On 5/7/2017 5:02 PM, jbeattie wrote:
On Sunday, May 7, 2017 at 11:02:47 AM UTC-7, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Sun, 7 May 2017 07:51:34 -0700 (PDT), jbeattie
wrote:

I was sitting at the graduation ceremony next to a guy who was also from
Oregon and who, amazingly, knew my wife's family in Hillsboro. His
daughter was getting a masters in accounting. He will never again have
to rely on Turbo Tax. One word: accounting. It's the future.
-- Jay Beattie.

If the family thinks that their daughter is going to provide free tax
services, they're in for a major disappointment. I have a friend with
3 daughters. All have degrees in various specialties. One is a
doctor. The doctor refuses to discuss "business" with the parents and
only provides medical advice when pressured. I did much the same to
my father. When he wanted something repaired, I did everything
possible to avoid taking on the repair and its associated lifetime
warranty. The relatives also had similar expectations. When I would
come home to visit, a collection of things to repair was waiting for
me. Even if the daughter agrees to do the taxes for the family, it
will likely be the lowest priority task. Given the choice of working
on a lucrative clients tax return, or the family return for free, the
family return is likely to require several extensions and become a
rush job for the very last moment.

As for accounting being the future, it's possible. We're heading for
a service economy where everything involving product manufacture is
outsourced to former 3rd world countries. Profit will then be
generated by whomever makes the best deals, or supplies the biggest
bribes. Hiding these behind a wall of numbers cooked for the occasion
will be important with accountants providing the necessary financial
creativity.

Doctors are ethically prohibited from treating immediate family members, subject to certain exceptions. http://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/...oet1-1205.html So your friend's daughter at least has an excuse for not treating her father.

My sister is an accountant (among other things), and she does pro bono tax returns for poor people, which always seemed odd -- endless 1040 EZ forms? But, as it turns out, she does a lot of returns for illegal immigrants in Sonoma County (grape pickers, among others), and they have odd issues -- like paying into our Social Security system. They get a special "look the other way" number, and just like a roach motel, the money goes in, but it doesn't come out -- except to current citizen retirees. And now that Trump is cracking the whip on illegal immigration, the grape growers are have trouble getting their grapes picked. The legals won't pick grapes for $16/hr. https://www.marketplace.org/2017/03/...-farm-wages-go

Hmm. Sounds like the price of American-grown wine will be heading up.


--
- Frank Krygowski