Accounting Firms and Work-In-Progress

Monday, July 9th, 2012

When I first entered the world of public accounting many years ago, I was clueless about the CPA language. (Wait a minute! Typing that sentence just gave me an idea for another blog post about the “CPA language,” in general.) But, today I want to cover just one word/phrase.

People kept talking about whip (check out the definition per the Urban Dictionary). Yes, that’s what I heard them talking about. Believe it or not, back then I didn’t talk so much, I just listened. Very soon I learned the that they were not talking about whip – they were talking about WIP (check out the definition per Investopedia).

I won’t go into all of the gory details about WIP conversations inside CPA firms. If you are reading this blog I am sure you are extremely aware and deeply involved in those conversations on a fairly regular basis.

What I do want to stress today is the fact that YOU are a work-in-progress. It doesn’t matter if this is your first week working at a CPA firm or if you have been working in public accounting for 40 years.

Ask yourself, whether you are an administrative person or one of the partners, “Why do I deserve a pay increase if I am not doing new things, implementing new ideas and working at an improved level over last year?”

Status quo is not an option for CPA firm professionals.

I like the way Rajesh Setty says it, below, in today’s quote. Visit his Facebook page to read his slides of wisdom.

Oh yes, one more thing, if you have a problem in your firm — per DEVO, just Whip It!