Kevin Nguyen’s First-Generation Journey: From Vietnamese Refugee Family to Bennett Thrasher CPA Career

Anthony Codispoti (00:00)
Welcome to another edition of the inspired stories podcast where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from their successes and be inspired by how they’ve overcome adversity. My name is Anthony Cotaspodi and today’s guest is Kevin Nguyen. He is a financial reporting and assurance senior at Bennett Thrasher, a privately held accounting and consulting firm that has been serving clients for over 45 years. Bennett Thrasher focuses on providing tax,

audit, advisory, and outsourcing solutions, emphasizing strategic guidance and financial confidence. As the first in his family to earn a college degree, Kevin has progressed from an audit staff accountant to his current senior role. Before joining Bennett Thrasher, he gained experience as a tax intern at Brooks McGuinness & Company. His proven track record, along with his commitment to serving clients, reflects

Bennett Thrasher’s core values of collaboration and integrity. Now, before we get into all that good stuff, today’s episode is brought to you by my company, Adback Benefits Agency, where we offer very specific and unique employee benefits that are both great for your team and fiscally optimized for your bottom line. Imagine being able to give your employees free access to doctors, therapists, and prescription medications. And here’s the fun part. The program actually puts more money into your employees’ pockets.

and the companies too. One recent client was able to increase net profits by $900 per employee per year. Results vary for each company and some organizations may not be eligible. To find out if your company qualifies, contact us today at adbackbenefits.com. All right, back to our guest today, the senior auditor of Bennett Thrasher, Kevin Nguyen. Thanks for making the time to share your story today.

Kevin (01:53)
Absolutely appreciate you having me on today, Anthony. Super excited and super joyful that I can be here and kind of meet the connection and get this going. Yeah.

Anthony Codispoti (02:03)
All right,

well, let’s do it. So you were the first in your family to get a college degree. And I think you’ve put a lot of pressure on yourself to be a leader partially because of that. Can you walk us through what that journey looked like? What motivated you to break new ground for your family?

Kevin (02:19)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So I think the most important takeaway is there’s a lot of sleepless nights in that, that putting that pressure on me. ⁓ so, ⁓ I’m kind of was talking to my parents when I was younger, around 18. So they’re like, you have to go to college. And I was somebody that was like, I don’t want to go to college. And, you know, they said, and essentially they were saying that this is something we don’t have, you know, we came over here by boat. You know, we’ve worked our ground, we’ve worked from the ground up. We’ve done.

built nail salons and things of that nature, but we still don’t have a college degree. I want you, and my mom and dad was basically saying, we want you to have something that we don’t have. Right? Because they were always busy working, I think six or seven days a week to kind of just get us to be, to have the ability to have this. So I kind of got instilled in me for a while. I kind of just went through my younger teens, my early twenties, just working and doing various things. And then my uncle,

got a sushi restaurant called Rusants here locally in Kennesaw and I kind of worked for him and then I was just like, okay, maybe working day in and day out at a restaurant isn’t for me, but I do love the restaurant industry. So I kind of went back and I went to some classes at Kennesaw State University, really enjoyed my accounting class and then kind of told myself, I kind of want to be the accountant for restaurants in Atlanta specifically. I love my city, I love food.

It’s kind of all made sense. And now I’m kind of here doing it, essentially working on primarily restaurant clients and other industries. But yeah, so the pressure is definitely heavy on one to kind of take on their own. And you kind of always just feel like you have to take this because it’s, you know, it’s something your parents don’t have. So I’m like, I should definitely be doing this to honor them to and things of that nature. But that’s just the dynamic that we have.

Anthony Codispoti (04:10)
And so you said your family came over on the boat, came over from where, when, how.

Kevin (04:16)
Vietnam in the 70s. So right after the fall of Saigon, my dad came here and then my mom also came here through the same channel and they met in New York. And so they were living in New York and that’s where I was originally born. yeah, so it’s like, you know, they had to leave their own home country and come here and, you know, create a dream, create a life for, you know, now me, my sister and my youngest brother.

It was very, it’s very different when you see that type of struggle and learning English and just doing odd jobs. And so they kind of found their way with the nail salon and it’s just very, very inspiring myself. And I kind of took that for granted when I was younger. And now I see that all their hard work is, you know, paid off. like, I think to this day, my dad randomly just tells me, he’s like, I’m really proud. I don’t worry anymore that you have a college degree now. So, yeah.

Anthony Codispoti (05:11)
That’s great. My father is an immigrant from Italy and a lot of sacrifices that he made, a of sacrifices that his parents made when they brought him over as a young boy. And there was a lot of emphasis on our family also put on get a college education because those were opportunities that were just not available to them there. And they worked really hard, much in the same story that you’re sharing here. And so I can respect why, you know, and it’s interesting that you took a little bit of time.

and sort of kicked around in between high school and college. And I’m gonna try sort of my own thing. And was it sort of a light bulb moment that went off or was it this gradual realization that I need to follow my parents advice and I need to go get a college education?

Kevin (05:55)
think it was gradual, but when the light bulb hit, it hit right away. It’s almost a mix of the two, yeah, I think I was just kind of working at the restaurant. noticed that like 6 a.m. I had to be up and then I had to do inventory or had to do prep or I had to do something because somebody called out. And then at the end of it where I’m trying to help my uncle close down the restaurant and I kind of just noticed my days were getting longer and longer. And then I also noticed that we have to be open during holidays because…

you know, everybody, you everybody wants to go out to eat. And so I started missing out on holidays and I was getting a little concerned about that. And I was like, is this my life? Is this what I really want to do for the next 20, 30, 40 years ahead? You know, because even as an owner of a restaurant, my uncle, you know, you have to be there. You, you, unless you built so many processes that you’re very hands off, you almost essentially have to be there to ensure quality control, to ensure the customer’s satisfaction is high and things of that nature, just to make sure everything’s staying afloat.

Anthony Codispoti (06:51)
And so, okay, you make the decision, listen, this is a hard life. I need to take a different path. I need to go to college. What specifically drew you into the finance and accounting world? What attracted you?

Kevin (07:03)
I think so I was in the back and then I had a customer come in and she goes, you know, and I was kind of just telling her, I was like, I was getting tired, you know, and cause she’s been a long time recurring customer. And she said, you should try, you should, you should just try accounting. I mean, you know, long hours just like this, but you get to sit at a desk all day. I was like, okay. And so I joked, I joked a little terribly. I was like, I’ll try it. And then, so, and then I have a family full of entrepreneurs. I know they’re always concerned about.

they are always concerned about taxes, even though I don’t do any taxes, they’re always concerned about their taxes. And people find comfort in numbers. So I said, let’s go take this accounting class, let’s see how it goes. And I’ve enjoyed it ever since.

Anthony Codispoti (07:44)
Okay, so started with ⁓ random comment from a longtime customer, ⁓ connecting the dots with your family always being concerned about their taxes. And okay, I’m going to take a class took the class and you loved it. And then ⁓ how did the door actually open up for you to join Bennett Thrasher?

Kevin (08:03)
I probably took more opportunities of like networking, know, kind of just making sure, cause I felt behind. So I needed to, I knew I needed to kind of step up my game essentially if I was, like most people went to college right at 18 and then graduated two and three to four years, you know, I took some time. So I had to take that initiative and then kind of just was throwing my resume out there, taking, taking time and interviewing and kind of landed on BT and kind of reviewed.

just like everybody else does, goes on the website and kind of got inspired about some of the stories and some of the things that were said on the website. And then I got fortunate enough to get an interview here.

Anthony Codispoti (08:43)
Okay. And ⁓

tell us a little bit more about what Bennett Thrasher does. Okay. Accounting, CPA, but what sets you guys apart? How are you guys different?

Kevin (08:52)
think it sets us apart is like our accountability. Like, so when we say we’re going to do something, we do it. I think I hold that very true. And then on top of that, the learning here, I think is tremendous. The mentorship here is out of this world. I think a lot of the people in the management group and the partner group are always willing to help and always willing to extend a hand wherever you may need it. And that also reflects to the client as well. We stay on top of our.

reporting deadlines, we stay in communication with them, we try to advise them as much as we possibly can with any subject matter that they may have. So that kind of shows that, that also shows through our various ⁓ service lines, right? I think there’s, ⁓ I think when a lot of people here at accounting firm, they just automatically assume tax and audit on the heavier side. If you kind of just scroll down, you have restraining local taxes, you have your tax controversies, you have your…

⁓ credits and incentives. do risk advisory as well, which is more on the business side. And then we also have forensic accounting and valuation. So there’s a lot, there’s a lot under the, under the realm of like just audit and tax. So I think what sets us apart even further is that ⁓ we care about the people, you know, so a lot of people who work in public accounting probably feel like they’re just a number on most days, but here I have a pretty good relationship with.

the partners and the managers, the seniors and everybody around us. And it just feels pretty great when I come to work, which I feel like is.

Anthony Codispoti (10:26)
So you get to interact

with a lot of the senior executives and the partners there.

Kevin (10:31)
Yeah, yeah, I think I primarily interact with two or three of them just because those are the industries I’m in, but it’s exciting. It’s exciting. can walk into the head of my department here, Lindsay Sykes, and just say, good morning. How are you? How was your weekend? Talk it up, and then ⁓ we’re also all going golfing on Friday. So super exciting.

Anthony Codispoti (10:52)
something you can

do in Georgia at the end of November.

Kevin (10:55)
Yeah,

yeah, last week was looking a little rough and then this week is the weather’s warmer. So I’m super appreciative of it and super excited about all of

Anthony Codispoti (11:01)
Yeah.

And the industries that you focused on, I think you said before that you get to do a lot in the restaurant industry. there other spaces that you serve as well?

Kevin (11:13)
I primarily do restaurants and investment funds. So these private investment funds and then kind of just, you know, when we do the audits, just ⁓ primarily sharing the valuations are correct. I think that’s the most important part of it. And kind of going through that and kind of understanding where industries are at, I think for the most part right now, if it’s not AI, I don’t think anybody wants to talk about any, ⁓ which is very…

which is very, very different, everybody wants to talk AI left and right.

Anthony Codispoti (11:47)
Are you talking about specifically with your investment fund clients or?

Kevin (11:50)
Yeah,

just from a high level viewpoint, I’ve just seen people that just like everybody’s kind of grabbing a piece of the pie, so to speak, and just looking at these startup AI companies and just seeing what they can really do. And so I think it’s just a very, very hot commodity right now to be able to get into a startup.

Anthony Codispoti (12:09)
Yeah.

From the other side of it, are you guys utilizing AI in your workflows at all?

Kevin (12:17)
I think everybody is. think we use some of it here and there, but there’s definitely, I think AI is still in the point where you have to make sure you’re diligently over-checking everything and just ensuring that everything is right. I think it helps us a lot with ⁓ either, like if we have like a large agreement that we need to get a summary of or a synopsis of, we can use that, I think, for more or less, but we can always ask ⁓ AI in general about certain accounting principles and

things of that nature and I’ll explain it to you. But I think for just workflows, I think we kind of use it more as a leverage than anything else. But as of right now, for me, I really don’t see AI helping audit for a while. I would say so.

Anthony Codispoti (13:01)
Why would you say that? What do you think the limitation is?

Kevin (13:02)
I think there’s just some things,

I think my ⁓ interpretation of that is essentially like, we’ve used it, I’ve used it, and I see that there’s still some hiccups. so there’s, so instead of like, yes, you’re not inputting the data, but you’re meticulously reviewing. So I think time can be like switched over versus it’s not like, you can’t just rely on it. I don’t think anybody should ever just rely on it in my opinion. But yeah, I think it’s still got a little bit of ways to go.

we can start really cranking it out and using it to its fullest potential. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we find, I find them and where they don’t point it out sometimes because again, I’m meticulously reviewing again, just to make sure or it didn’t pick up something or, and so, so yeah, things of that nature until probably is able to do it while you’re essentially sleeping. Then you gotta have to wait a little bit on that one, on that end.

Anthony Codispoti (13:37)
is you find mistakes in the work. Yeah.

Yeah, you know, I was researching a legal case recently and using chat GPT to try to help understand what was sort of surrounding it. And it came up with some really interesting things that I forwarded to my attorney. And I’m like, Hey, I’m not sure if your analysis is correct, because look at this and this. And it’s like, those were proposed laws that never actually were adopted.

And just like is one specific example of how AI found something out there, but didn’t recognize the difference between this was a proposed law changed, but it never actually came through. Can you think of a specific hiccup or wrinkle that you spotted?

Kevin (14:47)
Not necessarily from like when I’m reviewing or something like that. It does give me like high level, because I’ve done some work with purchase accounting and making sure it all flows through the report and is within ⁓ the framework that we put the report in. And I noticed that it’ll just like forget to mention like, ⁓ because there’s like either it could be like a seller’s note or there could be a.

or they could be like an earn out and then you have to make sure you’re accruing for that and things of that nature. I think that’s where I’ve noticed it where it didn’t pick it up essentially. so, imagine if like we were trusting an AI so much that you sent that up to like a partner or something like that, then they would catch it for sure. I know the partners will always catch things like that, but just for your sake, then you’re not using your potential to learn and understand the concepts of things of that nature.

Anthony Codispoti (15:44)
So, Kevin, tell us a little bit more specifically about what you do in your role as financial reporting and assurance senior.

Kevin (15:53)
Yeah, yeah. So, I mean, essentially it’s just, you you know, if you, if you need an audit and you’re not a public company, we’re, we’re, we can, we can definitely do that. And essentially we’ll just be testing. We get your, we get your trial balance. We look at the numbers, you know, we scope it out and then we test in certain areas and we test certain accounts and just making sure everything’s in compliance and everything is accurate for a reasonable level of assurance. Right. And then on top of that, I think what I’ve found.

very interesting is that on my day-to-day, I’m more ⁓ advising clients on how to approach certain situations. I’m understanding how to ⁓ delegate work, whether it be upwards or downwards. I just find it very interesting to be in a team project-based ⁓ approach where comes with, you’re working with different people all the time.

That’s what I found interesting. then, you know, we issued the report and then now you have assurance that these financial statements are good. Kind of really high level ⁓ explanation of it.

Anthony Codispoti (17:06)
Is there something from your role there that you’ve been able to understand human psychology and maybe a surprising?

Kevin (17:17)
⁓ Yes, think it’s like people aren’t necessarily afraid to be wrong. They’re afraid to be judged essentially, right? So it’s like a client could send me their TV, but then they’ll send me an ⁓ AR aging and it just doesn’t tie. And then when we send it back, it’s kind of like you have to learn how to kind of like professionally say that this is wrong. you send it again? So I’ve learned how to work, navigate those.

those differences. And then also, think another one would be, I just had it at the top of my head, but probably forgot it by now. But yeah, I think that’s one of the biggest things. And then, you know, just making sure that ⁓ people kind of want to also be heard. So when you’re talking to a controller, talking to an accounting manager or any of your clients, they kind of just want to be heard. And then you kind of have to be able to pick up

on certain things that they’re saying to be able to kind of add value or just, you know, I see it all the time with my managers and partners. They’ll be speaking about an accounting subject and then in the back of their heads, they’re already thinking three steps ahead of how this would impact X, Y, and Z. And just, I’ve seen that. And so it really helps us be proactive from that perspective.

Anthony Codispoti (18:36)
Hmm. You made an interesting comment. ⁓ people are okay with being wrong, but they don’t want to be judged. It’s a, an important, but subtle difference, right? Because in that case, there’s there, the work that they sent you is still wrong, but they want to hear about it in a non judgmental, non judgmental manners, what you’re saying.

Kevin (18:51)
Yeah

Red, red. So instead of saying to the client, is wrong, I would kind of just pull it up side by side and just be like, it would appear that the TB is showing this amount, but I’ve pulled up the AR aging and it’s showing this amount. Just really wanted to see if I can get some clarity about what the differences are or if we just need a new report. Kind of just like making sure that it’s like, hey, I saw this, but I just want to make sure I’m understanding this.

So it kind of relieves the pressure off of them, right? Where when they hear, when they see it, then most of the time like, ⁓ okay, I need to upload a new one versus telling somebody they’re wrong to them is pretty aggressive.

Anthony Codispoti (19:41)
Very

diplomatic of you. Did you use any AI tools to help come up with that language? Okay.

Kevin (19:47)
Learned by mistake.

Yeah, learned by mistake. it’d just be sometimes I would just like, have a portal where people send documents and I’ll just return it and be like, provide another one. And then I wouldn’t hear from them for a couple of days. But then when I started kind of asking and getting mentorship from other managers and other partners, like, hey, when they send you something, is it like, how do you go about it? And so any adversity I’ve come across in that kind of manner.

I’ve always just kind of gone upwards to a manager and part of me like, how did you deal with this? What is the, what’s the appropriate way to kind of go about this to get a result that you want?

Anthony Codispoti (20:27)
Yeah, I like that.

And I know at Bennett Thrasher, you guys really emphasize working better together. You have any other examples of collaboration from your time there that really changed your perspective on team dynamics or leadership?

Kevin (20:35)
Yeah

⁓ Overall, think it kind of blurs because busy season is busy season, so you kind of get very overwhelmed. But I haven’t had a single instance where a manager that was on my team or not even on my team check in on me, ask me if I’m okay, ask me is there anything going on? So you can have like a trusted friend or a trusted coworker here and manager and kind of ask them like, I see that like you were working till like 12 o’clock last night, is everything okay?

things of that nature. So I think that’s the best, better together. I can find there’s always a learning opportunity from everybody. And then there’s always that you’re not in this alone. We’re definitely here to help. I think what I tell a lot of people is that like during the midst of busy season, we may not want to be swimming in this right now, but every manager will throw a lifeboat until you can build a boat or lifejack until you can build a boat to start ⁓ staying afloat and kind of going through the ⁓ busy season.

Anthony Codispoti (21:43)
Let’s talk a little bit more about the busy season, kind of the ups and down cycles of public accounting.

Kevin (21:49)
Yeah, yeah, think a lot of people go into it always thinking like, this is going to be a great year, you know, having that mindset of like, I’ve done everything I needed to do. Now it’s time for the audit, like, because there’s interim work that we do during the fall to help us prepare to kind of get ready for ⁓ the busy season. And so I think everybody comes in with this great mindset of like, all right, I’m going to conquer this. I’m going to do this. This is going to be better than last year because I’ve learned from my mistakes. But then you’re always going to realize that there are new challenges.

that come along in this field. think there’s always, I always learn something new every day. So then how you overcome that and how you can stay on track is probably the hardest part from what I’ve seen overall in the industry. think this is coming from a perspective of like a senior level, right? So a lot of people get overwhelmed. A lot of people are questioning why they’re working so hard, why they’re working so late. And then I think at the end of the day, think it’s just,

when you finally get that report issued, when you finally get that piece of support that you’ve been waiting on, and then everything kind of comes back up where you’re like, okay, I’m back in it, I’m back in it. So I think that’s kind of how it kind of goes. It’s like great start. The middle we’re just trying to get through and at the end we’re grateful that we’re on the other side of that.

Anthony Codispoti (23:06)
Have you found

anything to help you get through those really sticky middle parts?

Kevin (23:12)
⁓ yeah, the, the, the best thing is, that like, have a really strong support group of friends here. And then I also have a very strong support group of family and they’re always, they all understand that I’m super busy during that timeframe. And, they don’t, they always set aside a time to check in on me. Essentially. I know a lot of people are just generally heads down for that portion of the year, but there’s, there’s always that. then here we have like mini breaks and like things that the firm provides. So we can always take like a.

hour out of our day to go relax. think the best thing is that they’ve brought massage chairs in here. So those get booked up pretty frequently, which I think is awesome. ⁓ But yeah, I think that’s what really helps me. And then I also have an amazing guide. And so we have a driver guide program where it’s like, you’re the driver of your career and you have a guide who’s like a manager and I can, I can confide in him and he really helps out.

Anthony Codispoti (24:05)
So do you see the opportunity for more career advancement there at Bennett Thrasher?

Kevin (24:10)
yes. Well, so I mean, I definitely do plan here to stay here long term. I partner is the goal. I really, I really do enjoy this. I think this kind of work and this kind of lifestyle suits me well. So I really enjoy it. And then I don’t think there’s ever not a chance to continue to grow. I think there’s always an opportunity here for you.

Anthony Codispoti (24:29)
What would the next step likely be on your path?

Kevin (24:33)
Manager. Yeah, so I think I just need to meet manager in the auto practice, you have to have your CPA. then I remember, yes, I’m still working on that. You know, it’s time kind of, I was always asking as soon as I started here, they’re like, get it out of the way as soon as possible, because you’re only going to get busier. And so I’ve only gotten busier. But yeah, but I think I’m finding time to, you know, still balance myself and be able to study and be able to work and be able to enjoy life all at the same time.

Anthony Codispoti (25:00)
What’s a big misconception that a lot of people have about the kind of work that you do?

Kevin (25:04)
that I work for the IRS.

Anthony Codispoti (25:07)
Does that include your clients? Do your clients think that too?

Kevin (25:08)
They hear auditor and they get it.

It depends, guess, if they like, I haven’t had that. I haven’t had run into that, but a lot of people, every time I say, yeah, I’m in audit. They’re just like, the IRS. I’m like, no. So I think that’s the biggest misconception. think another misconception is that like when we’re doing this, it’s like, we have to ask our clients for support in X, Y, and Z within the scope of what we do. And so I feel like

misconception is like they’ll come back and be like why is it 50 selections? Why can’t we make it less? And it’s just like it’s within the scope. It’s just how it’s supposed to kind of play out when we do our samplings and things of that nature. That’s always a misconception that always happens as well. It’s like I personally am not wanting to ask you to provide me 50 pieces of invoices, but the job requires it. So the sample.

Anthony Codispoti (26:01)
got it. There’s some sort

of a generally accepted threshold of what would be accepted. And so you’re just sort of bound by those guidelines or those rules and the clients think it’s just you randomly picking a number out of the air.

Kevin (26:05)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, exactly.

Anthony Codispoti (26:18)
Now,

I know a lot of what you guys, whether it’s sort of a stated job requirement or not, you’re trying to build financial confidence for your clients. Can you describe a situation where you help the client gain clarity on a complex financial issue and maybe what you personally learned from that experience?

Kevin (26:40)
think a couple of years ago, there was a couple of new accounting standards, 842, where there was this long thing about all your leases. it was essentially a gross up of the balance sheet, but we had to explain them, and we had to build templates and show them how to do it, and run through the scenario of whether it was an operating lease or a capital lease, and going through that. So that took a lot of exercise, and that took lot of reading through leases. But I think for the most part,

We got through that and everybody kind of got on board with it and kind of just was able to understand why this is happening and why it needed to be ⁓ reported and put on the balance sheets essentially.

Anthony Codispoti (27:21)
Where do you think the future of your field is going? What kind of changes or innovations do you think are upcoming?

Kevin (27:28)
Yeah, so I kind of, so again, I do think AI will be a part of it at a certain point, right? And kind of like there could be a potential to, as a whole, think AI would replace a very, like the staff level or something like that in that regard. That could happen. I’m not entirely sure, but I think that’s a way to go for it. But we could also be going into more potentially advisory role, I would say, because we have to understand the business and we have to understand like what the clients are going through and really be experts in those fields.

So I think that’s gonna potentially happen to audit as well. But yeah, I think those are the two areas that I would see where our field is going towards.

Anthony Codispoti (28:07)
Do you intend to stay specifically within the audit realm of accounting?

Kevin (28:11)
Yes.

Yeah, I really enjoy it. really enjoy it because it’s like endless. think it’s very structured. I think it makes a lot of sense. And I also enjoy ⁓ reading. I enjoy reading the standards when they come out and kind of understanding it because like, and I never used to be like this. I honestly, not like used to never think about more than what my nine to five should have been. like now kind of going into the senior role and kind of wanting to stay here for.

for long term and you kind of see that like, like what can we be doing to help our clients or what could we be expected to come out that we need to be experts on? So, yeah.

Anthony Codispoti (28:51)
So you said you could see audit sort of moving into more of an advisory role. Are there other parts of the Bennett Thrasher practice that are already providing some advisory level services?

Kevin (29:07)
I so. think we have like CFO advisory ⁓ portions ⁓ of practices and things of that nature. Would have to correct me if I’m wrong here or anything like that. And the website would be able to further help you with that. But I think at any point, I think honestly, CPAs in general are seen as like advisors, right? Because like as soon as somebody hears those three letters, they’re just like, this person knows what’s going on. This person knows what they’re talking about, whether it be a tax question, an audit question, or any accounting question, they’re going to

ask a CPA. It’s kind of like you go to your doctor when you listen to their advice when they tell you to do things. I think most people would find it very advantageous to listen to their CPA.

Anthony Codispoti (29:48)
Mm-hmm.

What’s something about, because you do a lot of work with restaurants, what’s something about your work with restaurants that’s given you an unusual insight into that industry?

Kevin (30:02)
let’s see.

I wouldn’t say it’s unusual, but I mean, you can definitely see consumer spending is going down, right? We’re seeing what, you know, and how our clients are like real time adapting to the situations and just kind of making sure that they’re still set for, you know, their goals, their budgeted goals for the year, whether they meet them or not. But I think that’s the biggest insight. It’s like there’s a lot of consumer spending going down, even though you hear a lot about like the pay now, pay later.

things in seeing, hearing that consumer people, a lot of people are buying because of that kind of situation. I don’t necessarily think it correlates with restaurants, but yeah, you definitely do see people are spending a lot less when they go out.

Anthony Codispoti (30:46)
How long

have you seen that trend exist?

Kevin (30:49)
I would say I would see it mostly this year from what I’ve seen this year. I’ve only seen it really have a huge impact this year for that space, but other than that, think everything else was either flat or a little bit of growth prior from what I saw.

Anthony Codispoti (31:03)
Talking

about the restaurant industry in previous periods was flat or you’re talking about other industries that Okay, and are you seeing those restaurants do anything creative or not creative just to kind of help fill in those gaps in numbers

Kevin (31:10)
A restaurant specifically.

I think, I mean, the creative side, think, probably not too creative. mean, I’m sure they tell us about more happy hours. They tell us more about deals that they’re doing or more marketing, so to speak. And then also, ⁓ yeah, I think the easiest way is probably trying to, for them is to like see if you’re scheduling a week of staff, what can we run with the bare minimum, essentially, to cut the cost of that.

in that regard, but yeah.

Anthony Codispoti (31:55)
Let’s shift gears a little bit. Do you have a favorite book or podcast, something that’s been helpful for you that our listeners interested in your field might get benefit from?

Kevin (32:07)
inspire stories. ⁓ I do like a lot. I don’t get to watch a lot of it, but Diaries of a CEO. I think that’s a very new, hot one that everybody should kind of go take a listen to. think that’s really, I kind of get energized. ⁓

Anthony Codispoti (32:19)
What do you get from that one?

What do you get from that one? What’s the takeaways for you?

Kevin (32:24)
I get a lot of inspiration. get a lot of like, I see, and then you kind of also see the struggles of how people got to where they are as well. And it’s just like, it’s very inspiring to know that I feel like there’s kind of multiple ways to being successful. There’s also, ⁓ everybody has their hardships and their trials. And then even at end of the day, everybody’s human. think that really showcases that really well. And I really, really appreciate it.

Anthony Codispoti (32:54)
What’s a hardship that you’ve gone through, Kevin? Big challenge you’ve had to overcome. Something you learned coming through the other side of that.

Kevin (32:58)
Yeah.

⁓

in, yeah, so I thought about this a lot and I couldn’t really pinpoint like an ex like, ⁓ a specific instance, but I can, I could definitely pinpoint that specific trait that I’ve developed throughout the years as I was going through it. It’s being a yes, man. So being a yes, man, I, I can, I essentially correlated to burning out. Right. Because you create this complex of like, yes, I’m happy to help. Yes. I’m willing to do it. Yes. You should go spend time with.

your family and I’ll pick up the word, don’t worry about it. Kind of call it the superhero complex, I think that’s another way of calling it. I’ve learned that that has probably been my biggest weakness, where I couldn’t create the boundaries that were necessary. I just took on way too much than I should have, that I thought was expected of me, essentially, versus that it probably wasn’t expected of me to take way more than I could do.

And so I think that’s what’s helped. And then from that, I learned to essentially really, really kind of hone in on my what is urgent. Cause if everything’s urgent, then nothing’s urgent, right? So what’s urgent, what can I push off to a little bit later? And then that kind of helped me start like kind of dissecting my to-do list and things of that nature. So yeah, that’s probably my biggest, my biggest fault I would say.

Anthony Codispoti (34:27)
Yeah. So where do you think that comes from? Were you like that as a little kid? Was that something that developed later in life?

Kevin (34:34)
Yeah, so I started taking care of my younger brother when I was really young, as I was 10. So there’s a 10 year gap there, right? And so, and then my parents were always just like, you you’re the man of the house, you’re gonna take on responsibility. And so I always kind of enjoyed that respect of like that kind of scenario. And then, know, slowly realizing and retiring that, you you don’t always have to be on all the time. You don’t always have to be the, you know, don’t always have to be the answer.

You can always just be like, I can’t handle that right now. We’d love to help you and things of that nature. But yeah, I think that’s where it probably stemmed from, where it’s always having to be the head of my family. Even back then when my parents were still kind of learning English while I myself was learning how to read and write, getting into elementary school, I was reading bills or notices that they were getting in the mail. I was just like, I don’t know how to translate this to Vietnamese.

things of that nature, but they expected me to kind of like understand it because I was in school and I was reading. So, yeah.

Anthony Codispoti (35:37)
Okay, so

at a very young age, you were asked to take on a lot of responsibility, a lot of pressure, but it sounds like it made you feel good. I mean, you’re doing things to help your much older parents, and there’s a lot of gratitude from them, a lot of appreciation and respect that you’re able to do that. then as you moved into your professional career, you sort of carried that.

Kevin (35:42)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah

Anthony Codispoti (36:01)
trait with you. Like, hey, I want to impress, I want to do a good job, I want to be like and respected here. So I’m just gonna keep saying yes to anything that comes my way.

Kevin (36:11)
Right, right. Yeah, being an opportunist does not mesh well as well because I think with everything I said yes to, I thought it was a learning opportunity, right? But sometimes I said yes to too much and then the work quality wasn’t reflective of what I could do versus what I turned in. And so that also teaches you to, you need to buffer that time for review. You need to buffer that time to understand and learn and accomplish all your goals. But you can’t just say yes to every project.

That’s what I also noticed as

Anthony Codispoti (36:43)
Was this a gradual realization?

Kevin (36:46)
Yeah, yeah, it was just like, I was kind of like, ⁓ we do this, we do an updated tracker on all the projects we’re working on. I was just looking at it. I was like, I have eight things going on right now. Maybe I need to reset and kind of just talk to the managers and understand of like, hey, how do I delegate this? Or is it okay that I can’t get to this right now? And then you slowly realize once you kind of tell people or show people that like, this is your capacity, everybody, a lot of things.

kind of go your way. You have a lot of more free time, you’re doing more ⁓ diligent work, you’re learning more and then eventually you can get to that capacity again, but at the same time it really helps me channel into doing the work that’s in front of me currently.

Anthony Codispoti (37:31)
Yeah. So it sounds like a big part of it was, yep, reaching out to your coworkers, your managers, having an open, honest conversation about things, and then them almost in a sense, giving you permission to tell people no.

Kevin (37:44)
Yeah, yeah, they’re always, everybody always is on your side. know that like when, because they review our hours, they review everything, they kind of have ⁓ conversations. They’re kind of, they’ll be able to pinpoint like, okay, this person’s super busy or why is Kevin super busy? Can somebody like help him out and understand that? So definitely again, the better together kind of scenario, especially with this audit department, I feel it a lot because it’s like every time I feel like I’m coming to them with the… ⁓

I would like almost like a lack of confidence in myself or a lack of like discipline or a disappointing way. Like I’m coming to them saying, I can’t do this. It’s more of like, ⁓ no worries. We’ll figure it out. We can get through this. We’ll separate some time for you to tackle this when you can. So it’s amazing.

Anthony Codispoti (38:32)
together. There you go. What’s your superpower, Kevin?

Kevin (38:33)
Yeah.

I think I looked at this one too a lot and something my cousin that told me once he says, you, you’re a chameleon. Essentially I can kind of like, I can kind of be in any room with anybody and kind of start a conversation and kind of build relationships. I think pretty easily just because I’m a inquisitive person. I like to know a lot about people and just ask them. And it’s hard because some people don’t like to come out of their shell.

But I feel like if I find that one hobby or one thing that I know something about and you know something about and I can ask you about how and genuinely care about your appreciation of that hobby or the collection that you have, I think that really, really helps me out a lot with day to day.

Anthony Codispoti (39:20)
And so you ask the hobby question, what are some other questions that you like to ask in a situation where maybe somebody’s not being very open or forthcoming and you’re trying to find that common connection?

Kevin (39:32)
Yeah, I asked them like, I think the latest one I kind of asked was just like, so, like, is there anything new that you’re looking forward to? Is there something that, you know, that’s like at work you kind of want to talk about? Because like if I’m in a room with someone, you know, because a lot of people want to be heard. And a lot of people, and even if they are closed, they do want to be heard to some extent. So I’ll just ask them, or I’ll ask them, even if like,

The most recent vacation I asked, I was like, so how is that taking time away from work, taking, rather than, ⁓ what did you go see? It’s like, you took time from work. Was that very relaxing for you? Did you enjoy this? Did you get to have a chance to unplug and unwind and kind of go into that? Like definitely taking off the surface level of things and kind of just going straight into like, how do you feel? know, things of that nature.

Anthony Codispoti (40:22)
I think you would

be a very good ⁓ podcast host, Kevin. You keep going a layer deeper.

Kevin (40:25)
I appreciate you. Thank you.

Yeah, yeah. I think, yeah, people want to tell you how they feel. They just don’t know how to say it. And when they hear it in the right way, they’ll just let it all out.

Anthony Codispoti (40:41)
Yeah, I want to go back to something we were just talking about some insights that you have about what’s going on in the restaurant space, right? You’ve seen, you know, decreased consumer spending. ⁓ And you do a lot in investment funds to you. You mentioned one thing that you’re seeing, like they’re very interested in anything having to do with AI. What’s another observation that you have from working with so many clients in that space?

Kevin (40:59)
Mm-hmm.

Let’s see here, another observation. ⁓

I think in that space in itself that I’ve noticed over the years, because I of always wanted to know how people got to this point in an investment fund, that trust is probably the most valued ⁓ aspect that people are looking for inside of fund managers and just understanding their track record of how they’ve done over a year, over year to allow you essentially asking people to, hey, let’s create an investment fund. I have a strategy and I’m going to.

I’m going to put it into place. So I’ve kind of learned about that and there are different ways of kind of investing into companies or kind of getting the capital to get ready to go through that, through that exercise. And I’ve just learned that it revolves around a lot of trust and understanding and being able to know what’s going on in their own role. And that’s what I kind of also strive to, to be as like a very trusted advisor. So I find that very, very interesting.

Anthony Codispoti (42:13)
Yeah. How do you develop that trust? Or from being on the one side of it and trying to forge trust with someone else, what is it that makes you trust somebody?

Kevin (42:24)
I think ⁓ the amount that they kind of are willing to open up to one would be that area. think as you’re trying to build business and like build client relationships, I think the number one thing is to understand is that you need to nurture the relationship. Very rare do I ever hear that like you just meet someone, you shake their hands like you need an audit, shake his hand, let’s do this. It’s more like you’re growing in your industry, you’re becoming an expert, you’re posting a lot, people are seeing it. So people that are in industry.

right in these restaurant companies or XYZ companies, right? be, there are senior accounts there that will be future CFOs potentially or controllers or, move on to bigger and better things in their lives as well and things of that nature. But it’s up to us to kind of build that trust. And I think the best way to do that is to show the work that you do is consistent and outstanding. And another thing is to be able to kind of go on a personal side and just, you know, touch base with them, catch up with them.

You know, if someone tells me, like, if like, if I was, when you were asking me, it’s like, Oh, Kevin, you’re going to Italy. And then you gave me the background from your family going to Italy. And then in a couple of weeks later, a couple of months later, I would catch up. I like, how was Italy? You know, kind of the small things. It’s like the Michael Scott way of doing business is how I see that.

Anthony Codispoti (43:44)
Michael Scott, the character from The Office. Say a little bit more about that.

Kevin (43:46)
Yeah.

I love, I I love, he’s a, I, it’s just like, he’s a, you know, he’s a goofy guy, but when he, but like every time you were watching the show and he needed to make business happen, he made business happen because he had this Rolodex of interesting information or interesting characteristics or interesting things that were going on with prospective clients and kind of honing in on that human side of people. And I was like, that’s, that’s

very, very like insightful because it’s like, I don’t think everybody always wants to talk business 24 seven. A lot of people probably want to talk about their hobbies and things that they do outside of work more than anything else.

Anthony Codispoti (44:26)
Well, you know, from where I sit, I think that’s a great way to really to get to understand that person at a different level, right? If all we did was sit here and talk tax and accounting and audit, I would get a sense of what your professional expertise is. But if we can talk about some of those personal things, like we did, you know, off air before we started, you know, wanting to take the trip to Rome, hearing about, you know, your upbringing and some of the things you’re able to do for your family. It’s like, oh,

I get a better sense of how Kevin’s wired, where he comes from, what makes him a person. Would you agree?

Kevin (45:02)
Right.

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And I think a lot of people want to want to have that conversation. think I think more than anything else, ⁓ with these relationships that they built here, I think the last the last thing people want to really call about unless it’s required is about the job. And we’d probably like to call about either scheduling a golf event or scheduling a time to go get dinner, you know, kind of talk and then naturally allowing the business to develop within those business conversations to develop within those personal conversations is probably

my best approach and I think anybody’s probably best approach of kind of getting after it when it comes to that.

Anthony Codispoti (45:37)
Yeah, I like that a lot.

I’m curious if you’ve got something like this in your memory banks. I find that as I look back in time, some of my what I thought were mistakes in the moment end up becoming my greatest teachers when I’ve got a little bit of distance from them. Can you think of an early moment in your life or your professional career that seemed like a setback at the time, but actually propelled you forward?

Kevin (45:55)
Yeah.

Let’s see here. I think that probably ties into being a yes man all the time. And I think there have been times where I’ve emailed the wrong person where I just felt like about a certain accounting subject that I’ve been pertained to another person. think that’s happened once or twice. And I sit back and I was like, oh, I’m going to get fired. I’m totally done for. And the best thing to do is to own up to it. And so a lot of people

I think that’s a very hard thing to overcome is owning up to mistakes. And then another thing that’s taught me is that be diligent, take your time, work, understand. It can be as simple as ⁓ you’re typing an email so fast that it doesn’t make any sense, but you hit send right away because you know what you just sent to them. And sometimes your client’s reading it and you’re just like, ⁓ I definitely was just going a million miles per hour and didn’t reread or didn’t relook at how this

wording was phrased and things of that nature. So I think every mistake is a learning opportunity and every time you fall, you just gotta get back up.

Anthony Codispoti (47:11)
Have you come up with anything that helps you slow down, that helps you to be more diligent?

Kevin (47:16)
One of my biggest review notes when I was a staff was a spell check in our work papers. So I have sticky notes around my cubicle that said, press F7 before you exit out of anything or re-review, re-review. So I’ve left that all around just to now where it’s a habit now every time, no matter what I’m doing, do a spell check. Do an F7, which is the shortcut in Excel to doing a spell check or just rereading and just doing that.

I that’s probably…

Anthony Codispoti (47:47)
So

hitting that F7 sounds like it’s not just letting the computer do a spell check, but it’s your moment to take a deep breath and double check the work that you’ve just put into there before you send it off. How about any daily habits, routines, things that either help you get your day started or keep you on track?

Kevin (47:57)
Yeah. Yeah. ⁓

I do two things. So I know this is going to sound really ⁓ overplayed, but I make my bed every morning. The first thing I can check off every day is that means that I can continuously check boxes off throughout the day. And then as soon as I get into my office or I sit down, I use ⁓ this notebook I have here actually, and I write down my to-do list. Number one, what’s most important? Which client is most important today? What do I need to have?

Even though I’ll have it on a to-do list somewhere else, think writing it out really, really helps me retain and stay focused. so this notebook will always be right here next to me at all times. I date it every day, whatever is today’s date. And then I’ll start working. then if I need to add to it, I’ll add to it. Or if I need to jot down notes. So when I come back from the next day, the previous day, whatever wasn’t there, I’ll make sure that it’s on the list again to do that day.

Anthony Codispoti (49:08)
Kevin I’ve just got one more question for you today, but before I ask it I want to do three quick things First of all anybody looking to get in touch with Bennett thrasher can find their website at bt CPA net BT CPA net and you can find Kevin Wynn on LinkedIn will include a link to that in our show notes But if you’re antsy and you want to search for him now his last name is spelled NG you why E and NG you why E and Kevin when?

at Bennett Thrasher. ⁓ And then as a reminder, if you want to get more employees access to benefits that won’t hurt them financially and carries a financial upside for your company, reach out to us at adbackbenefits.com. Finally, if you’ll take just a moment to leave us a comment or review on your favorite podcast app, you will hold a special place in my heart forever. Thank you very much. And so, Kevin, last question for you. You and I reconnect a year from today and you’re excited. You’re celebrating something big.

What’s that big thing you hope to be celebrating one year from today?

Kevin (50:11)
getting my license, my CPA license. I assure you that it will happen. ⁓ It’ll be on the list of people that I call. Tell you that again.

Anthony Codispoti (50:18)
So how close do

you realistically think it is? Okay.

Kevin (50:22)
It’s in this year.

It’s going to happen. ⁓ I tell myself all the time, it’s the one thing that’s preventing you from true success sometimes. You know, in that way. It’s just like, you get that CPA license, partners just that much more viable to become.

Anthony Codispoti (50:38)
So

you feel like it’s not a pathway to success, but right now it’s a blockade, it’s a barrier.

Kevin (50:43)
Yeah, essentially because I can’t, know, if I don’t have it, can’t. I mean, as anything, as any barrier in front of me, I’ll knock it down. Kind of mentality with that.

Anthony Codispoti (50:50)
Yeah.

Once you knock down that barrier, how quickly could the next step feasibly happen?

Kevin (50:58)
So the manager would happen almost within that year, I would imagine. then, yeah, so it would kind of just go up ⁓ that way and then senior manager. then whenever there’s a room available or there’s time ready, you know, make partner. I hope that strategy has been going on for this company for a while. So hope to stay the same. But I think after, you know, getting your CPA license, you can focus on a lot of other things as well.

Anthony Codispoti (51:02)
very quickly.

You say as long as there’s a room open, what does that mean?

Kevin (51:26)
Yeah.

I think there’s just, you know, ⁓ partners retiring and then business growing and like, and things of that nature. think that’s probably the best way to describe it. So, you know, as long as BT keeps growing, there’s going to be room.

Anthony Codispoti (51:41)
Gotcha. Well, Kevin Winn from Bennett Thrasher, I want to be the first to thank you for sharing both your time and your story with us today. I really appreciate it.

Kevin (51:49)
Yeah, absolutely. I appreciate you and hope to be talking to you soon. Make it easy.

Anthony Codispoti (51:53)
All right,

folks, that’s a wrap on another episode of the inspired stories podcast. Thanks for learning with us today.