I am deeply indebted to Rob Nance, who will be sorely missed at AccountingWEB.

I was very saddened to hear of the departure of Rob Nance, the publisher of AccountingWEB.com, from Sift Media.  I am deeply indebted to Rob Nance for introducing me into the world of blogging on accounting websites as well as allowing me to cultivate my own unique voice in the public accounting world.  Please consider how rare that is today:  a publisher permitting you the greatest amount of freedom and opportunity to select and speak to an audience.

In merely six-and-one-half years, Rob, along with the talents of Gail Perry as chief editor, Tony Pavich as the tech manager, and others on its staff, developed AccountingWEB into a major accounting website here in the United States, rapidly achieving a Google ranking of 6.  As many of you who host accounting websites of your own know, this is no small feat.  I like to think that much of its success is owed to Rob's and Gail's "open door" policy to its contributors, allowing many of us to publish our articles and blogs freely without the restrictions and editorializing found on other accounting websites.  For that alone, I owe Rob Nance and Gail Perry much gratitude and appreciation since that posture helped me in marketing my small public accounting practice here in Berlin, Connecticut.  

But that is not all for which I am grateful and indebted to Rob Nance and Gail Perry:  on many an occasion, they both encouraged, inspired, and mentored me in the world of web publishing, providing valuable feedback and positive reinforcement as well as a literary license to "go for it" and "pull out all of the stops".  For these reasons and others, AccountingWEB has become that much needed open forum for accounting professionals, an openness that is becoming rarer and rarer today with the corporate consolidation and control of our media.

It is my understanding now that some sort of consolidation with operations in the United Kingdom is underway.  Having published a blog on that site as well, I prefer its American counterpart's technology and format to what I found there.  Consequently, as a blogger, I fear the inevitable changes that customarily follow a consolidation of operations.

My best wishes to you, Rob.  I deeply appreciate everything you did for me.  And thank you for all of those AccountingWEB hats that you sent me over the years:  I wear them out all the time!

Kindest regards,

William Brighenti