From Signing to an Indie Label to Signing Tax Returns
Shaune Scutellaro, CPA, tax senior manager at CohnReznick LLP, did not have the most typical path to becoming a CPA, but he wouldn’t trade it either.
As the lead singer in his band, Echo Screen, from 2003 to 2007, he enjoyed performing for crowds. Though he concentrated more on sports growing up, he realized in college he had a talent for songwriting. After leaving one band and helping to form Echo Screen — named for his passion for video gaming —Shaune and his new band members eventually signed with an independent record label. Echo Screen went on to tour in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and several tours across the country; but they had fans as widespread as Japan and Europe.
What he loved best about being in a band was the writing — particularly about life experiences and relationships. “I always wanted to craft my story with my songs,” he says, noting one of his favorite songs was “Everything After Bradford,” which described one of the band’s most surprising shows in Bradford, Pennsylvania. It’s interesting to Shaune since “everything after that show went completely wrong,” he says, adding that “people got sick and we missed shows.” The lyrics explain that “sometimes you think things are going well and all of a sudden it can go away just like that.”
Another favorite song was “This Letter Bomb” about a friend’s relationship that had gone on too long. For this song, Shaune and his bandmates traveled to Minnesota, where they spent 12 hours filming an animated video for the song.
When he finally decided to leave his band at the age of 24, it was mostly a family decision, based on his planning for the future and his wife Adrienne’s job offer in California. “It was time. As much as music is a lot of fun, there’s a lot of hard work and hard parts about it, such as the hours. The more I did it, the lifestyle was not for me,” he says.
Moving Towards the Numbers
Shaune didn’t immediately favor accounting over singing; it just worked out that way. As a student in college, Shaune had worked several summer intern jobs in tax and auditing while working for his father, Joseph Scutellaro, CPA, partner, Cohn-Reznick LLP, who then worked at his own firm, Jump, Scutellaro & Co. (eventually becoming Jump, Perry & Co.). It’s here where Shaune gained experience doing taxes in the spring and going out on audits in the summer. “When you are an accountant, you can do two or three very different jobs from each other. You are not pigeon holing yourself into one profession,” he says.
Shaune saw that he had a knack for getting to the bottom of client problems, understanding their particular industries and presenting their issues in a coherent and informative way. He always knew he liked math — and was good at it. While he was content to sing, after marrying, moving to California and looking to start a family, Shaune eventually turned to accounting to provide a quality life. A small CPA firm in Los Angeles was the start of his full-time accounting career.
But does accounting measure up to singing? For Shaune, it’s a definitive “yes.” “People really rely on you, and if you do your job right, you are really helping people; if you pay attention and do your best for the client than you are valuable to them.” He adds, “I have the opportunity to interact with people on a personal level. That came across to me very early; there aren’t many things that are more personal to people than their finances.”
Today, Shaune is still crafting notes, though more for clients than for hit songs. And with three kids and a specialty in tax, including start-up technology companies, he doesn’t have too much time for song writing.