Think of excitement, thrills and passion,
and the first thing that springs to mind is
probably not accounting unless you happen
to be Tanya Parents, a CPA and coowner
of The CFO Group in Sparks. She
bubbles over with so much enthusiasm
about accounting that even a math-phobic
journalist can suddenly think: Yeah, maybe
it could be kind of fun.
Parents launched The CFO Group
about a year ago with a former colleague,
Dan Allen, the chief financial officer of ITS
Logistics and an accounting consultant.
Parents is president of the firm and owns
half of the company, and Allen, along with
two other leaders of ITS, own the other
half.
The CFO Group provides accounting
services and strategic financial planning for
small- to medium-size businesses. In some
cases the outfit acts as a company's CFO,
providing strategic financial guidance; in
others it performs the functions of an entire
accounting department. Entrepreneurs are
often so involved with managing other parts
of the business that they let the finer points
of financial management slide, which can
then snowball and produce devastating
effects.
"Our main goal is to make accounting
not so hard for small- and medium-sized
companies," Parents says.
The CFO Group's clients range from
mom-and-pops with annual revenues of a
few hundred thousand to one client company
making $20 million a year.
Parents says she loves helping business
owners improve their bottom lines. She tells
of one client whose company revenues
topped $1 million, but faced
out-of-control costs. Parents'
firm restructured his taxes,
which yielded a huge refund,
and renegotiated his debt and
his payroll processing and
other fees. The result: a combined
company and personal
savings of $20,000 a month.
"That's why I'm doing this,"
she says. "I got three hugs
when I gave him his tax
return."
Parents always liked math
and got a job in accounting
when she was still in high
school. A small manufacturing
company in her hometown of
Carson City hired her to help
with bookkeeping. She even
got to fly on the company jet
to trade shows.
She thought she wanted to
be a stockbroker, but as she
gained experience in accounting
she decided that's where
she wanted to stay. She worked
for the accounting department
at the Peppermill Casino while
she attended the University of
Nevada, Reno, and after graduation,
she worked five years
auditing companies for Grant
Thornton.
Parents decided to strike
out on her own because she
wanted to step out of the
adversarial auditing role and do
more to help business owners.
Plus, running her own company
seemed a natural step.
"Everyone in my family is
self-employed my mom,
dad, aunts, uncles and cousins.
My dad was always convinced
I'd run my own show."
Last year at 30 when she
told her parents she had quit
her job to start a company
and at the moment had no
source of income they told
her, "Cool!"
She partnered with Allen,
who had hired and worked
with her at Grant Thornton
before moving to ITS
Logistics.
"She's a real go-getter, and I
saw that long ago," Allen says.
"She's so energetic and so
excited. Every day she comes
in all fired up, and when she
meets with clients, her enthusiasm
is contagious. She is
truly passionate about the
financial field."
Parents spent the first week
at the helm calling everyone
she knew, and the client list
has grown quickly by word of
mouth. The company now
employs three accounting consultants,
besides her and Allen.
She says the toughest challenge
is keeping a handle on
growth adding clients but
not taking on more work than
the firm can handle. Another
challenge is simply explaining
what the company does. "We're
not just bookkeepers and tax
preparers," she says. The group
does those things, but also provides
high-level strategic
advice, such as reviewing
financial models to make sure
they make sense. Clients hire
the firm on a retainer and pay
according to how much they
use its services.
Parents says running the
business knowing the buck
stops with her is humbling.
"And it's very fun," she adds.
She says she doesn't mind putting
in 70 or even 80 hours a
week. "I know that input
equals output."
Her energy doesn't stop
when she leaves the office,
either. A former marathon
runner, she competes in
triathlons and cycling events,
having recently completed a
75-mile ride around Lake
Tahoe.
