ACCOUNTANTS. You know the stereotype. They’re supposedly boring, stuffy and completely lacking in imagination.
Despite these jokes, as a child, I was always proud of the fact that my dad was an accountant, but he was different; he had a tractor and spent almost as much time digging in the garden as he did balancing books. Talking to several accountants on Twitter in the past week reinforced my belief that theirs is an innovative and interesting career choice. Here are a few accountants who blog.
McDowell Accountants Tax Blog
http://www.mcdowellaccountants.ie/taxblog/
Jason MacDowell is an all-blogging, all-Twittering accountant based in the Sligo/Leitrim area. His blog specialises in tax.
Between questions on maintenance grant schemes for students on third-level courses and whether you are due for a refund in income tax if you have been unemployed, working part-time and/or received a redundancy payment during 2008, there is a blog post for almost any tax-related question you may have. This blog will be going into my RSS reader.
Accountancy Extra
http://www.accountancyextra.co.uk/blog/
Stuart Ramsay is a Yorkshire accountant who also Twitters and blogs. His blog specialises in advice for small businesses in the UK, but this information is also relevant to Irish businesses trading across the channel.
His blog advice is often told in tales à la Who Moved My Cheese?, which can be fun or slightly grating, depending on your mood. It is, however, quite inspirational and very clearly written.
Swift Accounts
http://www.swiftaccounts.ie/blog/
Swift Accounts is housed in the Business Innovation Centre at National University of Ireland, Galway and is a web-based accounts system for the single person enterprise or the entrepreneur. The blog has some great posts, including the latest entitled: ‘Stop faffing about when it comes to invoicing’. No nonsense advice.
A simple piece of advice from this blog: ‘Check how many invoices you are sending out on average per month. Now, resolve to set yourself one goal for next month: double it!’
DoMyBooks.ie
http://domybooks.ie/home.html/
This is more of a ‘one to watch’ because, while founder Ralph Smith does indeed micro-blog on Twitter, he has just embarked on his blogging journey.
Smith is a mechanical engineer turned accountant and DoMyBooks offers services ranging from management accounting to internal audits and IT services, so expect this kind of advice from his blog.
