One afternoon, while I was working through a financial reporting project, I had a colleague sit at my desk so I could walk him through some examples and explain why I kept asking for information that made perfect sense from my side of the work.
There were questions to work through before deciding how the report should be put together, including what people needed to understand from it. I'd put my thinking in a long email and asked for a second opinion.
The conversation gave me a chance to explain the purpose of the work with the examples in front of us, so the information I was asking for had a reason he could see. When it made sense to him, both of our eyes lit up. I still remember that. He could see what excited me about the work.
There was plenty of work left, and that afternoon was a moment of shared understanding during a larger project, which is the part that has stayed with me.
You can know what a report needs and still struggle to explain why somebody else's contribution matters, especially when you're already deep in the accounting. Sitting down together, showing the purpose of the work and making room for questions is a part of finance I really enjoy.
Tell me what you're working on.