Accounting Conferences Are Fun, Not Necessary
If you’ve been around LinkedIn the past couple months, no doubt you’ve gotten FOMO from all the accounting conference posts. (Yes, I’m also part of the problem. Yes, I did take part in an impromptu wheelbarrow race while dressed as Ricky Bobby.)
Fellow LI yapper Jacob Giroux asked which conference is the best. Naturally, like a good little accountant, I told him “It depends…” and made him a chart. 🙃
Here’s my rundown of major accounting conferences by size (y-axis), technical knowledge taught (x-axis), and ticket cost (size of the data point).
Accounting conferences are absolutely a blast, but definitely not necessary to run your firm.
Traveling to an accounting conference can easily set you back $3,000 for one trip when you add up the conference ticket, hotel, flight, etc. (not counting the mayhem of trying to figure out child care for when you actually leave the house).
Don’t downplay cheaper options. If you’re looking for camaraderie, look into communities, cohorts, or masterminds. If you’re looking for technical knowledge, don’t forget to check out your state CPA society, AICPA, or NAEA for individual courses specific to the technical knowledge you’re looking for.*
All of those options will be significantly cheaper than traveling to a conference, which matters if you're just starting out or having a down year in your firm.
And don’t forget that the people you see on LinkedIn posting all the fun pictures of all the fun conferences (self included) usually get a free ticket and some travel cost reimbursement to speak at all those conferences.
No one is going to all the conferences on their own dime.
Hope this helps,
Erica
*I once spent $200 on a CPE course on small business retirement plans through Illinois Tax School that gave me just as much value (if not more) than any conference I’ve ever gone to.
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