Listen While You Work

By Patrick D. Rogan, CPA

As we enter February, many of us are experiencing the traditional busy time of the year in our business. Time is short, patience is thin and a tremendous time pressure occurs. Keep in mind the important things each of us treasures as this time will soon pass.

This may be the only time of the year that we see some of our clients. Take the time to make it special for them. CPAs are our clients’ trusted advisers. Clients come to you for a reason. Do not take them for granted. Make them feel special and want to use your services more because of how you treat them. Listen to their needs closely and the rewards will exceed the effort.

As we see people this year be aware of financial literacy opportunities. During this economic hardship there are many individuals and organizations that need our financial literacy help. Some of you may be close to these organizations—church, school, libraries, PTAs, sports leagues, etc. If you find a need, please e-mail me or Bruce Kajiwara. We will then follow up with that person or organization.

For those of you who may have some time in your busy schedule, there are local organizations that prepare free income tax returns under the IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program. Many VITA clients are not normally those who would come to CPAs. Some of these organizations sure could use our helping hand. The organizations expect needs far greater than the capacity to help those indiduals. You do not need prior tax experience. If you have the time, contact me and I can put you in touch with the organizations that sponsor these programs. They can sure use a helping hand.

There are many ways CPAs can assist in areas that would give back to the community. CPAs are a valuable resource in these trying economic times. Not all of us can do these actions now, but remember the community when times slow down.

There are still some chapter events this month. The Real Estate Discussion Group meets Feb. 9; the Litigation Committee meets Feb. 18; and the Government Accounting and Auditing Committee meets Feb. 24. Come out and support these important groups and maybe meet a new colleague that you share interests. For more details see the chapter website.

May this busy season be the very best. Those businesses and individuals that are struggling, may the economy improve so you can thrive rather than just survive.

I welcome your comments and suggestions and would like to hear from you. Contact me via e-mail.  I read each comment and respond.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 29th, 2010 at 11:50 am and is filed under President's Message. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.