Editor's Corner: Why Accountant Conferences Matter

With most of your heads firmly buried in Busy Season work, thinking about continued education or attending an event outside of drinks with co-workers may not be top of mind, to say the least.

But Conference Season as we know it will be upon us before long. More importantly, planning for that time to learn, to network with colleagues and getting to know about new products and processes that can make your firm more efficient and improve your work with clients kind of needs to start now or very shortly.

The fact of the matter is, the majority of accounting professionals simply don’t go to events, at least not the larger national ones hosted by groups or vendors, due to cost constraints or lack of perceived value. It’s all too easy these days to get the CPE you need online, and local and state societies often have enough throughout the year to attend something not too far away from your desk. However, if you don’t hit at least one of these national events, you are missing out and, not that it’s as important to you, but they could eventually diminish or disappear.

Now, before you get any ideas, I’m not a paid advocate for any particular accountant-focused event. But over my 16+ years overseeing the profession, I’ve been to my share and know what they’re about, how they’ve evolved and what they do well.

At the end of the day, every attendee I have ever spoken with always says the same thing about why they're there. Regardless of the amount of products that are displayed or CPE sessions offered, they attend to network; to meet with and hear from their colleagues about issues they themselves are struggling with, and maybe get a business tip or two about how to improve their own practice, work with clients, a compliance concern or experience with a particular application.