I Don’t Get It ….

Little kidJust wanted to take a last look for 2008 and get a sense of how far blogging has come in the accounting profession.   I have to say … I was unpleasantly surprised. 

I ran a quick check on “tax blogs” on Google …. (I was #6 as of today :) …, and took a quick look at some of the tax blogs out there.  Here are just some quick observations that I made …

The Wall Street Journal Tax Blog, which is at #3 on Google for tax blogs” hasn’t been updated since April 19, 2007, 12:12 am.  What I found interesting is that The Wall Street Journal’s Law Blog is continously updated and even had a December 31st Year-End posting.  I also noted that the Tax Blog page has some advertisement errors, no “About This Blog” and is just generally out of date. 

I also noted that the WSJ tax blog entries, for the most part, relate to technical and mechanical aspects of taxes, while the WSJ law blog entries have more “personalities” involved.  For example, take a look at some of these headlines, and see if you can guess which ones are on the tax blog and which is on the law blog:

  1. The Risks of Being Audited
  2. Burris Could Be Illinois’s Senator, But Was He a Good AG?
  3. Vicki Iseman: Is She a Public or Private Figure?
  4. The ABCs of Dealing With the AMT
  5. Reprieves for Filers
  6. Trees and the Law: Judge Kaye’s Last Legal Issue

Is this just the nature/differences between the two professions that is simply exhibited in the blogosphere.  After all, there are very few TV shows or movies that feature accounting, but a slew of shows that feature lawyers and legal issues (LA Law, Boston Legal, The Firm, etc.).   There are many more fiction books relating to law than accounting/tax (see John Grisham, “To Kill a Mockingbird”). 

WSJ Tax Blog

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Golden Marketing’s Accounting Blog List, as of December 16, 2008, lists 64 accounting firm practice blogs … on the entire internet.  Compare this to Lexblog’s list of over 500 law fim blogs that just they have created.  Kevin O’Keefe of Lexblog estimated back in February of 2008, that the number of law blogs listed on the ABA Journal’s law blog directory of 1,600 would double in the coming year.   I couldn’t find a definitive directory of accounting blogs to make such a comparison, but that fact alone tells me something.

I would welcome any and all comments on why anyone thinks accounting blogs are so far behind law blogs in both the breadth and growth on the web.

5 responses to “I Don’t Get It ….”

  • Kirk Ward says
    January 5, 2009 at 11:10 am

    IMHO

    (1) accountants are basically introverts and blogging is a form of expressing oneself and exposing your abilities to the world.

    (2) accountants are basically insecure. It is the only major licensed profession an individual can enter without much more than a four year degree and clients do not see the value of the services.

    (3) accounting information is a taboo subject in “polite” circles, so consumers are not educated to the idea of educating themselves about the subject.

    Or, some other useless reason.

    Cheers,
    Kirk

  • Deanna says
    August 7, 2009 at 6:14 pm

    I agree…accountants (such as myself) are introverts…however, I do have a blog. I enjoy expressing myself and exposing our abilities to the world is not only difficult but also a part of life.
    I enjoy the damage control bookkeeping I do and I, oddly enough, have gained a great deal of confidence in myself in my ability to help my clients in organizing and managing their business finance.
    I find it disappointing that there seems to be little interest in accounting blogging…I think it’s a fantastic idea! Especially if the goal is to reach all levels of questions and make money management and taxes less confusing.

  • Top Accounting Schools & Top Accounting Program says
    August 17, 2009 at 8:55 am

    I cannot believe that the Wall Street Journal has not updated their tax blog that long ago! That is embarrassing on their part…

  • Tax Lawyer says
    November 26, 2009 at 7:23 pm

    This doesn’t surprise me…for the most part accountants and attorneys aren’t the best bloggers. They tend to be pretty dry (not you of course). I don’t know how much faith I have in Google’s rankings.

  • Ryan Loos says
    November 9, 2010 at 6:23 am

    I was looking the other day for a good tax blog and I still could not find one. I hope that we see some introverts become extroverts and get this topic out there to the public.

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