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Now is the Best Time to be a Young CPA: Dave's Top 10 Reasons

Written by Summit Marketing Team | Dec 12, 2023 11:00:00 AM

The Young CPA Success Show: Episode 6

Who doesn’t love a good “Top 10” list? Joey and Hannah get real with Dave Hartley, Partner-in-Charge, Advisory, Anders CPAs + Advisors, as he discusses his top 10 reasons why today is the best day to be a young CPA. They talk about the evolving accounting profession, the need for better communication and education, and the diverse opportunities available within CPA firms. They also discuss positive changes in the profession, such as a focus on employee well-being and increasing salaries. Dave emphasizes the flexibility in terms of when and where young CPAs can work and the importance of embracing remote work. The episode concludes with a discussion on the importance of finding joy in work, developing soft skills, and the potential impact of AI.

 

 

Intro (00:00:00) - Welcome to the Young CPA Success Show. If you're a young accounting professional, this podcast is your ultimate guide to navigating your early career. Join us as we share valuable insights, expert advice, and practical tips to help you kickstart your path to success and excel in the accounting industry. Let's embark on this exciting accounting journey together.

Joey (00:00:23) - Hannah, I'm going to ask you the question that all accountants from our generation got that all of us hated. Are you ready?

Hannah (00:00:30) - I'm ready.

Joey (00:00:31) - Tax or audit?

Hannah (00:00:33) - I chose audit. I, looking back, regret that decision. 

Joey (00:00:41) - See, I chose tax and I regret that decision.

Hannah (00:00:44) - Yeah. So I it was actually an audit internship was my first taste in in that field specifically. My grandmother is Native American. She's part of a tribe in south Alabama. And she worked for the tribe and knew the CFO was looking for somebody to come in and intern while they were going through their annual audit. And she was like, my granddaughter would be fantastic. She wants she's Majoring in Accounting.

Hannah (00:01:12) - She loves reporting. She knew that's where I wanted. What I wanted to do. And so she think kind of like got voluntold that's what I was going to be doing. I don't know if it was necessarily a choice, but did it. And let me just tell you, we were there working on that audit in a conference room was bringing auditors food at like midnight, like it was wild. And I immediately said, this is not the life for me. I finished that audit out for them. I helped them with field work, things of that nature. But I was like, This ain't like, this is not for me? Honestly, there were moments that I was like, How am I doing the right thing? Am I even if Major in Accounting, what I should be doing right now? Like I questioned my life in that process. How about you, Joey? Tax or audit?

Joey (00:01:59) - I was. Oh, man, there's so much to unpack there too, because I think you hit on a great point there, which is that.

Joey (00:02:05) - A lot of us come into accounting and, you know, maybe you take an accounting course, maybe you're, you know, an engineer and you've got to take an intro to business course, which is what happened to my cousin and how he ended up at Deloitte. You know, you've whatever it is, whatever your path to that first accounting class is, feels a little bit like The Wire. They get you hooked, right? Accounting one on one is super fun. Like you're learning debits and credits and all these cool things and like journal entries and to accounts and, you know, if that stuff sort of makes sense to you and which is what happened to me, it just kind of made sense to me. Like I knew I knew how to do it because both my parents were accountants and I was like, Oh my goodness, this is everything my parents have been taught me about teaching me about my whole life. It all makes sense. The gulf between that first class and like what you actually do in your first job, it's night and day.

Joey (00:02:59) - It's not anywhere different. You know, I kind of had I want I don't want to say an unfair advantage, but when both your parents are accountants and you kind of hear the horror stories like I knew pretty quickly what I didn't want to get into. So I intentionally went away from big firms towards regional firms looking more for a holistic experience and not just tax or audit, but man, I remember that question. People are like, well, you can kind of go tax, so you can kind of go audit. And I was like, Is that it? Is this all we got? And it's funny, that first audit to my mom always loves to tell this story. There's a very, very small town in the kind of Northeast New Mexico called Clayton, New Mexico, which is where my mom had her first ever audit. And she loves to tell the story when she came up in the 80s, it was KPMG, the predecessor to it, Peat Marwick. She was based out of the Midland office, which is, oddly enough, where my dad was based too.

Joey (00:03:54) - And they, like her first audit, was in Clayton, New Mexico, and she was auditing a feedlot, which is a very, very Eastern New Mexico western Texas thing to audit. Right. Lots of feedlots out there. She didn't realize that when you audit a field, when you audit a feedlot, you don't have to follow the standard big four, you know, dress code. It's acceptable to wear jeans and hiking boots and those types of things because you are literally going to be tromping around in a feedlot counting cows. Yeah, but she shows up in her, you know, first ever piece of business suit, like a tire that she had bought because, you know, she didn't really have that until she got her first job. She had to buy her business suit to wear to the cape. She wears that to the audit. And she was like, I have never felt more out of place in my life. That was her first and last audit.

Hannah (00:04:47) - It sounds like she learned a lot in that experience.

Joey (00:04:49) - She did. And a lot of that kind of pushed down to me. So, you know, when I think about how I got started and like what I wish I had heard a little bit more during my time as like maybe not as like a first couple of year accounting student, but like the last year or so, like when you're kind of trying to figure it out, I wish that I had the piece of content that our guests for today's episode share with us. We talked yeah, we talked with Dave Hartley, who I don't exactly know what his title is. He is both our boss at some way, shape or form. He's a partner at Anders, kind of oversees our division, but some other divisions as well, has a podcast. We're going to throw a link to that in the show notes because they also have a podcast that they do where he talks with really interesting people fairly frequently about stuff that's going on in the industry. But he shared with us his top ten list of reasons why today is the best day to be a young CPA and probably why tomorrow is going to be better.

Joey (00:05:53) - Hannah, what did you think about our episode that we're going to share with the folks today?

Hannah (00:05:58) - He verbalized so many things and so many reasons why I genuinely believe that this industry has changed and it's shifted. I feel like we've got to give more voice to these reasons. So I'm excited that this is a really good sounding board and starting place for us to be because I think the question doesn't need to be tax or audit anymore. I think that young accountants need to be told like this vast array of paths that they can choose in this industry because of how it has shifted. And a lot of that is covered in what Dave talks to us about today. So I am so excited for you all to hear why it is the best day ever to be a young accountant. It's something I feel really passionate about and I'm so excited that we get to hear it in this fun David Letterman style format in today's episode.

Joey (00:06:46) - He really brought it. Dave. Dave Hartley really brought it today. And I love his comment there at the end.

Joey (00:06:52) - I'm going to ask him a question here at the end of the show. And y'all get to figure out why. In my mind and my personal headspace, he is known as Raver Dave Hartley, and he will only and forever be known as Raver Dave Hartley in my mind. So, Hannah I'm really excited to share this with everybody and I hope you all enjoy it. How did you become such a big Letterman fan? Like, what was that like? What was your experience like? Like, how did that start for you?

Dave (00:07:20) - So this is going to make me this is going to expose my age. So when when I was a kid. You didn't have a TV in your room. Okay, so my sister got a 13 inch. Curtis Mathis, if you've ever heard of that, a Curtis Mathis, black and white TV. And I had it in my room. And when I was supposed to be asleep and preparing for school, I was instead watching Letterman. And so I watched a few episodes and I was just hooked.

Dave (00:07:50) - He was doing ridiculous things. He had he was doing races with fire extinguishers on chairs in the hallways and stupid pet tricks, top ten lists. I mean, just stuff that and I was I grew up in a small town in the country. And so these were all like mind blowing things to me. And that's one of the themes that I'll talk about today is just how much things have changed in such a short amount of time. And it's easy to forget and get impatient about where we're at. But, you know, 35 years ago, 40 years ago, sort of it was a completely different world. The Internet has truly changed everything.

Joey (00:08:27) - We talk about this a lot, Hannah and I just about how the Internet has changed everything. Just in the 10 to 15 years since we've been in college. You know, I remember I tell people all the time, like I can tell that I'm an elder millennial because I still had to have a.edu email address when I signed up for Facebook.

Joey (00:08:45) - Like that was like a very specific thing that happened in 2006. And then now it's like, okay, it's everywhere. And if you're not on Facebook, if you're not on TikTok, if you're not on Instagram or all of these different platforms to do this, you are going to be left behind. And it's changing every day. 

Dave (00:09:03) - Yeah! And depending on time I'll get into. I do have thoughts on social media and how as a young CPA or a young person. I think it's just killing joy in the in the youth and the young people. And I think the two main things that are killing it, I think are comparison. And a constant barrage of negativity. And I think when you see these amazing things, you feel bad about yourself because it's like, I want to go do those amazing things. I must suck. And then, you know, and you just I feel so bad because I, I see people looking at their phones and I'm like, you know what? What do you look oh, there's you know, there's an earthquake happened here and there's a tornado there and there's a hurricane moving up the coast.

Dave (00:09:48) - And it's like you cannot escape from that. It is literally you are pushed negativity 24/7. And I feel that has a massive negative impact on just mental wellness, mental health, how people feel about themselves. I think it's huge. And I think we as a society have to figure out how to how to balance and use those tools more effectively.

Hannah (00:10:09) - I could talk about that. That could be a whole podcast episode in and of itself. I genuinely could get on a soapbox about how it is. Comparison is the Thief of All Joy like it is so incredibly true and we see the highlight reel of people's lives on social media. And so when we're comparing ourselves to only the pieces of people's lives that they choose to share with us on that platform, it's immediately going to steal the joy. So. So yeah, that could be a podcast episode in and of itself. However, I do want to just start diving into what we are here to talk about today, which is your top ten list of why today is the best day ever to be a young CPA.

Hannah (00:10:52) - So why don't we dive in and let's get to your list? Because I can't wait to hear it. Joey and I, for our listeners, have not heard this list. So we essentially are blind reacting to it, too. So I'm excited to dive in and see what you think.

Dave (00:11:04) - That's right. So I appreciate the opportunity to be here. And when you guys put Hey, Dave, let's talk about why do you think today is the best day to be a young CPA and why? And I was like, well, absolutely, 100%. And so I just sat down and I hammered out 14 points of this is absolutely why today is the best day ever to be a CPA. So I had to edit and get it down to ten. But I do. I'm very passionate about this. I feel that the negativity of social media and all the bad things that are pushed, I don't think there's enough because it doesn't sell. I don't think there's enough emphasis on the the positivity and there's a ton of good things going on.

Dave (00:11:44) - And I personally believe today is the best day ever to be alive and tomorrow is going to be even better. And so with that thinking in mind, that's how I reflected over a 30 year career and came up with my top ten reasons that today is the best day ever to be a young CPA. Are you guys ready for number ten?

Joey (00:12:01) - Do we need some Letterman style like tada in the background as you do your list? How do we.

Hannah (00:12:07) - Need the band? Yeah.

Dave (00:12:17) - So normally. Yeah. So and normally he holds up the cards and he says, All right, in my hand I have today's top ten list. So today, today is top ten reasons. Today is the best day ever to be a young CPA. Number ten. You guys ready for number ten? All right. We'll start with number ten. So number ten is the profession is evolving faster than ever. And this is really the break point. So when I reflect back and a lot of this discussion will be I came up in the profession in the 90s.

Dave (00:12:50) - And so when I look at the 2020s and I compare them to the 1990s, it is night and day. And so a lot of times like, well, where are we today? Kind of frustrating. I get it. It's not perfect, but you have to reflect on where we came from. So the profession has been relatively static for quite a while. We have ridden the audit and tax horse for 100 years and what's happening now is that the firm over the last couple of decades, you know, the profession has been waking up to the fact that there's a lot more CPAs that we can do. There's a lot more value that we can add. We need to shift our focus away from compliance and be more focused on adding value. And so I think that is as a result of that, there are more career path options available today than ever before. When I came out, it's like, well, you could do audit tax or you could go into industry. And now when I look at there's like a thousand different ways entry points into the profession and a thousand ways that you can add value.

Dave (00:13:47) - So and it's evolving rapidly. So when I go to conferences and I see things that's happening, some of the exciting stuff that I haven't even thought about yet that CPAs could do, it really jazzes me up. And so that is my number ten.

Hannah (00:14:01) - Do you think that that is getting communicated to students early on high schools and as they're making that decision to go into the accounting profession, do you think that there is work that still needs to be done there, or do you think that you're seeing an evolution in in this piece of how the profession is changing, getting to communicate?

Dave (00:14:18) - Yeah, Hannah, that's a great question. And the answer is there is so much more work to do in that we as a profession have done a really bad job of selling ourselves to, you know, high school kids that are coming up thinking about where they want to go. And we absolutely have to fix that. And this actually may be one of the ways that we change that more conversations like this, because I actually did a search after I finished my top ten list, I was like, okay, I'm going to search Google, see what other people had to say, and I'm going to check ChatGPT.

Dave (00:14:47) - And so when I did those two things, I looked at the Google search results. It was not good. We are not doing a good job of telling people why today is the best day ever to be a young CPA and we have to get a lot better at it if we're going to fix the pipeline issue that the profession is facing now.

Joey (00:15:04) - It's so one of the things I do kind of in my in my spare time as I work with the high school here in town in Albuquerque. And one of the professors asked me like, Hey, will you come in and have a conversation with my Adulting 101 class that he just kind of set up for the high school seniors. And I was like, Hey, I don't know what I'm going to talk about yet, but I'm going to talk about probably what we're talking about today and kind of say, here's some of the opportunities. But it is. We need more classes like that where it's like, here's how you can just change the way you think about things.

Joey (00:15:34) - Because when I left public accounting in 2018 to go into industry like I was never coming back to a CPA firm in my mind was like, I am never going to work in public accounting again. And then I found Summit, and then we were introduced to the team at Anders through the merger. And it's like when I look at our roster of and you said that you said the number of people and I'm probably going to get it wrong, but it's about 450 that we're sitting at right now, correct?

Dave (00:15:57) - Yeah. Yeah. Ballpark.

Joey (00:15:58) - Yeah. You look at the diversity of the different things that you can do within that CPA firm, we've got IT professionals who are absolutely incredible people at what they do. We've got a very talented team. We've got a very talented advisory team. We've got groups that are working with healthcare. We've got groups that are working in the cannabis industry, which is up and coming. There are so many things that you can do that to your point, if you're taught audit tax, Big four are kind of the three that go at you.

Joey (00:16:28) - You're missing this massive, massive opportunity. Yeah.

Dave (00:16:31) - And if you get started in any one of those, you can still switch to the other 999 options that are there. And so it's like and that's one of the things that didn't used to be you would do one of those disciplines if you didn't like it, you were out of the firm. Now, if you like and enjoy the culture of the firm, wherever you are, then you know, I don't really enjoy tax anymore. I think I want to go explore valuation work or I want to go, you know, and you can do that now. And that's really not something that was a thing 30 years ago.

Hannah (00:17:00) - I love that this is affirming courage. Is that too, even internally within the firm shifting between different departments and finding what works for you? I love that. We encourage that. I'm going to be super vulnerable with y'all for a second, but whenever I was looking for a job, whenever I started here at Summit, I was not looking at firms like Anders, period.

Hannah (00:17:23) - Thought I never wanted to work in a firm like that. I had a total idea of how I thought things would be based on totally on unvalidated bias there, but I was not looking for that. So this has been super eye opening for me, surprising for me in terms of walking into this world, especially summit, thinking of things in such a different way, but also seeing that Anders thinks of things in a different way and wants to evolve our profession and our career and provide more opportunities for accountants. I'd always worked at industry. This is the first firm I've ever worked for. I'd never considered a firm before, so I love that there's a place for everybody here.

Dave (00:18:04) - And Hannah, that's actually a great transition to number nine on my list, which is I like it. So number nine is that more and more CPA firms are becoming much more employee focused. So when I go back to the 1990s, okay, so I'm of the ilk where I interviewed at the Big 8. So if you go way back in the day, I interviewed at the Big 8, I got one offer.

Dave (00:18:28) - And then when I started, it was sort of like you were expendable if you didn't work out. Yeah, that's fine. You can go on and do something else. Now with both at Anders, but then also just at firms in general. When I go to conferences, there is such a focus on we want our employees to be well, we want our employees to be happy. We want them to feel a culture where they feel like they belong. We want them to be comfortable in their skin here. And I think that is not a conversation that existed 30 years ago. And I think when I go back and my kids find this fascinating, that every single day I wore a suit and tie generally with a white shirt, some days I wore a blue shirt when I was feeling crazy. And then every day at lunch you wore your coat. If it was a thousand degrees outside in the blazing heat of summer, you always wore your coat because. That's what CPAs did. That's what we did and that's what people expected from us.

Dave (00:19:23) - And I think now the fact that the focus is on the employee and it is basically trying to figure out we'll do great things for our clients if we have the best people and our people really are doing their best work. So I think the focus has shifted to we need to create that environment where our people can do their best work and if we do that, everything will take care of itself.

Joey (00:19:45) - I think back to my mom tells a story when she started at the predecessor to KPMG in the 80s where they sent that. I'm sure you probably got this, too. It's like, here's the style guide and she was like, I had to go out and buy three blazers, three shirts and three pairs of pants because she's like, I never had that before. And that was something that I really enjoyed about joining the team on the side is, you know, we work with a lot of creative people, so we get to dress to our audience. Like, if I'm going to meet with a banker, sometimes I'll probably put on a tie.

Joey (00:20:15) - But most of the time I do my consulting dressed exactly the way I'm doing this podcast, and that's it's comfortable for me. It fits the client well and it in my opinion, allows us to be a bit more relatable to the audience that we're working with.

Dave (00:20:29) - And that's another shift I think the profession has realized. Our clients don't want us in suits and ties. Our clients want us to be empathetic to where they are in the maturity of their business and what their problems are and help them solve it. And it doesn't have to be in a suit and tie. And I think that's another thing, sort of this recognition of our client's needs are changing. Maybe that was the case 30 years ago, 50 years ago. But today, that's not what people want. They don't want you know, the last thing I want to do is be a boring CPA. I want to be an interesting CPA. And I and I think there's more latitude than ever to be interesting.

Joey (00:21:10) - Let's roll in. That was a great one.

Joey (00:21:12) - So we've hit number ten and number nine. What's number eight on your list?

Dave (00:21:15) - Number eight on the top ten list of why today is the best day ever to be a CPA, a young CPA, and tomorrow will be better is that salaries are increasing. And so when I look at if I'm a young CPA coming into the profession, before it was sort of solid salaries were relatively stagnant. And now when you look at where the trends are, firms have responded definitely during the pandemic. And as it goes along with the being more employee centric that were recognizing the value that team members create and we want to compensate them for it appropriately. I think CPAs are also getting better at charging their value to their clients. And so as a result to that, that sets up an environment where if you come in and create value, you'll be fairly compensated for it. And so I think the sort of the salary aspect is there more work to do. And in all of these, is there a negative and is there another side to the argument? Absolutely.

Dave (00:22:07) - But I think in general for this one, salaries are trending the right direction. If you're coming into the profession.

Hannah (00:22:13) - Do you think that you've seen some of that trend as a result of the lack of accountants as well in the industry in terms of supply and demand and that playing a role in why salaries are increasing?

Dave (00:22:24) - Absolutely. And the pipeline is an issue. And so when you think of scarcity, supply and demand, which we'll talk about in one of my points coming up, is there and the supply side is not. So that makes you more valuable. Therefore, you have more bargaining power. Therefore, you should be compensated, you know, more fairly than if you didn't have choices or options.

Joey (00:22:46) - One thing that I do want to point out here that I really appreciate about what the Anders team does with us specifically is there is a movement within Anders and within the summit team as well with how we're doing things of we're going to help our employees invest in things like technology and stuff. So, we have a stipend that's given to us every month.

Joey (00:23:04) - It comes on a divvy card and it's our discretion on how to use it. And that is such a cool and unique perk. Like I've never shown anybody my setup, but I've got a I've got the 49 inch Death Star mega screen TV here that I kind of move things around and do. And that was 100% something that I saved up for a year, year and a half of the card and purchased earlier this year. And. Those little types of things. Those extra little pieces of compensation are huge for me. One of my favorite perks about being an Anderson.

Hannah (00:23:38) - I think there's also a common thread between number nine and number eight, and in that I feel like employees have more of a voice and we should feel like we have more of a voice than ever before. And that leadership is taking these suggestions into consideration now more than ever before. So, to me, that's exciting. I'm not coming in and into this hierarchy where it's like, Hey, this is what you've got to do and you've got to be told what to do and just work your way up and all the things like if you have ideas, like, I feel like we are providing platforms for young accountants to have a voice in that and how to shift the industry.

Dave (00:24:14) - Which is a phenomenal transition to number seven.

Hannah (00:24:17) - Look at me just doing the most transition.

Joey (00:24:20) - It's like it's like we planned this.

Dave (00:24:21) - I know. And I specifically did not share the list with you guys because I wanted to see your genuine reactions. And did you throw up on certain things or agree with certain things? But so number seven, which ties in to Hannah, what you were just saying is that there is more focus than ever on empowering people to be their authentic selves and bringing that to work. So, I was just at a conference in Chicago called Bridging the Gap. There was a guy named John Garrett who's written a book, and he gave a presentation on it. And it's basically his book is What's your and it's like, that's great that you're a CPA or a tax professional or whatever, but what's your and well, I'm a CPA. I'm a tax professional. Oh and on the weekends I've climbed 14 mountains and I do half marathons and I play the tuba and I write music and I write poetry.

Dave (00:25:09) - It's like, why haven't we been embracing that forever? That’s great that you're a tax professional, but it's also you're a whole person and we want to see that whole person in the workplace. And when I go back to the 1990s when I started, that was not necessarily you didn't come in who you were when you came in, you jumped in the mold and you did the work and then you went home and then you could be yourself. And now it's just completely different. And I look for that and I encourage that in team members here, when I find out something interesting about somebody, I want to know a ton more. Tell me, tell me why, tell me. Okay. So how does that and it's just it makes people so much more interesting. It makes work so much more interesting when you're working with the team that you genuinely connect with. I think that's incredibly powerful and important.

Joey (00:25:57) - So I want to I want to put a pin in that because that that is going to be our fun question at the end is we're going to ask all three of us what our and is because that's that's what I that's what I really want to hear.

Joey (00:26:07) - So let's put a pin in that conversation because that's going to be at the end.

Dave (00:26:11) - Okay. Ready for number six? 

Joey (00:26:13) - Yes, sir. 

Dave (00:26:14) - Okay, so number six on the list is that AI and other technologies are going to eliminate a ton of the dull work that I had to do coming up so that you can focus on the fun stuff and the things where you're really adding value as opposed to stuff that you're just a chunk of chunk, a chunk turning the crank, getting something through the process. And I think AI is going to have a massive impact on the profession. I'm excited to see where that goes. We're looking at innovation at Anders and trying to figure out how we can do that, but I think it's going to have a dramatic impact on just a lot of work that people don't like doing. I don't think AI is going to replace many, if any, jobs. I think it's a tool that when people use it and use it well, I think it's going to have a dramatic impact.

Dave (00:27:03) - And of your however long your workday is and you think about the work that you do that you don't like doing, how much of that can AI do and be taken off your plate so that you can focus on the things that you enjoy? So I think that as opposed to spending years doing mundane drudgery type work, the fact now that you can get to those valuable things faster I think is key. That being said, though, I do think it's important to do your job and learn. And because even if you feel like it's not, is this the thing is this and I get it. Like in your 20s, you're like, want to take over the world, You want to get there, you want to get to the next step, the next step. But I think it's just important to have those experiences. And even with my kids, I tell if they have a job and it stinks, it's like, okay, you have a job, it stinks. What did you learn? Well, I learned I don't like dealing with the public or I learned I don't like doing things that are repetitive.

Dave (00:27:57) - It's like, okay, great. From everything in life, even if it stinks, you have to take something away from it. You have to learn. And I think with AI, I think it's just going to have a significant impact. Every day I hear about another cool piece of functionality that somebody is working on that when I think about all these things are going to hit, I think it's going to have the same impact the Internet had over the last couple of decades.

Hannah (00:28:19) - I think for a young accountant too, you could probably get really comfortable getting really good at the mundane tasks and proving your work in the things that you can turn out really, really well. So I think there is this layer of of pressure that does need to be just acknowledged for what it is that you as a young accountant need to find value somewhere else to like make sure that you're showing your value, you're leaning in to those skills, those soft skills as well, because those are just going to come in handy so much more than they ever have in the profession as well.

Hannah (00:28:54) - So think, like I said, there's some comfort that can be you can do the mundane like really, really well and prove your worth, especially whenever you're starting out. But I think there's also a layer of value that you need to factor in there as well beyond that.

Joey (00:29:08) - And I think this is it's an interesting opportunity for leadership as well. You mentioned a great point, Dave, about how when you're in your 20’s like you've got to get comfortable. We like to call it. You got to know where the bodies are buried, right? You got to feel comfortable with the nuts and bolts and ins and outs and how things work together. But as somebody who finds himself from time to time in a leadership position in the role that I work at here at Anders, I love having an opportunity to work with somebody younger and say, okay, hey, you did the grunt work on this. You pulled all of these pivot tables together and created this deliverable. Would you like to come to the meeting and help me deliver it? And that's sort of how you can sort of show the light at the end of the tunnel, because sometimes in your 20s you're like, I just can't see the way out of this cave.

Joey (00:29:56) - And I'm looking for leadership to come through and say, hey, let me show you what this looks like. I know it's hard. I know it's mundane. Nobody loves to do bank wrecks. Let's be real. Nobody loves bank wrecks. But if you get through this, here's a taste of what you're going to be able to do when you're done, if you just put the legwork in. I think that's a tremendous opportunity both for young folks, but also for our middle management and our leaders to help elevate.

Dave (00:30:22) - Definitely.

Hannah (00:30:24) - Awesome! All right. So we are on number six. That number five. Number five. That was number six. We're on number five.

Dave (00:30:28) - That was number six. Number five on the top ten list. So the CPA profession in general is in great shape. So CPAs are important, they're trusted and they're respected. So and the role of the CPA is not going away. It's growing in importance. The level of complexity and business and the speed of change is making the CPA even more valuable than ever before.

Dave (00:30:53) - CPAs have always been trusted. It's like, Oh yeah, we know that. But the question is, can we also, in addition to being the most trusted, can we also be the most valuable? And I think that's really the shift over the last couple of decades is the focus has been to if we're not advising our clients and making their businesses better, we're really not doing our jobs. And so I think just in general, the health of the profession is very strong. I think one of the issues and we talked about it earlier, CPAs aren't viewed as perceived as being innovative and fun, and we have to change that. We have to make sure that people understand that in this profession you can be trusted and you can be innovative and fun all at the same time.

Joey (00:31:34) - So do you ever think that there's going to be in the future a bit of a split in the CPA profession? And where I'm getting with this and this is something that I would imagine is a big change that you went through in your career is post Enron, post Sarbanes-Oxley.

Joey (00:31:49) - There was a natural and understandable hesitance of we don't want too much advisory work to be mixed in with the assurance and other types of, you know, I guess, what compliance work that we're going to do. And so I think for a long time there was a natural hesitance in CPAs to provide that type of advisory work. Because of all the changes. Do you foresee or how is how is Anders working to make sure that we're, you know, a I mean, obviously we've got independence rules and stuff like that that keep us from doing that, but how do you see that moving over the next 10 to 15 years as advisory becomes a bigger part of the practice?

Dave (00:32:32) - Yeah, I think that will be a natural tension that we'll just have to deal with and address. And I think there will be this constant back and forth of we have to add value. But on the other hand, we are the ones that if you can't and I had a great story, I had a professor in college, my business law professor Goldwater is fantastic man.

Dave (00:32:52) - And someone in this is business law in college. And he thought someone was cheating. And he went on a rant and he said, My God, people, if you can't trust the accountants, who can you trust? And I just remember that. And that just stuck with me. So I think we have to keep that cornerstone of being trusted and recognize when our role is to make sure things are right and that people are following the rules. And I think that's really important. But even when you're doing that, there's also an element of you can add value as part of that situation. Now, I think the dynamic is that you have to watch the economic relationship. Your incentives have to be right. You know, there's all sorts of things. And I lived through Arthur Andersen, so I've been through and my risk barometer is pretty high. And I but I think as a profession, we're going to and we'll shift one way and then we'll shift the other way. And I think it's just going to be a natural ebb and flow that the profession has to recognize that bedrock, but also has to recognize that we have to add value in what we do or we're not going to be the most trusted or the most valuable advisor.

Hannah (00:33:59) - Do you think that there's work that can be done in terms of educating young accountants on how to provide value before they even come into the workplace? Or do you feel like that value is something that you learn once you get your feet on the ground?

Dave (00:34:13) - I think it's both. And one of the things that I think is interesting, it's not even on my list, but that's another that's like number 11 on the top ten list, which is that people coming into the profession now, you have a skill set and an understanding of things that I don't. And it used to be in CPA firms, all the power was at the top. And then the young people came in and tried to aspire to be at the top. Now people are coming in as new hires that have skill sets and have been exposed to things that the most senior partners have not. And so as a result of that, it changes the power dynamic. It's like, hey, new people coming in off campus.

Dave (00:34:50) - Tell us what you've learned. Tell us what you bring to the table and then we'll teach you other things that we've learned through 30 years of experience. And I think it's when both sides sort of respect the contributions that everybody brings to the table and that they're different in what they bring to the table. I think when you do that, I think that that's when really good things happen. So I think it's a combination.

Joey (00:35:15) - Well, in the interest of keeping things moving, because we could talk about that for another 20 minutes. Okay, Let's hit. Let's hit number four. Okay.

Dave (00:35:23) - So number four on the top ten list. Number four is actually so we talked before about the negative impact of social media. Number four is really the positive impact that Hannah, just to your point right there, kind of when I came into the profession, who did I learn from? And it's like, well, I touched maybe, I don't know, ten, 20 people that had sort of an influence on me.

Dave (00:35:45) - And it was basically who I worked with. And a couple of people I knew that went to work at other firms. Now, compare that 1990s to today. Now you have more positive role models, influence people you can learn from than ever before. So when I think of and I was just at a conference in Chicago, some of the things that, you know, it was almost an anti CPA conference. It's the people that are trying to change the profession and move it forward. And I listen to some of these things that they're talking about and they're talking you know, they'll do YouTube videos where they explain why they think what they think, how to go about doing it yourself. You have more ways that you can learn and ever than you ever had before. And so there's role models out there. There's people and things that sources you can learn from that before just didn't exist.

Hannah (00:36:35) - I love that and I love that. And I want to encourage any young professional if you're in a workplace and you don't feel like you have positive mentors around, you look elsewhere because there are so many.

Hannah (00:36:46) - There's podcasts you can listen to. There's clearly YouTube videos. I know that there's been so many times that I feel a connection to people that I only follow on social media and I feel like I know them because I just have looked up to them and try to embody things that they do and they practice. So I think that's exciting. That's a really great point that you made.

Dave (00:37:07) - And Hannah, that's actually a great transition to point number three. It's crazy. I didn't see any of this up with you and you're just killing it. So number three to that point is if you're somewhere and you don't feel like it's the right spot, some of the things that you hear about and talk about, it's not happening there. And you want to look, you know, in other places. This is really right now it is full employment for CPAs. If you're a CPA, you can find a job. So we talked earlier about the pipeline being down. It's not great for the profession, but it makes you, as a young CPA, more valuable than ever.

Dave (00:37:42) - And I think now you have the ability to go out and do different things and get a different job before there's just tons of ample opportunity out there for you to pursue. So you don't have to basically be stuck with wherever you are. And we're going to explore that a little bit more in my my final two points of the top ten.

Joey (00:38:03) - Well, I was when I think about that to the and I hope I'm not you know opening up the can on your final two things but one of the things that I love about what Anders is doing right now is, you know, obviously you're at the main office in Saint Louis. Hannah's in Mississippi, and I'm in New Mexico, and the three of us are collaborating and working together. And with the rise of the Internet, if you want to find a remote job, if you're living in, I'll just name a small community, Taos, New Mexico. And you want to be an accountant for Anders. If you've got good enough Internet and you can do the work and you want to come work for us, we'll make it happen.

Joey (00:38:42) - That hasn't been there until about five years ago, maybe even a little bit sooner. And that for me is the biggest opportunity for places like Albuquerque and places like Tupelo, where economically we've kind of, you know, not quite risen maybe as high as we could have. We have an opportunity here to, you know, outkick our coverage and expand beyond our geographic limitations. And that's such a tremendous opportunity for young people.

Dave (00:39:10) - Yeah, the playing field has been leveled and it's a dramatic shift. It's extremely different now. You have the opportunity to pick up the best talent from anywhere in the country, right?

Joey (00:39:22) - Did I take away from points one and two at all with that?

Dave (00:39:26) - Kind of but I'm just going to take them and build on them. Okay. So number three was full informant for full employment for CPAs. If you're a CPA, you can find a job, basically zero employment number ten. Is that you as a young CPA, have never had the opportunity to have greater impact than you do today.

Dave (00:39:46) - So why is that? Because of Joey, what you were just talking about, which is from technology, the ability. So before when you think about the 1990s and it's like, okay, if I'm a young CPA and I want to have an impact, well, maybe I'll join my Chamber of Commerce, maybe I'll join, you know, good things, Kiwanis, Elks, whatever it is, being active in your community, which is still a very good thing, absolutely a wonderful thing. But it's somewhat limiting in terms of that's your scope, that's what you can do, that's the influence you can have. Now, let's say you happen to pick up, you know, 3 or 4 coffee shops in your small town and you get really good at KPIs and helping coffee shop owners be successful. Well, now, instead of being limited to the three in your town and maybe five in your area, now, if you have that niche, there's no reason you can't be the coffee shop expert for the entire world.

Dave (00:40:36) - And your addressable market just went from 10 to 10 million potential businesses that you can serve and add value. So the ability through everything being done virtually, I still think in person is absolutely important. But there's a ton of things that can be done virtually. And and basically you have the opportunity to improve lives anywhere, not just limited by your local community or wherever you are. So your ability to touch people to have a greater impact than ever before is tremendous today. And I think it's going to be even better tomorrow. So that's number two on my top ten list.

Hannah (00:41:14) - I feel like I've seen a shift in that being of importance to a younger generation versus the older generation. Maybe I'm wrong on that shift, but it just seems like that value is held much higher than it ever has been before. So the fact that we can speak to how can we can have our own legacy and we can have our own impact even within the circle of the work that we do, that's so important to me, and I love that I'm able to have a platform and be able to do this within this profession, because I had no idea that that was even possible whenever I chose this in my early 20s.

Hannah (00:41:49) - But I think that people in their early 20s are making choices of their profession based on the amount of impact that they can have and things that they hold valuable to them. So I love that this can be co-mingled and it can be truly be the best of both worlds in that way.

Dave (00:42:02) - And you can do it as a single sole proprietor. You can do it with a couple of partners. You can do it at a big firm. It's like, you know, all the restraints that, you know, were there 30 years ago. Just so many of them aren't there anymore. So the ability to do things that weren't even possible 30 years ago are possible today.

Joey (00:42:22) - Well, and that idea and this is not to generalize too much about younger generations, but I did a lot of work, again, with the high school here in Albuquerque and we were working on. Kind of the vision for the school for the next 10 to 15 years. And part of that we knew that students are going to be a stakeholder in that.

Joey (00:42:39) - So we brought in a small group of students that were juniors and rising seniors in in the organization, in the school. And the thing that struck me about it was they were the number one thing that they were focused about was we want to make a difference right now. And I was like, Yo, when I was 17, I cared about golf and that's about it. That was all I was thinking about at 17. I wasn't worried about impact. I wasn't worried about anything. I was just trying to play as much golf as possible. And, you know, I even had a conversation with the kids and I was like, this is fantastic, but don't remember. It's also okay to still be a kid. You don't have to change the world right now, but that's what they want to do. And I love that. That's something that really energizes me for the future is that there's a group of people that are so invested. And if an employer can figure out a way to harness that investment and allow it to flourish instead of what it used to be back when my folks were CPAs and when you got started, sometimes that that just kind of fizzles away and it gets taken up by other things.

Joey (00:43:43) - So I love that you're identifying that as an opportunity right now.

Dave (00:43:48) - Yeah. And I think it didn't make number one. But I think at number two, I think that's evidence that I think that's pretty cool, pretty great opportunity. And when I think about my kids, I've got kids that are thinking about coming into the profession. And when I think about the impact they can have as the next generation of CPAs, that gets me really jazzed and also gets me really motivated that I've got to make the best foundation possible for them to build on and excel on. It's like, what can we do at Anders? How can we make this the best place possible? How can we have the maximum impact on our clients, on our community, and set up a foundation for when the next generation comes in? They can take it to even greater heights.

Joey (00:44:30) - I love that.

Hannah (00:44:30) - Alright. Think that brings us to number one. 

Dave (00:44:33) - All right. Now, yes, there would be a drum roll or some.

Hannah (00:44:35) - Oh, no. I was going to beat on my desk here.

Dave (00:44:37) - I can tell you're very excited. So number one. So the number one reason why today is the best day ever to be a young CPA is. Flexibility. And there's two things about flexibility. There is flexibility today that did not exist in the 1990s. First is when you work. So the before it was like, okay, here's when you're here and we're all here, so that's when you work. And there was really no choice, no flexibility. I remember one day it snowed like two feet of snow and because it's like, well, this is when we work. So even though it would melt in a few hours and it would be easier, no, you got to come now because that it was just like. So it's like that's when you work and that's when we and there was like no other options. So the flexible work arrangements, the types of things that are possible now, the flexibility that we as leaders are willing to give our teams because we know that creates the environment where they can do their best work that didn't really exist before.

Dave (00:45:41) - So the win aspect of flexibility is really important. I think the other piece and we talked about this a little bit earlier and Joey, you almost ruined my number one. But the other element of this is flexibility in where you work. You're not just limited to your local employers. So when you think about, okay, well, I'm in this community, there's one CPA shop, I could go work at this company and your choices were really limited. Now, when you look at where you're at, you can use your skills nationally, globally, and there's just more flexibility than ever in where you have the opportunity to work. And so for that, that I think is the most exciting thing. That is my number one reason why today is the best day ever to be a young CPA. And I don't see that changing at Anders. We are fully embracing. We see some companies, some firms turning their back on remote work, and I kind of sit back puzzled. It's like, I don't think they know how to do it.

Dave (00:46:37) - I don't think they know how to do remote work and that's why it's not working for them. They're still using the old way of managing the old way of running the company, and they haven't embraced and figured out if you're truly going to do remote or hybrid work, you have to do it differently. And I don't. And it's interesting to watch some companies regress from that, but I think the power is just too strong. The opportunity for us to have the absolute best employees from all across the country who understand and see our vision and mission and want to be a part of it and want to add value to our clients. That’s so for me, flexibility is number one.

Hannah (00:47:12) - And I love that. Flexibility is number one for you. For me personally, it is so important for me as a mom and just for my family, for me to be flexible. But I will tell you. So I started with Summit Anders right after the merger. Almost, I guess next year will be two years that I've been here and that year was the year we were big sports enthusiasts.

Hannah (00:47:37) - Ole Miss fans and Ole Miss went to the College Baseball World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, and I was able to rent an Airbnb there, take my computer and work from Omaha, Nebraska. So I was able to participate and be a part of these core memories for my family that in and of itself was invaluable to me, that I was still able to provide value and be present for my job when I needed to be. Of course, was able to unplug plenty of times while I was there, but I was also still able to be a very present mom and be a part of those core memories that are so important for providing for my family like that. That in and of itself is invaluable for me, hands down.

Joey (00:48:19) - Well, I think you hit the nail on the head to not just the where, but the win as well. Like everybody's got I think about and I had a similar experience to you one time, Dave, where I was, you know, it was middle of February, middle attack season, Manhattan, Kansas got a big snowstorm.

Joey (00:48:35) - And I was sort of just like, I don't know how I'm going to make it into the office today because I have a truck that does not have four wheel drive and I don't have enough sandbags in the entire, you know, Riley County, Kansas, to make sure that thing was going to make it down the roads and it. Under a remote hybrid workforce, you're not going to have that issue. You just plug in your laptop at home and go to work and get it done. And it's you know, we were talking offline earlier. It's, you know, a little bit earlier here in New Mexico than it is in Saint Louis. But, you know, I can start my day at 7 a.m. and be done usually between 4 and 5. And I'm able to take a block of time during the middle of the day and go exercise when it's pretty outside. I never used to be able to do that. I was chained to a desk and my value was not necessarily the product I was doing.

Joey (00:49:27) - It was the fact that I was sitting in that desk and could provide answers to people. And it's so much more fulfilling. Yeah. In this room than it was previously.

Dave (00:49:36) - Yeah. And that story I told about having to trudge downtown in the snowstorm, you know, part of that was also because I was doing external audit at the time and that's where the work papers were. So the physical work papers were there. So therefore I had to go from where I was to the physical work papers. And now you look at that, that is all completely, totally different now. And these are the types of things that if you just look at today, you get frustrated by certain limitations and restrictions. But I think you've got to look at the journey. You've got to look back 30 years and you've got to look at how far things have come and where we are today. And are there areas for improvement? Absolutely. Are there issues? Absolutely. But we'll work on those and we'll make tomorrow even better and the day after that, even better.

Joey (00:50:18) - Well, what's encouraging is that as someone who's, you know, a leader in a firm, you're understanding that. As a leader, you're going to own that piece of the puzzle. Like we as leadership are going to own these problems and we are going to work with our employees to fix it. That, I think is so that is so key. And that's also probably the biggest difference over the last 30 years is, you know, you our leaders today remember what it was like 30 years ago, and it would be very easy for leaders to not be invested in making the future better. It could be like, well, we had to go through it. So that's how you earn your stripes. You have to go through it, too. And so I want to say thank you to you for not only putting this list together, but for being the type of person who wants to put this list together, for being the type of leader who wants to lead by example and help these things instead of being like, Well, you guys figure it out.

Dave (00:51:11) - Yeah.

Dave (00:51:11) - And I hope every high school student, young professional listens to this and takes a little bit of inspiration from a reminder of all of these positive things. When you hear all this negative negativity and all the things that are wrong, there are a lot of great things going on, and I have a ton of gratitude for where I am in life, sort of my situation. I'm healthy. We're not in a pandemic. My kids are healthy. You know, there's just so many things to be thankful for. But we forget that so often because, you know, the Thief of Joy, as Hannah mentioned. And it's just I just think we need to call that out. And I hope people will listen to this, give it some thought, think about it, process it, hold on to it for a day or two. And if you can start to make it a pattern where you're thinking more positive and if you can shut off some of those notifications and stop the bombardment of consistent, constant negativity in your life.

Dave (00:52:03) - Me personally, a decade ago I gave up the news because I was heavy into politics and I was like, I was getting all been out of shape about all this political stuff going on. And then I realized, I can't do anything about this. I can vote and I need to vote. And that's an important responsibility. So I need to be educated. But to do that, I don't need to be part of this 24 hour news cycle of negativity that's out there. And so I just gave up the news. I still consume news, Wall Street Journal, different sources that I go to that I trust. But just like constantly being bombarded with that stuff, I think it just takes such a toll.

Joey (00:52:38) - Did you happen to watch that Netflix movie, The Social Dilemma?

Dave (00:52:43) - I don't know that was a Netflix movie, but yeah, I did.

Joey (00:52:47) - So there's the social network that starts about. The social dilemma is one that they did a couple of years ago that talked about exactly what you're saying, how those things will ping you.

Joey (00:52:59) - And it's I watched that movie and I did exactly what you did. I went into my settings and I turned off all of my notifications because I was like, it's what I want it, but it's not going to ping me.

Dave (00:53:11) - Joey, I do remember that now that you mentioned it, and that was incredibly powerful. Maybe we can drop it in the show notes that if people haven't watched it, it really does open your eyes to how much social media is manipulating you and is in our heads every day. And I think it's important to just be even if you choose to embrace social media. I'm a huge LinkedIn guy. I think using it responsibly, I think there's a ton of power, but you just need to understand the rules of the game. And there are algorithms designed to, Oh, you respond to this and I'm going to feed you more of it and more of it and more of it. And you just have to recognize that, Oh, I'm being played by social media right now and I'm being wrapped into something that I really don't.

Dave (00:53:49) - My life is going to be so much better if I don't have that in my life.

Joey (00:53:55) - Well, we promised the audience that we would put a pin in, in I think it was maybe topic 6 or 7, what your end is. And I would love to know from everybody on the recording today. Dave you are Dave Hartley you are a partner in Anders and what?

Dave (00:54:14) - So my end is and you can actually tell from I guess over this shoulder, you can see the the record behind me signed by Joe Walsh. But I am a huge music guy, so I've always been a huge music guy. I love live music. I love concerts. There is nothing like the energy of a live concert in my book, and people may not expect it or even understand it, but I'm a huge EDM guy, so my joy, You didn't see that coming, did you? 

Joey (00:54:42) - Oh, no I did, and I had a story for that.

Dave (00:54:44) - But so this is this is probably 4 or 5 years ago and my kids at the time are teenagers. And I'm like, Wait, you're listening to Odesza? I'm listening to Odesza. Why are you listening to Odesza? So we started comparing notes and my kids started turning me on to this really great music that I really enjoyed. And I thought, This is innovative, I love this. And it turns out it's all kind of in the EDM scene. So I still do Zeppelin, I still do my classic rock, all those types of things do my 80s, but you know, all the EDM stuff that's coming out, I think it's incredibly inventive. It's engaging. I really like it. So I think that's my end is, is sort of that, that whole part of me that if you saw me in a business meeting, you might not expect to see me at an EDM show.

Joey (00:55:26) - So it's, it's funny, the first time I met you, it was our first call as a VCFO team where they introduced the summit team to the Anders team.

Joey (00:55:34) - And you told a story about how you say.

Dave (00:55:37) - What did I do? What did I do?

Joey (00:55:38) - Told a great story about how you went to an EDM concert with your daughter.

Hannah (00:55:43) - I remember this.

Joey (00:55:44) - Yeah. And Adam. Adam Heil changed your name on the Zoom to Raver, Dave Hartley. And that's how I've always kind of thought of you in my mind as Raver Dave. Yeah, and Merve. But that's a different story for a different podcast. Yes.

Dave (00:55:55) - Yep.

Dave (00:55:56) - Yeah. And I do that. And that was, that was another super cool thing. Sort of my other end is I'm a huge family guy and so my kids, you know, my whole family, it's absolutely fantastic. So to experience music with my kids and to see them discover music and to see them start to make it their own, that is is a phenomenal thing as a parent that, you know, it's just like the absolute ultimate when when all the things that I love converge.

Hannah (00:56:23) - All right, Joey, what's your end?

Joey (00:56:25) - Okay.

Joey (00:56:26) - This is going to come as a surprise to no one. My band is I am, I feel the same way about sports that Dave feels about music. Obviously, I'm a K-State sports enthusiast, have been for most of my life. Sometimes K-State has a tendency to break my heart. That's a different story. But I love them anyways. But I will watch. To my wife's chagrin, it doesn't matter what it is. It could be two football teams that I could care less about. I will watch the game. I will watch soccer, I will watch gymnastics. I will watch swimming. I will watch track and field. We love the Tour de France. We watch that every year. In fact, we went over our streaming minutes, our Internet usage in the month of July because we were both streaming the Tour de France as we were doing stuff around the house. So it's, you know, I will always find something to watch and find some enjoyment in the competition, even if it's not a team that I particularly care about or even a sport that I care about, you know, shout out to billiards.

Joey (00:57:27) - I love watching some billiards.

Dave (00:57:30) - That's fantastic.

Joey (00:57:32) - Hannah, what about you?

Hannah (00:57:34) - Um, I would say I'm a sports enthusiast, but I'm a sports enthusiast for the teams I like. So, Roll Tide and Hotty Toddy. Those are my teams.

Joey (00:57:42) - Oh, you've got some internal.

Joey (00:57:43) - Conflict this weekend.

Hannah (00:57:45) - This week is a tough week for us. It is very hard week in for me internally and in my household. I will also say beyond that, I am an unapologetic Swiftie. I do, in fact love Taylor Swift. I'm very salty about not getting tickets to the Arrows tour because I agree with you, Dave, like live concerts and music is just there is nothing like that energy. However, one of my best friends and I, we are going on the premiere night of her, of her eras tour.

(00:58:15) - Movie.

Hannah (00:58:16) - Dude, we're going to do the whole thing, the friendship bracelets and dressing up and all the things. So that's another and for me and a and I would say coffee enthusiast as well, like I'm all things coffee.

Hannah (00:58:29) - Like lover obsessed. Yeah, that's it for me.

Joey (00:58:35) - Well Dave thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us today. I know you've got a podcast that I'd love to talk about a little bit and you obviously are big on LinkedIn and there's going to be folks who listen to this who want to get in touch with you, and we'd love to pick your brain and listen to you talk a little bit more. Where can we find out more about you and what you're doing with Anders?

Dave (00:58:55) - Yeah, so first is LinkedIn. So I do post a lot on LinkedIn. I do try to share the things like this that I'm seeing that I think it's important for others to learn from. You know, I've been in this game a long time, so I try to share things, whether it's cybersecurity, whether it's AI, whether it's whatever, try to put those things out there that people can actually learn something from and actually make their lives better. So there's that. And then also the podcast, I hope that the but Who's Counting podcast is where in season two now we're wrapping up season two.

Dave (00:59:28) - We've got great plans for season three, so that's available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or via the Andrews website. And so if you search, but who's Counting podcast, that's how you'll find it.

Joey (00:59:40) - Well, thank you so much. This has been a blast. I can't wait to. I want to I want to revisit this again and do another top ten list down the road, because I think that's a really fun format that everybody is comfortable with. And, you know, maybe we can talk about the top ten, top ten things we've got going on at Andrews, which I think would be another fun podcast to talk about down the road.

Dave (00:59:57) - So absolutely be happy to do it. Appreciate you guys doing this and creating something specifically for younger CPA professionals or CPAs that are new to the profession.

Hannah (01:00:07) - Thanks for being with us today.

Dave (01:00:09) - You bet.

Dave (01:00:09) - Take care.

Outro (01:00:11) - If you're a young CPA looking to develop in their careers, we're always looking for great people. Visit our website for remote work opportunities with Summit Virtual CFO or find all our open positions at Andrews CPAs and advisors.