It’s not unusual for people to meet in college and later decide to form an accounting practice after graduation. With Greg Kling and Nitai Pathak, the story begins much earlier.

Greg and Nitai became best friends while attending junior high school in the Los Angeles suburb of Newbury Park, but their friendship wasn’t based on a love of accounting. Greg knew early on that he wanted to become an accountant (he is now his family’s third generation to enter the field) and went straight ahead to pursue his accounting degree from UC Berkeley followed by his Masters of Science in Taxation from Golden Gate University. Nitai, on the other hand, first attended junior college before transferring to Cal State Long Beach for his bachelor’s degree. After talking with Greg’s father, Nitai decided to name accounting as his major.

After graduation, Nitai worked for Ernst & Young, working his way up to Tax Manager. Greg meanwhile formed a three-person CPA firm and six years later bought out his partners, becoming the sole proprietor. He brought Nitai into the firm, and two years later Nitai became a joint partner in Kling & Pathak, LLP. The firm did grow, but it did not meet either partner’s expectations or desires in terms of lifestyle and job satisfaction.

“I would say that we were definitely on a growth pattern; we had already hit the million dollar mark and had 13 employees,” says Nitai. “But we felt we had two jobs, one working as a CPA and the other managing the business. We were there at the office 12 hours a day at least five days a week, if not six. Growth didn’t feel like a welcome friend at that point, because we had way too much going on. The business was controlling us instead of us controlling the business and we had to figure out a way to get this organized and under control again.”

Greg Kling concurs that they needed to get their business under control.

“We were successful, but had hit the ceiling on where we could go with our business,” says Kling. “We were working hard, but were just stumbling around.”

Nine years ago, Kling and Pathak signed up for the Sterling program. Since that time they have grown to about 30 staff with collections of over $3 million per year. But more important than that growth is that the partners are now able to achieve their personal goals both inside and outside the firm. Kling, for example, enjoys teaching, and now works as a professor at USC in addition to his work at the practice. Pathak, on the other hand, is interested in mentoring and life coaching.

Here’s what the two have to say about the Sterling program.

Greg Kling

Nitai had looked into several consulting firms, but was particularly impressed by what Sterling had to offer. So, after watching the Sterling DVD, I had a phone consultation with the person featured on that video, Ben Ochart, and we then went into their office for a consultation. The program appealed to me on a very basic level; it wasn’t selling anything magical but it sounded like something practical that could help us. Nitai and I had been thoroughly trained in tax and accounting, but had never been trained in how to run an organization. And that is where Sterling comes in.

Implementing the Sterling program has been a journey, but right from the initial meetings with our consultant it brought a lot of clarity to issues we were facing and what we needed to do to reach our goals. We finished our initial training on December 30 and brought a consultant out to our office the following month to help us implement the Sterling program. We wound up having the best tax season ever.

Looking at the longer term, while life is always filled with challenges, the Sterling training and the consulting we have done makes it that much easier for us to take control of situations as they arise and to resolve problems without a lot of stress and frustration. We now have doubled the size of our practice but at the same time cut problems in half. The staff are happy, they’re really in tune with what we are trying to do and they are on board with us.

For me, however, it was never about how big I can make the practice or how much money I could make. There are other things I wanted to do in life—in particular, teach accounting at a top-tier university, and the Sterling program has enabled me to do just that. The program gave me the confidence to dream big and then to reach out and make those dreams come true. I had taught part-time at some other great universities in Southern California, but I really wanted to be part of a faculty and thought “wouldn’t it be great if I could teach at USC someday?” Well, that is exactly what I do now. I am on the faculty of USC’s school of accounting, which is ranked number five in the country by US News and World Report.

Overall, the Sterling program has helped me to smoothly achieve my targets both inside and outside the practice. I still work a full number of hours in the office, but because things are running smoothly, I can concentrate on just providing the highest level of service possible, without being distracted by upsets and problems. It used to be I would be ground down by the end of busy season, totally frazzled, completely tired, grouchy, and I wouldn’t want to deal with anything more. Now that is no longer the case. I have choices and am in control of the situation in my office.

The number one thing about the Sterling Program is that it puts you in control over your circumstances. Instead of trying to cope with the day-to-day affairs of the office, it enabled me to smoothly take control over my practice in order to provide good service without overworking myself or my staff.

Sterling does the same thing for its clients that we do for our clients. Our clients can go to the IRS website, download some tax forms and figure out how to fill them out on their own. But as an accountant, I know exactly what steps they should take to turn those numbers on a sheet of paper to valuable information they can use to guide their decision-making. Sterling does the same with running a practice. They make material come alive, explain how it applies to situations we face in our own business, clear up any confusion, and use their decades of experience with hundreds of accounting firms to help me avoid making mistakes. It is definitely worthwhile to do the program.

Nitai Pathak

Most accounting firms have a busy season and an off-season. 10 years ago, we felt like we had a busy season and a very busy season, with no time to rest in between. We had way too much going on and had to figure out a way to get the office organized and under control again.

Around that time, when we were looking for an answer, we received a letter and a DVD in the mail from Sterling. It looked like they were offering just what we needed, so Greg and I decided to at least go talk to them to see what they had to say. After speaking with one of their consultants, we decided that Greg and I should do some executive training courses and then should bring a Sterling consultant into our office to train the rest of the staff. We knew that if we did nothing, nothing was going to change.

With the initial courses, we attained a better understanding and awareness of exactly what was needed to run an organization. Once we started using what we learned in those courses, it felt like there was a way of getting the business under control. Even though we started right at the beginning of the busy season in 2006, the office was running smoother than might be expected, and we could see potential for further growth without the confusion.

Since that time we have more than doubled our practice. Now, doubling is great, but what was even better, was doing it while feeling that it was manageable, versus unmanageable. We now work a normal schedule. There is a work/life balance. In Greg’s case, he gets to do what he enjoys, which is teaching at USC. And I do what I enjoy doing, which is personal coaching with our key clients and executives.

We are helping our clients manage their own work/life balance. We are not just another CPA firm, but are one which will help them with everything.

I used to feel like I was working two full-time jobs. Now I am working about 40 hours per week, maybe sometimes 50 because something needs to be done, but it is completely different than putting in 40 or 50 hours in a chaotic, unmanaged environment. Now everyone is working together and contributing to the success of the business so it is a pleasure to be in the office. I also now have the freedom to take vacation time with my family.

I have found that doing the Sterling program hasn’t just improved my own life, but there is a ripple effect that has spread out to improve the lives of my family, my employees, and my clients. I have my own life under control and have the time and attention to help them improve their own lives. This includes traveling with my family or attending the games and recitals of my children, mentoring my staff, and doing the personal coaching with our clients.

People sometimes ask me whether the Sterling program works. The answer is yes, it does. There is no “magic pill” you can take to resolve whatever problems you may have at work. The truth of the matter is that it does take actual work, but you’re going to be putting in that work anyway, and it is much better to spend that time and effort on taking the steps necessary to fully straighten out your business rather than spending every day trying to cope with the chaos and confusion. If you want to get your business under your control and in alignment with what you want to achieve in life, the Sterling program is a great way to do it. Not only will it help your business, but it will help you personally as well.