Tina Moe, Certified Public Accountant and owner of A.C.T. Services Inc. refers to herself as an educator and tax code interpreter for individuals and business owners. She took an unconventional route to becoming a Certified Public Accountant and owning her own business. Her parents decided it was in her best interests if she got a job and started living on her own, when she was just 18 years old. One of her early jobs involved doing minor bookkeeping services for a small pool company. She found tracking debits and credits interesting work and decided to pursue an accounting degree.
She funded her college tuition by providing bookkeeping and payroll services to businesses. Tina says she traveled from business to business doing their bookkeeping and payroll and over time, started to develop a clientele. She realized as she neared graduation that she had a business. Those contacts, cultivated throughout her collegiate years, became her initial clients, once she graduated, and started a full accounting practice.
Her first 90 square foot office had a westerly-facing window that made her room seem more like a sauna in the afternoons. That small space is long gone and the latest move for A.C.T. Services Inc. was into a beautiful 4,300 square foot office, with her window facing north, to avoid the afternoon glare. Her firm now has 12 employees offering a complete array of accounting services to meet every possible IRS, Payroll, Bookkeeping and General Accounting need.
As her business has grown and progressed, Tina realized that she especially enjoys educating new startup business owners on how to establish systems to stay in compliance. Being involved from the conceptualization of the business’s accounting systems and processes allows her to contribute to the growth and success of the business. It also prevents the client from encountering taxation penalties or other financial problems arising from incorrect filings.
Her passion for this work stems from past encounters with business owners that experienced problems with the IRS, two or three years into their business, who came to her and said, “gosh I didn’t know I was supposed to be doing that, or I didn’t know I was doing that wrong.”
According to Tina, “Unfortunately ignorance is not a defense, when it comes to the IRS.”
Those business owners found that out the hard way; it would have been cheaper and much less stressful, if they had aligned themselves with the right professionals at the outset and gotten the correct advice.
Tina has a vision to continue growing her business and building an organization that serves business owners, as well as, individuals. She wants to expand, while maintaining a high level of reliability, professionalism and accuracy, all at a fair price.
Building her team is also a focus for Moe. She plans to continue to build a team of professionals that keep their promises to clients and meet every important deadline. Tina said, “I want a team that sees problems and challenges to their resolution and maintains a constant learning mentality. I think that is important in every business. I also want each member of the team to maintain the sense of being approachable, pleasant to work with and intelligent”. Tina has built her business by providing the best accounting services and advice, and she expects the same from her entire team.
“We never want our client to be intimidated. We strive to translate accounting and tax into English so our clients feel comfortable with the documents we create.”
Tina also has a plan to continue to expand her business through future acquisitions. That is a solid method of growth for her business.
Tina’s advice for new business owners is to be surrounded by the right professionals; such as, an attorney, a CPA, and someone in the insurance industry. Entrepreneurs typically have an optimistic spirit and there’s nothing wrong with passion and enthusiasm. However, according to Moe, they must plan for the worst and with the help of the right advisors, they will be prepared for the untimely or damaging obstacles that may happen to challenge their business.
With her experience and success, Tina is a sought after consultant and speaker.
Tina says, “I can’t say that I love doing speaking but I think the message is important.”
Moe also urges business owners to expand their comfort zone and push themselves to do things that will help them grow personally, such as public speaking. Even though they may be reluctant at first, she firmly believes public speaking is one of the most important skills that a business owner can possess.
Even in an industry that is constantly changing, Tina is more confident than she has ever been and embraces the expanded role of consultant not just accountant. According to Moe, a CPA’s role today not only includes being an accounting and tax service provider, but they also serve as a trusted advisor. The relationship the CPA has with a business owner is important to help guide and navigate the business through governmental regulation and competitive pressures. The days of a bookkeeper leaning over his desk wearing a green visor pouring over records is definitely “old school.”
Tina believes she is in a personal and professional growth phase of her life and has been embracing that. She no longer see challenges as problems as much as a chance to stretch herself. She realizes that every situation is not earth shattering; each problem may be an opportunity in disguise and simply requires a mind shift.
Tina Moe has spent her career “Soaring to Success” by building a thriving accounting firm. She understands the challenges of the future and is ready and excited to keep moving forward, learning and expanding.
To contact Tina Moe and learn more about A.C.T. Services visit: www.actservices-inc.com.
Be sure to listen to the complete podcast of our interview with CPA, Tina Moe.
