120 This Week in Public Accounting News 10/09/23

Hey, doing a new thing today. We're going to go through the news. Things are happening, we're going to talk about said things and I got my friend John Garrett here with me.

Yo, yo.

Yes, very good. So come on in and let's discuss some news. Okay. I'm here with John Garrett and I figured I've wanted to do like more just kind of like what are the interesting things I saw in the news and some commentary around that. By no means the important things in the news, but the things that I just thought were interesting. So I got my friend John in to join in the fun here. John, you want to do like a rapid fire background on who you are?

Sure. I answered a Craigslist ad that Jason said, would you do the news with me? And I said, sure.

Yeah.

And before that I was a big 4 CPA and then left that to do to industry and then left that to do stand up comedy full time. Wrote2emmy nominated award shows, did some cool stuff and now I develop people, centric leaders. That's what I do. And just helping humanize the workplace and wrote a book called what's your and so.

And we'll evidently do just about anything on Craigslist for a cheeseburger.

So pretty much.

So here we are.

You said double cheeseburger. You said double.

So we can talk about it. Okay. Okay, first thing I got here, there are a bunch of stories about this. One of Donald Trump's accountants was testifying this week.

Yeah.

Bless his heart. Dewey, should we feel bad for Donald Trump's accountants?

Not, apparently not because he's been paid a lot of money over the years. So. Yeah, it came up in the article that I read and yeah, I was like, wow, that's, that's a good amount. Yeah, he's been to Trump's weddings. He's hung out at the family gatherings. He's. Yeah, he's not hurting.

Did you ever go to any client weddings? Is that something you ever experienced?

You know, I never did, but yeah, I don't know if I was at that level to, you know, when I was in public to, you know, when you're a senior associate, Max, you might get invited to lunch. That was the extent of where I was at. How about you?

Okay.

Were you at that?

No, no weddings. It is true though, all of the, like the glad handing and that sort of stuff. Like that's reserved for the accounting firm elite, not for the folks like us that were just in the trenches.

Yeah, yeah. But it said here in the article. Yeah. Attended Trump's wedding and in some years was paid more than $1 million for his work. That's per year, it said in some years.

So.

So, yeah, I think he's doing all right. I mean, it wasn't him getting all that money. I'm sure the firm takes a percentage, but, yeah, not too bad.

Okay, so he's asked to testify. One of these articles from Insider Judge erupts as Trump's lawyers at Trump's lawyers for wasting time with ridiculous, repetitive questions aimed at Trump. Org's ex accountant. And so they're questioning this accountant, and at one point they pull out a list of over 200 companies of Trump's and start asking him the exact same questions over and over again for each company until eventually the judge cuts him off and says, this is ridiculous. But takeaways sounds like a win for the billable hour in my book. I'm sure he's getting like his, his 2x or 3x rate being on the stand.

Well, I also think that it's great that the attorney was able to show the judge what it's like to be an accountant and do the same thing for 200 different entities over and over and over again.

Then the judge couldn't hang.

Yeah, apparently he finance because he couldn't do the accounting. That's what happens. There it is.

So he does that and then he starts doing the same thing for each year's financial statements, and they shut that down. But then Accounting Today had an article on the same fiasco, and it sounds like this guy was doing compiled financial statements and that's kind of what he's hiding behind that ultimately it's, you know, their responsibility to xyz. Yeah, yeah. But they did say in the Accounting Day article that the firm labeled Trump's supporting asset data as prepared by client. So it was the all, like, we've all seen suspect PBCs. But it's great to know that the PBCs go all the way to the top. Right?

And I mean, when I, when I heard, you know, this, the story, it's. I mean, I joke about. I don't know anything about taxes. I was never in taxes. I got a C plus in the one class I took and was out. I joke that it's, you know, what do you want the number to be? And I feel like that's very much what this guy. I mean, so, Donald, what do you want the number to be? And there we go. Like, and then I feel like this is a. I think it's semantics of. It's, it's a big show and all that. But it's just kind of funny because now people are starting to get into the weeds of, well, what does a compilation mean? What does it not? You know, because everyone thinks that everything an accountant touches is correct, you know? Yeah. We get down into the nitty gritty of every single number in every single report, of every single thing. And that's not true. You know, it's. You could PBC the whole thing and then just sign off and be like, yeah, whatever. So, like, they said this was the number, and there we go. It's fine.

The head of the accounting department in my undergrad program, he was previously with Albertsons, and he would tell us that his nickname was Mr. Plug because he was the guy they would come to at the end of every quarterly reporting period and be like, what's the best thing to do with this $800,000 difference we can't account for? And that was like his specialty, I guess.

That's incredible. Not the nickname you're going for, but, you know, hey, whatever. It's all good. It's all good. Yeah. I think there's a story about Bob Newhart. He used the petty cash back in the day when he was did accounting, and in Chicago, if it was off by less than what he had in his pocket, he would just put it in the box. And then if there was extra, then he would put it in his pocket and he's like, we're balanced. Let's just go home. Like, let's just go, like. Because if I sit here and try to get every nickel, like, we're wasting time. So I got the cash in my pocket, I'm going to balance it out. And if there's extra left over, I'm just going to take it and put it in my pocket because I'm sure it's a wash at the end.

Good for.

So, yeah. Because it's like, I got other things to go do.

Enough talking about Trump.

Yeah.

We've hit our Trump quota for today.

I think so. But I mean, maybe it's good publicity for the firm. I don't know. But. Yeah. What else? What else news we got. Oh, counting today, calls for nominations for the 20, 23 top 100 people.

I had that one, too. Have you been. You've been on this list before, right?

I have once. Yes. I was once in the others to watch because they don't just put you straight in. Yeah, they always have to. They have to watch you. Like, okay. Kind of in a creepy, creepy way. So they watch it For a year. And then.

Did you make it the next year?

I did. I made it the next year.

Oh, baby. John. I was, I was on the ones to watch last year. That sounds like a good omen.

All right. Well, yeah, I mean, I mean, if it's the John Garrett career path that you're going for, then you'll do that and then you'll just be out of accounting the year after that. Actually, I wasn't in accounting any of the times that I was even to watch, which is, I don't know, whatever.

But let's not think about that too much. Right.

You don't have to put turn in transcripts. You don't have to anything. And the thing to remember about this is that it's influences, you know, you don't have to influence it positively. There are plenty of people on the list that, you know, not necessarily fairly positive, a lot of political people, a lot of things like that that are on the list.

So let's talk about list culture, because I'm fascinated by lists. I think it all comes down to, like, the power that is granted to the list maker. It's like you're a king maker when you are the one to have the list. So I understand why organizations do the lists, but I also know that like the Forbes stuff and all that, like 80 to 100% of those are filled by like PR, firm relationships. So how much money did you spend to make the list and who was your person?

So I, I use the same auditor that Trump's organization uses, and that was my in. He just told them John is very popular with a lot of people as prepared by client. And then there it is. I told him, I told him that's what it is. And there we go. No, I, it. I don't know exactly how I feel. Like enough conferences, you know, had me speaking at them and enough organizations that brought me in to where they were like, well, you know, this guy's clearly influencing something. So. Yeah. And I think that people had sent messages to accounting today because I think that that might be a big part of it. And I know that there are people that have a whole campaign behind it to, you know, get people to message and it's, it's like a high school popularity ish kind of thing. Oh, for sure. You know, it's a lot of people that really care about being on the list and they try the hardest. And that's maybe why I was only on once, but. But it's really cool to be on there.

Yeah. Tell the truth. If I went to LinkedIn right now and I looked at your little byline. Would it say top whatever? It doesn't.

No, it does not. It does not. But you, you know, we could just stretch it and make it the top 500 people an account. I mean, like, why fill in the blanks? Why is it 100? I mean, really top it off with.

Your Randy Campbell's of the world. Randy Crabtrees of the World.

That's perfect. Exactly. Yeah. So, I mean, it is, it is a cool thing, but it's not a life changing thing. You know, I, I'd rather have my two Emmy nominations than, than that. But. And that wasn't even winning, that was just being nominated. But, but that's just a cool thing. But it validates you a little bit to also people that put weight into lists, you know, sort of a thing. But, you know, it doesn't change what I did or what I'm doing. So just keep doing what you're doing. It's good either way.

Nobody was stopping you in the streets or anything like that.

Well, I mean, there was plenty of that and kissing babies and like signatures and all kinds of like. I mean, it was a lot, but I was used to that. None of that. None of anything. Actually. Even when we were at a conference where Dan Hood was at the editor for Accounting Today and I mentioned it and I think even he was like, oh, really?

Yeah. If I remember the first time I met you, you were wearing a shirt that had a big like number 86 on it. And I was like, what is that, John? And he gave me this big long thing.

Right. I call it a jersey, but really.

It was like a letterman's jacket sort of thing. Right.

Kind of like you were like, are you a tight end? And I was like, sort of. But it was a number 86. It would be hilarious if they actually did rank them and put them out that way.

They do, I think, don't they? Like they literally do 1 to 100, aren't they?

Well, it's, it's. They do the other top 100. Who do they say are influential to them? So it's. But it's the same people every time. Yeah, I mean, I feel like there's probably five new people every year and then all the other times it's people.

At least that many passed away from the previous year's list.

Some of them still make it. They still make it.

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I feel like Louisiana is just sketch about all things. I feel like it would be up there. Oh, because that's just. I've tried flying to Louisiana many times and I used to fly into their old airport. That was. And then finally, for the first time flew into their new airport. But it was supposed to be new like seven years ago. But somebody's cousin ran the contract, who then had another cousin who was the general contractor, who then. What do you know, we're over budget times 12 or whatever. And yeah, it's just a lot of money going under the table on things. So that's why I would just say Louisiana. Plus, I know no one from Louisiana listens to you, so I would try not to piss off.

If they did before, they aren't listening now. I would have gone to like, Florida because it's Florida. Ohio, because it's virtually impossible to file a tax return there.

Oh, no even know that. All right, there you go.

Number one is Delaware, and it's not even close.

Delaware.

Yeah, they're like 30% ahead of.

Isn't that where the current president's from now?

Nervous. It could be. It could be a D.C. proximity thing maybe.

Or all the corporations. Isn't everyone trying to be incorporated in Delaware?

That's very true. All the Delaware corporations or something. That could be what it is.

Maybe that's the thing because no one has a Delaware address, but they're Delaware Incorporated. Maybe that's what it is. The scam is.

Yeah, is that.

And if I knew it, then clearly it's not that good of a scam.

So way to get through that without putting anybody off. It's just the corporate setup thing. It's not anything about Delawareans.

Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. Go. Blue hens. That's. I think that's their thing. The University of Delaware.

Okay.

The. The fighting Blue Hen. They're probably not even fighting. They're the egg laying blue hens. Yeah. Delaware. That's interesting. Who was number two? Was there.

Nevada. Okay, that makes sense.

Yeah. Yeah, that checks all right. Interesting. Very good.

What else you got? You got any others? Yeah.

What was this? I guess the accounting profession is losing experienced accountants too. Was. Was the headline ongoing concern. And I was like, well, I'm not shocked. I guess it's based on a Wall Street Journal story of a guy who, after six years in accounting was like, I'm out. And I was like, well, that. That's pretty normal. I mean, it's like, you know, six years you're a manager and yeah, you go to industry and then ride it out like, you know, greener pastures. But he went not just to industry. He was out. Out. He went to like, sales of At. For Treasury. Sales which is like, ooh, that's. Yeah.

So I'll be honest. I saw this story, and I was. I thought we all already knew this, but interesting. Are you telling me that the data point was this one guy that left after six years?

Well, it's the Wall Street Journal, so you know how much effort they go into things. But. But, yeah, but it was. They just followed, I guess, this one person's story. And. Yeah. I mean, but it's. I don't know. We're gonna. Now we're gonna alienate everyone else who wasn't alienated earlier. But. But it's just. It's. They're not. They're not helping themselves as a profession. I don't know if it's. Goes straight to the mothership or what, but it's just. I mean, I remember early on in my career, hearing someone talk about accounting is a. It's not a career, it's a profession. And there was like, this hoity toity ness to it all. I mean, slow down. Like, just call, like, you know, we're not saving lives. Debits on the left, credits on the right. If it doesn't balance, flip it, and then maybe it'll balance. Now I think. I think this. This perception of we are better than or smarter than, and then it's just not true. And so stop. You know, and just. Just being. Be a human. Just be a real person that has other dimensions to who they are besides the profession, you know, type of thing.

It is kind of all founded in gatekeeping. Yeah. All we. All we do is bless things like that is. That's ultimately our function.

And then we get called into a courtroom for Trump, and then it's like, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I didn't actually look at the numbers. So then all of a sudden, like, they see right through the. The smoke. It's like, well, that's not even what we do, you know, like, it's. But. But it is a shame because, I mean, accounting's the base for all business. So no matter what you want to do marketing, you still have to know accounting. You know, computers still have to know, like, all the leadership, you still have to know accounting, like, at the end of the day are the basics. So it should be a really cool thing that everyone should know and get, but it's just not.

Yeah, people don't talk about, like, accounting through the lens of entrepreneurship that much. Like, my experience in accounting, I feel like, gives me, like, such a greater level of confidence and, like, all things entrepreneurship as opposed to just the people that go out and get all this stuff wrong and stumble through it for decades and get in trouble on tax stuff and. But I don't know. Yeah, when I, I guess when I was going through school, accounting was more framed through the lens of like regional and big four. And what, what about accounting is valuable to those machines?

Yeah, no, very much. I mean, I went to a huge accounting program that, you know, top five every year. So it's like. Well, yeah, I mean, you just. Big four. I mean that's. Or at the time it was six.

Yeah.

And that's just who you talk to, you know, and then, you know, maybe if you didn't get into one of those, you slummed it down at number eight or number 10, massive regionals and you know, massive firms. And so it, yeah, but it, it was all very much, you know, geared towards go to public and then. But it's, it's interesting to me because all my best friends from my days and the big four are not even in accounting now.

So like, interesting.

It's, it's so hard to get into those jobs. And then those are for the people that hate accounting the most. Like the people that love accounting get in the weeds and the bookkeeping and the, you know, the CFO outsource work and you know, the smaller firms where they're, they're doing actual accounting. Like. Yeah, you know, I was Big four. I never did. Journal entries are joking. Like that's. Yeah, that's. I don't do that.

Where did you go? You went to PwC out of school, was it?

I did, yeah. PwC in the St. Louis office. Yeah.

So did they have like a cool. Do a two week training program in Disney World sort of thing or something like that when you started?

Well, we were down in Tampa and it was at a Saddlebrook Resort, I believe is what it was called. And it was like this golf resort and then alligators and all this stuff and. Yeah, and my roommate, good buddy of mine, still Kyle Daniels, he left to go be a lifeguard. He was in la, he was in the junior lifeguard program. He became a lifeguard like through the fire department. Like he's like beach lifeguard and super cool guy. Really great. And then there's me, then there's Jeff Rundell, then there's. I mean I got so many where it's like not even in accounting anymore. Like, it's just. Yeah, it's just weird like that. And I loved my time there and the people that I met there. But. Yeah, but but it was, it was that there was. We, we did a lot of trainings. There was one in Pasadena. There was, you know, one in Dallas that I remember. So yeah, but they, they gather everybody together for sure. But, but it wasn't. We weren't too over the top, lined and dined, I would say. But it's probably more than the regular.

There was a. It's just like, I feel like all things when you're in school at any age. There was like a six week period where we found out that. I don't remember who it was. One of the firms did like a 10 day training thing for all new hires in Disney World. And like all of my friends, like a third of the accounting program was like, we are all now hell bent on going to work for this firm for Disney reason. Just for like, can you imagine this being your entry into professional life? Like, that was just so mind blowing. And yeah, those people, I'm sure went on to count potatoes for the next two years in a warehouse somewhere. But.

Pretty much, yeah, yeah, I remember. Yeah, because we went to. There was like an amusement park down there. I don't know, Busch Gardens or something like that.

Yeah.

And they had one roller coaster that was like. Because it was at night and it was like we could just ride it. And I remember just. I never got off. Like, I rode that roller coaster probably 12 times in a row because a lot of people didn't want to do it. And I was like, well, dude, I'm doing it because why not? You know? And, and I think that's. That's when I started to be like, I'm not like one of these things is not like the other. These things is not the same. Like, and it was, it was that. And then. Yeah, and then. Oh man. This other guy named Reed Avett. Yeah, man, he was so funny. And he made up like these gang signs for like the PwC. Like if you did did it with your hands, like the gang sign. And we used to challenge each other to who could ask the most ridiculous question but not get fired. And I think he won. He won for sure.

Like, what kind of questions?

Well, so it was right when PW had merged with Coopers and Lybrand and that summer we were hired pw. But then they merged. We didn't know any different. We also didn't care. But they brought in all these national people to talk with us about how PW and Coopers are the same and they're in whatever. And so they do this whole presentation of this whole thing. And then Reed raises his hand. He's like, so were you telling me that these kids from Coopers are equals? Like, and Jaws on the floor. I was like, falling. I was like, that was amazing. Like, it was. They went on this whole thing of like, yes, we're very much equal. It wasn't a takeover. Like, it was awesome. Like, they completely missed that we do not care. Like, this isn't even apply to us. Like, what is going on? But they just had a box they had to check. I'm sure. And then I feel like, what was my best? I'll never forget that. I was like, man, you win. You win.

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They were talking about how like through your career you have the career coach and HR and all this. And so they were like so does anybody have any questions? And they had mentioned counseling out which is pretty much like look, it's not a fit. We're going to help you find somewhere. Yeah, outside. And so I just, this is like our third day. I was like so how do we know when we're being counseled out? Like do they tell us or like, like how do we know? Like, like I needed the details. I need to know how I know this is happening. Like as if it was already started for me.

Yeah.

And yeah, so I thought that was pretty solid but Reeds was so much better because it was like national partners that they flew in specifically for this. And yeah. But I don't know, I mean it's, I mean did you have any cool experiences?

I can't, I cannot even get my head around big firm universe. Like I did an internship with a small firm at the same time my buddies were doing internships at big firms and I like, I was like this just sounds like the least interesting thing. Like I can't, I don't like the corporate machine. Like and not feeling like I can change things and I have influence and all that and that just sounded so soul sucking to me.

Yeah.

And even now like talking with, you know, I talk software companies a lot and they start selling up market and I'm like yeah, kill me, I can't help you. Like these year and a half long sales cycles and they're like yeah, no, this thing is better in every single way but we have a partnership with this other company. So sorry. Like I just, I couldn't handle that environment.

Or we have a thing that, that was free but it's still on the shelf and we haven't opened it. And yeah, yours is turnkey but that's going to cost us A dollar?

Yeah.

And we'd rather have the free thing on the shelf and not use it and spend a dollar to get the thing. That's actually going to be effective. In his turnkey. Yeah. No. Well, my buddy Jeff Rendello, I talked. He, he and I started a, an Onion style newsletter internally with our start class. And we did it monthly and we sent it. We called it the General Ledger because we were super not creative on that part. But the articles were just brilliant. I mean, to be honest, they were absolutely hilarious. And it'd be like four or five articles a month, kind of like the Onion or Babylon, B ish style. And but about the firm, about our start class. I remember PwC at the time. Their, their slogan was together we can change the world. And we had this whole thing of where that actually upon looking at it, there's still famine and war. And so maybe we're going to change it to together we can make a little bit of a difference. Difference, yeah.

And then we still exist anywhere. Like, is this in like an old mailchimp account somewhere that you can get into?

Well, we didn't even mailchimp it. We sent it on pwc.com email and then people would print it. And this is when email was kind of naturally, people would print it and then it would get stuck in the middle of someone's massive print jobs. So then somebody just goes and grabs the stack, you know, and they're going through and then all of a sudden they're like, wait, what is this? And so then wildfire. Everyone knew about the General Ledger. And then if we didn't have it out in that first week, people that I didn't even know knew about it were like, hey, where's the General Ledger this month? And I'm like, how do you know about this?

So that's the best of big company culture. Like the gorilla leave it in the bathroom sort of thing. Like, yeah, I never got that.

But it was good. I mean, because we mocked all of it, like to their faces using their own email. And it was great. Like, people loved it. Like, people remembered me. I mean, I had the guy that remembered me 12 years later when I was speaking at a conference. He's like, oh, I know J. Garrett. That's the guy who did comedy at night. And he was in tax. And I never met him. I never went to the tax floor anything. And. And so, yeah, so it was. That's the thing is when you're at the bigger organizations, I feel like there's more to, to mock. I Guess. Although maybe at the small ones. Now that I think about it, everyone's doing it. So, like, it's, you know, kind of.

Like the office where it's like, it's very firm. It's very firm dependent.

Yeah, yeah, that's true. That is true. But anyway, so I, I saw that story and it's. I don't know, whatever. I guess people are. People are leaving because they don't have people like you, Jason, as role models. And that's, That's.

I don't. I mean, I got out too, so I don't know that I'm the best role model. Okay, I got. I got one more here. That was a winner. Because we are supposed to be talking about the news title of the article, Taxpayer Interest overstated in Free Tax Filing Products. So the IRS supposedly has been working on like a free. Their own free tax filing platform.

Right.

Which no doubt will absolutely slap. I'm sure it will be great. And the point of this article was that in the survey where they determined how interested people were, they used a four option scale instead of the five options scale. And the four option scale is not as good, I guess, because it's. They call it forced choice.

Of course, you can't pick down the middle.

Right. So.

Yeah.

But this quote just tickled me to no end. They said the survey prompt may have led taxpayers to believe that the tool would have more options than it would immediately have available, such as the ability to file state tax returns. What ultimately is the value of a tax filing product if it doesn't file your tax return?

Right. It's a. I thought they were just going to use like a different question kind of like Tosh point. Oh. Where it's like, do you like chocolate cake? And it's like, look how popular this answer is. And then they pull out the behind. The fake question was the real question of, do you like irs?

It's almost that. Because who would actually be excited about, do you want to use this thing and then go figure out your own way to do your state tax return? Everybody would say no.

No. Everyone would say no, absolutely. That's. That's crazy. It sounds like they're half done with it. And they were like, hey, why don't we roll this thing out? It's like, no, that you prototype, like, test it. Like, what is it?

Yeah. That is like, really one of the complications of the irs rolling something like that is like, sure, that'll work for federal. But ultimately, are you really going to have the IRS build like a tax system for all 50 states. Like that seems complex.

And maybe, maybe that's on the states. I mean, that's how the United States was originally founded. Like, well, that's on the state. Of course, when it was originally founded, there weren't taxes and for the next 140 years also no taxes. But that's a whole different story.

But that was a pretty bad analogy.

But it is on the states to, to figure that out and then, then we all have tea parties and then it's all good.

So this, so the solution is for the IRS to ship their free one and then all 50 states to also ship their free ones.

Well, no, all 50 states won't be able to figure that out. I don't know. I remember a while ago, was it Steve Forbes who ran for president, his whole thing was file your taxes on a postcard and that would be amazing. And then, but I think there's too many people that would lose jobs, so.

Oh, that was, that was a thing. During the Trump administration, they, they literally chopped the first form in half and there's like a picture of them signing, holding this half size thing. And it created five supplementary schedules that were full letter pages instead of it just being on the two page thing like it is. I don't know. Accountants, accountants are really bad at self promotion and there's probably a point where it goes too far, but. Yeah, that was just like absolutely brutal.

That's amazing. Yeah, yeah. But the fact that they overstated the. Yeah, I would imagine there's a lot of people are down the middle on anything the IRS is going to ask you. Just three, three out of five. Like, how excited are you? Three, Like, I, I don't even, I don't even want to read the question. I don't even want to finish the question. I'm indifferent. I just don't care. But I'm nervous. Mostly about this software is if you have a question, who do you call? How long do you have to wait on hold? Are you in the same queue with all the IRS tax preparers that are also in a different queue that are waiting to get answers. Question.

I'm sure they've got all that figured out. Imagine I, I'm curious what people get sucked into these surveys. Like, imagine sitting at a five guys and somebody says, great news, the IRS is thinking about rolling their own tax software. And you put down your burger and you scooch aside the paper bag of fries and you say, pull up a chair and tell me more.

Let's, let's talk about this. You know, it Is. It's the same people that get. Get sucked into doing. Sitting in the audience of a game show. That's who it is. It's those people. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

What's wrong with that, John?

Oh, man. Have you ever done that?

No.

Have you ever done that?

No, but I'm an American. That's always been a dream of mine.

Well, you're going to be there for about six hours and you're going to watch three episodes taped and a lot of downtime. A lot of downtime between.

What show did he go to?

It was. What was the one? It was.

What?

Hollywood Squares.

Okay.

Yeah. The only cool thing about that was it was nine new quote, unquote celebrities each time. Because some of them were people where you're like, that's real fringe. I'm not sure who, but then there's also like, we're real celebrities that came out and whatever. But.

Oh, wow.

But a lot of downtime, man. A lot of down. And you can't leave. You're locked in. You can't go.

Yeah.

So they need you to. Your hands are going to hurt because you're clapping way more than a human should clap in their lifetime. And this is in like a six hour window. Your hands are going to hurt. You're going to be cheering for stuff that you never thought you'd ever cheer for. And you're watching strangers dance on the stage to try and win a jeans jacket or something. I don't know what, but something that you could buy for $40. And it's just, it's.

Are they like just concessions or bathroom breaks or.

Yeah, there's bathroom breaks. I feel like no on the concessions, but maybe after so long. Maybe there is. But, man, it is. It's a lot. And I have buddies of mine who are the, the warm up people for the show. So they're the hype man. So they have the audience as hyped as they were in the beginning. Because in the beginning everyone's excited. And then, you know, but after, after, you know, you're halfway through the third episode, you're like, all right, you know what? Like, I'm just done and we're out.

That may be what accounting conferences are missing because you get past lunch time, especially if they're feeding you lunch, it's like you're just like ladling something out of a big tray that's been there for hours.

Ladling as a verb. I love it. That's so good, man. I've never heard that as a verb. I like it like. And I'm not even sure if you put the G on there. You kind of southerned it up. You were ladling it. I feel like that's a. That's a yodeling. Yodeling.

Okay, John, I think we need to.

Wrap this up, but you're right, they do need a hype man or an emcee or just somebody that knows what they're doing just to kind of run the show. And it's not usually the CEO of the company. But that being said, there's. That's the news, man. I mean, as far as I'm concerned, that's all that mattered this week.

Everything you needed to hear this week. I recently was on John's podcast, what's your? And it was a lot of fun.

Well, thanks.

Check that out. If you haven't yet, we'll put a link to that.

I didn't even have to pay you to say that, so that was. That was kind of you.

Yeah, well, I mean, we're like. We're still between the single and the double on the cheeseburger, but.

I get the feeling I'm getting no bacon on this thing, too.

Not a chance. Not a chance. Okay. Thank you for coming and joining today, John.

Absolutely. Thanks, Jason, for inviting me. I appreciate it, man.