This is why I enjoy the occasional night out with the fellas, and my wife the routine “mani and pedi” with the girls. I own Sundays during football season, and in return I go apple picking and hang Christmas lights without debate.
It is also why my wife will sometimes endure a random celluloid featuring the venerable Will Farrell, and why I will repay her by silently gritting my teeth through Julia Robert’s latest offering. And that, right there, is where this tale begins...
Two nights ago, kids sound asleep, my wife stumbled upon “EAT PRAY LOVE” in our cable provider’s On Demand menu, and requested that I join her for the viewing. If unfamiliar, as I was, EPL is an inspirational drama based on Elizabeth (Liz) Gilbert's best-selling memoir. Liz, played by Julia Roberts, is a woman who, on the surface, has it all - a career, a husband, and a new home. However, she realizes that she no longer has a thirst for life. So after a bitter divorce, she decides to journey overseas to Italy, India, and Indonesia to try and rediscover the true meaning of herself, and of life.
Surprisingly, this film held my attention, and I found it both well-written and heart-felt. And it is jam-packed with quotes that will make you pause and search for greater meaning of your own existence.
Among them was the following narrative by the story’s main character:
"I remember an old catholic joke about a man who spent his whole life going to a church every day and prayed to the statue of a great saint, begging, ‘Please, please, please, let me win the lottery.’ Finally, the exasperated statue comes to life and looks down at the begging man and says, ‘My son, please, please, please, buy a ticket.’ So now I get the joke, and I bought three tickets."
Interestingly enough, when I heard this quote in the movie I instantly thought of many of the day-to-day conversations I have with prospective customers here at WebFilings, and how similar in context they all are. And with good reason. It may sound a little crazy – a little zany and kooky, I know – but there is an undeniable truth to it. You ready? Well here goes:
If you want to actually improve your external reporting process – like, streamline it, make it more efficient, reduce your costs, reduce your risk, reduce your stress – then you have to, ya know, actually do something about it!
I know, I know, it’s definitely a moon-bat concept – something straight out of the X-Files or something – but unfortunately it is true. Yes, people, if you want to improve your SEC reporting process then you have to take action to make it better and not just pray to the statue of a great saint.
And to be clear, tossing your responsibilities over the fence to an already overwhelmed and unprepared Financial Printer is not improving your process. If anything, it is making it worse. It is sacrificing control, increasing risk, getting in the back of the proverbial deli line on a Sunday afternoon, and asking someone else to represent your company’s accounting for you. Not good. Bad. Their messaging might be that it is easier for you to sit back, relax, put your feet up, draw yourself a Calgon bath, and let them wash your sorrows away. And to that I say, good for you, Financial Printers, your marketing spin is working wonders (I mean, their marketing guys get paid too, right?). But deep down, I think we all know that, at the end of the day, all it really is is spin.
Bolt-on software for EDGAR or XBRL? Sure, I guess that solves a single problem, but it doesn’t really improve your process as a whole, does it? By comparison, if you put a spoiler on your 1970 AMC Gremlin to improve the aerodynamics does it make the car function any better overall? Of course not. Bolt-ons are band-aids, nothing more, over a wound that will never heal. Eventually you'll need to peel it off and put on a new one. Bolt-ons might solve a single need but they do not address the entire process. In fact, what they do is actually add yet another process, another set of licenses to maintain and pay for, and another throat (or set of throats) to choke. No thank you.
Lucky for you, you don’t have to buy that lottery ticket for a chance at improving your entire SEC reporting process, soup to macademia nuts. No, all you have to do is the same thing that hundreds upon hundreds of your peers have already done, and join the revolution that is WebFilings.
That’s it. EAT. LOVE. And WEBFILINGS. That's all you will need in life, and not necessarily in that order. Because once you’re on board with us, praying is optional but no longer required.
Read more:
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Your Data is Secure: WebFilings Completes SAS 70 Type II Audit
Accounting Doesn't Have to be Depressing
The Devil is in the XBRL Details: Year 2 Compliance