Risk Short-Term Loss for Long-Term Gain

Source: RedZone Play of the Month

The following includes excerpts, reproduced with permission, from an article by Accountants Advisory Group.

Every study conducted by NFL consultants on fourth down decisions has found that, in most situations, the teams would have experienced a better overall game result by going for first downs more often rather than punting. So why do most football coaches ignore the statistics and punt on fourth and a short distance? Most coaches fear short-term losses more than they value long-term gains.

Similarly, too many CPA firms don't take the long-term view of possible gains before making tough business decisions until the clock is about to run out. They fear the tough decisions could affect short-term profits and current year compensation so they continuously punt.

One of the classic examples of this is firms that have significant practice development momentum going into the winter busy season but decide to punt the ball for three months and do no marketing. At this point you're conceding the game when you have momentum and you could win new clients.

Additional example:

It's very common that partners feel their young staff have tremendous talents and have future partner potential. In these situations, we also observe that the firm does not invest in formal and professional career development programs to ensure that these bright prospects can maximize their value to the firm and become part of the succession planning process (the firm decided to punt). We also see many of these partner prospects plateau in their careers at the manager level and lose the career momentum they gained in earlier years because of a lack of training and coaching in soft skills.

Evaluate your fourth down decisions more carefully and think twice before punting.

For the complete article, read “Go For It on Fourth Down More Often.”

From RedZone Play of the Month, Accountants Advisory Group, February 2013, www.AccountantsAdvisory.com.