Accountants, are they just boring cowards?

On August 26, ‘Financieel Dagblad’ published a front-page article titled: “Accountants became cowards”. When many people already had the idea that accountants are boring. The profession is presented boring, while it really is a versatile and dynamic trade.

For the article in the ‘FD’ a number of acknowledged CFO’s from for example Jumbo, Vebego and Molecaten are interviewed. One of their messages is that accountants keep showing less additional value to their customers because they are too busy with implementing the rules.

After my study Business Economics in Tilburg, in 1993, I started as an assistant-accountant at Deloitte. During my postdoctoral study to become a register accountant we spoke a lot about the gap of expectations between the accountants and the society. After all those years it seems that our profession still has not been able to close this gap. In fact, sometimes I think that the gap is even growing, even more after reading the article.

“After all those years it seems that our profession still has not been able to close this gap. In fact, sometimes I think that the gap is even growing…”

We have to explain to our clients and the society better why we do certain tasks, why we don’t do other tasks and what our responsibilities are by doing these tasks. Besides, these tasks are often suggested by the law. We still do not explain enough; because of that sometimes there isn’t a lot of understanding. What stays special, is that we fulfill tasks for the social intercourse, but that our customers have to pay the bills. It’s impossible to avoid tensions like this. I think it goes too far to qualify accountants as cowards, just because we comply with the rules.

However, I can understand the article. When accountants are talking about quality these days, most of the time they mean staying with the law. In contrast, our customers think of a more broad definition of quality. Indeed, they want more added value for the bills they’re paying, like soundboards and brainstorming on a strategic level. I think one aspect doesn’t have to exclude the other. Accountants have to look for a new balance, together with customers and the society. By doing that, we can finally close an important part of the gap of expectations.

People who think that accountants only check boxes, are missing an important part of the trade.

Still I would like to return to the boring image of accountants. People who think that accountants only check boxes, are missing an important part of the trade. I certainly don’t see myself as a boring accountant. Give me one more trade, where you can look into the deepest roots of an organization? And not just at one organization, but more! An accountant has to be good in communication skills, he or she needs to have a professional and critical attitude, has to be good at working in a group and has to be good at analyzing. An accountant has to go into the business model of the customer with great depth to check whether the income flows are complete or not. An accountant has to converse with management teams and supervisory boards about risk management on a strategic level. These are only a few examples, which illustrate that an accountant has a lot of challenges. Herewith, I encourage you to get a better knowledge about the different elements of the trade.

Despite the publicity, which is often negative, I can’t imagine a trade more beautiful than this. I still get a lot of energy from my work, my customers, but also from receiving new starters in our company. It is nice to witness their vision on the work we’re doing. The fact that accountants are in the media on an almost daily basis, shows that we apparently are relevant. Otherwise we wouldn’t see that many people worrying about the job we’re doing.

I think I gave you enough argumentation to show that accountants aren’t cowards and absolutely aren’t boring. In any case, I hope to keep enjoying my job for many years and I hope that I can educate some of you to become an accountant at Deloitte!