Why Accounting?

One of my Thriveal co-horts, DeepSky, posted this excellent entry about why they are in the accounting business.

It got me thinking about why I do this for a living and still enjoy it after almost 13 years.

It started with a love of numbers. I thought accounting would be a better fit for me than a bland business degree. I thought it would be fun to look over all those numbers and try to make sense of it all. To turn all that data into a nice, clean financial statement or tax return. All these years later I realize that numbers are a mere fraction of this business. It is really about relationships.

Yes, those financial statements and tax returns are very important. But so is making sure my customers are getting the results they want out of their business, whatever that may be. And like the DeepSky folks, I think accounting can deliver those results.

So my "why" has really evolved over the course of my career. Seeing my customers succeed, based on their hard work and my input, is why I get up and go to work in the morning.