A Trip to the Accountant
Once or twice a year, most farmers need to take a trip to the tax accountant. This is the time of year that our accountant sets up appointments to discuss everything that happened during the year and everything that will happen before the end of the year.
My husband Roy doesn't run his own farm, but he was a part of his father's farm for a few years and probably will be again in the future. Plus, Roy has his wind business, Chinook Energy. That is why we continue to go to the accountant.
We received the letter with our appointment date and time about a month ago. After that, I had to get on the ball by collecting all our bank statements and entering them into Quickbooks. I am the "treasurer" of the company, after all. The treasurer, by the way, is not the most efficient employee in our company, but the Sales Manager/Turbine Installer (Roy) is always at peak performance . . .
Our accountant is famous, at least locally, because of his talent, but even more because of his character. He's jovial and very chatty. I won't mention his name, but I bet many of the locals know who I'm talking about. I'll just call him B.
Our appointment was on a Saturday morning at 9am. That sounds a little crazy, I know, but Roy's a teacher, so what can you do? We stopped at McDonald's before our appointment because we needed lots of energy! Then, with iced coffees in our hands, we entered the accountant's office.
B met us in the waiting room. Before we even made it to his office, B had said, "The bottom line is . . . " at least twice (it's one of his better known catch phrases). As we sat down in the office, Roy and B immediately started talking about wine and homebrewing (a hobby of Roy's).
I decided to have a quick bathroom break while they talked. I had my daughter with me, so I changed her diaper, too. I took my sweet time because I was very confident that they would still be talking about anything other than taxes when I returned. And they were. I took my place next to Roy and chatted right along with them.
At about 10:15, B picked up my printouts of the books and started talking taxes for the first time. Well, really he started with revising the organization of the books. I've never been a bookkeeper, so I feel no shame in admitting that I don't understand many basic concepts on the subject. The books maybe get reviewed twice a year by B and that's all the guidance I get outside of the Quickbooks manual. The first year I accompanied Roy to the accountant we had everything handwritten on one piece of scratch paper. The next year, we had printouts, but they came back from the accountant covered in red ink. This year, they had a modest amount of notes in the margins. I'm definitely improving!
Roy and I had many questions, as usual, about how to deal with certain expenses, deposits, etc. B is a very intelligent man and gives very intelligent answers. They're always given with the same demeanor as a mother reminiscing over her child's first steps. In other words, he loves being a tax accountant and it shows! We really do like this man a great deal, so I don't say any of this with a negative tone, but his answers drag on . . . They often start with, "There are two things . . . " I don't know that he's ever gotten to the second thing. He usually digresses to another point before he ever gets to number two. Eventually he'll pull himself back with, "The bottom line is . . ."
At our first few meetings, I was rather overwhelmed by his long, complicated answers. Getting in the car after each appointment I would go through my notes and compare interpretations with Roy. This last visit, I was determined to get everything cleared up while in the office. I would ask a question and let B go on for a little while. I tried to decipher the answer and then I would interrupt him at some point with, "So what you mean is . . .?" I couldn't help but smile because every time I asked he would look a little baffled. I imagined he was thinking, Didn't I just say that? But in the end, I left there with all my questions answered!
I've mentioned that B has some catch phrases. Well, one time, Big Roy (my father-in-law) tried counting "The bottom line is . . ." during his appointment and there were so many he lost count . . . Of course, it's easy to say it so many times when the appointments last several hours - no joke! This last appointment we had was 4.5 hours! Four and one-half hours!
And now you know why it was so important that we had full stomachs and coffee before our appointment. I suppose 4.5 hours of advice for a year's worth of books and taxes is not so extreme, but at the time it feels similar to running a marathon. On this note, I would also like to point out that B is superhuman. He does not eat or drink during these meetings and his voice never goes hoarse despite the constant talking. And this last meeting was the first time I've ever seen him take a bathroom break! Superhuman, I tell you.
My husband Roy doesn't run his own farm, but he was a part of his father's farm for a few years and probably will be again in the future. Plus, Roy has his wind business, Chinook Energy. That is why we continue to go to the accountant.
We received the letter with our appointment date and time about a month ago. After that, I had to get on the ball by collecting all our bank statements and entering them into Quickbooks. I am the "treasurer" of the company, after all. The treasurer, by the way, is not the most efficient employee in our company, but the Sales Manager/Turbine Installer (Roy) is always at peak performance . . .
Our accountant is famous, at least locally, because of his talent, but even more because of his character. He's jovial and very chatty. I won't mention his name, but I bet many of the locals know who I'm talking about. I'll just call him B.
Our appointment was on a Saturday morning at 9am. That sounds a little crazy, I know, but Roy's a teacher, so what can you do? We stopped at McDonald's before our appointment because we needed lots of energy! Then, with iced coffees in our hands, we entered the accountant's office.
B met us in the waiting room. Before we even made it to his office, B had said, "The bottom line is . . . " at least twice (it's one of his better known catch phrases). As we sat down in the office, Roy and B immediately started talking about wine and homebrewing (a hobby of Roy's).
I decided to have a quick bathroom break while they talked. I had my daughter with me, so I changed her diaper, too. I took my sweet time because I was very confident that they would still be talking about anything other than taxes when I returned. And they were. I took my place next to Roy and chatted right along with them.
At about 10:15, B picked up my printouts of the books and started talking taxes for the first time. Well, really he started with revising the organization of the books. I've never been a bookkeeper, so I feel no shame in admitting that I don't understand many basic concepts on the subject. The books maybe get reviewed twice a year by B and that's all the guidance I get outside of the Quickbooks manual. The first year I accompanied Roy to the accountant we had everything handwritten on one piece of scratch paper. The next year, we had printouts, but they came back from the accountant covered in red ink. This year, they had a modest amount of notes in the margins. I'm definitely improving!
Roy and I had many questions, as usual, about how to deal with certain expenses, deposits, etc. B is a very intelligent man and gives very intelligent answers. They're always given with the same demeanor as a mother reminiscing over her child's first steps. In other words, he loves being a tax accountant and it shows! We really do like this man a great deal, so I don't say any of this with a negative tone, but his answers drag on . . . They often start with, "There are two things . . . " I don't know that he's ever gotten to the second thing. He usually digresses to another point before he ever gets to number two. Eventually he'll pull himself back with, "The bottom line is . . ."
At our first few meetings, I was rather overwhelmed by his long, complicated answers. Getting in the car after each appointment I would go through my notes and compare interpretations with Roy. This last visit, I was determined to get everything cleared up while in the office. I would ask a question and let B go on for a little while. I tried to decipher the answer and then I would interrupt him at some point with, "So what you mean is . . .?" I couldn't help but smile because every time I asked he would look a little baffled. I imagined he was thinking, Didn't I just say that? But in the end, I left there with all my questions answered!
I've mentioned that B has some catch phrases. Well, one time, Big Roy (my father-in-law) tried counting "The bottom line is . . ." during his appointment and there were so many he lost count . . . Of course, it's easy to say it so many times when the appointments last several hours - no joke! This last appointment we had was 4.5 hours! Four and one-half hours!
And now you know why it was so important that we had full stomachs and coffee before our appointment. I suppose 4.5 hours of advice for a year's worth of books and taxes is not so extreme, but at the time it feels similar to running a marathon. On this note, I would also like to point out that B is superhuman. He does not eat or drink during these meetings and his voice never goes hoarse despite the constant talking. And this last meeting was the first time I've ever seen him take a bathroom break! Superhuman, I tell you.
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