Ex-Teach Takes Off Thanks To Personal Touch

Joanne Olszewski said she loved the eight years she spent teaching junior high math and science in Grand Rapids, Mich. The children, she said, were “young enough to be enthusiastic but old enough to tie their own shoes.”r

Now she looks for tax clients with the same qualities.r

A CPA in Fayetteville, Olszewski has seen her general accounting practice amass more than 200 clients in its six years of operation. During 2000 alone, her revenue jumped 25 percent, and she’s having to interview candidates to expand her business.r

Despite starting a small practice at a time when many firms got bigger to survive, Olszewski has concentrated on teaching her clients to get better at tax planning.r

“Oddly enough, I think my teaching experience influenced the way I do business,” Olszewski said. “My ideal client is one who can do their own books or who I can train to do their own. I tend to do something like that with all my clients. Last year the ‘retirement savings contribution credit’ came in and it benefits some people in a low income bracket.r

“Not many people ran into it, but those who meet certain guidelines can get a credit for contributing to an IRA. I explained it to the ones it could help.”r

About 75 percent of Olszewski’s business is tax work. The remainder is primarily made up of tax planning or what Olszewski calls her “emphasis on education.” She tells clients there’s two types of accounting: financial and managerial.r

Financial, she said, is compliance-related such as reporting to the Internal Revenue Service or potential lenders. But people don’t go into business to send the IRS forms.r

“They go into business hopefully for two reasons, to make money and do something they enjoy,” Olszewski said. “I work with companies to keep their information in order so they can make good managerial decisions.”r

Olszewski also does some Quickbooks consulting, bookkeeping and estate work. But it’s the tax strategies that business owners like Rebecca Garner, president of Garner Asset Management LLC in Fayetteville, rave about. Garner Asset is a Securities and Exchange Commission-registered investment advisor with more than $248.4 million in assets under management. r

“Joann does all of our tax strategy, and she does a heck of a job,” Garner said. “She’s very conservative in her approach, but we like that. She’s level-headed and very thorough.”r

Although 85 percent of Olszewski’s business is now electronic, she does not use the en vogue modes for outsourcing standard tax preparation overseas. Her personal touch has prompted referrals from small business owners such as Suzan Utley, president of Wildheart Designs Inc. in Fayetteville.r

Utley said Olszewski won the work for her screen-printing and embroidery company, which has about 300 clients, because the CPA prevents tax information from being intimidating.r

“Joann treats us as if we’re just as important as a very large company,” Utley said. r

Most of Olszewski’s clients are small employers with five to 20 employees. She got an MBA in 1978 from Grand Valley State College and a master’s in accounting in 1994 from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. She has worked in banking and manufacturing, but Olszewski’s love for tax planning evolved out of a part-time consulting gig.r

“It’s so tough in the business world, we would be remiss if we didn’t tell our clients about a new law that might affect their situation,” Olszewski said. “We tell them we don’t like surprises unless it’s jewelry or flowers.” r