Black Circle Ltd
Hello
I’m Tara. Let’s start with telling you what I am not.
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I am not a tax accountant. To be clear, I am very familiar with taxes and often prepare a company’s financial data in accordance with tax codes. But you don’t want me to do your taxes. Entering precise numbers in tiny boxes on standardized forms makes my head explode.
I am not a workaholic (anymore). Been there, done that. Extra hours for extra money <> happiness. Do not expect a detailed response to an email on the weekend (excluding urgent requests, of course!).
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My Story
Accounting is my passion…said nobody ever. Except maybe me once or twice. Nobody loves cleaning, but we love a clean and organized house. Well, accounting is cleaning of the numbers. Once things are tidy, you can step back and see a beautiful financial statement. Ok, maybe the word beautiful is a bit of a stretch but tackling the complexities of data is rewarding. Being an accountant means coordinating all the systems put in place by employees and software and vendors and customers. It is creating a happy dance between everyone to provide accurate and useful information. That is why I love accounting.
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My formal education at the University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown (bachelor's degree) and California University of Pennsylvania (masters) barely prepared me for detangling the web of debits and credits. Public accounting, the horror that it was, did allow me to experience all types of accounting scenarios that I wouldn’t have seen in just a few private industry jobs.
Then I detoured into a publicly traded company. Oops, wrong turn! Go back, go back! So, I went back to public accounting with a transition into forensic accounting. Is forensic as awesome as it seems? Yeah, it’s pretty awesome testifying on the stand to put someone behind the slammer. That is, until you start seeing the effect of fraud on business owners (financially and emotionally), while the perpetrator walks free and pays $30 in restitution for the next 652 years.
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But my most useful experiences came when I was hired as a controller of a private manufacturing company (yay! No more useless signing off of audit programs.). As the top financial person of this growing company, I learned by the best method of learning. I learned by making mistakes. I fell down, red cheeks and all, but I got back up, did my best and helped update our ERP system, change procedures, manage staff, oversee IT, and everything else as the company grew. It was exhilarating. And then it was exhausting. So I quit (um…there’s a little more to it than this…continue reading).
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Now I freelance (do not call me a “consultant”. I hate that word.). I live a very simple life in rural Pennsylvania and don't need fancy things (yes, I have a television, I’m not Amish.) Exchanging my time (of 40+ hours a week) for money no longer made sense. Freelancing became the perfect option to take back control of my life. So here I am.
There you have it. Thanks for reading!