In the mid-1970s, after a successful start to his career with a large, international accounting firm, Jack Kreischer decided to take a leap of faith and start his own CPA firm with the help of his wife Lynn.
As Kreischer Miller celebrates its 50th anniversary, we sat down with Jack to talk about how the firm was born, what those early years were like, and the lessons he learned along the way.
Q: What made you leave a successful Big 8 career at Peat Marwick to start your own firm?
A: I always knew I wanted my own business. I understood the profession deeply, and I felt there was a better way to meet client needs than was available from an international firm. At the time, leaving the Big 8 to start a local firm was considered failing. It was viewed as a “consolation prize”, and professional ethics rules made it extremely difficult to recruit clients. Advertising, solicitation, and contacting clients of another CPA without advising that CPA first were all prohibited. But I saw a market with massive unmet need and felt I could serve it well.
Q: What were those early days like?
A: Let’s just say, I didn’t know what I didn’t know. I filled two freezers with food I grew myself because I didn’t know when we’d start making money. But the firm grew faster than expected, and within six months I recruited Bill Miller, who became a key reason for Kreischer Miller’s success.
Q: What did you want to do differently from other CPA firms?
A: I wanted us to really know our clients and their businesses – to help them achieve their aspirations. We built relationships, we became integral to their business lives, and we established life-long relationships.
Q: You were early on a lot of trends – specialization, predictive hiring, even technology. Where did that mindset come from?
A: I’ve always sought to understand what was evolving in the profession and the general business environment – often before others were ready to embrace changes. I knew we needed intellectually curious, proactive people to distinguish us from the stereotypical perception of the “reactive” CPA. We wanted to understand the client’s world. What was important to them? What were the challenges and opportunities they were facing in their businesses and their lives? And how could we help?
To maximize our effectiveness, we invested early in leading edge tools of the time – digitized spreadsheet and other software, very expensive computers and word processors, as well as tools to identify and develop highly effective professionals.
Q: What were some of the hardest lessons you learned?
A: Early on, I backed off a few decisions to avoid upsetting people. I later realized leadership sometimes means doing what’s right, even if it’s unpopular. I also learned to “work myself out of a job” – constantly evolve, or you become the bottleneck. [Editor’s note: “Work yourself out of a job” is still the prevailing career advice at Kreischer Miller!]
Q: Looking back, what are you most proud of?
A: That we built something lasting, with high integrity and intense client service. And that we treated our support team like the backbone they are — my wife Lynn recruited and developed that team, and established systems, procedures, and standards that enabled our success.
Q: What advice do you have for today’s team members?
A: Be proactive in adding value to client services— don’t wait for clients to ask. Never say no when asked to do something (ethical) but clearly indicate what the requestor needs to do to enable your response. Hiring good people attracts new clients, but gaining new clients without having good people is a losing proposition. And always stay true to your principles — body, mind, and spirit.