Grateful To Be An Accountant

You know what I am this holiday season? Grateful.   

Grateful that I chose to be an accountant. Yes, I said it out loud. On purpose.  

While everyone jokes about “bean counters”, I have a front row seat to something wild. 

I see people’s dreams hiding in balance sheets and bank feeds. I help those dreams not crash and burn like the turkey I left in the oven in 1982 that set off the smoke alarm, my cat and my mother all at once.  

Is it glamorous? Not exactly. Is it amazing? Absolutely. 

How the world sees us vs how it really is  

Right now, the world thinks accountants are stressed rule followers who get excited about three things: 

• Checklists 

• Deadlines 

• More checklists 

Meanwhile, in real life, you and I get to: 

• watch a struggling owner have their first profitable year 

• see a client finally pay themselves a real salary instead of “whatever is left” 

• help an owner fund the grandkids’ college instead of just crossing their fingers at FAFSA time 

That is not boring. That is power.  

When the holidays hit  

Holiday season adds spice. Clients are worried about: 

• making payroll and year end bills without draining every line of credit 

• whether they can afford bonuses without blowing up Q1 

• if the holiday party, gifts and travel are “deductible” or just “regrettable” 

• getting clobbered at tax time because they ignored their books since July  

While everyone else is shopping and pretending not to check email, we are still: 

• Reconciling 

• Reviewing 

• Reassuring 

• Readying for 1099s 

Surveys keep telling us that money is one of the top stressors for small business owners. In a July 11, 2025 Inc. Magazine article, “4 Strategies to Help Your Business Ease Cash Flow Problems,” Bruce Crumley reports that 88 percent of small and mid-sized company owners say recurring cash flow disruptions are holding them back from fully taking advantage of growth opportunities.  

Do you realize what this means? There is a giant holiday miracle hiding in plain sight. 

You. Me. Us.  

So, in all that chaos, why do we intentionally keep choosing this work? Because there is a lot to be grateful for.

Five things I am grateful for  

1. Grateful for the work 

We see the before and after story. 

We see: 

• the year they almost went under 

• the year it finally clicked 

• the year they grew faster than their systems  

We do not need motivational posters. We have comparative financials. 

Take ten seconds and think of one client from five years ago. Look at where they were then and where they are now. You were part of that arc.  

2. Grateful for our colleagues

Let’s be honest. We would not survive this profession without “our people”.  

The friend who answers your 8 p.m. “am I losing it or is this actually wrong” text. The colleague who shares their template instead of guarding it like nuclear codes. The mentor who told you “Raise your prices” and then stayed on Zoom while you did it.  

We get labeled as number nerds and spreadsheet people. It is interesting, considering how often we keep each other alive.  

Who are you grateful for this year? Did a name pop into your head? Send them a message after you read this. Go ahead. Do it right now.  

3. Grateful for the conferences others put together  

A few brave souls wake up and say “I want to herd hundreds of accountants into one hotel and teach them things.”  

Conference organizers do the heavy lifting so you and I can:  

• learn new ideas 

• meet our future best friends 

• hug our forever friends and catch up like last year was yesterday 

• sit in a breakout and think “Oh, I am not the only one struggling with this”  

Those conferences are where many of us discovered we could: 

• raise our prices without whispering or apologizing 

• talk about advisory without feeling like a fraud 

• finally admit bank recs are our love language 

• play suitcase Tetris with vendor swag and still somehow make the zipper close!   

We show up for CPE. We stay for the hallway conversations. We leave with new ideas and just enough courage to try them. We keep coming back because the rooms, hallways and even the bar quietly change our careers.   

4. Grateful for the tech 

Is the tech perfect? No. Sometimes it behaves like a toddler with an iPad. But let’s be real. 

Cloud tools, integrations and AI helpers mean:  

• fewer hours on data entry 

• more time on real conversations 

• more possibilities for advisory work 

• fewer late nights muttering at spreadsheets like they can hear you 

Our software stack lets us work from anywhere, serve more clients and catch money leaks we never saw before.  

If you ever reconciled a whole year by hand, entered every single transaction onto green ledger sheets or cheered when the newest tech your firm installed was an electric pencil sharpener, you are now legally required to be grateful for bank feeds.  

Even when the feed breaks. Especially when it breaks. Because at least they exist.  

5. Grateful for the communities we belong to 

Forums. Masterminds. Facebook groups. LinkedIn connections. Slack channels. Podcasts. 

We are surrounded by communities that:  

• answer weird technical questions 

• talk about pricing and boundaries 

• celebrate wins that no one outside the profession understands  

Try telling your non-accountant friends you finally standardized onboarding.  

They will stare. They will gossip about you behind your back. They might even start a group chat called “Is Deb OK” asking if onboarding is a symptom they should worry about.  

But your accounting community? We cheer. We throw a parade. We ask for the SOP with a copy of the checklist.  

Community is where your imposter syndrome gets smaller. You realize everyone is still figuring it out. You realize you are further along than you think. And you finally believe you are the expert you already are.  

Holiday gratitude list for accountants  

This season, I am grateful for:  

• the client who finally raised prices, hit send, then texted “They said yes” followed by 14 emojis 

• the owner who finally hired help who is actually going to their kid’s soccer game instead of running payroll on the bleachers 

• the messy file that turned into clean books, a real P&L and an actual fresh start. 

• the tech that does the boring parts so my brain can do the actual thinking 

• the colleague who answers my “parking lot panic” calls and says “you are not crazy, they are”. 

• the conference hallway chat that somehow turned into a YouTube channel, a Substack and a best friend 

• the online communities who get as excited about bank recs and 1099s as other people get about Netflix and Taylor Swift tickets  

That is my version of holiday magic.  

Final thought 

We may roll our eyes at year end. We may threaten to elope with a different career every April 16th. But under all of that, there is real gratitude.  

We get to help people keep their businesses alive. We get to turn confusion into clarity. We get colleagues, conferences, tech and communities that make the journey lighter.  

So, before you dive into the next pile of transactions, take a breath and ask, “What in my work am I grateful for today?”  

Your list is probably longer than you think.