CPAmerica ADVANTAGE

News From Your Accounting Association

March 2023

IN THIS ISSUE:

► Celebrating and supporting female partners

► Preferred Provider Spotlight - SafeSend

► Member News

► CPAmerica Insights - Grace Horvath

Celebrating and supporting female partners

Interview with Heather Cochran & Amelie Larson, RFH, PLLC

According to the Accounting MOVE Project, in 2022, women made up on average 53% of the employees and 31% of the partners of U.S. accounting firms. Interestingly, both of those numbers are up from the prior year and have been consistently going up over the last four years.

For this Women’s History Month, we spoke with two female partners from our new member firm, RFH, PLLC, located in Lexington, Ky. RFH became a member of CPAmerica in 2022, and provides a comprehensive array of assurance, tax, and advisory services, while maintaining their core values of integrity, commitment, and excellence.

Heather Cochran, CPA, CGFM, joined the firm out of school in 2005 and became a partner in 2015. Amelie Larson, CPA, MST, joined the firm in 2010 and became a partner in 2016. On the track to partner, they had a unique opportunity at their firm. With a few older partners looking to retire, the timing for Cochran and Larson to join the partnership when they did all fell together perfectly. Both of them have worked hard in their careers to become partners with RFH and appreciate the journeys they have taken to get where they are today.

As the youngest partner at the firm, Cochran shared that early on in her career, she was encouraged to be confident in her expertise and skills. “My mentor always made me feel like there’s nothing I can’t do. Having someone backing you and supporting you along your career is so helpful,” shared Cochran.

Mentors have played an important role in both Cochran’s and Larson’s lives. Both named retired partners as key mentors in their journeys. They also expressed the impact these partners made in shaping them as accounting professionals.

“He was like my office dad and also a professional mentor,” said Larson. “He instilled in me the importance of prioritizing people; knowing what they would what, caring about their feelings and knowing how to service them professionally. In regard to professional people relationships, he’s taught me a lot.”

Cochran leads the mentorship program at RFH, which pairs up each member of the firm with a selected mentor. Firm mentors help others to work on goal-setting and other professional matters, but they also check in on mental health and how mentees are doing personally. New team members select from a few different people, and pairs are created. Both Larson and Cochran are currently mentoring four individuals each at the firm.

“I think it’s important to have someone at the firm who you can talk to, even if you’re brand new,” said Cochran. “I had that support when I first started and know how important it is to pass that along to others.”

In addition to mentors and support, they also expressed the importance of prioritizing self-care and celebrating successes. Exercising, spending time with family and friends, unplugging when necessary and the official RFH book club, which both Cochran and Larson are members, are some of their self-care tactics.

Whether it’s messages of praise being displayed for team members or taking a spin on the RFH prize wheel, they take time to celebrate each other’s successes as a firm.

“Just a simple ‘great job and thank you’ goes a long way,” said Larson. “When you give recognition to team members for their hard work, it affects people so positively that you want to keep it up.”

In their time as partners, they are also thankful they have found support in each other. “Every Thanksgiving, we text each other to say how thankful we are,” laughed Cochran. “We provide so much support for each other. In this industry and especially as a woman, you can’t be an island.”

Thought Leadership by Paychex

Learn how one woman’s love for shoes inspired her to start her own interior design firm and create a thriving workplace culture

Kelly Ennis, founder and managing principal of The Verve Partnership, embraces her passions: creativity, designing, family, shoes. And speaking of shoes, almost 15 years ago she walked away from a successful career at an interior architectural design firm on the West Coast to start her own business on the East Coast.

She’ll tell you that she should have thought things through more, that the challenges she encountered — from access to available funding to securing clients — were no different than what many women face when starting their own business, and that it worked for her.

Ennis will also tell you that she’s happy, and she has scored some very nice shoes over the past decade by integrating one of her passions into the workplace culture at The Verve Partnership in Baltimore, Md.

“Everybody always needs a good base to stand on, just like when you’re building a building,” Ennis says. “As part of our onboarding [process], we give a $200 gift card for shoes. I mean, I love shoes.”

Here are a few tips Ennis shares with women considering starting their own business:

• Bring along an advisory group from day one: an accountant, consultants who know payroll, HR, benefits (retirement plans), a lawyer for contracts and someone who understands business insurance.

• Create the business you want, not a mirror of where you came from.

“I came from a command-and-control environment. Show up at 8:30 and work until 5:30, and people wondering why you leave early sometimes” Ennis says. “I wanted to have the freedom and flexibility to spend more time with my family. It is a goal I do not sway from.”

• Share your knowledge and get involved

“Design impacts behavior starting at the elementary level, like third grade,” Ennis says. “(We should) make sure younger, more diverse groups of children know about this amazing profession, and also empower young women to know they can design and build things that last 20 years or longer.”

To hear more about stories like Kelly’s, visit tinyurl.com/5xmzkjbd

In memory of David Wolfenden

We are deeply saddened to share the unexpected passing of Wheeler, Wolfenden & Dwares Managing Director, David Wolfenden. David and his firm have been members of CPAmerica since 2000.

In 1998, along with his former partner and friend, John Wheeler, he co-founded Wheeler & Wolfenden. He took great pride in his accounting firm, and he was instrumental in growing the firm into what it is today, Wheeler Wolfenden & Dwares. He was very active in the Delaware community, serving on various boards. Dave loved his work and the clients he was able to help along the way, but more importantly, he loved his kids and his family.

“While his loss is felt profoundly by each of us here, we are inspired to channel our grief into providing the same service you have come to know and expect from the firm that bears his name. We are committed to honoring Dave’s legacy by continuing to uphold his high standards of professionalism and quality service to all.” - WW&D

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