Knowledge is Golden

Shortly after graduating with my accounting degree I submitted my resume to an online career search website. It wasn’t long before I got a call from the woman who is now my boss. She asked me if I was available for an interview and I quickly accepted. When I got to her office, which was in the basement of her house, she was totally stressed out because she could not figure out how to use the MAS90 software for accounting that she had purchased. She hadn’t researched the product very well and had no formal accounting education so she was out of her element and needed a great deal of help.

I was very familiar with the program and she offered me the job taking care of and organizing her accounting books. When I took the job I had no idea how big of a job this was going to be. It seems she had been running her catering business, which was quite successful, for 3 years without ever using any kind of accounting software to keep up with her billing and invoices. Her desk was a mess of stacked papers and invoices and all of them had to be put into the system.

I was well trained in business accounting software and found the program very easy to use. The problem was she had written so many bills out by hand and couldn’t account for all her expenditures. It took weeks for me to get everything straight and in order but once I did everything began running like a charm. She no longer had to stress about her bookwork and could concentrate more on her business. She got very busy and eventually had to move to a much bigger location.

I’ve never understood how anybody can start any type of business without having all the proper tools to run that business. You can’t just think about what it is your business is selling or the service you are providing, you have to consider every element of business in order to have a successful business. Business accounting software is just as important in the business as what it is you are actually doing.

I started that position ten years ago and I’m happy to say that I am still at it except now she has fifteen employees working for her and the business has grown well beyond her dreams. I was lucky to have the education in the business accounting software that she had purchased without knowing how to use. Her misfortune was my saving grace.