I am not one who is usually inspired by people. Once in a while, a specific quote or an individual performance will stick with me, but almost never a person. I am not sure why. Maybe because I recognize that no one person in the world is perfect, and eventually most of my "idols" get knocked down by scandal. Even as a fan of sports I have never truly looked up to the athletes I watched and thought, "Wow, what a great person. I want to be like him."

Recently, I had my first "man crush."  I had the chance to hear the new AICPA chairman, Richard Caturano, speak at a New Hampshire Society of CPAs event. He spoke passionately about the way that the CPA profession opens doors for young people and how it can be a pathway to the American Dream. I was also excited to see him on the cover of the Journal of Accountancy for a feature article entitled " Embracing Change" about his life, leadership, and vision. The article recounts his rise from a tough neighborhood outside Boston to building a well-respected small firm, to selling it to a larger firm and eventually taking the helm of the larger firm's main office in Boston, until he eventually becomes the AICPA chairman.

In meeting Rich and hearing about his vision of promoting the pathway to the American Dream to today's youth, I started to think of my own story.  My formative years were spent in the woods of Maine. Not the rocky, lobster-loving, tourist-haven coast, but the kind of woods you see on the logging shows, thick Maine accents and all. My family had just more than nothing. We moved to Maine from Massachusetts to escape rising rents and tough neighborhoods. Both my parents were very young and things were pretty tough. I remember eating a lot of the government's cheese. The future job prospects in a mill town in the Internet age didn't look promising.

Good information is a valuable commodity
When I was 12 years old, I played a Nintendo game called Wall Street Kid in which a young man makes stock picks to make money while also having to go on dates, work out, etc. I came to know this as essentially the game of life. Needing to balance things without many resources. Every day you had to read the newspaper and make portfolio choices based on what you could infer from the information. There was a lot of (while crude) information about the performance of the stocks and the companies. No killing zombies, just reading the newspaper and picking stocks. Oddly enough, this game had a major effect on my perspective. I began to think of good information as a very valuable commodity.

I started college as an engineering major. Mostly, because I liked math and science, but also because it had the highest average salary.  Along the way I found that I enjoyed the economics class I took as an elective much more than I enjoyed advanced chemistry. While switching to the business path, I avoided accounting like the plague. I vividly remember talking to the dean of the business program trying to get out of taking any accounting classes as I certainly wouldn't end up as an accountant. Thoughts of green shades and white-haired men with thick glasses pounding away on calculators shaped my conception of what accountants do.

Accounting is the language of business
I remember the dean telling me that accounting was the language of business and that every facet of a business depends of accounting to function. A few weeks into that first accounting class I was hooked. It just made sense. Others struggled and I excelled. I felt like the world was my oyster (or lobster...I was still in Maine). I didn't really know what accountants did or what being a CPA truly meant or even what the acronym meant, but I was on my way!

Nearly 10 years into my career as a CPA and my American Dream is happening now. My family and I enjoy a nice home and financial security. My two daughters have the option to explore dance, swimming, skiing and other activities that my siblings and I never could. And all the while their future educational burdens are being reduced by each regular contribution to their 529 plans.

The truth is as CPAs (me included) we often lose sight of the gifts we have received in the profession. It may be that sometimes the struggle doesn't always seem worth the reward. Maybe that next pay raise or that next promotion hasn't been quite caught. I am sure that Rich Caturano had moments where the thought of "Is this worth it?" popped in his head. Surely, he too had doubts along the way and moments of short-sighted perspective.

Tell your CPA story
In the spirit of Rich Caturano's AICPA tenure I invite you to tell the CPA story. Testify about what the profession has done for you. I invite you to really think about how far you have come in your career and allow yourself to be inspired by people like Rich. In those times when the effort doesn't seem to match the reward, think about your starting salary way back when. Think about the excitement you had when you first "got" accounting.

The article I read described Rich Caturano as a man of almost 60. The man I met showed the energy, strength, and confidence of a man in his 30s, maybe 20s. Maybe it was just the tan.

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