Today we’d like to introduce you to David Neidhart.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I graduated from The University of Texas at Austin in 1983 with a BBA in Finance/Management. My first job out of school was staff accountant/accounting manager for a very diversified company. They had interests in a Savings & Loan, Commercial Bank, Commercial Builder, Residential Builder, Hardware Store, gas station and Lumber yard, newspaper and insurance companies.
These companies didn’t have much in common from an accounting point of view however they did allow for synergies to lower costs.
After learning how each company operated and the accounting processes for each (we used an old time punch ledger card system for each general ledger code and statements were prepared manually), I was promoted to Accounting Manager and tasked with the responsibility of taking a vendor’s packaged accounting package and tailoring to our needs. This may not sound like much, but was the single biggest learning experience in my life. I understood how the accounting process should work, but had to communicate this to the programmers who rarely had business much less accounting experience.
Having to break each entry into a flow chart so it could be created in code for the computer to follow burned the process into my mind. This process took several years to get all components working and then consolidating but was a great accomplishment when finally completed.
From there I got a taste for fixer up projects and moved to ARAServices (ARAmark now) as a Director of Food Services at several campuses. My job was to turnaround underperforming operations. I was very good at cutting costs and reorganizing the revenue and cost streams resulting in a profitable operation. However, I wasn’t too good at growing revenue, so I was generally transferred after the turnaround was complete.
The continual transfers, my bosses always grading my biggest strength was as a financial manager and a new girlfriend who happen to be a CPA got me thinking accounting. At that time, I had about 15 hours of accounting courses and need 30 to get my CPA license. The next 2 years I worked at an oilfield supply company as an Assistant Controller and went to school to get my final accounting hours. I sat for the CPA exam and passed all 3 accounting parts on the first try. The 4th part, Business Law, was passed on the second try. I received my CPA license in 1992 the day before my daughter was born.
I moved back to ARA Services as a plant controller in charge of accounting and profitability of the plant. I quickly was promoted to Group Controller in Florida over 7 plants. These plants struggled with a strong union whose cost structure was extremely company unfavorable, untrained controllers and General Managers without a clue on how to read the financial statements much less initiate a plan of change. This is the type of area I thrive in. I love to turnaround operations, train employees and increase profitability. Because my wife couldn’t fit into the Florida scene, we moved back to Texas.
I took a job at Sanifill a Houston Waste company assisting in the migration of accounting system to Peoplesoft and training of employees in its use. Just before we were ready to roll out the new software a reverse merger between UASWaste and Sanifill occurred and I was move to the company acquisition team. My job was to integrate an acquisition into our operations and accounting system. I redirected reports of city, district and regional personnel. I put together retention agreements for corporate employees who were needed during the accounting migration. All non-essential personnel were terminated. We transferred monthly ledger summary balances for the life of the company and details for the last 3 years. Depending on the software this could take some time to extract, balance to source, import and balance to source.
All of the travel got to be a grind and I was missing my daughter grow up So I moved to Velocity Express, a $1B international transportation company. Again, I was in charge of accounting for a collection of transportation companies that had been acquired but not integrated. My team quickly began the process of integrating facilities, changing reporting relationships, removing excess routes, centralizing payroll, billing, collections and accounts payable. My success and an acquisition of the company resulted in my being promoted to VP of Corporate Finance and was in charge of Corporate Accounting, SEC Reporting, All Regional Finance VP’s and our Financial Services Center. Now, I was able to apply my process to the whole company. Training of accounting employees to look beyond the numbers, not just report them proved a big obstacle. Constant oversight was necessary to keep managers from managing their balance sheets and income statements and convincing the local accountant it was ok. I was placed as head of the Turnaround committee and team. Since the acquisition, the company no longer had a parent company to finance the losses and we were constantly looking for capital and cutting costs. Generally, promises of new sales didn’t pan out so locations, districts and divisions were analyzed into several categories: keep, underperforming but manageable, underperforming but needs much work, sell or dissolve. It was a very fluid process and as much fun as I ever had in my business career. Much to my dismay, there was a change at CEO and he moved the Corporate offices to Minnesota. My family had no desire to leave Texas so we worked out a deal. I was kept on as a consultant for about 4-5 years and this enabled me to open my CPA office. We perform the routine duties of bookkeeping, tax preparation, audits, fraud and legal support services, but my love is assisting a company through those initial years to ensure they are properly capitalized, have a proper cost structure, budgets and plans in place. Allowing them to working proactively through a problem to produce positive results. Also working with companies that have been in business years and been profitable but fallen on hard times. The same philosophy in used in Corporate America, I bring to companies of all size in the Houston area.
Has it been a smooth road?
Keeping enough revenue to fund a full office plus a sales team can be overwhelming. In the beginning, I was force to take outside consulting jobs through a division of KPMG to be able to pay the staff.
Houston’s oil cycles put all businesses at risk when the price of oil tanks. Being able to survive the downs is always a struggle. Proactive approach to these downturns as well as the upturns can help your company weather these cycles and not just survive but thrive.
Trying not to do everything. Since I enjoy my job, I do much of the work. This allows little time for sales activities or I am overloaded and the work suffers. This is easy to see in other companies but a hard lesson to take in my own business
We’d love to hear more about your business.
We specialize in the transportation industry, non-profits and the oil industry.
We are known for acting as an external CFO/Controller for our clients. We don’t just prepare reports and file taxes, we get involved in the organization. We learn their cost drivers, make recommendations for improvements, train personnel, become a trusted advisor they can call at any time to discuss any issue large or small.
We do not ask our clients to conform to a specific reporting system to work with us. We tailor our services to the client. We do not sell a cookie cutter package. The client can determine what they need and we will determine the process with the least impact on the client. This approach along with our CFO/Controller and trusted advisor focus set us apart from our competition.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Houston is a great city for our business. It’s so large it offers many prospects. Just need to keep in mind where the potential client is because of the size of the city. The long drive may not be worth it.
For those starting out, find a niche that you are good at. Focus on building that niche and don’t take on work that you are unfamiliar with. Being a one stop shop will result in lower prices overall and make it a struggle to survive.
Making the City more accessible and decreasing traffic would help greatly. The City is working on this and I am looking forward to seeing how the new 290 corridor handles traffic after completion. Yet, I feel the City is always planning for an already existing problem rather than trying to be proactive and get out ahead of the growth in population. Sitting in traffic 45 min – hour each way is unacceptable. Causing drivers to perform other tasks and resulting in wrecks.
Pricing:
- Tax pricing is based on number of schedules, complexity and time. So the prices vary. However, last year an average 1040 cost $200.
- Accounting preparation services start at $200 per month for a Corporation, LLC or partnership. They vary based on number of transaction and client involvement.
- Federal Income tax, payroll and State tax settlement start at a $299 fee to determine your courses of action and probable result. Payment plans available for clients wanting to settle their obligations.
Contact Info:
- Address: 11757 Katy Freeway,
Suite 1300, Houston, Tx 77079 - Website: www.neidhartcpa.com
- Phone: 832-831-2384
- Email: david@neidhartcpa.com
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/david.neidhart.33/
- Other: www.linkedin.com/in/david-neidhart-cpa
Getting in touch: VoyageHouston is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
