There’s No Substitute for Experience
Industrious Nature Is Central to Young Accountant’s Career

By Jay Dismukes

It’s been said that you don’t have to be a straight-A student to be successful in life. If post-college jitters have started to creep into your psyche and that’s the theory you’re warily clinging to, then perhaps you’ll find a little peace of mind and inspiration in first-year accounting professional Philip Mehl.

When he was in college, Philip says his extracurricular interests had an uncanny habit of occasionally getting in the way of his accounting studies at SUNY New Paltz.

“I didn’t have great grades,” Philip says. “But I was ambitious. I was working while I was going to school and I was actually learning some other things, and I had a lot of real-life experience.”

This experience included three years of keeping the books for his father’s 20-man business, handling a $100,000 line of credit and working with a $2.5 million annual budget.

“I had seen a lot of things, and, within reason, my dad trusted me to make some pretty big decisions,” Philip says.

In Philip, mid-sized CPA firm Vanacore, DeBenedictus, DiGovanni &Weddell, CPA, LLP, must have seen an enterprising young man with a proven ability to juggle many tasks. They too put their trust in him and hired Philip seven months ago as a junior accountant. It’s a very challenging position he knows he couldn’t have landed on his grades alone.

“They want to see that you have had a job, and they don’t expect that you’re an executive working in a profession. So you can start out at a fast-food restaurant, but at some point toward your later years of college, you really need to get some experience in your field,” Mehl says. “I know when I was in college, and even now, the GPA is really the focus and everyone asks, ‘What do you have, a 3.6, a 3.9, a 3.2?’ But I’m sure a lot of employers would take a 3.0 with experience over a 3.8 without.”

Fast Cars and Financial Statements: A Match Made in Heaven

Before he enrolled at SUNY New Paltz, Metz went to a community college, where for a brief period he considered becoming a state trooper. But he’s always had an entrepreneurial streak in him, and decided that his talents would be better suited for a career in business. The rub, however, was figuring out which field to enter. One Christmas night, Philip was greeted by a messenger who would help set him on his path.

“My father’s accountant came over for Christmas. He was driving a Porsche, and he had a hot girlfriend at the time,” Mehl recalls. “He was telling me about how he was going to Vail, Colorado, to go snowboarding. And I said, ‘You know, if you got to work for a living, that sounds about as good a way to do it.’”

After that night—finally coming to terms with the fact that he probably wasn’t going to make it as a professional basketball player—Philip decided that he was going to become a CPA. He soon began taking accounting classes at his community college, later transferring into the accounting program at SUNY New Paltz, and subsequently accepted his father’s offer to be the bookkeeper for the family business.

While his studies weren’t always his top priority, Philip says his accounting curriculum gave him a solid foundation from which to embark on his career in the profession.

“Struggling through intermediate and advanced accounting—’cause it can be tough stuff—that stuff you learn in school is very legitimate,” Philip said.

Once he got to Vanacore, DeBenedictus, DiGovanni & Weddell, Philip quickly found out how important his accounting education is. Starting his employment in February, in the thick of the busy tax season, wasn’t exactly the hand-holding experience that he thought he might get. But he’s not complaining.

“A lot of how you learn is looking at what was done previously, and then you learn it and the next time you can do it yourself,” Philip said of his first few months on the job. “The good thing was that I got an accelerated learning process by starting in February as opposed to starting in the slower summer months.”

Philip, who currently is studying for the CPA exam, says his first year at Vanacore has been hard work, but his experiences with the Hudson Valley firm have been positive and he is excited about his future.

You would be too. One of the partners recently assisted Philip in securing his first house, which he closed on last month, and the firm’s career track is promising.

“The partners at this firm want to bring up junior accountants. They want us to become partners,” the Kingston, N.Y., resident says. “Of course, there’s a lot of work between now and then, and it’s nothing definite, but the thing is, that is what they want. Their ideal situation is to get you when you are young, train you to do things the right way, and for you to then pay off in the long run.”

Though many of the employees are senior level, the firm has a young environment that Philip enjoys. In his first seven months, he has worked in the firm’s client service division, doing monthly entry work, cleaning up general ledgers, and preparing quarterly payroll and sales tax as well as personal financial statements. He’s currently involved with two of the firm’s major audit clients.

During tax season Philip’s average workload is 55 hours, but that gets reduced to the standard 40-hour week during the other months. To be sure, he still has time to play basketball. Just in case.