wellington | professional
CPA Arthur Lichtman Enjoys Helping People Through His Work And Community Service Story by Dani Salgueiro • Photos by Abner Pedraza
A resident of Wellington for nearly 25 years, Arthur Lichtman has devoted himself to helping area residents through his accounting services and his community involvement. “I live in the community and enjoy serving the people of Wellington and its surrounding areas,” he said. Lichtman has been employed in the accounting field since 1977, when he began working for accounting firms as an undergraduate college student. It was then that he discovered an underlying fulfillment stemming from combining numbers and math with the opportunity to help others. “I’ve always been good at math, and I found it easy from the start,” he explained. “I like what I do, so things never get too stressful during tax season or other busy times of the year. I also get the chance to help people with their taxes and reduce their tax liability.” Lichtman said that the fulfilling part of the job in accounting is solving people’s tax or financial-related issues. As a licensed and certified public accountant (CPA) in Florida since 1994, and in New York since 1980, Lichtman provides well-rounded services. “Many of my clients don’t think of me or refer to me as their accountant, they call me and think of me as the CPA,” he said. “I can do things that a regular accountant can’t do, like represent someone with the IRS and do certified audits. [Being a CPA] gives clients assurance, because it’s a higher level of service.” Through the one-on-one services he offers clients, Lichtman gets to know their needs and can offer them specialized services in accordance with their individual financial circumstances. Knowing his clients’ needs, Lichtman explained, is what he believes sets his small business apart from larger accounting firms. “We focus on more specialized services and offer one-onone care, where in a big firm, you can easily get lost being passed from accountant to accountant,” Lichtman said. “I value knowing clients and providing them with personal services.” Lichtman has run his accounting firm in Wellington since 1997 and has operated it on his own the entire time. “I have one staff employee during tax season,” he said. “It is all about offering one-on-one services for clients.” Lichtman offers full accounting services for small businesses, enterprises, corporations and individuals.
“It’s definitely more than just taxes,” he said. “I offer full services from bookkeeping to payroll for larger entities like S corporations and LLCs, as well as for small businesses.” Because of his wide range of services, Lichtman has gained a loyal and diverse clientele, which has only grown larger as a result of his high referral and retention rates. “I’ve been blessed to have such good retention with my clients and the referrals that come from them being happy,” he explained. “Nowadays, professional businesses are going to be successful based off referrals more than anything else.” Often, Lichtman gets new clients when they’re going to buy a house or start a new business. “It’s a nice relationship built from the base of accounting and helping people through their finances,” he explained. Lichtman credits a lot of his success to his wife, Merryl Turkowitz, who he said supports and encourages him in his wellington the magazine | august 2018
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