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Leaders of the Ledger from CPA Practice Advisor in partnership with Rightworks spotlights the people and ideas shaping the future of the accounting profession.
Each episode host Rob Brown interviews influential firm leaders, innovators and rising stars to uncover how they are tackling today’s biggest challenges whether it is client advisory services, AI and technology, talent strategy or firm growth through M&A.
Built on CPA Practice Advisor’s trusted recognition lists like the 40 Under 40 Influencers in Accounting and other collections of prominent professionals, this show goes beyond the headlines to share practical insights, personal stories and proven strategies from those moving the profession forward.
If you are a firm owner, leader or ambitious professional who wants to stay ahead of the curve Leaders of the Ledger is your inside track to the conversations and connections that matter most in accounting.
Subscribe now to hear from the voices redefining what it means to lead in the profession.
Speaker 1 (00:00.192)
I CPAs and role agents and other tax professionals, we don't realize how influential we could be if we are involved with organizations.
Accounting is one of the most noble professions in the world and on this Leaders of the Ledger podcast series, we're looking at people that are making a difference in the accounting world in their own space, in their own world.
way. with like CPA, a practice advisor that it gives like a lot of news and a lot of information that sometimes we disregard. I think it's good to pause for a second and see what's going on around us.
feel that the brand of accounting, maybe accounting as a career choice is in a good shape. Is it attractive? Is it working? Or is there a problem part?
I think there are several problems. You know, we are not as attractive. We just like numbers, we are introverts. There's still that perception, which not always is true.
Speaker 2 (00:45.56)
But we live in a world where it's not fashionable to market yourself, to brand yourself, to brag about what you do, but accountants do amazing things, don't they? Why shouldn't we talk about it a lot? On behalf of CPA practice advisor, I'm delighted to have with us today, Victor Garido. Good day, sir.
Thanks a lot for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:08.598)
Accounting is one of the most noble professions in the world. on this Leaders of the Ledger podcast series, we're looking at people that are making a difference in the accounting world in their own space, in their own way, with their own personal brand, their own personality, their own weapons, their own crusades. And we are shining a light on people that are doing good things. On behalf of CPA Practice Advisor, I'm delighted to have with us today Victor Garido. Good day, sir.
Thanks Rob for having me here and happy to talk with you and have a little chat.
Well tell us a little bit about your job, your role, Victor. What do do?
So I'm the managing member of GG CPA Services, which is a CPA practice that focus on small business owners. So anyone between one and $20 million in revenue probably is a good fit for us, but we have individuals, we have tax cases or anything in between, just providing a big four experience to your small business owner.
Speaker 1 (02:07.758)
So from my accent, I'm sure you can hear it. They tell me Spanish, Italian. So I was born in Madrid, Spain. I worked for a number of years, three or four in Milan, Italy. So even my mom makes fun of my accent, even if it's not Spanish. I got the opportunity to be in London and other European cities and then through...
PricewaterhouseCoopers, PWC. After a few years with them in Europe, they shipped me over to New York where I met my wife and where I'm currently in. We live in between Philadelphia and New York, like in the suburbs of South Jersey, so New Jersey.
You're not just an accountant, a professional doing a good job. You're a little more than that because you have some influence, whatever influence means. You're noticed by people you've been recognized. Do you see yourself as any kind of an influencer?
I think so. just try to do my work and help others the best I can. And then to be completely honest, was the first one that I was a little surprised about some of these recognitions. I feel like a little one locally happened in Philadelphia, where it's like, you know, we are 20 minutes or our main office is 20 minutes from Philadelphia. And then all the reconnections at the local and national level happened, which I think is good.
for clients personally, but I think I'm far away from an influencer.
Speaker 2 (03:26.894)
There are many celebrity influencers that have millions of followers. get that, but we're in the accounting game. I'm a part qualified accountant and a former high school math teacher. So like you, I'm comfortable with the numbers, but we live in a world where it's not fashionable to market yourself, to brand yourself, to brag about what you do, but accountants do amazing things, don't they? Why shouldn't we talk about it
I think we might influence clients and people's life. Like before, when I worked for Price World House Coopers, PWC, was more the bigger names, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, all these multi-billion dollar corporations. Now I get to know more in depth our clients, their names, their families, if they need individual tax return or they have an issue, they need a mortgage. Small business owners, they might be opening a location, they need a license.
So it's more the day-to-day items that we have, but because we have thousands of them, we know exactly what they're going through. And there is some kind of relationship, really close relationship with those because we are able to change their lives. So might I influence a little bit on their life and they influence on our team? That might be the case, but I don't have that many followers. I'm not even big in social media, to be honest with you.
Well, that's an interesting point. Do you need to be big on social media to be influential? I talked to many introverted accounts and CPAs, enrolled agents, and they, still influence people. They're managers, they're bosses, they're leaders, they influence thousands of people in their lifetime. And they don't realize it because they don't see themselves in an influential role, but you have a personal brand. You have a reputation. People talk about you.
Probably business comes to you because they know you, they recommend Victor, you are referred, are, you are talked about when you're not there. They're all good things,
Speaker 1 (05:09.954)
Yeah, I think it has been like, you mentioned, it might be at the beginning, of mouth at the beginning, because you're growing, you get to know certain people, you try to do good by them and provide value and it keeps growing. Right? Like it's like little seeds. Recently I was nominated as the, as a commissioner for the Philadelphia tax reform commission and with another, I think 15 people, so 15 members. I will get to give recommendations to city council on 6.8.
billion dollars. So I think it starts small and then you can, as you mentioned, influence or make changes on millions of people that they live in this case in Philadelphia, but it could be New Jersey through different programs and grants where we can provide feedback. think CPAs and role agents and other tax professionals, we don't realize how influential we could be if we are involved with organizations with like CPA practice advisor that it gives like a lot of news and a lot of information that sometimes we disregard.
thing is good to pause for a second and see what's going on around us and the ability that we have to be.
seated at the table and it's surprising because they will listen to us. And I think that's not a position that I feel comfortable is completely outside my comfort zone, but I have been asked to do and because I knew I had the connections and I think I did a good job at a smaller size, then you're getting asked to be on boards or associations or commissions, know, where to me is kind of life-changing on how you can make recommendations that...
will change someone else's life. So I think there are opportunities out there and I highly recommend to be involved with different organizations. Whatever is your passion, one way or another, think individually you can make a difference.
Speaker 2 (06:51.042)
going to ask you before we close to give some advice to people out there that maybe want to be more influential, but don't know where to start. You're very modest though. You said start small and probably most accounting types don't say, I want to be famous. I want to be well known, but you are head down. You do a great job. You're technically very competent, but there are lots of competent, very smart accountants. The problem with that is that everybody's the same. So you're talking about coming out of your comfort zone.
out of what you know very well and putting yourself out there networking some more, applying for things, volunteering for things, getting involved with things. That's what's made the difference for you it seems.
Yes, you're absolutely right. think joining organizations that you care about, could be like animal organizations, right? Being asked to be on the board or for me is the Hispanic chamber or it could be business associations, right? When you start as a member, maybe you help them do some trainings, seminar, distribute some information to the members. And then from there, you might be into board positions. You might be the chairman. You could be like going up the ladder just because.
You're trying to do good for others and I think that's recognized in the environment. I think that's how we started and like myself and other CPA partners. And then with time, not that we look for recognition, but that recognition comes. So I think it's really interesting on.
I agree many CPAs and role agents, tax professionals are introverted. like numbers more than human relationships sometimes. there's two plus two equals four. Well, like in a conversation with someone, could be all kinds of outcomes. Some of many of them are expected, but I think it could, especially if you have mentors or other professionals that put you out there and they give you that confidence in positions that probably it seems too good to be true or like over the top.
Speaker 1 (08:42.391)
for you, but I think it's just how you grow. So I think that would be my recommendation to any younger and CPAs that they want to be out there or enroll in the profession. Just establish more, make a difference, provide value, and that will go a long way in the future.
You're certainly creating a platform to make a difference because when you come into positions of influence, you're recommended, you're nominated, you're hired, you're engaged, that you make things happen. You can make decisions, you can influence policy, you can change things, can't you? That's important in making the world better.
Yeah. And to be honest, the first time that they talk about Victor, want you to join this commission or this committee on policy. was like, look, I have no idea about like US policy. I have no idea about the state and local politics and everything. And it has been extremely rewarding. So I think.
Sometimes you have to be a yes man, you know, for new opportunities or something that you will say no initially. Don't think about it too much. I mean, don't say yes to everything. Just know your limits. And I imagine tax season is like everyone is working 60, 80 hours. But if you have some time, I saw like that those peaks of work or if you work in audit or whatever outside those clients and those projects, I think it's interesting and it's good to have knowledge on other areas that might not be on your day to day.
How important has it been in your life to have mentors and people that encourage you, speak into your life, give you wise counsel?
Speaker 1 (10:10.2)
So I think mentors are fundamental in my life. Like I started really young with teachers, professors that saw potential and showed me option. I'm the first one in my family that got a degree. So we didn't have reference on like higher education. And then so many of our work colleagues or even clients or other people that I will have a relationship, they will provide advice. I think also not only mentors, but I think it's interesting when you learn from someone else's mistake. And I think that's professional we should.
learn from our clients mistakes because we see hundreds of thousands of clients a year and it's really interesting that. And I will say also sometimes even people that did not believe on what you were doing can be like extremely important just to prove them wrong. So sometimes a little stubborn and I think that's also like extremely important to you know, even if potentially the mentor is telling you we live in a different era and I think things are changing so quickly that you should give a try to items that maybe in the world.
or they have not worked in the past or they work in a different way, especially technology. Some of the relationships are constantly changing.
I wanted to ask you about that because some criticism that comes to accountants is that they do not handle change very well. They're not very agile. They don't adapt. Now we've seen in COVID accountants can change when they want to, but I'm wondering what skills, what attributes do you feel accountants need in the next few years to stay relevant, to stay competitive, to stay influential with their clients and the businesses they're building?
So I will point to items that I think are extremely important for us, even as a practice. Technology, right? And you mentioned, hey, during COVID, suddenly we have the 90 year old signing electronically in the preterm because couldn't come, right? If the 98 year old, the 20 year old should be able to accomplish that. So I think technology for so many barriers that you will find.
Speaker 1 (12:03.726)
Even because the world is becoming more volatile and changes are happening at a faster pace, that technology is a great tool. And the second one is knowledge. So even if you can use CHAPDPT, other like software is good still to know what's going on on the news, reading articles, talking with other tax professionals because change is coming. Right now we have a bill in the, I mean, it was Congress, now Senate, that it might change significantly the federal.
Law, right? The one big, beautiful tax bill. are many changes at the state and local level. So knowledge and knowing what is important for your clients. think that's extremely important just to keep track of what's going on. Kind of have like some time, like just get an hour, 30 minutes of your day, seeing like what's going on and what's changing in the profession. Those are the two biggest recommendations that I can pro-
Some of our audience here may be listening, watching you and thinking, well, Victor has more hours in his day than I do because he's got time to sit on these committees and commissions. He's got time to do his professional development and keep up on all of these ladies tax regulations. These some kind of Superman. So any tips for them to be more productive or better with their time so that it can allow time for things like this.
I think early on you have to do everything yourself and I have a wife and two kids. So believe me, like my, my day has 24 hours, like the rest of us. But I think if you're able to delegate some of the more kind of like the easiest tasks that you have, and I'm trying to do better. I was not as good, but I have been, I mean, once you're in a position that you're running out of hours and the work needs to get done, I think you need to delegate and show who you delegate to. I have been better at.
listing all the items that I'm doing during the day or my normal day work and which one of those could be done by someone else or could be drafted. I use technology a lot but still could be like repaired and I just have to review. I think that's a big time savings for me but I mean it's...
Speaker 1 (14:07.082)
It's easier. We are talking in June, so now I'm pretty relaxed. If we have this conversation in that season, probably I will be giving or providing shorter answers and looking more pale and with bags under my eyes.
Yes. Do you feel that the brand of accounting, maybe accounting as a career choice is in a good shape? Is it attractive? Is it working? Or is there a problem part?
So I think there are several problems. So accountants are not, as you mentioned maybe earlier, that, you know, we are not as attractive. Like we just like numbers, we're introverts. You know, there's still that perception, which not always is true. We don't like change and this day and age, everything is about change. Also like salaries for accountants early on, usually lower than if you got a financial analyst or tech related work. And then in the U.S. you have the 150 credit that you need.
to complete the 150 credits means another year of tuition, of course. And then you have like four exams that you have to pass as to be a CPA and religion. So some of the states now are changing to the 120 credits, which is refreshing. And also we need to make it more attractive. I think the opportunities are there. I know plenty of CPAs and accountants that are extremely interesting. So I think is we need to change it within and let people know that
We are a cool profession. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:31.042)
That's very well said. You're a wonderful ambassador for the accounting world, but I agree with you that there are challenges and changes are being made to address those, which is a good thing. One last question for you, Victor. What is coming up for the world of accounting? Can you give us a prediction that you feel is definitely going to happen as you look ahead over the next few years?
I think it's really interesting for anyone joining the profession. think there's plenty of opportunities. I think AI is becoming more and more valuable as a research and providing basic responses, but it's still that relationship with the client. need someone to translate and execute. I think it's really interesting.
how we are getting more and more tools. The tax return can be a scan. The tax return could be like input into the system and provide tax planning recommendations. So we are getting excellent tools, but we cannot forget that a tax professional is talking to someone else, a business owner or an individual and making sure that that person understand those recommendations and then implement those recommendations. So this is still like a person to person relationship. And I think that's valued.
And that's what we are seeing with our clients that they like to have someone, human on the other side, just to help them and understand that sometimes you can have the tools, but without execution, you accomplish nothing.
Victor Garido, that's been wonderful today. We really appreciate your passion and your insights. Joining us here on the Leaders of the Ledger podcast on behalf of CPA Practice Advisor, we are shining a light on people that are really making a difference in their own small world, but they are shining a light and being a beacon of excellence in accounting. Victor, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (17:09.41)
Thank you Rob, appreciate you.