The Exuberant Accountant - Scott Heintzelman

August 30, 2011

Leaving McKonly & Asbury and Closing Down the Exuberant Accountant Blog

Of all the ideas for blog posts I’ve written during the past three years, the subject of this post never made my editorial calendar.

I was hired by McKonly & Asbury 22 years ago, right after graduation from Messiah College. I always envisioned myself staying until I decided to retire at some point in the future. However, God has a way of changing our plans and making them his own.

I have been acquainted with the Martin family of Martin’s Famous Pastry Shoppe, (i.e. Martin’s Potato Rolls) for several years (and sit on the Messiah College Board of Trustees with owner Jim Martin) and have come to respect the values they represent and how they have chosen to run their faith based family business. I was taken completely by surprise when they approached me in December with an amazing opportunity to join the company as their Vice President of Finance and Administration.

After a great deal of prayer and soul searching (and talking with the real boss – Mrs. Exuberant Accountant), I have made the decision to join the Martin organization effective October 3rd. In this position I will have the opportunity to be involved not only in finance, but also employee development, mentoring, and business advising – three areas that regular readers of this blog know I am very enthusiastic about.

In transitioning to Martin’s, I will be attempting to fill the huge shoes of a great man named Mr. Ronald Gipe. Ronald has accomplished some amazing things in his career and specifically during his time at Martin’s. I hope to build on the impressive foundation that he laid while serving this business and family.

Click on this link for an excellent video that tells the story of this exceptional organization.

As I leave one of the great accounting firms in the country, I have a sense of sadness in leaving so many special clients and coworkers. I have been blessed with numerous impactful relationships in my life and I will miss serving my clients and working with our team members here at the firm (many of whom I hired and mentored – I love you guys).

Along with the difficult decision to leave McKonly & Asbury came the bittersweet decision to end the Exuberant Accountant Blog. After posting twice a week for three years, this will be my last post. Therefore, I have some folks that need a shout out.

First, I need to thank two people who were integral to the launching of this blog: Jim Rodgers and Michele Golden – two of the best marketing minds I know and two folks who had a huge impact on my decision to launch this blog and offer me advice during the early days…thank you so much!

Thank you Phil Clemens, Dale High, and Barry Shaw: Three faith based family business owners who I admire so much that I wrote each blog post with these amazing leaders in mind.

I also want to thank Terry Harris, the Managing Partner of McKonly & Asbury for his belief in me three years ago when I approached him with the desire and idea to launch the blog during a time when blogging in the accounting industry was a huge, unknown risk. You always believed in me and allowed me to push us forward and try new things. Thank you for being willing to take a chance on me 22 years ago and during many other times of my career.

I want to thank the many thousands of subscribers and readers of this blog. Each time I posted, I could always count on many of you to reach out with positive encouragement, stories to reinforce the blog topic, and amazing discussions. I will miss this interaction as I felt it provided me great insight into how business leaders were thinking and what challenges they were struggling to overcome. I always felt these exchanges gave me wisdom and better judgment as I was advising seasoned executives and mentoring next generation leaders.

Many of you have asked about the book which I am writing, titled “Five Steps to Strengthening Your Family Business.” I do plan to finish the book and I am happy to announce that my good friend Tracey Jones of Tremendous Life Books has agreed to publish the book. We hope to have it published at the end of the year. Thank you for your continued support Tracey!!

A huge thank you to my amazing assistant, Dawn, you have been such a special talent, writer, editor, supporter and most of all a dear friend. I will miss working with you every day.

Finally, my lovely wife Gaye. Thank you for being the most amazing helpmate a person could ever hope for. God gave you the patience of Job and many times you needed it being married to me. As I write this, tears are streaming down my face and I just want to publicly thank you for always supporting me. Thank you for saying “I do” 22 years ago. I love you with all my heart and I am not worthy of your amazing love!!!!

Posted at 02:41 PM in My Thoughts | Permalink | Comments (22) | TrackBack (0)

August 24, 2011

Talent is Overrated

One of the books I have enjoyed reading this summer is Talent is Overrated by Geoff Colvin.

The main idea of the book is debunking the age old theory that some people are just born with a talent; that this talent comes easily for them. The book cites Mozart and Tiger Woods as examples. Most people think, as I did, that these two men were born with a natural bent toward their talents.

But the book reveals that both these gentlemen had fathers who started training them at very young ages. In fact, by the time Mozart and Tiger came into the public eye, they had been practicing their skills for years. The author backs up this theory with research that shows that it is only through 10,000 hours of practice can world class performances be achieved. This practice is what makes a talent exceptional.

Geoff Colvin calls this enormous amount of practice “deliberate practice” and states that deliberate practice is made up of the following:

It must be designed specifically to improve performance.
It can be repeated a lot.
Feedback on results is continuously available.
It is highly demanding.
It isn’t always fun.

Continue reading "Talent is Overrated" »

Posted at 07:51 AM in Book Reviews | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

August 21, 2011

True Blue Leadership

If you have been reading my blog over the years, you know I am a huge fan of Tracey Jones, President of Tremendous Life Books and her late father Charlie “Tremendous” Jones. Tracey and her father have written and published tons of great leadership books (a passion of mine).

About ten years ago, Tracey was living in Austin, Texas when someone dropped off a bunch of puppies near the company where she worked. Tracey had never been around dogs before, but she picked up one with a blue merle coat and as we all know, the rest was history - she was smitten.

Over the years, Mr. Blue, an Australian shepherd/Basset hound mix, has been her constant companion and as taken on the role of Chief Motivational Hound.

Mr. Blue, with Tracey’s assistance, has pawthored a book: True Blue Leadership: Top 10 Tricks, and they are about to embark on a book tour. They are returning to all the cities they’ve lived in together. All proceeds go the the Books for Tremendous Living Foundation and the local animal rescue charities of choice. There are some amazing organizations hosting and helping Tracey and Mr. Blue with this.

Here’s the link to the tour info which will be updated weekly. If you’ve got friends, family, or contacts in Harrisburg, PA, Saint Louis, MO, Austin, TX or Chattanooga, TN, this will be a fun event for them to attend!

There will be another tour in the spring as Mr. Blue has been asked to be on an animal telethon in Las Vegas!

If you get the chance, I encourage you to attend one of Tracey’s events and meet Mr. Blue. If you would like to host a future event, please let Tracey know and she and Mr. Blue will pack up the van and head your way.

Posted at 12:01 PM in Book Reviews, Leadership | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

August 16, 2011

Risk Management and Fraud Seminar – September 16th

Register today for McKonly & Asbury’s 2011 Risk Management and Fraud Seminar! With great feedback from last year’s seminar, we are once again hosting this seminar with new topics geared towards learning about threats to your business and how to minimize those risks.

We are proud to welcome back Scott Sutherland, Special Agent of the FBI, to return and share his knowledge again!

Sponsored by Citizens Bank, this seminar will take place on Friday, September 16, 2011 at the Radisson Penn Harris at 1150 Camp Hill Bypass in Camp Hill, PA.

Registration and breakfast will begin at 8:00 am and the seminar will run from 8:30 am – 3:15 pm with lunch provided at noon. There is a $50 registration fee and CPE credits are available.

Topics include:

Fraud Risk Assessment – Looking for Exposure
Fraud Trends – What’s Hot, What’s Not
The Many Faces of Risk
Demystifying Bank Fraud Protection
Insurance Fraud

Continue reading "Risk Management and Fraud Seminar – September 16th" »

Posted at 09:34 AM in Fraud | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

August 14, 2011

Repatriation Tax Holiday: Job Creator or Huge Tax Break for Corporations?

What if I told you I knew a way for the government to provide a $1 trillion stimulus to our economy and it would not cost taxpayers a penny (in fact, it would create a huge windfall of new tax revenue) – would you be interested in learning more?

It sounds too good to be true, right? Well, actually no, it is available to us right now, but it has become very political (hard to imagine anything in Washington DC becoming politicized).

U.S. companies have over $1 trillion of offshore earnings that have never been taxed in this country. Nearly all industrialized nations apply a "territorial tax system" in which companies with operations or affiliates abroad pay only the taxes imposed on profits by the host country. So in Sweden, England, and China multinational companies can, in most cases, ship earnings home with little or no extra tax imposed.

Continue reading "Repatriation Tax Holiday: Job Creator or Huge Tax Break for Corporations?" »

Posted at 09:18 AM in Economy/Stimulus, Tax | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

August 09, 2011

IRS to Require Manual Entry of Tax ID Numbers on W-2 Forms

With all the hoopla over the debt ceiling debate and the stock market drop, few people noticed last week that the IRS just added more work for payroll departments.

The IRS said last week that it would require employers to manually enter the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) shown on W-2 forms for all taxpayers with Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITIN) who are reporting wages for tax year 2011.

They also stated that no software package should use an auto-population feature, regardless of the presence of an override feature, to populate the TIN on Forms W-2 for ITIN filers. Failure to comply with the new rules could result in a written reprimand, suspension, or even expulsion from the e-filing program.

An ITIN is a 9-digit number that always begins with 9 and has a range of 70-88 in the fourth and fifth digits. The IRS issues ITINs to individuals who are required to have a TIN, but who do not have, and are not eligible to obtain, a Social Security number (SSN).

Who needs an ITIN?

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Posted at 11:55 AM in Tax | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

August 07, 2011

Unemployment Report, S&P Downgrade, Debt Ceiling, Stock Market...

Wow, what a difficult period of economic information. I have been thinking all week just how I would try and summarize the events of the past several days and each day seemed to bring more news (mostly bad).

As I posted last week, the debt ceiling compromise did indeed get done and with no tax increases. Of course, the ratings agencies have weighed in and did not think the spending cuts (if you really want to call a reduction from 8% spending increase to a 6% spending increase a cut) went far enough.

The stock market has been nervous and dropping with a threat of a downgrade looming. Then the government released news that the second quarter growth was only at 1.3 percent annual rate and the first quarter was sharply revised down to 0.4 percent pace from 1.9 percent.

That news was followed by the unemployment report...which was not good. Here is now what is being called “The Brand New Scariest Jobs Chart Ever” (compliments of Chart of the Day):

Continue reading "Unemployment Report, S&P Downgrade, Debt Ceiling, Stock Market..." »

Posted at 02:24 PM in Economy/Stimulus | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

August 03, 2011

Truth Telling as a Business Asset?

Every business is looking for a competitive advantage and some are finding that being truthful with customers is paying dividends (while some are turning to deceitful ways to gain a short term advantage).

It is sad, but being honest and truthful is becoming more uncommon in the business world. Conversely, being truthful in all business dealings serves as a refreshing, competitive advantage. We all like to do business with someone we like and trust; customers will return and bring repeat business (and tell friends) to those that honor their commitments.

Read what my friend Phil Clemens (CEO of Clemens Family Corporation (i.e. Hatfield Meats) has to say about truth in his most recent monthly email.

“Anyone who doesn’t take truth seriously in small matters cannot be trusted in large ones either.” - Albert Einstein

Great leaders know it is never right to tell a lie. Society tells us – it was just a “little white lie,” it didn’t hurt anything or anybody and after all – everyone does it. (Isn’t this the very excuse that makes us, as parents, cringe when used by our children? We don’t allow them to use this excuse, so why would we tolerate it from our business associates?) Einstein reminds us that truth is truth and if you aren’t truthful in small things, you will never be truthful in large ones – in fact, you can’t be trusted with large ones.

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Posted at 11:14 AM in Leadership, My Thoughts | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

August 01, 2011

Speaking at The Evangelical Theological Seminaries Center for Leadership Impact

I will be speaking on Thursday, September 29^th at Evangelical’s quarterly leadership seminar called “Faith in the Marketplace.” This breakfast series is designed to help us see that our vocation is more than a profession, it is a calling of God.

I am humbled to have this opportunity to share and I plan to talk about what I call “The Power of One.”

If you are interested in attending, this link has more details.

I hope to see you there.

Posted at 02:07 PM in Speaking | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

July 26, 2011

The Debt Ceiling — Tax Increases Off The Table

When I want to know what is happening behind the political rhetoric in Washington DC, I turn to Dean Zerbe aka The Dean of Tax. This former Tax Counsel and Sr. Counsel for the Senate Finance Committee (and now the National Managing Director of The alliantgroup) writes a blog that is picked up by Forbes and his recent post was very insightful about what is happening with the debt talks and what impact these may have on small business. Here is the entire post with permission:

As we head into the final turn of the debt discussion – while there is uncertainty about the final result (and when that result will take place) – there is growing clarity on the issue of taxes. What is the clarity on taxes? There will be no increase of taxes above current tax policy as part of the debt deal.

Despite abuse from much of the press, demands from the administration and the threat of withholding cocktail party invitations from the chattering classes in Georgetown — the House Republicans have shocked Washington by ultimately holding firm against any tax increase above current tax policy as part of the debt ceiling.

Why do I say current tax policy? Because there has been a significant amount of hide-the-ball in discussions of tax policy with some – the Six Senators Proposal comes to mind — with discussions of a tax cut but within the framework of current tax law. Recall that under current tax law almost all the Bush/Obama tax cuts expire (yes, Obama added a fair amount to the Bush tax cuts when he came into office). So the proposals of cutting taxes from current law means in reality a result of hundreds of billions of dollars in tax increases over what individuals and businesses are paying today – current tax policy. I don’t know why people don’t trust Washington.

Continue reading "The Debt Ceiling — Tax Increases Off The Table" »

Posted at 10:57 AM in Economy/Stimulus, Tax | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)