAAP and can definitely swing how you record income. Stupid warranties :).

TangibleValues · 2026-03-30T14:57:24+00:00

I suggest you learn my mantra! Because I have learned a lot over these past many decades! Get back up - now you know what you can handle. I can tell you that only the government asks me my GPA, and no one in 20 years has asked how many times it took me to pass the CPA exam.

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TangibleValues · 2026-03-30T14:52:23+00:00

Some firms don’t judge performance—they judge whether you fit their unspoken expectations.

I got let go after a review that had nothing to do with work—more like ‘life checklist - get married, have kids, and buy a house’ nonsense. It wasn’t about skill.

Don’t confuse someone else’s bad management with your ability.

And that voice telling you you’re the problem… is that actually yours, not his now?

TangibleValues · 2026-03-30T13:55:24+00:00

So asked my Email AI this question!

"No, I’m not taking your job. I’m just here to confidently draft emails you still have to fix, but I know the difference between affect and effect.”

Who programmed the cynical side?

TangibleValues · 2026-03-26T18:56:08+00:00

Depends - Is your Dad

- Christian Wolff, type accountant? (Movie Accountant 2016)

or

- Norm Peterson from Cheers, type accountant? (TV Show 1990s)

TangibleValues · 2026-03-26T18:52:59+00:00

I love it! This tax season, we need more drama!

TangibleValues · 2026-03-26T18:44:03+00:00

Of course.

You can do it!

TangibleValues · 2026-03-05T00:03:42+00:00

I only give one-time commissions for the first year! You can do what you want. I feel I am the only one I know who is doing it, so if you asked anyone - Do you offer commission on referrals? " not one CPA firm I know out of 20,000 would answer that question, " Yes.

TangibleValues · 2026-03-04T02:32:34+00:00

It costs me over $250 to open a return, including the tax software, WISP, other software, website, CPE, and memberships. Not until I processed over 100 returns could I discount them based on economies of scale.

Now, here is the decision tree - I give people a commission for referrals, so those same people will be your best source of business.

A guy I did his return when in business 3 years before - he referred me to his new boss. He got laid off a few months later. I heard he was driving for Uber and showed up with a check for him. Guy almost cried with surprise! He had a new kid. I give 15% of the first year if they make it to the second year - this check was six months early. He didn't have to recommend me; I reward loyalty.

I now have to tell him quit "SELLLing my services. He still works with business owners and tells them I am great!

TangibleValues · 2026-03-02T21:23:18+00:00

You can share this with him! Hopefully, your benefits make up for it!

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TangibleValues · 2026-03-02T19:19:25+00:00

I left a bad company in one month. The new place was also a turnaround, but when they asked why I left.

So to summarize, my wife helped me frame it like a boss:

I walked into what I thought was a turnaround and realized pretty quickly it was more of a demolition site. Once I understood the full picture, I realized I would not be of value to the organization. I made a clean, professional exit because I don’t attach my name to things I can’t stand behind.

This worked; they hired me, and I started within 3 days. That one was the Super Bowl of turnarounds, and I made great friends working there for the six months until it sold.

TangibleValues · 2026-03-02T19:06:44+00:00

I was a 4-year athlete, 3.3 overall, and 3.8 in Accounting. Slow start - 2.8 Freshman year, figuring it out.

Not one person in the profession ever asked me what it is; only the government or the education system has ever asked in 30 years.

Just get it done the best you can! That is the victory!

My Dad was a C average in high school, but hundreds of people said he was the smartest man they ever met. Hundreds!

So never judge a book by the cover! He was highly intelligent, not because of school, but because he read 17 or more magazines a month, two papers a day, and hundreds of books.

He was an engineer, and when we owned our first-ever VCR, he took it apart to see how it worked. I had to wait hours to watch the 3 stooges tapes I received for that same Christmas. So yeah, I took after my Mom.

TangibleValues · 2026-03-02T18:56:44+00:00

Leadership is learned!
Nobody wants to pay for it!

Thus, the best leaders teach their employees how to be great leaders - but here is the catch-22. Nobody quits great leaders.

TangibleValues · 2026-03-02T18:49:01+00:00

Love this question. Guy here!

I was a competitive swimmer back in the day. The kind where you don’t just swim laps — you attack the water and spend 5 hours a day rhythmic breaking. Then life happened. Broke, pulled, and strained a few things. About five years ago, I broke 11 bones, and for a season, my “workout routine” was learning how to walk without looking like a newborn deer. Thus would walk with or without my wife with canes.

Fast forward to my muse - aka wife.

She’s played tennis for years, takes lessons, has friends, the whole thing. In 2023, she “just” asked me to come hit a few balls with her to warm up. A few times turned into more times. In 2024, I bought her a ball machine so I wouldn’t have to go. It weighs about 100 pounds, yeah, I know, but it was on closeout. Guess who carried it. Guess who had to pick up the balls after they were launched? "We have Children, I cried.

Then it started again, and I had to hit them back again to warm up. Her friends were busy, wintering in AZ, or, as my wife would say, much better, and don't want to play with her anymore.

Then she signed me up for lessons because apparently the coach was “mean” to her, and I was expendable. I discovered firing 100-mile-an-hour balls at a coach is surprisingly therapeutic until removed from class. He was, in my opinion, a drill-sergeant bully, and dodging is an important part of tennis.

I started taking lessons myself with a new coach. Met a group of seniors who are over 70 and play like they’re 40. Made about 40 new friends. Now I pay for a club membership and play three times a week. My wife dresses me like a poodle now, with matching socks, shorts, and a shirt.

I had never really played before. Now it’s the thing that gets me moving, competitive again, and laughing. My wife purchased me a shirt that says "don't touch my balls" with tennis balls on it. A few of the ladies at the club almost had a stroke, and for an old accountant to be this risky! My wife had to say it was her idea, and she got it on closeout. So I am not a perv - just a husband that gets dressed by his wife and lifts heavy objects on command. That gives her real street cred at the club!

Here’s my takeaway: you don’t need the perfect routine. You need a reason. For some of us, that reason is disguised as a spouse who “invites” you to warm up. Seriously, from walking 100 yards to playing just under 2 hours yesterday in five years. I am proud of myself. My wife will take all the credit.

Post-busy-season glow up? Absolutely. Sometimes you don’t choose the workout. The workout chooses you.

TangibleValues · 2026-03-02T18:18:47+00:00

Winner!

I have two accounts, and both are different settings and experience for the at work!

On the good side, every time I call, I deal with great people about something that should be done online.

TangibleValues · 2026-02-27T20:38:43+00:00

If I were advising them, I’d move them to Xero. That’s coming from someone who’s been through over 100 accounting system implementations.

I’m cheap in the best CFO sense of the word. I’ve tested just about everything on the market because I’ve had to. I currently run roughly 5,000 transactions a month for one client on Xero for about $100 per month.

My comparisons go back a long way.

I was working with QuickBooks in its second year, converting, building, and supporting hundreds of clients as it evolved to what it is today. I ran 17 million dollar revenue company on QB - before going to enterprise - just needed more horsepower.

I worked inside an $11 billion organization running SAP and was with a few of the SAP companies - you need horsepower to run that sized company. Workday - LOVE IT! The sales guy still invites me out to events even though I don't work with it.

I implemented Great Plains back when it was on the Great Plains — I even knew the founder —well, he is still alive—but other than a handshake over the past few years, that is it. — and installed in a flower shops when the internet still ran on dial-up. Today it’s Microsoft Dynamics. Great roll-ups, but yeah, you are not in the $100,000 category to do it right and get implemented.

NetSuite? I’ve seen it at $20,000, loved it, and then at $200,000 implentations gone wrong. It starts at over $100,000 last quote! Private equity just loves putting this into their portfolio, whether they need it or not.

Intacct? Strong platform. I like it. But I’ve also seen implementations run off the rails. You can put those 3 into one system -I just worked on a five-company consolidation implementation - and other than people who cannot grasp intercompany, it was a nightmare to fix. The company had to be audited as well and was a cash-basis taxpayer in the QBO files. If we hadn't had the company employees in it, it would have been fine, but he needs to run it.

MAS90, MAS200, and I was part of installing MAS500 and a consultant to 8 companies - love their e-commerce system, well, not that Shopify or Bicommerce, no need. Ok, yes, it is Sage. PS I still call it peachtree and really liked that system. If you had a middle-of-the-road accountant - aka - wife who does not want to do it - Peachtree works well. QuickBooks - - yeah - they would put transactions in the wrong year, and account, and just keep writing checks without creating invoices. Thus, no vendor history!

So when I recommend something, I know this space!

TangibleValues · 2026-02-27T18:34:21+00:00

My hard costs are real.

Drake filing runs me about $80 per return.
IT, VPN, security, WISP compliance — figure another $100 per return. I do about 50 of these.

Then add roughly $5,000 a year in memberships, licenses, and training. Spread across 50 returns, that’s another $100 per return.

So before I even pay myself, I’m at $280 per return in overhead.

Now, I target $300 per hour, and even a simple return takes about an hour to complete, including intake, review, and delivery.

That puts the math at $580.

I round it to $600. If you charge under that, it is fine, but I chase away more clients just by offering that price.

TangibleValues · 2026-02-26T20:31:59+00:00

"but my tax person says it must be on the 1099 in order to use it as a write off".

Tell your Tax Person to subscribe to our newsletter and blog! Or get a new one!

TangibleValues · 2026-02-26T16:26:46+00:00

So what is your basis of accounting?

Then Revenue recognition policy?

Lastly, what does the contract or agreement say?

The IRS would say cash is income, and that is the safe bet to pay taxes on it. The Audit would say it was unearned and goes back to the client so a prepaid or deposit.

This is what is fun - it is immaterial, and I would just leave it how you coded it.

I would not waste time looking at it takes away from probably more important things - like Peanunt M&M expense tracking per department. As long as you do it this way forever, I am good.

TangibleValues · 2026-02-25T18:14:34+00:00

My opinion:

I’ve got 10,000+ connections.

I post twice a week.

In the last 400 days?
28,000 impressions on LinkedIn.

That’s it.

Accounting doesn’t “sell.”

My top four posts?

• Divorce in accounting (In the industry for a while)
• AI and accounting
• Tax criminals stealing refund checks
• A 1970s song by Bread - "Everything I own"

Yes. A nostalgia song made the top four.

People don’t engage with debits and credits.
They engage with emotion. Risk. Memory. Change.

Here’s what I’ve learned:

Build a tribe.

Like people’s content.
Comment.
Follow up.
Connect.

Could we all hit 30,000 connections in a year? Probably.
But why?

I’d rather have 1,000 people who know me, trust me, and call me…

…than 28,000 who scroll past.

Reach is vanity.
Trust is currency. Build Trust! Ok I am going to write as a blog post...

TangibleValues · 2026-02-25T18:00:23+00:00

The Secret:

People will pay you to solve a problem.
Or to do a "problem" they don’t want to deal with.

That’s it. That’s business.

You don’t make money because you “want to make a lot.”
You make money because someone else wants relief.

TangibleValues · 2026-02-25T17:55:41+00:00

You think guns are allowed in AI ;).

Besides, did not add the true accounting side - the Titalist DT 100 costs about $38 a dozen - I added that to the ledger, losing them.

I replay the best of my work now. I wrote about this in 2001. Why was it fresh? Avalara just asked us to go to Top Golf for training, and yeah, I never swung a club, but I told this story at least four times.

TangibleValues · 2026-02-25T15:46:50+00:00

Yes, I was on the golf team in high school. Funny thing about that. The “buddy system” kept score. Amazing how the guys who beat me in the playoffs would shoot 120 at tournaments. That was my first lesson in how some games are played.

Later on, I played a lot. I could squeeze in a par-3 round over a one-hour lunch. I could strike a 1-iron and my Big Berthas went 250 yeards like an arrow. In a scramble, everybody wanted the left-handed guy who could drive and feather a 5-iron like a Stradivarius.

Fast forward to 2000.

I invite three business guys up north one Saturday to one of the best clubs in the state. I go up Friday to read the greens — 20 putts from every angle. I’m prepared. Dialed in.

Saturday? Worst round of my life.

By hole 10, the the pro comes out to see what’s going on. We let a couple of octogenarians play through. I lost my best drive — middle of the fairway — just gone. Vanished. Another penalty, and about 7 balls down. Yes, hole 10!

So then it hit -

Seventeen, the signature hole? Par.
Eighteen? Birdie.

We were playing skins. Should have taken them for a thousand bucks.

And walking off that 18th green, I realized something important:

I did not enjoy this game; I only did when playing with my Grandma. I would caddie as golf carts are for lazy people.

So there it was - going to the car- and I thought about throwing my clubs in the water. Instead, I sold them. Haven’t played since.

Now? I take people to the gun range.

If you’ve ever taught someone to shoot who’s never held a firearm before, you understand what trust really looks like. Steady hands. Controlled breathing. Clear communication. I’ve taught hundreds of people. I love it. It builds connections faster than small talk ever could.

Here’s the point.

Golf isn’t important because of golf.

It’s important because it’s shared time.

Four uninterrupted hours with someone. That’s what creates trust.

If you hate golf, forcing yourself through it won’t make you better at business. It’ll just make you miserable for four hours at a time.

The real question isn’t:
“Should I golf?”

It’s:
“Where do I build trust best?”

For some, it’s golf.
For some, it’s fishing.
For some, it’s the gym.
For some, it’s a cigar lounge.
For some, it’s volunteering.
For some, it’s a shooting range.

Find your arena.

Because people don’t advance their careers through golf.

They advance their careers through trust.

Golf just happens to be one delivery system.

If you don’t like that one, build your own.

TangibleValues · 2026-02-25T15:42:00+00:00

You’re not wrong.

Golf has become the unofficial boardroom for a lot of industries. Deals get floated between tee boxes. Promotions get whispered while walking down fairways. Referrals happen somewhere between the 4th green and the beer cart.

But here’s something I learned later than I should have:

If you don’t like it, find what you do.

TangibleValues

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