Contents of CPA Practice Advisor - MAR 2012

Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.

Page 2 of 38

VOLUME 22, NUMBER 3 MY PERSPECTIVE 800-547-7377 • www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com
Publisher: Jim Baker Executive Editor: M. Darren Root, CPA.CITP Technical Editor: Brian Tankersley, CPA.CITP Editor: Isaac M. O'Bannon Managing Editor: Jill Burnett Associate Editor: Taija Jenkins
Columnists: David McClure Doug Sleeter Kristy Short Jason Blumer, CPA.CITP Randy Johnston Rene Lacerte Roman H. Kepczyk, CPA.CITP
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T
Life-Work Balance — Myth or Reality?
here's one question that continues to linger in the profession: does life-work balance really exist? Or is it a myth? As I look back over my thirty-year career, I recall enjoying periods of life-work balance, while other times seemed like utter chaos. Like the popular 70's song says, "To everything, turn, turn, turn, there is a season…" (The Byrds).
T ese lyrics represent the stages of
life—bringing to light that there is a time for everything. And while this column may be over-simplifying the deeper meaning of this historic song, it hits my point that we all go through stages in life—some balanced and some chaotic. Overall, however, we strive for the reality that life-work balance can be achieved most of the time.
Life is made up of a series of stages.
In brief, my "stages" included mar- rying my wife Michelle (30 years and going strong), graduating from college and starting my career in the profes- sion, and raising three children—and all while trying to make my mark in the profession. T e next big stage was starting my own fi rm and trying to grow a successful business, while trying hard to maintain a healthy relationship with my wife and kids. At this stage, life-work balance seemed like nothing more than a far off myth. After years of building a Next
Generation Accounting Firm, I started to see life-work balance as a reality. I implemented the right technologies, enhanced processes, got the right people on my bus (staff ), and con- tinued to improve and tweak opera- tions to continually increase effi cien- cies. I also worked hard to build strong relationships both in the offi ce and within the community. I now own a business that I can
work "on" and not "in." In fact, I'm taking two weeks off in the fall to explore Paris and Italy's Amalfi coast with my wife. Right now, I have my balance. Of course, this doesn't mean I still won't experience stages of chaos. T at will always happen, but I know that balance will always come around again…turn, turn, turn. Over the past thirty years, I've
learned that the question of life-work balance being myth or reality doesn't
really have an answer. It's not some- thing that we obtain permanently, but stages we enjoy while on the journey. And hopefully, if you are doing things right, those stages of balance last a lit le longer each time, while the chaos lightens up a bit with each turn.
M. Darren Root, CPA.CITP Executive Editor
Darren is the Executive Editor of CPA Prac- tice Advisor. He remains in public practice as the principal of Root & Associates, LLC, in Bloomington, Indiana, and is president of his consulting practice, RootWorks. He formerly served on the Board of the AICPA's CITP Credentials Committee and is a former member of the Board of Directors for the Indiana CPA Society. He speaks at dozens of professional organizations each year and frequently serves as a guest lecturer at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business.
March 2012 • www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com 3