What is your title? Describe what you do.
I’m a Tax Manager. My job is to help my clients — whether it’s helping to save them from a $500,000 IRS penalty caused by something we had nothing to do with (which happened recently) or simply making sure they get complete and accurate tax returns.
Why did you get into public accounting?
Well, it’s every boy’s dream, right? Actually, my father was a tax lawyer, and I figured this was a good way to follow in his footsteps without having to become a lawyer.
What are three things you do every day? Do you have any morning “rituals”?
Rituals before work: First, do 50 pushups. Second, feed the cat. Third, clean the human (me). Or feed the human and clean the cat.
What are the most challenging and rewarding parts of your job?
The most challenging and rewarding part of my job is teaching clients good habits that make my job easier — such as giving me good work papers and paying a $5 tax notice rather than paying us $250 to research and respond to the $5 tax notice.
What advice would you give to someone looking to pursue a role like yours? Are there specific character traits or skills/certifications you should possess?
There are a lot of skills very important in the world of accounting; math skills, oral and written communications skills, research skills, supervising skills, the ability to both take and give constructive criticism, the ability to work as part of a team some of the time and by yourself the rest of the time, and many more.
What makes Calibre CPA Group different than your previous workplaces?
It’s mostly the types of clients Calibre has. There are very few firms like Calibre that cater primarily to tax-exempt organizations.
If you could take a vacation tomorrow, where would you go?
Hawaii
What bit of trivia do you know that is very interesting but also very useless?
Bear Bryant was once asked to contribute $10 to help pay for a sportswriter’s funeral. According to legend, he said, “Here’s a twenty, bury two.”
