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Reflections
Written by: Randy Kramer
I drove up to Illinois mother’s day weekend to take my mom to Mother’s day lunch. The drive from home in Georgia to her house is 10 hours. Let me tell you – ten hours alone in the truck with oldies country music playing sure get’s the mind in reflection mode (for me, that is really dangerous!).
Some of you may know this, but on May 31 I will be selling my practice to one of my CPA’s at the firm. I have been having some very heavy thoughts about my life, my future and cheesecake the past few weeks. This drive certainly didn’t help those deep thoughts!!!
So, you are probably asking yourself, what are these deep, reflective thoughts that Randy is having? They must be really serious knowing him! The most serious thoughts I have had are about my life for the past 12 years. I have been reflecting on the team that I have had for the past number of years. Somehow (probably by accident) I managed to assemble the greatest group of folks a small firm owner could ever want. I have had the privilege of watching 4 of them go from non-degreed individuals to CPA’s. They have all grown and spread their wings. One is buying my firm, one is going after a job in the big time CPA firms “down there”, the other is going to start her own firm in the future and the 4th is now a CFO for a regional furniture firm. After 40 years in businesses that might be my most satisfying reflection! It makes an old man’s heart begin to think that there really is a reason we are put on this earth!
Then my mood turns a little sour – I start reflecting on tax seasons past. Wow – just think about that! I remember tax season ’84. I was soooo excited when I was able to replicate several tax forms in – wait for it – Lotus 123!! I even got them approved for use by the IRS. What a long way we have come from those days, huh!! Who among us would ever want to get a tax form, pencil, eraser and calculator out again?? Not me! Then I start thinking about the client meetings, finding out about their kids, their new jobs, the milestones in their lives. I think about the small challenges that my staff bring me. I even start feeling a little sad about not going through tax season 2012. Nah, I come to my senses very quickly!!
I am a little worried about what I am going to do with all that extra time every Jan- Apr. I have already been told that I should NOT plan on spending it at the house – I wonder what that is all about. Seriously folks, think about what you would do if you didn’t have to go through another tax season!
I guess I better wind this blog up before the tears start streaming down my face. I am not retiring, just going out to look for some greener grass (hope it is not too brown!). I am pretty sure that the greener grass will not be in any firm that has anything called “tax season”.
As always, from the top of the mountain, Randy
The Grass is always Greener……
Written by: Randy Kramer
Hi folks. I’m back. Update on the last blog – my faith in humanity has been restored!! True to tradition, the “resolutioners” are gone and I got my gym back!
So what is bugging me today? It’s this concept of the “grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, the road, or the country”. I want to know – Who says?
I am sitting here in my office reflecting on a long and illustrious career (you youngsters out there take note – you will do this more and more often the closer you get to your congressionally blessed retirement date). It seems that I have not been able to hold a job more than a year or two at a time. Why is that? Well, at the time this concept of the grass is always greener was at play.
You see, I was always chasing the green grass on the other side of the road. Not once did I stop and ask if it was really greener or were my rose colored transition lens glasses distorting the color of the grass. All I know is that pretty much every time I got to the other side of the road (maybe that is why the chicken crossed the road – looking for greener grass – silly chicken) things were never what they seemed.
So, what got me on this thought you ask? Yesterday I was lucky enough to get handed a new challenge – prepare 706-GS tax returns for a client all the way back to 1996! Now wait just a minute! I moved up here to the beautiful North Georgia Mountains because my life would be much, much, much more simple. Boy was I WRONG.
This is just the latest challenge in a long string of challenges since I arrived. This place is anything but greener. In fact, some might say it is downright brown. I had pictured the laid back lifestyle where the only challenge would be handling a tax return that had not one, but two Schedule C’s. Once again, the quest for the green grass goes down the tubes.
But wait, did it really? The short term view would lead me to say yes. But, upon reflection (see above about reflections) I might disagree with my own assessment. Is it greener or not? The real answer is neither. I think that all I did was to trade Bermuda grass for fescue – both green, just different textures. Continuing the reflection, I would say that could be said for my entire business history. Never greener, never browner, just different textures!
It seems to me that if we just look down and study the grass, we might all see that it is green right were we are standing. Maybe you just need to apply a little fertilizer to make it a lush green (read what you want into that thought!)
Well, enough of this – I got to go apply some fertilizer to my grass (otherwise known as a bunch of old 706’s).
From the North Georgia Mountains,
Randy Kramer
What bugs Randy?
Written by: Randy Kramer, From the Top of the North Georgia Mountains
Hi folks. This is my first blog, ever, anywhere! And to think I used to be the first to try new technology! I am still not sure if this computer thing is going to be around much longer! In any case, I was thinking about ideas for blogs that I could write: reflections on a Christmas list, a wish list for Tax software, ways to punish congress for waiting till a week before Christmas to pass new tax laws, etc.
I was at the gym this morning and the light bulb went off. How about a blog that talks about those little things that bug me? That sounded good to me, but then, all my ideas sound good to me.
Let me start off by saying that I am at the gym 5-6 mornings a week by 5AM, usually 4:30. I am not by any means a health nut as I am old, fat, and balding. I just figure that if I can put in an hour a day at the gym I can have an extra bowl of ice cream at night, right? It’s not like I plan to run a marathon or anything. Read the rest of this entry »
