CPA Success Stories

Our Results Speak for Themselves

Steve Meyer has been in public accounting since 1977. He was a partner in a CPA firm in Ohio for 11 years, then opened his own firm at the end of 1995 in Englewood, Ohio. He's been a Sterling client for less than six months.

"I wanted to look at my practice through someone else's eyes. I thought I would be able to benefit from some of Sterling's management techniques and ideas to do two things: 1) free up some of my time and help me manage the practice better, and 2) open my eyes as to new realities and get out of the old paradigm.

"I Have Achieved a Better-Than-Ever Balance Between Work and my Personal Life."

After working at a national accounting firm without the recognition or advancement opportunities I’d earned, I opted to buy a practice of my own. Since my wife was at home with the children, ours was a single-income family—that meant I’d have to make enough money to maintain our lifestyle at the very least. But I felt I’d have a better chance of being paid my actual worth and recognized for my contributions if I stepped out of my comfort zone and pursued being an employer versus being an employee. Although I knew that wouldn’t happen overnight, I was willing to take the risk.

I Had taken the Practice to a fairly advanced level, But I felt we Needed Some Assistance to push it beyond that Point

I started as a CPA 25 years ago. After working ten years for someone else, I decided to open my own office in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Since then we have grown into a half million dollar general accounting practice with six employees. Most of the year we work with our construction, retail, restaurant and non-profit clients, but we also have a heavy personal tax load during the season.

Laura Bradford, CPA

Last year, the CPA firm in which I am a partner was mid its fourth consecutive year of stagnant growth with no end in sight. Our most troublesome issue was our disgruntled staff who commiserated with each other about their grievances. We knew growth would be impossible due to widespread job dissatisfaction in the firm, but didn’t know how to remedy the situation.

The Practice Started Growing Right Away and Hasn't Stopped Since

I opened my practice in the back bedroom of my house in 1995 and am now up to eight full time staff, plus some part-timers. I teach at the local Catholic college, so I frequently have interns from there.

The growth hadn't come easily. There were times during tax seasons when I would ask myself how much longer I could take this. Coming into the office on Sundays felt like prison.

VanderVeen and Goracke CPAs

VanderVeen & Goracke, LLC was formed in July 1999 by the merger of Scott VanderVeen and Rex Goracke. They have offices in two Southeast Nebraska cities along the Missouri River. Counting themselves, they have seven full time staff members and employ another three seasonal employees during tax season.

Before, I hated coming to Work. Now I enjoy it!

Pamela Rones and David Dickey are a husband and wife team with a CPA practice in Ukiah, California, a town of about 20,000, two hours north of San Francisco.

Pamela is the CPA and David is the office manager. In this article they share their experiences since starting the Sterling program in January of 1998. Pamela Rones:

Stephen Hall, EA

Today I manage a well-run, profitable firm servicing 7000 personal and business clients, but it wasn’t always that way.

Ten years ago, the business was running us, instead of us running the business. Our office was chaotic; tax season meant putting in 100 hour weeks and at one point we had 100% staff turnover.

My Billings Went Up About 40%

Doctors and accountants are used to people asking them for advice in social settings. The best advice I ever received from a doctor wasn't medical, it was about the health of my business. I play golf with a local optometrist. Noticing how smoothly his practice ran, and how he was enjoying life much more than I was, I asked him to share his secret. Like any good doctor, he referred me to the correct specialist.

Things are running a Lot Smoother in the Office

Linda Turria is a CPA practicing in Nevada. Twelve years ago she bought into a practice in Lake Tahoe, and shortly after opened her own in Minden, Nevada (a small but growing community south of Reno). Starting with no clients at all, she quickly built it up to a full-time practice with four staff year-round. Her practice, Patterson, Rush & Co., LLC, does primarily tax work with some consulting, write-up and accounting work throughout the year.