5 Tax Professionals Share Their Thoughts on Their Profession

Posted by Traci WheelercloseAuthor: Traci Wheeler Name: Traci Wheeler
Email: traci@redmoonsolutions.com
Site: http://blog.redmoonsolutions.com
About: Traci is a member of the executive leadership team and leads our sales and marketing efforts at Red Moon Solutions. She has over ten years of software business experience serving small and large clients in a variety of industries.See Authors Posts (120) on Sep 20, 2011 | 0 comments

Several weeks ago, I wrote Oh, the Places You’ll Go…in Tax, a post where I talked about the need to excite kids today about math in an effort to fuel the talent required for future tax departments.  While it did not generate many comments here on the blog, there was quite a bit of discussion in one of the LinkedIn groups for tax professionals about what people going into their profession should do and consider.  I enjoyed the feedback I got so much that I decided to write a follow up post so I could share some of their thoughts with our readers.

1. It’s all about specialization.  Everyone and their chicken thinks they can prepare a tax return, but it can get complicated.  There needs to be a class that teaches students to question the status quo and think outside the box.  The math is easy.  It’s breaking away from the herd mentality and looking for creative ways to help your clients that’s hard. – John Crandell

2. It is not enough for students just to learn about principles of Accounting & Taxation.  Professionals, along with those starting out upon graduation or achieving their Masters, will need to take our profession with further diversified quality services up a notch to a higher level. – Steven I. Abrams

3. Everything in accounting is a story problem – it is the interpretation of the problem, the sorting out of what is relevant and what is not, the identification of what is needed to solve the problem and obtain or determine information that is not given directly, and then design the mathematical model to solve the problem – in tax, the mathematical problem is generally solved for us – on the tax form. I guess what I am trying to say is that we need to know what things are and where to put them – the math is already worked out for us. It looks to me like reading skills, language skills, research skills, logic skills, and so on are at least as important as math. – Patrick A. Haggerty

4. I would say a person also needs strong people skills. If you cannot relate to your client and have a detailed conversation then you will not really understand how the accounting transaction took place in real life! – Sherrie Dobbs

5. It goes without saying that people skills are essential when working with clients in need of tax advice and/or guidance. But if you feel that you may be a bit shortchanged in that particular area (i.e, if you’re shy or quiet), bear in mind that there is always a need for good tax researchers and writers. People interaction is often limited in those areas, or at least it’s limited to collegues (where a shy person may be more comfortable). – Howard S. Sample

And finally, a great ode to Dr. Seuss, tailored for the tax professional, left by Patrick A. Haggerty.  It sums it up in a nut shell.

Well, it does have its ups and downs
and decisions, good and poor,
but certainly one can soar,
But to do tax,
one has to know facts,
we cannot grow lax,
but also must know we need time to relax
’cause during the season (and not without reason)
We get so many Form W-2′s
that sometimes we simply end up with the blues,
But the field’s wide open, whatever your strengths
even though those in Congress seem to go to great lengths
to make changes galore – and then more and more
‘til reading the fine print makes our eyes sore.
Although with our Congress much change is a surety.
What it adds up to is great job security.

Have more thoughts?  I would love to hear from you.  Please share in the comments below.

Photo courtesy of Entertainment Earth