Balancing those debits and credits!

Work, Life Balance

Where did that time go?

31 years ago this boy was a raw, innocent 18 year old working as a junior accountant in a mid sized accountancy practice on the South Mall in Cork. At this stage I was two months into my apprentice and I was learning the basics.

Ironically, I had done Economics and Business Organisation in secondary school so Accounting was brand new to me!

For every debit there had to be a corresponding credit was the golden rule – if you got that, your accounts would always balance. If they didn’t balance something was wrong and you had to search for your mistake.

It’s probably easier for everyone now with the computers and the accountancy packages – we had to do it all manually with ledgers in my day. Imagine trying to dig through that lot to find where you went wrong..

I was in practice for 6 years and then went onto industry and eventually swapped the accountancy role for a general management one and that was the official end of my debits and credits (except for my own projects at least).

That debits and credits discipline always stood to me and I do think accountancy and the privilege of working with so many businesses at at a young age was the best business degree anyone I could ever hope for.

You listen and learn from clients, you understand the drivers of their businesses and you use your expertise to help them. In many ways I do exactly the same now except the expertise is quite different and I don’t have to worry about those debits and credits.

The strange thing is that life is full of debits and credits and it too must balance and if it doesn’t something is wrong.

I’ve been working hard all morning …. head out for a nice coffee

My crew work their socks off ….  take them for lunch on Friday

I’ve been stuck in that proposal for hours …. time for a stroll and fresh air

We’ve been working hard all year …. where will we go for our Christmas party?

Work, work, work …. spend time with friends, meet the kids, visit the folks

Busy doing stuff for everyone else …. get tickets for that gig

I’ve been working my socks off all year …. maybe a new car at the start of the year?

Whatever you do today make sure you balance your books!

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion are a Marketing, PR and Graphic Design agency in Ireland with offices in Cork and Dublin

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19 Responses to “Balancing those debits and credits!”

  1. Karen Says:

    Reblogged this on My train of thoughts on… and commented:
    As usual, Greg hits the nail on the head. 🙂

  2. Karen Says:

    Great blog post, Greg!

  3. Paul McMenamy Says:

    Nice reminder!

  4. Brid McAuliffe Says:

    Brilliant Blog…your staff are so lucky!

  5. chriswigg1 Says:

    … once again, Greg, I see so many similarities – yet differences – between our backgrounds that I’m inviting you to meet up with me for coffee in Cork, at some convenient time…
    Looking forward to hearing from you soon, whenever your debits and credits are truly balanced…

  6. chriswigg1 Says:

    … good morning, Greg… I’m looking forward to seeing you…

  7. Arthur Little Says:

    Love it great post Greg! Have one more for you… ‘Missed the kids all week going to spend some quality time this weekend!’

  8. James O'Reilly Says:

    Bill clients….do pro bono work for local non-profit (hint, hint, nudge, nudge)

    Great sentiment Greg, even worthy of a t-shirt print.

  9. teddwyercitylife Says:

    Good one Greg…”take time to smell the flowers”

  10. Fergal Bell Says:

    Nice post, Greg – I like the way you’ve laid it out. I think it’s something we probably do instinctively at times. It would be good to think about it consciously from time to time when it feels like parts of our lives are getting away from us.

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