Accounting is All in the Family for One "Retired" CPA
Anthony (Tony) Hearn, CPA, founder and managing partner of Anthony Hearn, CPA, of Trenton, has never turned down a client. That kind of mindset has led the Hamilton native to establish key relationships with clients and grow his part-time tax and accounting practice — inspiring both of his adult sons to also be CPAs.
Any one of those accomplishments is commendable, but all of them together show his resilience in the profession. Tony, who started his practice in 2001 while working a full-time day job at the New Jersey Department of Education in Trenton, retired from his state job in January. For most people, that would ordinarily mean slowing down, but for Tony, it means he now has more time to devote to his practice.
“I retired in January. This season I want a tax season where I can just do tax returns and do what I do best,” he said, noting his firm, which now consists of three part-time bookkeepers and his sons when they are free to help, does about 900 individual tax returns and 200 corporate tax returns. Clients range from individuals to estates, retailers, manufacturers, construction companies and nonprofit organizations in the tri-state area and Florida. “I do taxes for anyone from your local pizza place to a company that just got a valuation for $350 million.”
His clients appreciate his expertise and his candor. “Most of my clients all work during the day. They don’t want to see their accountant during the day. I’ve always had the philosophy, which is how I was able to keep my day job, ‘Come see me after work so that I don’t interfere with you making money.’”
Flexible Profession
Tony enjoys the flexible nature of the accounting profession. He looked to set up an office outside of his home four times, but he decided to work from home since it was more convenient in responding to client demands. “Since COVID, my business has more than doubled,” he said. “I used to go see all my clients. I see may be 10 clients, but other than that, it’s all remote.”
Having worked for 12 years as an Internal Revenue Agent and then picked up state tax expertise while working at Withum, Tony pivoted to work as a manager in grant compliance at the Department of Education. His government experience all came in handy when clients needed help with starting their business, capitalizing on growth opportunities or staying ahead of tax issues.
His words of advice to his kids and others at the younger ages: “Stay in the grass. Don’t be too far removed from actually doing tax returns or financial statements. Once you get to a higher level, you often don’t remember how to do that stuff.” He currently has 55 tax returns sitting on his desk.
Encouraged by his father who valued the CPA license as an IT professional, Tony also passed on that guidance to his sons, Chris, age 26, who is currently at a Big Four accounting firm, and Michael, age 28, who works as an assurance manager at a top-10 accounting firm. However, his sons, who both work in Philadelphia, did not need much prodding to go into the accounting field.
Growing up, they both worked at their father’s practice. In high school, his boys were eager to assist their father, who paid them an above-average rate for high school students. “When Christopher was in high school, I would pay him $200 per form for tedious work on tax forms when a company owns an international business. It was an interesting philosophy."
By the time his sons were old enough to think about careers, they already knew the financial benefits that CPAs, like their father, can obtain as well as what it feels like to assist clients. At a young age, they were able to forensically track the money trail for some of their father’s clients and stop fraud, saving the clients thousands of dollars.
The hope is that one or both of his sons may eventually take over his company. But until that time, Tony is just as happy working full-time at taxes in his “retirement.”