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Super
CPAs
How we found the best
CPAs
by Paula
C. Squires
Their visits are dreaded as much as
the flu. We're talking about the bean counters and,
as any company knows, counting beans can be painful.
Skilled accountants, however, actually can be lifesavers.
They help boost business profitability by conducting
detailed audits, advise on tax strategy and can save
their clients hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Who are the best? With the assistance
of the Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants,
Virginia Business solicited nominations for outstanding
accountants from CPAs working in public accounting firms
and in private industry. Nearly 300 accountants from
across the state submitted 1,675 nominations, including
the names of 529 peers they considered to be the best
at their craft. After the ballots were counted, the
76 top vote-getters emerged as winners in this first-ever
Super CPA project.
To remain competitive, today's accountants stay current
with everything from taxes to technology. For a close
up look at practices specializing in estates and trusts,
small business consulting and corporate taxation, check
out the profiles of three of the winners. They tell
the stories of paths taken by experienced accountants,
lessons learned and the satisfaction that comes from
helping a client grow a business or an individual plan
for retirement.
In their spare time, bean counters like to play by their
own numbers. They find fun and relaxation by taking
in a NASCAR race, picking up a record for a collection
or, in the case of one winner, managing a teen-age baseball
team. Who knows, maybe that's more complex than making
sense of a client's 1040 or 1065. No matter the form,
Super CPAs are trained to help companies solve business
and tax problems. Or as one winner put it: "I like
to think of us as business doctors."
Return
to Virginia Business - November 2001
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