Your uniform

[Black Bart]

Alas, standards are slipping.

The situation is simply deplorable. While camos have bcome de rigueur with the younger set, the older standard-bearers of local haute couture -- once resplendent in full-bib, Big Smith blue-jean overalls and white shirt (top button buttoned) -- have faded into history.

Meanwhile, continuously dressing in trademark black oxford-cloth shirt and black J. C. Penney slacks, I emulate the late Johnny Cash's practice of wearing black "until all wrongs are righted and justice is done" (that may take a while). To this one-man crusade against sartorial laxity, my coarse low-brow relatives respond: "He just don't want anybody to know when's the last time he changed shirts." Having once traded my slacks for black walking shorts as a conciliatory gesture to the casual-attire crowd, those same raffish oafs snidely jeered: "Bart, you look like a blackbird standin' in two shotgun shells" (the skinny white legs and engineer boots, you understand).

I like to wear a tie once in a while to impress clients.

Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society. -- Mark Twain

[OtisMozzetti]

perceived expertise, priced accordingly

If I wore a coat or tie my clients would say "Uh oh, fees have gone up!"
...
I worked for CPA firm before I went out on my own and it was coat and tie every day.

I realize I am going against the consensus about this: Wearing a tie amounts to a tiny sacrifice compared to the value of getting clients to perceive (even if they don't admit it) that the fair market value for our expertise is a higher price.

EA in California

[erchess]

Sometimes

when my mind is hazy due to tiredness or some mind altering beverage I think of getting work clothes that have my name and the name of my firm embroidered on them just so I could say I was deducting the costs of work clothes. Then I reflect that I don't want to look too much like my mechanic nor settle the issue for those who currently wonder if I am insane.

[Jiggers]

Uniforms

Since I wear slacks during the week and jeans on Friday, and my secretary usually wears slacks during the week and jeans on Friday, I have been considering buying some nice white shirts with my business name and our names on the pocket. I could also wear them to tax seminars and conventions.

[JohnH]

If you decide to do that and are looking for a good supplier, let me recommend the Queensboro Shirt Company. I recently bought some logo wear fomr them and I found them to be very reasonable with their pricing. They also provided a great deal of assistance in logo design at no additional charge. They run some fsort of special almost every day, and so far I've been very pleased with the quality of the shirts I've bought from them.

(They are not a client and I don't have any financial interest in the company.)

http://www.queensboro.com/index.html

[taxxcpa]

Uniform

If I ever decide to wear a uniform, I will have one designed along the lines of a third-world generalissimo's, replete with gold braid and those things on the shoulders that look like hair brushes.

[WhiteOleander]

If I ever decide to wear a uniform, I will have one designed along the lines of a third-world generalissimo's, replete with gold braid and those things on the shoulders that look like hair brushes.

I think I'd go more for the understatement as the former Supreme Court Justice wore. Long black robe with Gold stripes on the sleeves. That way they'd know who had the final word.

[Roberts]

Dress codes are fading fast. Since leaving the corporate scene, I haven't worn a suit or even a tie to work except once when I was going direct from my office to a state political convention.
Even law firms are becoming casual. I was at a law firm recently and one of the lawyers was wearing shorts.

When I was an auditor, I usually wore a coat and tie and if I were still auditing oil and gas companies, I would probably still wear a coat and tie to work.

About 5 years ago I did a push where I went out and met with almost 150 attorney's to introduce them to one of my businesses (litigation support). Of the roughly 150, two attorney's were wearing suits. One had literally just walked in from court and the other was a small country lawyer. That's when I officially dumped my suits.

My brother worked at a CPA firm and wore a suit every day. About 12 years ago he went to work for one of his clients and they never wore suits. His attitude was that he basically knew someone was a salesman if they showed up to their offices in a suit. Now he runs the North American operations of an international company and is back to wearing a tie on some occasions. He meets with to many bankers and clients on an almost daily basis to give them up completely.

[DaveO]

Dress shirt and slacks switching to sport shirt and slacks in the summer time. I did the corporate 3 piece suit deal for quite a while and don't miss wearing a tie even a lttle bit.

[GRich0656]

If I ever decide to wear a uniform, I will have one designed along the lines of a third-world generalissimo's, replete with gold braid and those things on the shoulders that look like hair brushes.

John:

Could you get me a price quote on this uniform from Queensboro.com?

[JohnH]

Just to be sure I have it right, would this be along the lines of what you're looking for?

http://www.theforce.net/swtc/Pix/cg/tie/Zaarin.gif

(BTW, the things on the shoulders are called epaulettes)

If the first picture isn't good enough, maybe this would be more in line with what you want.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/French_Republican_Guard_Bastille_Day_2007_n2.jpg

(This guy's HORSE is wearing more gold braid that my dress uniform had on it when I served in the military)

[GRich0656]

Perfect. Order me two of them. I'll wear one, and ship one to Taxxcpa. No horse please!

[DTS]

Freak

I must be the only freak in this thread! Although I don't wear one much any longer, I don't mind wearing a tie and dress shirt to work in the least.

I stopped wearing one after a long thread last year or so and few of us were wearing ties, so I thought I would go a bit more casual like the rest of you.

[taxxcpa]

No horse

Perfect. Order me two of them. I'll wear one, and ship one to Taxxcpa. No horse please!

No horse, but maybe a sword to hang down from the waist.

Those chevrons the chief justice wore would do in a pinch. I would want a diamond above the stripes so it would look like a first sergeant, not just a lowly staff sergeant like I was when I did my duty for God and Country..

[JoshinNC]

I started that thread last year

I must be the only freak in this thread! Although I don't wear one much any longer, I don't mind wearing a tie and dress shirt to work in the least.

I stopped wearing one after a long thread last year or so and few of us were wearing ties, so I thought I would go a bit more casual like the rest of you.

and started wearing shorts in the summer. But, I still wear my tie every day of tax season (including Saturdays) except for when it's cold enough to wear a sweater all day (which is about 10 days a year in NC).