CPA Success Stories

Robert Naugler, CPA

Robert Naugler was ready to throw in the towel and leave public accounting. But he decided to give it one more try and reached out to Sterling in Glendale, CA.

"As far back as junior high school, I knew I would work in the accounting field. I thought accounting was fun and exciting and I wanted to help people. But after 12 exhausting years running my own CPA practice, I was ready to close my doors and exit the profession.

Brian Wolfe, CPA

A practice with stagnant growth led accountant Brian Wolfe to contact Sterling in Glendale, CA.

"In 1997, I became sole owner of my accounting practice. The two founding partners left the firm and I was now the top executive. Although I had no management training, I thought if I attended a management seminar once a year, I would learn how to run the practice. Unfortunately, I was mistaken.

Ruth Pierce, CPA

Ruth Pierce, CPA, had been in practice for over 20 years when she found out about Sterling in Glendale, CA. At the time, she was overloaded in an overstaffed practice.

"I was a partner at a regional accounting firm, where I had worked for 22 years. I was tired of the long hours and increasingly nasty office politics. As more partners came up through the ranks, followed by junior partners, the climate of the company changed.

Steve Callan, CPA

Accountant Steve Callan, has been a Sterling, Glendale client for years. He first came to Sterling because he wanted to put more order into his life and his practice.

"I am someone who enjoys working with numbers and I also enjoy teaching people how to understand the benefits of using numbers to build prosperous businesses. So I decided to join the profession that allows me to do both.

Chuck and Mike Ulrich, CPAs

My father had been a pharmacist who was tied to his store from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day. He had nine children and wanted us to become doctors, but that was not my game. Instead, I became a CPA. I was working hard to make partner at a regional CPA practice when the firm hit hard times. They lost a major client, pulled in a partner to do my job and let me go. I liked public accounting so I opened my own practice in 1986.

Jaime Junker, CPA

Jaime Junker was going to sell his CPA practice but decided to give it one last chance. Fortunately, he got in touch with Sterling in Glendale, CA and at that point, things began to turn around.

"Burnt out after 5 years, I had decided to sell my CPA practice. I was tired of endless staff problems, and working too many hours with too little money to show for it.

Mark Granger, CPA

CPA Mark Granger connected up with Sterling in Glendale, CA when he found himself doing his staff's jobs for them.

"Dissatisfied with the CPA practice in which I was a partner, I decided to open a practice of my own. I struck a deal with the firm and, for a fee, was able to leave with my own client book. In January 2000, I opened my own accounting practice. My wife, also a CPA, came on board six months later.

Candi and Tim Starner, CPA

After six years working as a CPA at a trucking company, I decided to reevaluate my goals and priorities. I wanted to return to the kind of work I liked best, public accounting. I left the trucking company and in 1990, bought two existing CPA practices which I merged into one. My first year in business, I had two locations.

The practice grew quicker than I expected. Since I was reluctant to delegate, I became “over-involved” in the work in the office. I prepared the company’s payroll myself and personally transmitted the tax returns.

Greg Stewart, CPA

Greg Stewart runs a successful, profitable CPA firm. But it wasn't always that way. A change for the better came when he started with Sterling in Glendale, CA.

Paul Crabtree, CPA

Paul Crabtree did not want to end up working 12-hour days for the next ten years. This is what drove him to seek management help, ultimately ending up at Sterling in Glendale, CA.

"Two years out of school, I went to work as a CPA in my father’s accounting firm. Eighteen years later, I became sole owner and practitioner while my father went on the payroll as a part-time CPA who worked tax seasons only.