1 year ago
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Family Business
If you've been following the blog comments on this new endeavor of mine, you may remember that my father suggested I go into accounting because he thought I might be good at it. After all he's a retired CPA. I joked with him saying that I doubted accounting is genetic. Relating this story to my sister, Karma, (currently a CPA) revealed that my sister, Sheri, had also considered going into accounting, but didn't due to various reasons. Okay. So there is an interesting trend, but it couldn't possibly mean much. At least, that's what I thought before we had dinner at my dad's house and I brought the topic up. Here I discovered that another of my sisters, Sandy, had also considered accounting. While Dad had tried to talk Karma out of it and failed, he had succeeded in talking Sandy out of it which is why she is a physical therapist instead. So that's 4 out of 5 girls and 4 out of 6 kids in one family that have a confirmed interest in accounting. Maybe there's something to this "family business" concept that's lasted throughout the years.
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Nurture vs. nature. While it's unlikely that accounting is genetic, there's a lot to be said about "following someone's footsteps". You grow up around people that repeatedly do some task (i.e. - in a family of musicians), it's natural to expect that that task is one of the first you'll want to do yourself. Doesn't mean that you'll be good at it right away, or that you'll like it over time, just that you'll want to try your hand at it at some point. But, it does help if the people you're trying to emulate are willing to help you out from the start (i.e. - the musicians in the family offer to accompany you as you practice.)
ReplyDeleteMy dad was musical, and all of us sing and/or play instruments. My dad was in medical finance and my mom was in nursing. Most of us went into medical-related jobs because we saw that's where the steady income potential was. Lots of people follow in footsteps. Hope you guys saw your dad find more fulfillment in accounting than I saw my dad have in being a CFO... long hours and doctor ego to deal with.
ReplyDeleteThat could be. When I got into accounting I had no clue that 3 of my uncles had also gone into accounting, worked their ways up to CFO's and are now millionaires...dang it I should have stuck with it.
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