Frequently, accountants work for entrepreneurs in their career (founders need tax, finance and accounting advice). In some respects, it can be on the opposite ends of the personality spectrum and in other respects they are similar. Dependable, structured and practical are the descriptors of accountants in the first google search. Entrepreneurs are street smart, perceptive and have a high intuition to follow their passions.
I think it is important to recognize the differences and how each type of individual progresses in their journey. Entrepreneurs need accounting and tax advice, although frequently founders have a good idea regarding the economics of their business. Habitually, founders have a skill set that cannot be recognized on a resume, so they take this as a signal to start their own company to monetize their real value passion. Accountants are almost always judged by their resume and value is determined by their resume and associated accomplishments.
The accounting value-add is to be able to bridge these traits to contribute to a company’s future successes. Today I met with a new client for the first time face to face. I know his business vertical well, but what I do not know is this founder. I try to spend the first meeting(s) to understand their passions and how that translates to their business successes and failures. I have enough confidence in my abilities with finance, accounting, and tax. I do not have the ability to operate in their business. I spent the meeting listening and learning about his business to provide future enterprise growth to recognize that my practical approach must bridge their intuition to add constructive usefulness.