Relations with clients;

              HASKINS & S E L LS NEW YORK KANSAS CITY
CHICAGO CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS SEATTLE
PHILADELPHIA PORTLAND
DETROIT DENVER
CLEVELAND BULLETIN ATLANTA
SAINT LOUIS DALLAS
BOSTON SALT LAKE CITY
BALTIMORE TULSA
PITTSBURGH WATERTOWN
LOS ANGELES SAN FRANCISCO LONDON
BUFFALO PARIS
CINCINNATI
NEW ORLEANS E X E C U T I V E OFFICES
HASKINS & SELLS BUILDING
37 WEST 39TH ST., NEW YORK
HAVANA
SHANGHAI
VOL. IV NEW YORK, JUNE 15, 1921 No. 6
Relations with Clients
HAVE you ever stopped to think what
it is all about, this work which as a
professional organization we are doing?
Is it a mere matter of putting in so many
hours a day, doing so much work, and
collecting so much money? If that's the
way you see it you have missed the big
thing in the field in which you are engaged.
If you have the true accounting instinct
and are true to yourself and to the ideals
of the accountancy profession your interest
will be directed at and your thoughts
focused on giving satisfaction to clients
regardless of everything else.
This generalization may mean much or
little depending upon the consideration
which is given to it. "Satisfaction to
clients" may be a glib term in the parlance
of modern inspirational literature or it
may be something to take seriously to
heart in its application to each specific
engagement. Generalities are fine at
times in formulating thought and pointing
the way, but they accomplish little in the
way of getting anywhere. What we need
to do is to take "satisfaction to clients" as
our watchword and think about it all the
time in relation to every piece of work
which we undertake.
Every engagement is prompted by a
motive on the part of the client. The
client who comes to us for service is in the
same relative position as a patient who
goes to a physician. Sometimes the
patient knows what his trouble is and
sometimes he does not. Some patients go
to a physician for relief from some illness;
others, like the Chinese, in order to keep
well.
Likewise, some clients know exactly
what they want, can and do tell us. There
are other clients who want to be "looked
over" generally. Then there are the clients
who seek our services as a means of relief and
those others who want to be "kept well."
Every client has his reason for coming
to us. The fact of his coming denotes a
need for help. But before this help may
be rendered the motive must be either
expressed by him or discovered by us. If
the client makes clear his purpose the prob­lem
is simplified. If he does not do so, it
is useless to expect that relief or help may
be intelligently afforded until the motive
has been discovered. It is only under
such circumstances that satisfaction to the
client may be expected.
There is a new type of client, manifesting
itself more and more, which believes in
co-operation with the accountant. The
type is exemplified in a member of a promi­nent
engineering firm who said recently,
"It is the prerogative of the executive call­ing
on accountants for work to be done to