Art of Accounting: Seven ego builders to avoid

Occasionally hourly rates are important to quote, but usually they are counterproductive to getting an engagement. Clients do not buy hours, they buy solutions to problems. For most engagements, discussing a fee or a range for a type of activity is best done after you tell the prospect that you could be better able to provide a (fixed) price after you thoroughly review what is needed will get you the job. I have seen many accountants (and even a younger version of me) quoting an hourly rate as more of an ego trip than a business getter.

Memos take time to write and many times might not be as thorough as they need to be. After all, a memo needs to cover every alternative and eventuality and possibly explain why some things are not applicable. Why put something in writing when a short or even not-so-short phone call would provide the answer to a client's question? Memos include emails and any form of written communication.

I get many calls from colleagues who had a problem because of an unnecessary memo they wrote that has resurfaced in some sort of controversy. These memos were ways of showing off an imagined expertise that did nothing other than boost the writer's ego. Furthermore, many times they were not fully compensated for the memo, sort of like a Boy Scout helping a woman to cross a street she did not really want to cross. When the situation calls for a written opinion that you can fully research and you're fully aware of all of the facts, and the client is willing to pay for it, then do it.

Neither of these accomplish anything. We need staff to "push our pencils," and upsetting them thwarts this goal. People become less productive when they are working under pressure, are badgered or belittled, and certainly not motivated by what they are working on.

Instead of deriding staff, boost them up. Excite them! Do what Ken Blanchard says: "Catch them doing something good!" Yelling and getting angry are shallow and debilitating ego boosters.