Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / Kevin Nguyen's First-Generation Journey: From Vietnamese Refugee Family to Bennett Thrasher CPA Career

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Kevin Nguyen's First-Generation Journey: From Vietnamese Refugee Family to Bennett Thrasher CPA Career · The Inspired Stories Podcast

0:04
Welcome to another edition of the Inspired Stories podcast,
0:08
where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from
0:11
their successes and be inspired by how they've overcome
0:14
adversity. My name is Anthony Kotaspodi and
0:17
today's guest is Kevin Wynn. He is a Financial Reporting and
0:21
Assurance senior at Bennett Thrasher, a privately held
0:25
accounting and consulting firm that has been serving clients
0:28
for over 45 years. Bennett Thrasher focuses on
0:32
providing tax audit, advisory and outsourcing solutions,
0:37
emphasizing strategic guidance and financial confidence.
0:42
As the first in his family to earn a college degree, Kevin has
0:45
progressed from an audit staff accountant to his current senior
0:50
role. Before joining Bennett Thrasher,
0:52
he gained experience as a tax intern at Brooks McGinnis and
0:56
Company. His proven track record, along
0:59
with his commitment to serving clients, reflects Bennett
1:02
Thrasher's core values of collaboration and integrity.
1:06
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1:50
All right, back to our guest today, the Senior Auditor of
1:53
Bennett Thrasher, Kevin Wynn, thanks for making the time to
1:55
Share your story today. Absolutely appreciate you having
1:58
me on today, Anthony. Super excited and super and
2:02
super joyful that I can be here and kind of meet the connection
2:05
and get this going all. Right.
2:07
Well, let's do it. So you were the first in your
2:09
family to get a college degree, and I think you've put a lot of
2:13
pressure on yourself to be a leader partially because of
2:16
that. Can you walk us through what
2:18
that journey looked like? What motivated you to break new
2:21
ground for your family? Yeah, Yeah, absolutely.
2:24
Yeah. So I think the the most
2:25
important take away is there's a lot of sleepless nights in that,
2:29
in that putting that pressure on me.
2:31
So I'm kind of was talking to my parents when I was younger,
2:35
around 18. So they're like, you have to go
2:37
to college. And I was somebody that was
2:39
like, I don't want to go to college.
2:41
And you know, they said, and essentially they were saying
2:43
that this is something we don't have.
2:45
You know, we came over here by boat.
2:47
You know, we've worked our ground, we've worked from the
2:49
ground up. We've done built nail salons and
2:52
things of that nature, but we still don't have a college
2:54
degree. And I watch my mom and dad was
2:56
basically saying, we want you to have something that we don't
2:58
have, right? Because they were always busy
3:00
working, I think six or seven days a week to kind of just get
3:04
us to be, to have the ability to have this.
3:07
So I kind of got instilled in me for a while.
3:10
I kind of just went through my younger teens, my early 20s,
3:14
just working and doing various things.
3:16
And then my uncle got a sushi restaurant called Rusants here
3:20
locally in Kennesaw. And, and I kind of worked for
3:23
him. And then I was just like, OK,
3:25
maybe working day in and day out at a restaurant isn't for me.
3:29
But I do love the restaurant industry.
3:31
So I kind of went back and I went to, took some class at
3:36
Kennesaw State University, really enjoyed my accounting
3:38
class and then kind of told myself it's like I kind of want
3:42
to be the account for restaurants in Atlanta
3:45
specifically. I love my city, I love food.
3:48
It's kind of all made sense. And now I'm kind of here doing
3:52
it essentially working on primarily restaurant clients and
3:55
and other industries. But yeah, so the pressure is
3:59
definitely heavy on on one to kind of take on their own.
4:02
And you kind of always just feel like you have to take this
4:04
because it's, you know, it's something your parents don't
4:07
have. So I'm like, I should definitely
4:09
be doing this to honor them to and things of that nature.
4:12
But that's just the dynamic that we have.
4:14
And so you said your family came over on the boat.
4:17
Came over from where? When?
4:19
How? Vietnam in the 70s.
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So right after the right after the Paul Saigon, my, my dad came
4:25
here and then my mom also came here through the same channel
4:28
and they met in New York. And so they were living in New
4:31
York and that's where I was originally born.
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But yeah, so it's like, you know, they, they had to leave
4:36
their own, their own home country and come here and, you
4:39
know, create a dream, create a life for, you know, now me, my
4:44
sister and my youngest brother. So it was very, it's very
4:48
different when you see that type of struggle and learning English
4:52
and just doing odd jobs. And so they kind of found their
4:55
way with a nail salon. And it's just very, very
4:58
inspiring myself. And I kind of took that for
5:00
granted when I was younger. And now I now I see that all
5:04
their hard work is, you know, paid off.
5:06
And like, I think to this day, my dad randomly just tells me
5:09
he's like, I'm really proud. I don't worry anymore that you
5:11
have a college degree now. So.
5:14
Yeah. That's great.
5:16
My father is an immigrant from Italy and a lot of sacrifices
5:20
that he made, a lot of sacrifices that his parents made
5:23
when they brought him over as a young boy.
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And there was a lot of emphasis in our family also put on get a
5:29
college education because those were opportunities that were
5:32
just not available to them there.
5:34
And they worked really hard much in the same story that you're
5:36
sharing here. And so I, I can respect why, you
5:40
know, and, and it's interesting that you took a little bit of
5:42
time and, and sort of kicked around in between high school
5:45
and college. And I'm going to try sort of my
5:47
own thing. And was it sort of a light bulb
5:50
moment that went off? Or was it this gradual
5:52
realization that I need to follow my parents advice and I
5:56
need to go get go get a college education.
5:58
I. Think it was gradual, but when
6:00
like the light bulb hit, it hit right away.
6:02
It's almost a mix of the two. But like, yeah, I think I was
6:04
just kind of working at the restaurant.
6:06
I noticed that like 6 AMI had to be A and then I had to do
6:10
inventory or I had to do prep or I had to do something because
6:12
somebody called out. And then at the end of it where
6:15
I'm trying to help my uncle close down the restaurant.
6:17
And I kind of just noticed my days were getting longer and
6:19
longer. And then I also noticed that
6:22
like we have to be open during holidays because you know,
6:25
everybody, you know, everybody wants to go out to eat.
6:26
And so I started missing out on holidays and I was getting a
6:29
little concerned about that. And I was like, is this my life?
6:32
Is this what I really want to do for the next 203040 years ahead?
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You know, because even as an owner of a restaurant, my uncle,
6:40
you know, you have to be there. You, you, unless you built so
6:43
many processes that you're bare hands off, you must essentially
6:47
have to be there to to ensure quality control, to ensure the
6:50
customers and satisfaction's high and things of that nature
6:52
just to make sure everything's staying afloat.
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And so, OK, you make the decision.
6:57
Listen, this is this is a hard life.
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I I need to take a different path.
7:01
I need to go to college. What specifically drew you into
7:04
the finance and accounting? World, what attracted you?
7:06
I think so I was, I was in the back and then I had a customer
7:11
come in and she goes, you know, and I was kind of just telling
7:14
her I was like, I was getting tired and you know, because
7:16
she's been a long time recurring customer.
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And she said you should try, you should, you should try
7:21
accounting. I mean, you know, long hours
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just like this, but you get to sit at a desk all day.
7:25
I was like, OK. And so I joked off, I joked a
7:28
little Terry about it. I was like, I'll try it.
7:29
And then so and then I have a family full of entrepreneurs.
7:33
I know they're always concerned about, they are always concerned
7:36
about taxes, even though I don't do any taxes, they're always
7:39
concerned about their taxes. And you know, people find
7:42
comfort in numbers. So I said, let's go take this
7:44
accounting class, let's see how it goes.
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And and I and I've enjoyed it ever since.
7:48
OK, so started with random comment from a long time
7:52
customer connecting the dots with your family, always being
7:56
concerned about their taxes and OK, I'm going to take a A class.
7:59
Took the class and you loved it. And then how did the door
8:03
actually open up for you to join Bennett Thrasher?
8:07
I probably took more opportunities of like
8:10
networking, you know, kind of just making sure because I felt
8:13
behind. So I needed to, I knew I needed
8:16
to kind of step up my game essentially, if I was, you know,
8:19
like most people went to college right at 18 and then graduated 2
8:22
and three to four years, you know, I took some time.
8:24
So I had to take that initiative and then kind of just was
8:29
throwing my resume out there, taking taking time and
8:31
interviewing and kind of landed on BT and kind of reviewed just
8:36
like everybody else does, goes on the website and kind of got
8:38
inspired about some of the stories and some of the things
8:41
that were said on the website. And and then I got, I got
8:45
fortunate enough to get an interview here.
8:47
OK. And tell us a little bit more
8:50
about what Bennett Thrasher does.
8:52
OK, accounting CPA, but what sets you guys apart?
8:54
How are you guys different? I think it sets us apart is like
8:57
our accountability, like, so when we say we're going to do
8:59
something, we do it. I think that I hold that very
9:02
true. And then on top of that, the
9:03
learning here I think is tremendous.
9:06
The mentorship here is, is is out of this world.
9:09
I think a lot of the people in the management group, in the,
9:12
you know, the partner group are always, always willing to help
9:15
and always willing to, you know, extend a hand in wherever you
9:18
need, you may need it. And that also reflects to the
9:21
client as well. You know, we stay on top of our
9:24
reporting deadlines, we stay in communication with them.
9:27
We try to advise them as much as we possibly can with any subject
9:32
matter that they may have. So that kind of shows that that
9:35
also shows through our various service lines, right?
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I think there's, I think when a lot of people here accounting
9:42
firm, they just automatically assume tax an audit on the
9:46
heavier side. But if you kind of just Scroll
9:48
down, you have for state and local taxes, you have your tax
9:51
controversies, you have your credits and incentives.
9:55
We do risk advisory as well, which is more on the business
9:58
side. And then we also have forensic
10:00
accounting and valuation. So there's a lot, there's a lot
10:04
under the under the realm of like just audit and tax.
10:08
So I think what sets us apart even further is that we care
10:13
about the people, you know? So a lot of people who work in
10:15
public accounting probably feel like they're just a number on
10:18
most days. But here I have a pretty good
10:20
relationship with the partners and the managers, the seniors
10:24
and everybody around us, and it just feels pretty great when I
10:29
come to work. Which it feels like to interact
10:31
with a lot of the senior executives and the partners
10:34
there. Yeah, Yeah.
10:35
I think I I primarily interact with two or three of them just
10:39
because those are the industries I'm in.
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But it's exciting. It's exciting.
10:44
I can walk into the head of my department here, Lindsay Sykes,
10:47
and just say, good morning, how are you?
10:48
How was your weekend talking up? And then we're also all going
10:52
golfing on Friday. So super exciting.
10:55
Something you can do in Georgia at the end of November?
10:59
Yeah. Yeah, last week was looking a
11:01
little rough and then this week is the the weather's warmer.
11:04
So I'm super appreciative of it and super excited about all of
11:08
that. And the industries that you
11:10
focused on, I think you said before that you get to to do a
11:13
lot in the restaurant industry. Are there other spaces that you
11:16
serve as well? I primarily do restaurants and
11:18
investment funds. So yeah, so these private
11:21
investment funds what and then kind of just, you know, when we
11:24
do the audit, it's just primarily sharing the the
11:27
valuations are correct. I think that's the the the most
11:30
important part of it and and kind of going through that and
11:33
kind of understanding where industries are at.
11:35
I think for the most, for the most part right now, if it's not
11:39
AII don't think anybody wants to talk about any which is, which
11:43
is, which is, which is very which is very, very different.
11:46
But everybody wants to talk AI left and right all the time.
11:50
Are you talking about specifically with your
11:52
investment fund clients or? Yeah, like I just from a, from a
11:57
high level viewpoint, I've just seen people that just like
12:00
everybody's kind of grabbing a piece of the pie, so to speak,
12:03
and just looking at the start up AI companies and just seeing
12:07
what they can really do. And so I think it's just a very,
12:09
very hot commodity right now to to be able to get into, yeah,
12:14
into a start up. From the other side of it, are
12:17
you guys utilizing AI and your work flows at all?
12:20
I think, I think everybody is, I think we use some of it here and
12:23
there, but there's definitely, I think AI is still in the, in the
12:27
point where you have to make sure you're diligently over
12:30
checking everything and just ensuring that everything is
12:32
right. I think it helps us a lot with
12:35
either like if we have like a large agreement that we need to
12:38
get a, a summary of or a synopsis of, we can use that I
12:42
think for more or less. But you know, we can always ask
12:46
AI in general, like about certain accounting principles
12:49
and things of that nature and he'll explain it to you.
12:51
But I think for just work flows, I think we kind of use it more
12:54
as as a a leverage than anything else.
12:57
But as of right now for me, I really don't see AI helping
13:01
audit for a while. I would say so.
13:05
Why would you say that? There's a.
13:07
Summation is. I think, I think my
13:10
interpretation of that is essentially like we've used it,
13:13
I've used it and I see that there's still some hiccups and
13:17
so there's so instead of like, yes, you're not inputting the
13:21
data, but you're meticulously reviewing.
13:23
So I think time can be like switched over versus versus.
13:27
It's not like you can't just rely on it.
13:30
I don't think anybody should ever just rely on it in my
13:32
opinion. But yeah, I think, I think it's
13:34
still got a little bit of ways to go before we can start really
13:37
cranking it out and using it to to its fullest potential.
13:41
Is you find mistakes in the work.
13:43
Yeah, yeah, we find, I find them or they don't point it out
13:46
sometimes because again, I'm meticulously reviewing again
13:49
just to make sure or it didn't pick up something or.
13:52
And so so yeah, things of that nature until probably is able to
13:56
do it while you're essentially sleeping, then you got to have
14:00
to to wait a little bit on that one on that end.
14:03
Yeah. You know, I was researching
14:06
legal case recently and using ChatGPT to try to help
14:10
understand what was sort of surrounding it, and it came up
14:14
with some really interesting things that I forwarded to my
14:18
attorney. And I'm like, hey, I'm not sure
14:20
if your analysis is correct because look at this and this.
14:23
And it's like those were proposed laws that never
14:27
actually were adopted. And just like is 1 specific
14:32
example of how AI found something out there but didn't
14:37
recognize the difference between this was a proposed law changed
14:40
but it never actually came through.
14:43
Can you think of a specific hiccup or wrinkle that you
14:46
spotted? Not necessarily from, from, like
14:53
when I'm reviewing or something like that.
14:55
Or it does, it does give me like high level because we, I do,
14:59
I've done some work with purchase accounting, so like,
15:02
and, and making sure it all flows through the report and is
15:04
within the framework that we, we put the report in.
15:08
And I noticed that it'll just like forget to mention like, oh,
15:11
because there's like either there could be like a seller's
15:16
note or there could be a, or they could be like an earn out.
15:20
And then you have to, you have to make sure you're occurring
15:22
for that and things that things of that nature.
15:24
I think that's, that's where I've noticed it where it didn't
15:26
pick it up essentially. And so, so like, imagine if like
15:30
we were trusting in AI so much that you sent that up to like a
15:32
partner or something like that, then you know, they would catch
15:35
it for sure. I know the partners will always
15:37
catch things like that, but you know, just for your sake, then
15:41
you're not using your potential to learn and understand the
15:45
concepts and things of that. Nature.
15:48
Got it. So, Kevin, tell us a little bit
15:50
more specifically about what you do in your role as financial
15:55
Reporting and Assurance senior. Yeah, Yeah.
15:58
So I mean, essentially it's just, you know, you know, if
16:00
you, if you need an audit and you're not a public company
16:03
where where we can, we can definitely do that.
16:06
And essentially we'll just be testing.
16:08
We get your, we get your 12 hours.
16:10
We look at the numbers, you know, we scope it out and then
16:13
we test in certain areas and we test certain accounts and just
16:17
making sure everything's in compliance and everything is
16:20
accurate for a reasonable level of assurance, right.
16:23
And then on top of that, I think what I found very, very
16:30
interesting is that on my day-to-day, I'm more advising
16:34
clients on how to approach certain situation.
16:37
I'm understanding how to delegate work, whether it be
16:41
upwards or or downwards. I just find it very interesting
16:45
to, to be in a, in a team project based approach where it
16:51
comes with every, you're working with different people all the
16:54
time. So that's what I found
16:56
interesting. And then you know, we issued the
16:58
report and and then now you have assurance that these financial
17:01
statements are are good kind of really high level explanation of
17:08
it. Is there something from your
17:12
role there that you've been able to understand human psychology
17:18
and maybe a surprising way? Yes.
17:23
I think it's like people aren't necessarily afraid to be wrong.
17:26
They're afraid to be judged essentially right.
17:30
So it's like like a client can send me their TB, but then
17:34
they'll send me an AR aging and it just doesn't tie.
17:39
And then when we send it back, it's kind of like you have you
17:42
have to learn how to kind of like professionally say that
17:45
this is wrong. Can you send it again?
17:46
So I've learned how to work navigate those those
17:51
differences. And then also, I think, I think
17:55
another one would be I just had it at the top of my head, but
17:59
probably forgot it by now. But yeah, I think that's one of
18:02
the biggest things. And then, you know, just making
18:04
sure that people kind of want to also be heard.
18:08
So when you're talking to a controller, talking to an
18:12
accounting manager or any of your clients, they kind of just
18:15
want to be heard. And then you kind of have to be
18:18
able to pick up on certain things that they're saying to be
18:21
able to kind of add value or just, you know, I see it all the
18:24
time with my managers and partners.
18:26
They'll be speaking about an accounting subject and then in
18:30
the back of their heads, they're already thinking 3 steps ahead
18:32
about how this would impact XY and Z and just I've seen that.
18:36
And so it really helps us be proactive from that perspective.
18:41
You made an interesting comment. People are OK with being wrong,
18:45
but they don't want to be judged.
18:47
It's an important but subtle difference.
18:50
Right? Because in that case there's
18:52
there. The work that they sent you is
18:54
still wrong, but they want to hear about it in a non
18:58
judgmental. Non judgmental manner is what
19:01
you're saying. Right, right.
19:03
So instead of telling a client this is wrong, I just, I would
19:06
kind of just pull it up side by side and just be like, it would
19:09
appear that the TB is showing this, this amount, but I pulled
19:14
up the AR aging and it's showing this amount.
19:17
Just really wanted to see if I can get some clarity about how,
19:21
how, what the differences are or if we just need a new report,
19:25
you know, kind of just like making sure that it's like, hey,
19:28
I saw this, but I just want to make sure I'm understanding this
19:31
correctly. So it kind of relieves the
19:33
pressure off of them, right? Where when, when they hear, when
19:36
they see it the then most of the time they're like, OK, I need to
19:40
upload a new one versus telling somebody they're wrong to them
19:43
is is pretty aggressive. Very diplomatic of you.
19:47
Did you use any AI tools to help come up with that language?
19:51
Learned by mistake. Yeah, learned, learned by
19:56
mistake. And it'd just be sometimes I
19:58
would just like we haven't, we have a portal where people send
20:02
documents. I'll just return it and be like,
20:03
provide another one. And then I wouldn't hear from
20:06
them for a couple days. But then when I started kind of
20:08
asking, getting mentorship from other managers and other and
20:12
other partners like, hey, when they send you something, is it
20:14
like, how do you go about it? And so any, any adversity I've
20:19
come across in that kind of manner.
20:21
I've always just kind of gone upwards to a manager a part of
20:24
me like, how did you deal with this?
20:25
What is the? What's the appropriate way to
20:27
kind of go about this to get a a result that you want?
20:31
Yeah, I like that. And I know at Bennett Thrasher,
20:34
you guys really emphasize working Better Together.
20:39
You have any other examples of collaboration from your time
20:44
there that really change your perspective on team dynamics or
20:47
leadership? Overall, I think it kind of it
20:52
kind of blurs because busy season is busy season, so you
20:55
kind of get very overwhelmed. But I haven't had a single
20:57
instance where a manager that was on my team, where not even
21:00
on my team, check in on me, ask me if I'm OK, ask me is there
21:04
anything going on? So you can have, you can have
21:06
like a trusted friend or a trusted Co worker here and
21:09
manager and kind of ask them like, oh, like I, I see that
21:13
like you were working till like 12:00 last night.
21:16
Is everything OK, things of that nature.
21:18
So I think that's the best Better Together I can find.
21:21
There's always a learning opportunity from from everybody.
21:24
And then there's always that you're not in this alone.
21:27
We're definitely here to help. I think, I think what I tell a
21:30
lot of people is that like during the midst of busy season,
21:32
we may not want to be swimming in this right now, but every
21:37
manager will throw a lifeboat until you can build a boat for
21:40
life, Jack, until you can build a boat to start staying afloat
21:43
and kind of going through the, the, the busy season.
21:46
Let's talk a little bit more about the busy season, kind of
21:49
the ups and downs, cycles of public accounting.
21:53
Yeah, Yeah, I think, I think a lot of people go into it always
21:55
thinking like this is going to be a great year.
21:57
You know, having that mindset of like, I've done everything I
22:00
needed to do, now it's time for the audit, like because there's
22:03
interim work that we do during the fall to help us prepare to
22:06
kind of get ready for the the busy season.
22:08
And so I think everybody comes in with this great mindset of
22:12
like, all right, I'm going to conquer this.
22:14
I'm going to do this. This is going to be better than
22:17
last year because I've learned from my mistakes.
22:19
But then you're always going to realize that there are new
22:21
challenges that come along in this field.
22:23
I think there's always, I always learn something new every day.
22:26
So then how you overcome that and how you can stay on track is
22:31
probably the hardest part from what I've seen overall in the
22:34
industry. I think this is coming from a
22:35
perspective of like a senior level, right?
22:38
So a lot of people get overwhelmed.
22:40
A lot of people are questioning why they're working so hard, why
22:42
they're working so late. And then I think at the end of
22:45
the day, you think it's just the when when you finally get that
22:49
report issued, when you finally get that piece of support that
22:52
you've been waiting on. And then everything kind of
22:55
comes back up where you're like, OK, I'm back, I'm back in it,
22:58
I'm back in it, you know. So I think that's, that's kind
23:01
of how it kind of goes. It's like great start the
23:05
middle, we're just trying to get through.
23:06
And at the end, we're like, we're, we're grateful that
23:08
we're, we're on the other side of that.
23:10
Have you found anything to help you get through those really
23:14
sticky metal parts? Yeah.
23:16
The, the, the best thing is, is that like I have a really strong
23:20
support group of friends here and then I also have a very
23:22
strong support group of family and they're always, they all
23:26
understand that I'm super busy during that time frame and but
23:30
they don't, they always set aside a time to check in on me.
23:33
Essentially. I know a lot of people are just
23:34
generally heads down for that portion of the year, but
23:37
there's, there's always that. And then here we have like mini
23:40
breaks and like things that the firm provides.
23:43
So we can always take like an hour out of our day to go relax.
23:47
I think the best thing is is that they've brought massage
23:49
chairs in here. So those get booked up pretty.
23:52
Frequently, which I think is awesome, But yeah, I think
23:56
that's what really helps me. And then I also have a amazing
23:59
guide. And so we have a driver guide
24:01
program where it's like you're the driver of your career and
24:03
you have a guide who's like a manager and I can, I can confide
24:07
him and he really helps out a lot.
24:09
So do you see the opportunity for more career advancement
24:12
there at Bennett Thrasher? Oh, yes, yeah.
24:15
Well, so I mean, I definitely do plan here to stay here long
24:18
term. I mean, partner is the goal.
24:19
I really, I really do enjoy this.
24:21
I think this kind of work and this kind of lifestyle suits me
24:24
well, so I really enjoy it. And then I don't think there's
24:28
ever not a chance to to continue to grow.
24:31
I think there's always an opportunity here for you.
24:33
What would the next step likely be?
24:36
Man on your path. Yeah.
24:38
So I think I just need to to meet manager.
24:40
You have in the other practice, you have to have your CPA.
24:42
So then I remember. Yeah.
24:44
So I'm still working on that. You know, it's time kind of.
24:47
I was always asking as soon as I started here.
24:49
They're like, get it out of the way as soon as possible because
24:51
you're only going to get busier. And so I've only gotten busier.
24:55
But yeah, but I think I'm finding time to, you know, still
24:58
balance myself and be able to study and be able to work and be
25:01
able to enjoy life all at the same time.
25:04
What's a big misconception that a lot of people have about the
25:06
kind of work that you do? That I work for the IRS.
25:12
Does that include your clients? Do your clients think that too
25:15
it? Depends, I guess if they're
25:18
like, I, I haven't had that. I haven't had run into that.
25:21
But a lot of people every time I say, Oh yeah, I'm in audit,
25:23
they're just like, oh, the IRS, I'm like, no.
25:27
So I think that's the biggest misconception.
25:29
I think another misconception is that like when we're doing this,
25:34
it's like we have to ask our clients for support in XY and Z
25:37
within the scope of what we do. And so I feel like a
25:41
misconception is like they'll come back and be like, why is it
25:45
50 selections? Why can't we make it less?
25:46
And it's just like it's within the scope.
25:48
It's just how it's just how it's supposed to kind of play out
25:51
when we do our samplings and things of that nature.
25:53
That's always a misconception that always happens as well.
25:56
It's like, I personally am not wanting to ask you to provide me
26:00
50 pieces of invoices, but the job requires it.
26:03
So for the. Got it.
26:05
There's some sort of a generally accepted threshold of what would
26:09
be accepted, and so you're just sort of bound by those
26:13
guidelines or those rules and the clients think it's just you
26:16
randomly picking a number out of the air.
26:18
Yeah, exactly. Now I know a lot of what you
26:23
guys, whether it's sort of a a stated job requirement or not,
26:28
is you're trying to build financial confidence for your
26:32
clients. Can you describe a situation
26:35
where you help the client gain clarity on a complex financial
26:39
issue and maybe what you personally learned from that
26:43
experience? I think a couple years ago there
26:45
was a couple new accounting standards 842 where you had to
26:49
where there was this like this long thing about all, all your
26:51
leases and we had to essentially it was essentially a gross up of
26:55
the balance sheet. But we had to kind of explain
26:56
them and we got to how to build templates and show them how to
26:59
do it and kind of run through the run through the scenario of
27:03
whether it was an operating lease or a capital lease and
27:05
kind of going through that. And so that took a lot of
27:08
exercise and that took a lot of reading through leases.
27:10
But I think for the most part, we got through that and
27:14
everybody kind of got on board with it and kind of just was
27:16
able to understand why this is happening and like and why it
27:19
needed to be reported and put on the balance sheets essentially.
27:24
Where do you think the future of your field is going?
27:28
What kind of changes or innovations do you think are
27:31
upcoming? Yeah.
27:32
So I kind of, so again, I do think AI will be a part of it at
27:36
a certain point, right. And kind of like it could be a
27:38
potential to as a whole, I think AI would replace a very like the
27:42
staff level or something like that in that regard.
27:45
That could happen. I'm not entirely sure, but I
27:47
think that's a way to go for it. But we could also be going into
27:51
more potentially advisory rule, I would say is audit.
27:54
And because we have to understand the business and we
27:56
have to understand like what the clients are going through and
27:59
really be experts in those fields.
28:01
So I think that's going to potentially happen to to audit
28:05
as well. But yeah, I think those are the
28:07
two areas that I would see where our field is going towards.
28:10
Do you intend to stay specifically within the audit
28:14
realm of accounting? Yeah, I really enjoy it.
28:17
I really enjoy it because it's like endless.
28:19
I think it's very structured, you know, I think it, it makes a
28:23
lot of sense. And I also enjoy reading.
28:27
I, I enjoy reading the, the, the standards when they come out and
28:30
kind of understanding it because like, and I never used to be
28:32
like this. I, I honestly, honestly not
28:35
like, used to never think about more than what my 9:00 to 5:00
28:38
should have been. But like now kind of going into
28:41
the senior role and kind of wanting to stay here for, for
28:44
long term. And you kind of see that like,
28:46
oh, like what can we be doing to help our clients or what?
28:49
Couldn't we be expected to come out that we need to to be
28:53
experts on? So yeah.
28:55
So you said you could see Audit sort of moving into more of an
29:02
advisory role. Are there other parts of the
29:04
Bennett Thrasher practice that are already providing some
29:08
advisory level services? I think so.
29:11
I think we have like CFO advisory portions and of
29:15
practices and things of that nature, but I have to correct me
29:18
if I'm wrong here or anything like that.
29:19
And the website would be able to further help you with that.
29:22
But I think at any point, I think honestly, Cpas in general
29:26
are, are, are seen as like advisors, right?
29:29
Because like as soon as somebody hears the those 3 letters,
29:32
they're just like, oh, this, this person knows what's going
29:35
on. This person knows what they're
29:36
talking about, whether it be a tax question, an audit question
29:39
or any kind of question they're going to ask ACPA.
29:42
It's kind of like you go to your doctor when you when you know
29:45
when and then you listen to their advice when they tell you
29:47
to do things. So I think most people would
29:49
find it very advantageous to listen to their CPA.
29:55
What's something about because you do a lot of work with
29:58
restaurants, what's something about your work with restaurants
30:01
that's given you an unusual insight into that industry?
30:05
Let's. See here, I wouldn't say it's
30:10
unusual, but I mean, you can definitely see consumer spending
30:13
is going down, right? We're, we're, we're seeing what
30:16
you know, how and how and how our clients are like real time
30:21
adapting to the situations and just kind of making sure that
30:23
they're still set for, you know, their, their goals, their
30:27
budgeted goals for the year, whether they meet them or not.
30:29
But I think I think that's the biggest insights that there's a
30:32
lot of consumer spending going down, even though you hear a lot
30:35
about like the pay now, pay later things in the same kind of
30:39
consumer people, a lot of people are buying because of that, that
30:42
kind of situation. I don't necessarily think it
30:44
correlates with restaurants, but yeah, you definitely do see like
30:48
people are spending a lot less. How long have you seen that
30:51
trend exist? I would say I would see it
30:54
mostly this year from from what I've seen this year, I've only
30:58
seen it really have a huge impact this year for that space.
31:02
But other than that, I think everything else was either flat
31:04
or a little bit of growth prior from what I'm.
31:07
Talking about the restaurant industry in previous periods was
31:10
flat or are you talking about other industries restaurants?
31:14
Specifically. OK.
31:15
Yeah. And are you seeing those
31:17
restaurants do anything creative or not creative just to kind of
31:22
help fill in those gaps in numbers?
31:25
I think, I think, I mean the creative side, I think it it
31:29
probably not too creative. I mean I'm sure they tell us
31:32
about more happy hours. They tell us more about deals
31:34
that they're doing or more marketing, so to speak, or.
31:37
And then also, yeah, I think the the easiest way is probably
31:42
trying to for them is to like see if you're, if you're
31:47
scheduling a week of of staff, what can we run with the bare
31:52
minimum essentially to, to cut cost in that, in that regard.
31:56
But yeah. Let's shift gears a little bit.
32:01
Do you have a favorite book or podcast, Something that's been
32:04
helpful for you that our listeners interested in your
32:07
field might get benefit from? Inspire stories, but I do I do
32:14
like a lot I didn't I don't I don't get to watch a lot of it,
32:16
but Diaries of a CEOI think that's a very new hot one that
32:20
everybody should kind of go take a listen to.
32:22
I think that's really. What do you get from that?
32:25
What do you get from that one? What's the takeaways for you?
32:28
Yeah, I get a lot of inspiration.
32:29
I get a lot of like I see. And then you kind of also see
32:31
the struggles of how people got to to where they are as well.
32:34
And it's just like, it's very inspiring to to know that I feel
32:38
like there's kind of multiple ways to being successful.
32:42
There's also everybody has their, has their, their
32:47
hardships and their triumphs. And then even at the end of the
32:50
day, everybody's human. I think that's really showcases
32:53
that really well. And I and I really, really
32:55
appreciate that. What's a hardship that you've
33:00
gone through, Kevin? Big challenge you've had to
33:03
overcome, something you learn coming through the other side of
33:05
that. In yeah, so I thought about this
33:10
a lot and I couldn't really pinpoint like an like a specific
33:16
instance, but I could I could definitely pinpoint a specific
33:18
trait that I've developed throughout the years as I was
33:21
going through it and it's being a yes man.
33:23
So being a yes man, I, I can I essentially correlated to
33:27
burning out, right, because you create this complex of like,
33:32
yes, I'm happy to help. Yes, I'm willing to do it.
33:34
Yes, you should go spend time with your family and I'll pick
33:37
up the I'll pick up the word. Don't worry about it.
33:39
You know, kind of call it the the superhero complex.
33:42
I think. I think that's another way of
33:44
calling it. But like I've learned that that
33:46
has probably been my biggest weakness where I couldn't create
33:49
the boundaries that were necessary.
33:51
I just took on way too much than I should have that I thought was
33:56
expected of me essentially. And versus that it probably
34:00
wasn't expected of me to like take way more than I could do.
34:03
And so I think that's what's helped.
34:06
And then from that, I learned to essentially really, really kind
34:10
of hone in on my what is urgent, because if everything's urgent,
34:14
then nothing's urgent, right? So what's urgent?
34:17
What can I push off to a little bit later?
34:19
And then that kind of helped me start like kind of dissecting my
34:24
To Do List and, and things of that nature.
34:27
So yeah, that's probably my biggest, my biggest fault, I
34:30
would say. Yeah.
34:31
So where do you think that comes from?
34:33
Were you like that as a little kid?
34:35
Was that something that developed later in life?
34:38
Yeah, so I took care, I started taking care of my younger
34:40
brother when I was really young, as I was 10.
34:42
So there's a 10 year gap there, right?
34:44
And so and then my parents were always just like, you know, you
34:47
know, you, you're the man of the house.
34:49
You can you, you're going to take on responsibility.
34:51
And so I always kind of enjoyed that respect of like that kind
34:55
of scenario and then, you know, slowly realizing and returning
34:58
that, you know, you don't always have to be on all the time.
35:01
You don't always have to be the, you know, you don't, you always,
35:05
you don't always have to be the answer.
35:07
You know, you can always just be like, I can't handle that right
35:09
now. I'd love to help you and things
35:11
of that nature. But yeah, I think that's where
35:13
it probably stems from, where it's always having to be the
35:16
head of my family. Like even even like back then
35:20
when my parents were still kind of trying to learning English
35:22
while I myself was learning how to read and write.
35:24
Getting into like elementary school, I was reading like, like
35:28
bills or notices that they were getting in the mail.
35:30
And I was just like, I don't know how.
35:32
I don't know how to translate this to Vietnamese and things of
35:35
that nature, but they expected me to kind of like understand it
35:37
because I was at school when I was reading so.
35:40
OK. So at a very young age, you were
35:43
asked to take on a lot of responsibility, a lot of
35:46
pressure, but it sounds like it made you feel good.
35:50
I mean, you're doing things to help your much older parents and
35:55
there's a lot of gratitude from them, a lot of appreciation and
35:57
respect that you're able to do that.
35:59
And then as you moved into your professional career, sort of
36:04
carried that trait with you, like, hey, I want to impress, I
36:07
want to do a good job. I want to be like and respected
36:10
here. So I'm just going to keep saying
36:13
yes to anything that comes my way, Right?
36:16
Right. Yeah, being an opportunity,
36:18
being an opportunist is that much well as well, because I
36:21
think with every, with everything I said yes to, I
36:23
thought it was a learning opportunity, right.
36:26
But sometimes I said yes to too much and then the work quality
36:29
wasn't reflective of what I could do versus what I turned
36:33
in. And so that also teaches you to
36:36
you need to buffer that time for review.
36:38
You need to buffer that time to understand and learn and
36:41
accomplish all your goals. But you can't just say yes to
36:44
every project. That's what I also noticed as
36:46
well. Was this a gradual realization?
36:50
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was just like, I was kind of
36:53
like, we do this, we do an updated tracker on all the
36:56
projects we're working on. And I was just looking at it.
36:58
I was like, I have 8 things going on right now.
37:00
Maybe I need to, maybe I need to like reset and kind of just talk
37:05
to the managers and understand and like, hey, how do I delegate
37:07
this? Or is it OK that I can't get to
37:09
this right now? And then you slowly realize once
37:12
you kind of tell people or show people that like this is your
37:15
capacity, everybody and a lot of things kind of go your way, you
37:19
have a lot of bit more free time, you're doing more diligent
37:23
work, you're being you're learning more.
37:24
And then eventually, you know, you can get to that capacity
37:28
again. But at the same time, it really
37:30
helps me, really helps me channel into to doing the work
37:33
that's in front of me currently. Yeah, so it sounds like a big
37:36
part of it was, Yep, reaching out to your Co workers, your
37:39
managers, having an open, honest conversation about things and
37:43
then them almost in a sense giving you permission to tell
37:47
people no. Yeah, yeah, they're, they're,
37:49
they're, they're always, everybody always is on your
37:52
side. I know that like when because
37:54
they review our hours, they review everything.
37:56
They kind of have conversations. They're kind of they'll they'll
37:59
be able to pinpoint like, OK, this person's super busy or why
38:03
is Kevin super busy? Can can somebody like help him
38:05
out and understand that? So definitely again, the Better
38:08
Together kind of scenario, especially, especially with this
38:12
audit department, I feel it a lot because it's like every time
38:15
I feel like I'm coming to them with the, I would like almost
38:19
like a lack of confidence in myself or a lack of like or a
38:22
disappointing way, like I'm coming to them saying I can't do
38:26
this. It's more of like, oh, no
38:28
worries, we'll figure it out. We can get through this.
38:30
We'll separate some time for you to tackle this when you can.
38:34
So it's amazing. Better Together.
38:36
Yeah. There you go.
38:38
What's your superpower, Kevin? I think I, I looked at this one
38:43
too a lot. And something my cousin that
38:45
told me once he says you, you're a chameleon essentially.
38:49
I can kind of like, I can kind of be in any room with anybody
38:53
and kind of start a conversation and kind of build relationships
38:57
I think pretty easily just because I'm a inquisitive
39:00
person. I like to know a lot about
39:02
people and just ask them. And it's hard because some
39:04
people don't like to come out of their shell.
39:06
But I feel like if I find that one hobby or one thing that I
39:11
know something about and you know something about and I can
39:13
ask you about how genuinely care about your appreciation of that
39:17
hobby or the collection that you have.
39:19
I think that really, really helps me out a lot with the
39:22
day-to-day and. So you asked the hobby question.
39:27
What are some other questions that you like to ask in a
39:29
situation where maybe somebody's not being very open or
39:32
forthcoming and you're trying to find that common connection?
39:36
Yeah, I asked them like, like I think the latest one I kind of
39:41
asked was just like, so like is there anything new that you're
39:45
looking forward to? Is there, is there something
39:48
that you know, that's that's like at work you kind of want to
39:51
talk about? Because like if I'm in a room
39:53
with someone like, you know, because a lot of people want to
39:54
be heard and a lot of people and even if they are closed, they,
39:58
they do want to be heard to some extent.
39:59
So I'll just ask them or I'll ask them.
40:02
Even if like the most recent vacation, I'll ask those like,
40:05
so how is that taking time away like from work taking rather
40:08
than oh, what did you go see? It's like you took time from
40:11
work. Was that very relaxing for you?
40:12
Did you enjoy this? Did you get to have a chance to
40:15
unplug and unwind and kind of go into that?
40:18
Like definitely taking off the surface level of things and kind
40:21
of just going straight into like your like, how do you feel, you
40:24
know? Things I think you would be a
40:26
very good podcast host, Kevin. You keep going a layer deeper.
40:34
Yeah, yeah, you, you. I think, yeah.
40:36
People want to tell you how they feel.
40:37
They just don't know how to say it.
40:38
And when they hear it in the right way and the and they'll,
40:43
they'll, they'll just let it all out.
40:44
Yeah. I want to go back to something
40:46
we were just talking about, some insights that you have about
40:49
what's going on in the restaurant space, right?
40:51
You've seen, you know, decreased consumer spending and you do a
40:55
lot in investment funds too. You you mentioned one thing that
40:58
you're seeing like they're very interested in anything having to
41:01
do with AI. What's another observation that
41:05
you have from working with so many clients in that space?
41:08
Let's see. Here another observation.
41:19
I think I think in that, in that, in that space in itself
41:22
that I've noticed over the years, because I kind of always
41:25
wanted to know how people got to this point in an investment fund
41:28
is that trust is probably the most valued thing aspect that
41:34
people are looking for inside of fund managers.
41:36
And just understanding their track record of how they've done
41:39
over year over year to allow, you know, you essentially asking
41:43
people to, hey, let's create an investment fund.
41:46
I have a strategy and I'm going to I'm going to put it into
41:48
place. So I've kind of learned about
41:51
that. And there are different ways of
41:52
kind of investing into companies or kind of getting the capital
41:57
to get ready to go through that, through that exercise.
41:59
And I've just learned that it involves around a lot of trust
42:03
and understanding and being able to know what's going on in their
42:09
own realm. And that's what I kind of also
42:11
strive to, to be as like a very trusted advisor.
42:14
So I find that very, very interesting.
42:17
Yeah. How do you develop that trust?
42:20
Or from being on the one side of it and trying to forge trust
42:24
with someone else? What is it that makes you trust
42:27
somebody? I think the amount that they
42:30
kind of are willing to open up to 1 would be that area, I
42:34
think, I think as you're trying to build business and like build
42:39
client relationships, I think the number one thing is to
42:41
understand is that you need to nurture the relationship.
42:43
Very rare do I ever hear that like you just meet someone, you
42:46
shake their hands like you need an audit shakes hand.
42:48
Let's do this. It's more like you, you're
42:50
growing in your industry, you're you're becoming an expert.
42:53
You're posting a lot. People are seeing it.
42:55
So people that are in industry, right in these restaurant
43:00
companies or XYZ companies, right, they'll big, there are
43:04
senior accounts there that will be features CF OS potentially or
43:07
controllers or and move on to bigger and better things in
43:10
their lives as well and things of that nature.
43:12
But it's up to us to kind of build that trust.
43:15
And I think the best way to do that is to show the work that
43:18
you do is consistent and outstanding.
43:20
And another thing is to be able to kind of go on a personal side
43:24
and just, you know, touch base with them, catch up with them.
43:27
You know, if someone tells me if like, so if like if I was when
43:31
you were asking me, he's like, Kevin, you're going to Italy.
43:34
And then you gave me the background from your family
43:36
going to Italy. And then in a couple weeks
43:38
later, a couple months later, I would catch up.
43:39
I was like, how is Italy? You know, kind of the small
43:42
things. It's like the Michael Scott way
43:44
of doing business is how how I see that.
43:47
Michael Scott, the character from The Office.
43:50
Yeah. Say a little bit more about
43:51
that. I love, I love, I love he's AI.
43:54
It's just like he's a, you know, he's a goofy guy, but when he
44:00
but like every time you were watching the show and he needed
44:02
to make business happen, he made business happen because he had
44:05
this rolodex of interesting information or interesting
44:09
characteristics or interesting things that were going on with
44:11
prospective clients and kind of honing in on that the human side
44:15
of people. And I was like, that's, that's
44:18
very, very like insightful because it's like, I don't, I
44:22
don't think everybody always wants to talk business 24/7.
44:24
And a lot of people probably want to talk about their hobbies
44:26
and and things that they do outside of work more than
44:29
anything else. Well, you know, from where I
44:31
sit, I think that's a great way to really to get to understand
44:34
that person at a different level, right?
44:36
If all we did was sit here and talk tax and accounting and
44:40
audit, I would get a sense of what your professional expertise
44:45
is. But if we can talk about some of
44:47
those personal things like we did, you know, off air before we
44:50
started, you know, wanting to take the trip to Rome, hearing
44:53
about, you know, your upbringing and some of the things you're
44:56
able to do for your family. It's like, oh, I, you know, I
44:58
get a better sense of like how Kevin's wired, where he comes
45:02
from, what makes him a person. Would you agree?
45:07
Yeah, exactly, exactly. And I think a lot of people want
45:09
to want to have that conversation.
45:10
I think, I think more than anything else with these
45:15
relationships that they've built here, I think the last, the last
45:17
thing people want to really call about unless it's required is
45:20
about the job and would probably like to call about either
45:23
scheduling a golf event or scheduling a time to go get
45:26
dinner, you know, kind of talk. And then naturally allowing the
45:29
business to develop within those business conversations, to
45:32
develop within those personal conversations is probably my
45:35
best approach. And I think anybody's probably
45:37
best approach of kind of getting after it when it comes to that.
45:40
Yeah, I like that a lot. Yeah.
45:43
I'm curious if you've got something like this in your
45:46
memory banks. I find that as I look back in
45:49
time, some of my, what I thought were mistakes in the moment end
45:54
up becoming my greatest teachers when I've got a little bit of
45:58
distance from them. Can you think of an early moment
46:01
in your life or your professional career that seemed
46:03
like a set back at the time but actually propelled you forward?
46:08
Let's see here think, I think that probably ties into being a
46:13
yes man all the time. And I think there have been
46:16
times where I've emailed the wrong person where I just felt
46:20
like in and about a certain accounting subject that I've
46:23
been pertaining to another person.
46:24
I think that's that's happened a bunch of tries and I sit back
46:27
and I was like, Oh, I, I'm I'm going to get fired.
46:30
I'm I'm, I'm totally I'm totally done for.
46:33
And the best thing to do is to own up to it.
46:35
All right. And so a lot of people, I think
46:37
that's a very hard thing to overcome is owning up to
46:39
mistakes, right. And then another thing that's
46:41
taught me is that be diligent, take your time, work, understand
46:46
it can be as simple as you're typing an e-mail so fast that
46:49
you're, that it doesn't, it doesn't make any sense.
46:52
But like you're, you hit send right away because you know what
46:54
you just sent to them. And sometimes your clients
46:57
reading it and you're just like, oh, I definitely was just going
47:01
1,000,000 mph and didn't reread or didn't relook at how this
47:05
wording was phrased and things of that nature.
47:07
So I think every every mistake is the learning opportunity and
47:11
you just got to and every time you fall, you just got to get
47:13
back up. Have you come up with anything
47:16
that helps you slow down, that helps you to be more diligent?
47:20
One of my biggest review notes when I was a staff was spell
47:23
check in our work papers. So I have sticky notes around my
47:28
around my cubicle that said press F7 before you like before
47:32
you exit out of anything or re review, re review.
47:35
So I've, I've left that all around just to to now where it's
47:38
a, it's a, it's a habit now every time, no matter what I'm
47:41
doing, do a spell check, do an F7, which is the shortcut in
47:45
Excel to, to doing a spell check or just re reading and just
47:48
doing that. So I think that's that's
47:50
probably. So hitting that F7 sounds like
47:52
it's not just letting the computer do a spell check, but
47:55
it's your moment to take a deep breath and double check the work
47:59
that you've just put into there. Yeah.
48:01
Before you send it off. Yeah.
48:02
Yeah. How about any daily habits,
48:06
routines, things that either help you get your day started or
48:09
keep you on track? I do two things, so I know this
48:13
is going to sound really overplayed by I make my bed
48:17
every morning. The the first tax, the first
48:20
thing I can check off everyday is that means that I can
48:23
continuously check boxes off throughout the day.
48:26
Yeah. And then as soon as I get into
48:29
my, my, my office or I sit down, I use this, this notebook I have
48:35
here actually. And I write down my To Do List
48:37
#1 what's most important, which client is most important today?
48:40
What, what do I need to have out?
48:42
Even though I'll have it on A to do list somewhere else, I think
48:44
writing it out really, really helps me retain and stay
48:48
focused. And like so this, this notebook
48:50
will always be right here next to me at all times.
48:54
And I'm just and I date it every day, whatever is today's date.
48:57
And then I'll start working. And then if I need to add to it,
48:59
I'll add to it. Or if I need your jot down
49:01
notes. So when I come back from the
49:03
next day, the previous day, whatever wasn't there, I'll make
49:06
sure that it's on the the list again to to do to them that day.
49:10
I. Like that?
49:12
Kevin, I've just got one more question for you today.
49:15
But before I ask it, I want to do 3 quick things.
49:18
First of all, anybody looking to get in touch with
49:20
bennettthrashercanfindtheirwebsite@btcpa.net, btcpa.net.
49:27
And you can find Kevin Nguyen on LinkedIn.
49:30
We'll include a link to that in our show notes.
49:32
But if you're antsy and you want to search for him now, his last
49:35
name is spelled NGUYENNGUYEN Kevin Nguyen at Bennett
49:42
Thrasher. And then as a reminder, if you
49:45
want to get more employees access to benefits that won't
49:48
hurt them financially and carries a financial upside for
49:51
your company, reach out to us@backbenefits.com.
49:54
Finally, if you'll take just a moment to leave us a comment or
49:58
review on your favorite podcast app, you will hold a special
50:01
place in my heart forever. Thank you very much.
50:04
And so, Kevin, last question for you.
50:06
You and I reconnect a year from today and you're excited you're
50:10
celebrating something big. What's that big thing you hope
50:13
to be celebrating one year from today?
50:15
Getting my license, my CPA license, I, I assure you that it
50:18
will happen. I'll it'll be on the, it'll be
50:20
on the list of people that I call.
50:23
So how close do you realistically think it is the
50:26
year? It's it's in the city, it's
50:28
going to happen. It's I tell myself all the time,
50:31
it's the one thing that's preventing you from true
50:32
success. Sometimes, you know, in that in
50:35
that way, it's just like you get that CPA license partners just
50:39
that much more viable to to become.
50:42
So you feel like it's, it's not a pathway to success, but right
50:44
now it's a blockade. It's a.
50:46
Barrier. Yeah, essentially because I
50:48
can't, you know, if I don't have that, I can't.
50:49
So I mean, as anything, as any barrier in front of me, I'll
50:53
knock it down. Yeah, kind of mentality with
50:55
that. Once you knock down that
50:56
barrier, how quickly could the next step feasibly happen?
51:02
So the manager would happen almost within that year, I would
51:05
imagine. Oh, very quickly.
51:07
Yeah. So it would kind of just go up,
51:09
up, up that way and then see your manager and then whenever
51:12
there's a a room available or if there's time ready, you know,
51:16
make partner. I hope that strategy, that
51:17
strategy has been going on for this company for a while.
51:20
So hope to stay the same. But I think after, you know,
51:24
getting your CPA license, you can focus on a lot of other
51:26
things as well. You say as long as there's a
51:30
room open. What does that mean?
51:31
I think there's just, you know, like partner's retiring and then
51:36
business growing and like and things of that nature.
51:38
I think that's probably the best way to describe it.
51:41
So, you know, as long as BT keeps growing, there's going to
51:44
be room. Gotcha.
51:46
Well, Kevin Wynn from Bennett Thrasher, I want to be the first
51:49
to thank you for sharing both your time and your story with us
51:51
today. I really appreciate it.
51:53
Yeah, absolutely. I appreciate you and hope to be
51:56
talking to you soon. All right, folks, that's a wrap
51:59
on another episode of the Inspired Stories podcast.
52:02
Thanks for learning with us today.