I like to ramble

by Craig Birgenheier, Big Sky Brewing Company
Member MSCPA Financial Review & Technical Standards (FRATS) Committee

Craig Birgenheier

I’m not a blogger. I don’t blog and I don’t follow anyone either. But I like to ramble. Ramblers were really fun listening to growing up. They were mostly old bulls who warned us about girls, snakes and stuff. They’re wise and snarly and keep you up late drinking by telling massively preposterous tales, ridiculously made up and embellished with 3D for maximum effect. Of course they felt fine in the morning but not us, younger but not tough yet.

I actually don’t feel all that well this morning. Not fully an old bull. Sleep was mostly absent. My mind was super busy going over several some things for nothing. The dog didn’t do well either. We both heard the deer eating the flowers out in back. She’s a poor watchdog in the night. Her ears were up to the task but nothing else. I punished her occasionally with well-timed pats when I thought she was drifting back to sleep.

Wasn’t her mistake that the deer were capitalizing on, just mine. Left the gate open and the roses are bloomless now. Yesterday was not a great day for my mistakes. I’m mostly the one who finds them and don’t usually tell anyone else. I sent out our June financials for an internal review before I forward them to the entire board. Neal, our company’s President, came in to my office a while later and sat down on the couch. It’s neither a nice looking nor particularly comfortable couch so he’s obviously up to something.

He suspiciously says that the June results are great and what a great year with great sales and great gross profit and he’s really, really acting like a smug jerk. He eventually mentions he found a mistake in the financials. Naturally I’m nervous but maintain a casual, “whatever” sort of demeanor. I’ve already concluded the odds of a major botching are low or we’d be on our way to the DQ for ice cream and I’d be driving and buying.

Turns out the mistake’s an old one, all the way back old–eanings rather than earnings. An easy to repeat spelling mistake with little repercussion or embarrassment. I don’t doubt for a minute it would have been found sooner had the review been performed not by Neal but by astute, highly trained ninja assassin reviewers like ones on the MSCPA FRATS Committee. Probably the committee of all MSCPA committees. For no cost but nevertheless deserving superior pay, submitted financials will be reviewed this September by choice, hand-selected public and private practitioners who like to review ’cause we think it’s fun and we learn new trends and techniques…. during the day, not the night, without drinking and with minimal embellishment.