The Positive Accountant - Vol 2 Ed 32
Oh, I do like to cause controversy...
When I called the Volvo Estate of Editions 30 and 31 'Sweden's finest' I was saying it tongue in cheek. My inbox has been filled with indignation ever since...
I totally understand the claim that the title should belong to a Saab (so long as it's the convertible IMHO).
Haulage clients were up in arms, saying the title belonged to Scania. Whatever.
I'm not quite sure I'd be as willing as many of you were to award that mantle to ABBA.
And the very well read client who said it needed to be awarded to Gustavus Adolphus, yes I get that argument too. (For some reason seventeenth century Swedish history was on my A Level History syllabus). For those bored enough, see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustavus_Adolphus_of_Sweden
Missed an edition ? See them at
http://www.positiveaccountant.com
What are my positives today ?
1. We're not on holiday
It is rare indeed to see 'not being on holiday' being a positive !
If you're like me, holidays never seem long enough. Get to the end and I'm thinking 'if only we had another two weeks'. Well now there's a real chance that this can happen. (Except the 'another two weeks' will be locked in quarantine at home.)
I hear the BBC are launching a new TV show, early evening, hosted by Judith Chambers entitled'Wish you weren't there ?'
2. New skills
At the start of the lockdown one of the things I remember the PM saying was it was the chance to learn some new skills.
So now I'm looking forward to learning how to fly on an airbridge. Which as I understand it, is a plane arriving in the UK from a specific airport in a designated country.
Which must be an improvement on the existing system where, presumably, planes arrive in the UK from a random and unknown start point ?
'This is your Captain speaking, welcome to Queasyjet flight 1234 from wherever we are now, to a random airport that we'll come across sometime.'
3. Fruit in the Garden
I came home this evening (yes, been out today - how daring !) to find that
(a) some blackberries had been picked
(b) they had been turned into a crumble, and most important
(c) there was still some left
Yum...
Yesterday I found myself talking to a client about business in the new normal and a subject cropped up that has got me thinking. The subject is best described as
'creeping freebies'.
What ? You might not recognise the term but I bet you have them in your business, something that starts off small and free but becomes bigger, eventually becoming quite a drain.
I'll use an example, one that exists in our business, that of mortgage references.
Going back fifteen years or more mortgage companies got in the habit of writing to accountants of self employed clients asking for confirmation that said person was a client and how long they had been in business.
Some accountants used to charge for such letters, I never did, taking the view that five minutes and a stamp was neither here nor there. It felt like a restaurant (remember them ?) charging for the bread roll.
The one I did last week took me over two hours, including three years accounts details and comments on future projections. Needless to say, it was urgent Using my restaurant analogy, that feels like not charging for the wine either...
My client - a design/installation business - has found himself spending longer and longer designing things only for them to be sourced elsewhere.
I'm sure if you think hard enough you can identify things like this in your own business.
Food for thought ? Got any good examples ? And how are you going to tackle them ?
Stay safe, stay positive
Adrian
Yum, lovely Blackberry and Apple crumble And still some left for breakfast
