A sort of ode to Bookkeepers
This morning when I turned on the lights, the coffee maker, opened the fridge door for the coffee creamer, and turned on the ceiling fans for the kitchen and den, I gave no consideration to the fact that all those electrical items worked without a problem. Why wouldn’t they? They worked in the past and they work now. There’s a very high probability they will work tomorrow. Does that remind you of a person?
I do know why those appliances worked: the folks at the power generation plant make it their business to meet the supply with the demand. They have the power!
These are the level of folks who know how much heat is needed to keep the appropriate amount of steam going to the turbine motor, to keep up the amount of Revolutions Per Minute to keep the shaft spinning to the power generator, and to keep the megawatts flowing into the grid so I can enjoy my cup of morning coffee. I love those people, but in an indirect way.
I carry the same level of respect for bookkeepers. I consider them the unsung heroes of the accounting department. Do they go through the day worrying about the WACC, IRR, or depreciation methods used for the assets? Probably not. But they do worry about whether the revenues got credited to the correct accounts and that the expenses got recorded to the correct accounts? I bet they do or you wouldn’t be so dependent on them. Let us take a peek inside the head of your typical bookkeeper.
Should we treat this entry as an automatic reversing entry? How did we treat it the last time this event happened? Oh, OK, that explains the abnormal present balance in that account.
That doesn’t look like the proper amount in the Accrued Property Tax account. Let me research that general ledger account and ensure everything is working properly.
Whoa!! Why do we still have a Credit balance in the Payroll Taxes Payable account? Didn’t we pay those taxes? We don’t want a screw-up with the IRS. Oh, I see; that’s legit, and I can explain it logically.
Yes, your department has a higher amount of salary expenses this month because we accrued almost 2 weeks’ worth of payroll on the last day of the month. Yes, that means you almost had 3 payroll periods this month.
These are the folks who are in the trenches. They deal with the nuts and bolts of the accounting department. They keep the office turbine shaft lubricated. Here’s a nightmare scenario you don’t want happening to you: one of your star performers decides that the grass is greener someplace else and gives you his/her two-week notice, hopefully even longer. How much are you going to miss that bookkeeper? How big of a bump in the road is that going to cause? How much did you miss that person when he/she took a 2-week vacation last year? Wasn’t that when your acid reflux went into overtime? Or was it triple overtime?
How many employers have a “bookkeeper” who may be given that name but is actually the secret sauce that holds your office together? How many of you know that the job title doesn’t reflect the job responsibility? How many of you secretly think you are getting a deal with that person? Need time off to visit the dentist? No problem. You are coming in tomorrow, aren’t you?
I think we need a “Bookkeepers” day. We will laud the recipients with an untold number of gift cards to the great restaurants. We will make the rest of the company wear green eyeshades with #2 pencils tucked behind their ears as a show of solidarity. We will show the love and respect these folks really deserve and earn. Maybe we will make it a two-day event: a Debit Day and a Credit Day.
Let me know what you think.
