My Autobiography, Chapter 11: Accounting and Tax Preparation

by Paul Pakusch

In 1986, the treasurer of my union, NABET Local 22 announced his retirement.  He had been treasurer for 30 years.  Nobody expressed any interest in taking the position.  Local 22’s by-laws had a provision for the Secretary to be a Secretary-Treasurer.  Since I was already Secretary, I was encouraged to take the position.  I did.

I learned how to do some basic bookkeeping by paper, since most computer software did not exist yet.  For that matter, it seemed like hardly anybody had a computer, either, but interest was growing.  It certainly was with me.  After a couple years of doing my work by paper, I made a proposal to the Local that we purchase a computer for me to keep membership records on and to do my bookkeeping.  It was approved and I entered the world of DOS. 

I don’t remember what the original software I had was.  But eventually, we picked up Quicken in its early stages.  I remember it seemed overwhelming because I had to use multiple floppy disks to install it.  CD-roms and pre-installed software on computers did not exist yet.  In any case, I was one of the early users of Quicken.

NABET became the bulk of my bookkeeping experience from 1986 to 2007.  In 2007, amidst strong rumors of layoffs at WHEC, I feared for my future and decided to go back to school and get a degree in Accounting.  I did it part time and graduated in 2011.

I had joined Excelsior Brigade Fife & Drum Corps in 2008 and became its treasurer not long after that.  In 2009, I picked up a volunteer position as bookkeeper for the Henrietta Foundation, a non-profit group that was dedicated to preserving green space in the town of Henrietta.  They had purchased a small golf course, so my bookkeeping duties included the golf course operation.  I stayed on for three years.

For the 2011 and 2013 tax seasons, I prepared taxes for pay.  I also did volunteer tax preparation for VITA at Rochester’s C.A.S.H. program.

After being layed off from WHEC in September, 2014, I rented some office space in Spencerport and included bookkeeping in my services.  I would have kept the bookkeeping and tax preparation venture, but I was having a lot more success as a wedding Officiant.  So, I closed up the office in May of 2015 to focus on my wedding venture.   I did dabble in tax preparation one more time now in 2018, but decided I'm better off sticking with weddings.

Subsequent entries to my autobiography series will be posted every Saturday morning until further notice.  If you wish to subscribe to notifications of my posts, please enter your e-mail address in the form at the right, under "Follow by e-mail."  If you wish to view previous blog posts of my autobiography, please click on the link under "blog categories" at the top right, "autobiography."