School taught us a lot.
We learned algebra, Shakespeare, photosynthesis and, depending on your age, how to make a fruit bowl out of wood. But somewhere between learning the periodic table and trying to remember the difference between a metaphor and a simile, there were a few fairly important things that somehow never made it onto the curriculum.
So, we asked the team at Porter Garland:
“What’s one thing you wish you’d been taught at school that would have helped you in work, business or life?”
The answers were revealing. And, unsurprisingly, accountants have a few thoughts about money.
Lesson 1: How tax actually works
Understanding tax brackets, personal allowances and what happens to your salary when you earn a little more would probably have been more useful than some of the things we can remember revising for exams.
And while we’re at it, how to read a payslip would have been useful too.
We spent years being told that we wouldn’t always have a calculator in our pockets. Nobody mentioned that we’d eventually carry a computer around that could order a takeaway, track our steps and still somehow leave us wondering why our payslip doesn’t match the salary we had in our heads.
Lesson 2: Cashflow is not the same as profit
This one probably belongs on the business curriculum.
A business can be profitable and still run short of cash. Understanding the difference between profit, cashflow and money actually sitting in the bank is one of those lessons that tends to become very important once you run a business.
It would have been nice to learn that before opening one.
Lesson 3: How to manage your money
Budgeting, banking, credit scores, borrowing and avoiding unnecessary debt are all things most of us have to work out for ourselves.
A lesson called “How not to accidentally make your future self cross with you” might have been useful.
The same goes for understanding longer-term financial planning. Pensions and mortgages, for example, rarely featured alongside quadratic equations and Romeo & Juliet.
Lesson 4: Being busy doesn’t always mean being productive
This one applies just as much at work as it does at school.
A full diary, an overflowing inbox and 47 open browser tabs can create the distinct impression that something is being achieved. Sometimes it is. Sometimes you’re just very busy.
Learning how to prioritise, focus on what actually matters and recognise the difference between activity and progress is a lesson that would serve most of us well.
Lesson 5: Asking for help is a strength
Perhaps one of the most useful lessons of all:
You don’t have to know everything.
In business, pretending you know something when you don’t can take considerably longer than simply asking someone who does.
That applies to tax, finance, technology, plumbing, DIY and pretty much everything else. Although, after a certain age, there does seem to be an expectation that you should automatically know how to bleed a radiator. We don’t remember that being covered in maths either.
And finally…
We asked ourselves what else school might have prepared us for. The list grew quite quickly:
- How to read a payslip. General Studies covered a lot, but somehow missed this one.
- Pensions, mortgages and VAT. Photosynthesis, on the other hand, came up a lot.
- How to admit you don’t know something — often much quicker than pretending you do.
- How to eat lunch at your desk without getting crumbs in the keyboard. Still unsolved.
- How to change a plug, fix a leaking tap and sew on a button.
- How to read a laundry label without turning your favourite jumper into something suitable for a small child.
- And why a “quick word” after assembly was never actually quick — much like a “quick question” at work.
- And perhaps most importantly… how to understand men. One team member suggested that Men Are from Venus might have been more useful than Romeo and Juliet. We have decided not to ask for further details!
Perhaps the real lesson is this:
School gives us a foundation. Life supplies the syllabus.
So if you’re currently trying to work out tax, cashflow, pensions, business finances or something else nobody covered in Year 10, that’s rather more our area.
Get in touch with Porter Garland today to arrange a conversation about your business and where you want to take it next. To book a discovery call, click this link: https://bit.ly/3SKEuU5.