Donovan CPAs is proud to announce that BJ Lippert, CPA & Partner, is a CPA Celebration Award Finalist.
Each year, INCPAS honors CPAs who drive innovation, strengthen the talent pipeline and make meaningful contributions to the CPA and accounting profession.
BJ is being recognized for the Visionary Award. This award recognizes a visionary individual or organization leading transformative efforts through activities, processes, or programs aimed at addressing future challenges and needs.
The winners will be announced on November 22 at the INCPAS CPA Celebration. We want to congratulate BJ and all of the finalists!
Learn more about BJ below, or read about all of the finalists in the INCPAs article.
What does it mean to you to be a visionary?
When visionaries look around, they don’t see what is there—they see what could be there. Even more importantly, they can rally a team behind the idea of what could be there and get them excited about bringing it to life. It’s one thing to have an idea. It’s a completely different skill set to say, “Come with me! We’re going to change the world around us together.”
How can individuals and/or organizations and firms best ensure they’re staying on top of the evolution of the profession?
Hire and empower an incredible team. A visionary’s role is to rally the team toward a common, better future. The visionary also has to be humble enough to step out of the way while the team is charting the course. I love the analogy of climbing a mountain together. The visionary can paint a picture of the summit we are trying to reach;. the rest of the team needs to be empowered to navigate the daily terrain. This approach is so important to Donovan CPAs, that we literally rewrote our mission statement to make our people our #1 priority: “Our mission at Donovan CPAs is to attract, develop, and empower an ever-growing team beloved by the clients they serve.”
How do you respond when someone says accountants are boring?
I know accountants who fly airplanes, ride motorcycles, compete in powerlifting competitions, skydive, own fashion stores, curate food blogs, run marathons, headbang to heavy metal music and so much more. Our profession draws in individuals who are meticulous, detail-oriented, reliable, hard-working and persistent. Could these attributes be spun into something negative like “boring?” Perhaps. If this is the case, then I say we could all stand to be a little more boring. Of course, if our clients would prefer to have their tax returns delivered while we juggle flaming swords, I’m sure we could accommodate that request as well!
