Home on the Horizon
January is typically my busiest travel month of the year, and this year is no exception. As I wrote this yesterday, I was on my 13th flight of the month, with four more to come before month’s end. Can’t wait to get my January frequent flier statements.
Most of it was business, but I must confess there was some get away time mixed in.
Monday-Wednesday of the first week of January had me in Naples, FL, for the semi-annual American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ (AICPA) Major Firms Group (MFG) meeting. This gathering of many of the 100 largest firms in the country is an invaluable forum to share ideas and network with leaders of these firms. I learn a lot every year in Naples that I bring back to Marcum.
Friday of that week had me in Mayfield, Ohio, just outside of Cleveland, to meet the Ohio associates who joined Marcum December 1 as a result of our merger with Skoda Minotti. What a great group of people.
The following week it was on to Las Vegas to meet with the CEOs and managing partners from one of the international accounting associations we belong to, Leading Edge Alliance. This is another annual event filled with idea-sharing and networking.
On Tuesday, Tracy, Max (our 7-year-old son) and I headed to LA for slightly less than 24 hours. Last year at this time Max was diagnosed as allergic to peanuts and tree nuts (cashews and pistachios.) After much research we found a specialist in Long Beach, CA, who has worked wonders curing many, many people of their food allergies. Tuesday was our initial consultation and examination. The year ahead will determine if Max is a candidate for their treatment.
Wednesday morning, Tracy and Max headed back to NY and I went to Las Vegas again for Winning is Everything, the annual conference put on by some of the leading consultants to the accounting profession, another place to learn and network with yet a third different group of accounting firm leaders.
For some unexplained reason, Lily and Max don’t have school next Monday and Tuesday, so this afternoon we are off to Florida to get out of the cold for the weekend. Fortunately for me, come Monday if needed I can work out of one of our South Florida offices.
And to end the month, Thursday I’ll be in our Boston office for the day, meeting with our New England partner group. The silver lining in all of this has been that, so far, every flight I’ve taken, all on American or Delta, has been on time, no delays whatsoever. Sometimes you just get lucky.
Also fortunately for me, my travel schedule gets reduced significantly for the next several months. I speak with people who travel every week for business, and I just don’t know how they do it. I’m looking forward to February and more time on the ground.
