Accountant finds joy in helping mom-and-pops

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.