Why I’m talking about banking and why I have so many blogs

(Cross-post from Nonprofit Update.)

There are so many fascinating industries in the economy. Why do so many of my posts talk about banking?

Why do I have so many blogs?

And where will I put future conversation on banking?

My experience with financial institutions

While working at two of the big international firms, then called the Big 8, I spent a lot of time working on audits of financial institutions. I was starting to develop expertise in the financial industry when I left the Big 8 world.

I went to work in the accounting department of a bank. I was in the holding company with three subsidiary banks. There were about half a billion dollars of assets. Got some great experience there.

Then I moved back into auditing, working for a firm that focused on serving the religious nonprofit community. Many clients of that firm had deferred giving programs. Those clients had lots of investments, which meant I was back to auditing security portfolios. I also had a lot of fun auditing a couple of denominational extension funds, which are very similar to banks but with less regulatory oversight.

So you can see that I have lots of experience in or around financial institutions. I’ve enjoyed that work.

That is why I tune in to things I read about banking.

Bloggers need to focus their discussions

One of the fascinating things I’ve learned while blogging is that you have to write about what interests you.

There is no way to figure out in advance what will grab an audience or what will grab the interest of your readers. Therefore, you have to write about what is interesting to you.

If you have something worth reading, eventually an audience will find you.

That is why one of many things I write about is banking. It’s quite interesting to me.

Why so many blogs?

Another thing I learned early on is that a blog should have one primary focus. Since I have a variety of interests, I think it is better to have different blogs that focus on different areas.

Therefore my lead blog, Nonprofit Update, is dealing with issues in the nonprofit community. That area is the focus of my CPA firm.

Another blog, Attestation Update, talks about what’s going on in the audit world. There is some overlap between CPAs and the nonprofit community, but for the most part those are two different audiences.

Finally, I have another blog that is more esoteric, focusing on how I’m trying to get my arms around all the radical changes taking place around us. See Outrun Change. People interested in auditing issues or the nonprofit world are not necessarily interested in reading about the kind of change that draws my interest.

So, I will write about what is fascinating to me. You may join in with those conversations that are interesting to you.

Where will I post banking discussions?

I will put future conversations on banking in my Attestation Update blog. With my background of auditing financial institutions and deferred giving programs, that seems to be the best fit.  CPAs who don’t have an interest can skip over those discussions.

When there is a natural overlap to my other blogs, I’ll make reference to the posts.

Hope you enjoy the blogs!