Walk the Talk

Earlier this week, a fellow CPA sent me and several of our colleagues a link to a Simple Truths video. Since I am an avid fan of Simple Truths, I was interested to see which link he sent. He sent Walk the Talk.

Two of the statements from the video struck me.

Integrity –
Choose rightness over ease and convenience.

I immediately thought about how CPAs bill their customers.

I wonder, where is the integrity in hourly billing. Is it really “right” to take a customer’s information, rack up some hours, and send out a bill. In this scenario, the customer has no say as to the price until after the fact.

Would it not be more “right” to provide customers with up front pricing and payment terms regarding the services to be rendered?

Courage –
Follow your conscience instead of “following the crowd”.

Currently in the CPA industry, “the crowd” is billing by the hour. Yet, there are CPAs and Chartered Accountants around the world who are following their conscience and providing up front pricing.

Ask your CPA about their core values. Are they “just words”, or does your CPA “Walk the Talk”?