IMGCAP(1)]A number of years ago we purchased a practice in late February to get the business clients. However, we had to agree to service the individual tax clients, of whom there were about 180, with each paying a very low fee. The seller did not want to hang up his long-time clients.
We had just moved the files into our office and were really concerned about how we could get the returns done without totally straining our system when Lenny called asking if we had any per diem tax season work for him. We told him to come in the next day. He basically “saved our lives.”
When Peter Weitsen and I started our firm Mendlowitz Weitsen LLP in 1988, we put together a pre-tax season training program the first Monday night in February. We had six people on our staff. Since we put in a lot of work organizing the program, we invited a few sole practitioner friends to participate as our guests, including Lenny. Lenny had sold his practice the previous winter and moved to San Diego, but he agreed to come back at the beginning of March to work tax season for his buyer. When he arrived a few days early, he called the buyer and was told he wasn’t needed. He called me in desperation looking for work since he was here.
At our annual tax program (which we still do and have 130 attendees coming for free) Lenny always contributed ideas and tips and was constantly on top of the new tax laws. So when he called, we had a database of knowledge about his ability. We knew he knew our systems and he was a natural to help us. We benefited greatly, as he did. What’s the expression? “One hand washes the other.”
Sharing benefits everyone. Don’t be stingy with your help. In that same vein, do not hesitate to contact me if you have any practice management issues you want to discuss.
Edward Mendlowitz, CPA, is a partner in