Bone # 3
If you were in public school in Muskoka after the year 2000, you may remember The Risk Watch Program . If you were in public school in Muskoka after the year 2000, you may NOT remember The Risk Watch Program as I certainly didn’t recall that program by its name. As I was pulling on the strings of a faint memory, I reached out to my mother, sister and father hoping they may recall the name of this big trailer that was outfitted with windows, fake smoke, doors that got hot and an escape hatch. This trailer would arrive in the public school parking lot and each class would take turns in the “Fire Safety House”. It was only through digging through the Community Digital Archives that I discovered its name, its involvement with a larger vision for youth education (Risk Watch Program) and its price-tag (a cool 140K). During the simulation, we would hold our tiny hands up against the door to feel the simulated heat. The smoke machine would soon spew out sweet smelling fake-danger and the Firefighter would show us how to stop, drop down and crawl out to safety. I remember being extremely excited for this demonstration because I would get to see my dad at school.
Photo Source: Huntsville/Lake of Bays Fire Department Facebook
Date: 12 June 2018
I come from a long line of men who rush into burning buildings. In fact, there’s a street in Huntsville, Ontario that all firefighters must race down to arrive at the Huntsville Fire Department and despite my best efforts of continuing to scan through the Canadian Community Digital Archives I could not find the exact date that Payne Dr. came into existence. What I do know is that my father is a firefighter, his father was a firefighter, his brother was a firefighter, and their father was a Fire Chief. Don’t worry- I’m not going to suggest that accounting and business management is as heroic as rushing into burning buildings ; I mention this only because the definition of “emergency” means something very specific to me.
At the business management office in Toronto, I saw a lot of fake fires. Fake fires were often set by clients, fanned by upper management and burnt the staff down real quick. It is not clear to me whether clients knew the flames were fake, but it is very clear to me that the flames felt real to every party involved. Time was always of the essence. Water breaks seemed to disappear despite their necessity. Staff were not prepared, physically or mentally, for these fake fires and it always felt like everyone got burned in the end anyways. There were no meaningful “thank yous” when the CRA tax bill was 75K instead of 90.
It was during this recent reflection on fake fires and real emergencies that I solidified a couple of critical things:
🦴(1) Emergency accounting situations can exist, but not without months and months of smoke.
🦴 (2) Clients either do not know the warning signs of smoke, or they do and choose to ignore it because it’s stressful.
🦴(3) Preparation and organization is key; every business needs a fire extinguisher.
🦴(4) Smoke should never be ignored.
One of of the most popular (and distressing) episodes of The Office (US) is ‘Stress Relief Part 1’ (Season 5 Episode 14) which features an intentional fake fire in an effort to test the staffs emergency preparedness. Spoiler alert: panic ensues and someone has a heart attack.
Fake emergency, real consequence.
Something that we’ve all been watching unfold throughout this pandemic is the far more challenging version of this: real emergency and real consequence.
Some questions for you:
When was the first time that you ignored a piece of mail from the CRA?
When was the first time that you ignored an email from one of your suppliers about untimely payment?
When was the first time you were hit with an interest charge from either one of the former situations?
This is smoke. 🦴(1) (4)What made you decide to seek out an accounting professional?
When did you first notice that other businesses have bookkeepers helping them?
When did you first realize that you couldn’t realistically hit a deadline and that was when you started to seek professional assistance?
Trust your gut.The second you smell smoke, you should act 🦴 (2) (3) (4)Do you get stressed opening your mail or email?
Do you avoid your mail or email?
Are you losing sleep over the way things are going in your business?
Are you delaying filing sales tax or reporting source deductions?
Did you turn down support from the CRA over the last two years due to a desire to keep the spotlight off of your business?
Did you accept support from the CRA despite being behind in filings and compliance because you had exhausted all other measures?
Has the CRA started calling you and giving you hard deadlines?
Have you lost your CPP?
Is the CRA withholding any refunds?
Smoke should never be ignored. 🦴 (4)
It saddens us that business owners reach out once the door is too warm, when the options of escape are limited, visibility is low and panic is rising. This is when we get panicked emails with panicked deadlines.
The good news: we are prepared to help you. We have the gear, the water, the patience, and the know-how, but whether you work with us or not, here is a list of items that professional and qualified accounting teams REQUIRE in order to put the fire out. We can aim the water in the right place, but you have to fill the truck with water.
How This Affects What We Offer:
Team Breeze takes water breaks and lots of ‘em, but none of them are billed to you. I don’t force team members to hit unrealistic deadlines. I won’t pass a burning stick to a team member and say, “careful it’s hot.” When you first reach out and we ask to do a soft-audit of the file, it’s so we can prepare the tasks, prep the team and manage your budget expectations. We do our best to estimate the work-load and we will keep you informed of what is going on. On more than one occasion you will be offered the chance to be trained on a task to lower your bill but keep the momentum up. We’ll send you a training video to show you step-by-step what is required. We can work together to get the main fire out, and then discuss setting your business up for success in the future.
We know you’re stressed and we’ll help you get out of whatever mess you’re in, but please remember that there was a lot of smoke before this fire. We’ll also need your help in two very significant ways:
1) Be prepared with the items in our check-list
2) Please pay your accounting bill on time.
🦴Coming Up On The Bone Story🦴
“Find Your Zone Of Genius”…
