During the mid-1970s there was a television series called, 'Welcome Back, Kotter1' on ABC that starred Gabe Kaplan as Mr. Kotter, a high school teacher, and a young John Travolta as one of his 'not so studious' students. Mr. Kotter's entire class was a bunch of underachievers who had always been allowed to just 'get by', and had little motivation to change their ways. The show became one of the most popular sitcoms on television not just because it was funny, but because of the way that Kotter was able to eventually convince his students of the need for change, and that they could accomplish so much more than they ever thought possible.
It's been almost 50 years ago since that show and so much has changed in real life. The first personal computers were not even introduced until 1980. The internet is generally recognized as having been created on January 1, 1983. While the first email was sent in 1971, it didn't become popular until 1987.
Intuit was founded in 1983 and released its first version of Quicken in 1984. Their first version of QuickBooks which at the time was Dos-based desktop software didn't come along until 1991. But the emergence of cloud technology is the single biggest change in accounting within the last 20 years.
Cloud accounting and the technological advances associated with the integration of artificial intelligence into accounting platforms are changing everything for accounting professionals. They are fundamentally changing the relationship between accountants (or bookkeepers) and clients. Between the way you interact with your clients and the way your clients interact with you. The reason, 'the cloud' has changed the way that we interact in general.
And while the cloud' has changed the way we work, and the technology we work with, the vast majority of accountants and bookkeepers are still like those students in Mr. Kotter's class, they have little motivation to change their ways' from the way accountants and bookkeepers have always done things from the time of Ebenezer Scrooge and Bob Cratchit when it comes to 'pricing' their work.
Most accountants and bookkeepers, despite hearing about new ways of pricing at conferences, are stuck in their same old ways, and they refuse to change, and so they have become 'financial underachievers'. Can't you just hear Scrooge hollering at Bob Cratchit, "Mr. Cratchit, time is money... get on with it!" That same old (old, old, old) philosophy still prevails in too many 'accounting houses' as they were called in Scrooge's day, we call it... 'hourly billing'.
The problem is that technology has changed 'hourly billing' value forever. That 90-page Bank Statement the Accountant once had his clerk reconcile for a client that took her 2 days, now takes AI-based bank feeds about 6-minutes to complete at most... that kind of blows the value of that 'hourly source of income', wouldn't you say?
But still, these Accounting Houses refuse to change their evil ways, just like Scrooge. Left to their misery, as with Scrooge, they will die unless they are shown how to change and they truly commit to accomplishing more than they ever thought possible.
Mark Wickersham
Mark Wickersham is a globally recognized leader in accounting firm management, pricing and strategy.
Well, this is where 'the teacher' is being welcomed back by Insightful Accountant for a one-of-a-kind webinar called, The Foundations of Value Pricing: How to get better prices. Mark Wickersham FCA, Chartered Accountant, public speaker, and author, is the most sought-after profit improvement expert in the accounting community, and we have him on Thursday, April 1, 2021 – 12 Noon Eastern (11:00 AM Central).
This is a new 90-minute course Mark has developed for you, our Insightful Accountant readers, and webinar participants. If nothing else, when you leave the webinar you will have learned what every accountant or bookkeeper wishes they were taught on day one... 'a secret' that will change the profits of your practice forever.
When the webinar is over, just like the students in Kotter's class, and just like Scrooge at the end of Charles Dickens' story2, your outlook will be different and you will realize how much better things can be if you simply make a change for the better.
REGISTER HERE
The Foundations of Value Pricing: How to get better prices
Thursday, April 1, 2021 – 12 Noon Eastern (11:00 AM Central)
Webinar length: 90-minutes (1.5 hours)
CPE Credits: 1.5 CPE
Cost: $99.00
Refund Policy: Non-refundable
Disclosures & Footnotes:
1 - Welcome Back, Kotter was an ABC (American Broadcasting Company) sitcom from 1975 to 1979. The TV series was created by Gabe Kaplan and Alan Sacks and was developed by Peter Meyerson. It was produced by Komack Company and Wolper Productions and distributed by Warner Brothers Television Distributions.
2 - Charles Dickens' story refers to 'A Christmas Carol' and references Ebenezer Scrooge and Bob Cratchit, two characters portrayed therein, was a novel first published in 1843 by Chapman & Hill publishing of London, illustrated by John Leech.