How can you live like that?

An accountant's personal story explains a good relationship

Aunt Joanie is known as one who always makes every gathering in our family into a special event. The house is always decorated with exacting detail for the occasion. If there is a gathering in the living room, coffee and tea will be served in her finest china along with petit cookies or cakes on individual matching plates.

After a recent dinner, Aunt Joanie was serving ice cream and cake. Each was served on an individual plate and bowl. In the center of the table were small serving dishes with appropriate spoons for whipped cream, strawberry preserves, and chocolate syrup.

Aunt Joanie has been teaching the great niece about the manners appropriate for serving and eating as the niece was demonstrating the best of manners. Apparently, my decision to take a slice of cake, drop it in the bowl of ice cream, and toss on generous quantities of each of the three toppings was not seen as appropriate by the great niece, much less Aunt Joanie.

The great niece had a look of shock on her face and looking directly at me, said, “How can you live like that?”

Apparently, the great niece and I have a difference of opinion regarding the necessity of formality in enjoying dessert with all the toppings.

We have frequently experienced a similar situation with clients during the tax preparation season as they bring their information, documents and receipts to us. The material is delivered to our front desk in an envelope or small box along with a comment of, “I expect you will call me when my tax return is ready”.

We look at the stacks of paper and say to ourselves, “How can you live like that?”|

We do contact the client in this situation and express our desire to talk with them about their participation in the preparation process. While they have collected all of the necessary items, we know that their participation should go further than this.

Stopping at this point is like a person who is ill going to a doctor and asking the doctor to determine what is wrong without providing any input to them.

The relationship with your tax preparer, however, should include an additional component that is not present with the doctor. As your tax preparer we can create a more accurate return, find additional deductions, and advise you what you can do in planning for the next few years. This step requires your active participation.

We are not suggesting you become a certified public accountant (CPA) but that you understand how components of your income, deductions, and expenses can affect your life.

To help with this, we ask our clients to take an assessment so we can know your understanding of items relating to your finances. Looking at the answers we can determine the conversations we can have with you and the reading material we will suggest for you.

The result is you become a person who is an active and more intelligent participant in your tax preparation, investing and retirement planning.

Does your accountant not ask you about things such as these? As an accountant, we would be glad to share with you the assessment that can help you know just where you stand.

The relationship between tax preparer and client should be more than your picking someone to “do your taxes”.

Just as we like mixing cake, ice cream, and the toppings into a delicious dessert, mixing your information with our expertise will make a great combination.

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