Meet the Chief Financial Officer [Video]

Kids don’t usually say they want to grow up to be an accountant. So in this video, we dive into how our Chief Financial Officer found his professional in accounting and why he loves what he does. Read the transcript below!

How Did You Get Into Accounting?

Michelle Smalenberger, CFP®
Mm-hmm, yeah, yep. So I guess take us back when you were younger, we kind of want to hear a little bit how you got into accounting, what you enjoyed, your interests, things like that,

Steve Smalenberger
Yeah, so starting way back, did I always think I’d be an accountant? No, I did not. Ever since I was a little kid, I’m the oldest in my family, so the oldest sibling of three, so I’m probably the most organized or have everything in order, know where everything is, of would line up my cars, line up my toys, put everything away. So I like structure, I like things in its place.

I always enjoyed math from a very young age. The funny thing about tax returns is it’s very simple math. Addition, subtraction, a little multiplication, division. So it’s simple math, but it’s the organizations, the structure I think I enjoy. So as I was growing up, did I know what I wanted to do? Not necessarily. thought maybe there would be, maybe it would be a math teacher or doing something with mathematics. And as I got older and took classes in college, that just didn’t as excite me as much. There was a time where I was considering maybe going into aviation, so being a pilot. All of my family, all starting with both sets of grandparents, all aunts and uncles, parents worked for United, so we were always around aviation. So I thought maybe being a pilot one day would be where I land.

Whenever we would fly, we would fly standby. I would always listen to the pilot conversation between the pilots in the cockpit and the tower and just really enjoyed that. I always thought they were really responsible. They had their checklist. And they were responsible for everyone on the flight! They seemed well respected. That seemed like it would be maybe something I would get into.

Then when I started working at a golf course, a local country club where I caddied, was there 13 seasons, part of me really wanted to become a pro golfer. So not a pro golfer on the tour, but a local head pro at a course where you were in charge of your pro shop, you taught lessons, you were just social with members. So that was another thing. But it wasn’t until I went to college, the first year of school, you had to pick kind of your gen eds and then something in the major that you wanted to be. And I remember my mom saying, you know what, you should try this accounting class. I think you might like it. And that was really my first exposure to it. I had a wonderful teacher, Maureen Macbeth at College of DuPage where she just made it fun.

Even though we’re talking numbers and accounting, which some people would say that’s a bore or that I would rather poke my eye. Like she really made it fun. And that was my first exposure. I remember my mom saying, you know, even if you don’t get into accounting or finance, this will be a life skill that you will always have, will always use. It’s not something that you’ll ever feel like you waste your time. So yeah, was that accounting 101 at College of DuPage with Professor Macbeth that really kind of started the journey.

What Keeps You Excited As a Chief Financial Officer?

Michelle Smalenberger, CFP®
So I guess, what would you say like keeps you going? you know, I think people always kind of joke like no kid really grows up being like, I want to be an accountant, saying that’s what they want to be when they grow up. It usually is more of like the pilot, the golfer that, know, kind of more maybe some of those more flashy things. So I guess what keeps you going in accounting? What is it? You know, yeah. Each day that you wake up wanting to do it.

Steve Smalenberger
So actually, I saw a funny YouTube video. It wasn’t meant to be funny, but I saw an interview the other day by a Freddie Freeman, Los Angeles Dodgers MVP of the last World Series. He wanted to grow up to be an accountant and ended up playing baseball and becoming an amazing, probably future Hall of Famer. But.

Michelle Smalenberger, CFP®
Interesting.

Steve Smalenberger
It’s because he was surrounded by accountants, his father and uncle, and they had a firm. So he always pictures himself as being a future accountant. But you’re right, a lot of times you don’t know what you want to be in until you grow up. But what do I enjoy about it today is taking, so it’s not the numbers, it’s not making sure they’re in the right spot of a tax return, it’s not the projections, it’s taking all of that, then, presenting it or talking it through with a client. Seeing how they can change their life now to improve in the future or change behaviors so that they don’t experience something that they had in the past. It’s really the personal side of it. It’s taking those numbers and those stories and living them out with a client.

Michelle Smalenberger, CFP®
I think what’s great is you show someone kind of a before and after, here’s kind of like side by side, here’s a few options you have to change the tax impact for the year. And so what’s interesting is they get to make different decisions and you’re showing them that, so.

Steve Smalenberger
Yeah, we like to kind of, here’s last year, here’s three different scenarios, kind of a, here’s what we think you should do, here’s kind of a happy medium, and here’s maybe a few that you can decide on. And when they can see that and see the impact of what their decisions will result in, they buy into it. And that’s the fun thing, that’s the cool thing, is when you can see them engage and really understand what they’re looking at.

What’s is like Training New Accountants?

Michelle Smalenberger, CFP®
Mm-hmm. Yeah. So one of the other things that you get to do or you’ve gotten to do, like as our business has grown, one of the other roles that you’ve kind of taken on is training. This has kind of been something that you’ve, you know, trained people to help you with tax, tax preparation. Do you enjoy that kind of that coaching training someone else to now kind of like be a support for you?

Steve Smalenberger
Yeah, so I’d say there’s a little bit of a teacher in me. When I can explain something in a way where someone gets it or understand it, that brings a lot of joy to me. That’s fun where you can see people who maybe didn’t have any exposure to it before start to understand it and then you add in different things. So yeah, I enjoy it.

But throughout that, all those lessons, it could get terribly boring. Tax returns, tax accounting can be a terribly boring concept or process. like learning to add creativity and like, having like, I call them like scavenger hunts or Easter egg hunts where I’m like, here’s a tax return. I’ve thrown in some things. I need you to go find them or go find the heirs. And here’s some clues. So creativity in that process, knowing how to keep it fresh and exciting to keeping it structured, to keeping it on plan so that at the end of the training, he’s where I want him to be. So there will be seasons of

I need some patience on this, to I need to be like the encourager. I need to be excited, excited about it myself so that he’s excited. To also people reading. So kind of reverting back to some of my caddy days, like knowing how to interpret what he’s going through right then. Like, is he getting it, not getting it? Is he scared to ask the question, embarrassed to ask the question? Do I need to ask him the question so I know where he’s at? All of that.

Michelle Smalenberger, CFP®
Yeah, yeah. No, I think those are really great skills!

Related Links to this Video

Listen to our full conversation in episode 56, “Start with Why: Steve’s Story.” Find it by streaming the Behind the Designs podcast.

If you have more questions, then reach out! We specialize in complexities like executive compensation, tax planning, and investment management. Our team would love to see how we can help bring confidence to you and your family’s finances.

Thanks for watching!