A GREAT STORY FROM THE 1980s…

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AND THEY SAID BEING AN ACCOUNTANT WAS BORING!!!

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PART I OF IV OR MAYBE V…

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Back in the early to mid-1980s I was practicing accounting, and my office was on the 27th floor of the twin towers in Century City, Los Angeles, California.? The two buildings were triangular in shape and my office was at the apex of one of the triangles.? I had an amazing view from my office of the Pacific Ocean, a couple of airports, a number of beautiful green golf courses and lots of Los Angeles.? I had 7 people working for me and I was managing an accounting practice, but I was not doing what I loved to do, practicing accounting!

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So, I decided to change my operation and let all of my staff go, sub lease my office and get a smaller office in another building in the same complex and have only one employee, an assistant who could do everything that I could want of her as my right-hand gal!? So, I put the wheels in motion and found a sub lessee for my office for a very good rental price and made a nice profit from that sub lease.? I sub leased my office space to the International Gold Bullion Exchange, a company out of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida who sold gold bars and gold coins.? As a good businessman, beside leasing my office space to them, I also became their independent Certified Public Accountant.

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This client came with a few wonderful benefits for me.? First, I would go to Ft. Lauderdale one week a month to do accounting work and consulting.? The client gave me first class airplane tickets for my journey which was greatly appreciated.? I really enjoyed those airplane rides.? Second, out of coincidence, my parents lived in Ft. Lauderdale, so I was able to visit them one week a month and have some of my Mother’s wonderful cooking!!!? Also, just spending time with them was a treat.? The client put me up in a nice hotel and we would do dinner and drinks on the evenings that I did not spend with my parents.

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Now that I set the table for you, we can get to the business portion of the story.? The business of the client was to sell gold bars and Krugerrands and they sold them at “spot”.? Spot is the price of gold as quoted by the market every day.? The company got themselves into a position of advertising in the Wall Street Journal.? Advertising in the Wall Street Journal means instant success because to be allowed to advertise in the WSJ you have to be vetted by the newspaper and that is analogist to receiving a seal of approval.? So, the company’s business went sky high once they started advertising in the Wall Street Journal.? I am aware that I mentioned the name of the newspaper a number of times, but it is really a big deal to accomplish what this company accomplished!

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