This month’s Ideas in Motion focuses on Duke Smaroff, CPA, managing director of AdvanceCPA, a subsidiary of RSM McGladrey that provides the intelligent tools developed and used by RSM McGladrey and McGladrey & Pullen. He is also a partner with McGladrey & Pullen in Chicago, Ill.
Scott Cytron: What did you do prior to RSM McGladrey?
Duke Smaroff: I started with McGladrey & Pullen directly out of college as a general service staff working on audits, accounting and tax engagements. I began in our Elkhart, Ind. office primarily working with RV manufacturers and suppliers. After a few years, I transferred to Chicago, specializing in audits of manufacturing and construction clients. During this time, I also worked on clients in a variety of industries, including service, financial institutions, software and SEC. |
Duke Smaroff, CPA |
SC: When did AdvanceCPA start and what role did you have in starting it?
DS: Under a previous name, AdvanceCPA has been around for over 25 years. However, its growth emergence began in 2000 when I joined the McGladrey Network and AdvanceCPA. At this time, McGladrey & Pullen made its paperless audit system available to members of the McGladrey Network as well as its AdvanceCPA subscribers. Because I was part of a team who developed the paperless system for McGladrey and Pullen, I was able to bring my expertise in auditing and paperless systems to assist the sale and implementation of the paperless system to the other firms.
SC: Does AdvanceCPA resell software?
DS: We resell tools developed by RSM McGladrey, and McGladrey and Pullen, which often includes software of outside vendors, such as CaseWare.
SC: How does technology enhance the service offerings of Advance CPA?
DS: AdvanceCPA specializes in distribution of “intelligent” tools. Technology drives the intelligence of the tools and allows systems to perform many of the steps or analysis that previously was done manually. Faster intelligence leads to efficiency and effectiveness at the same time. The ending result is a better services and products by CPAs at higher profit margins.
SC: How do you see technology playing an even larger role with your service offerings in the future?
DS: The integration of technology is endless. Overall, the end result should be a new CPA that spends more time strategizing with his/her clients than verifying data.
SC: In what ways are you using social media to tell the AdvanceCPA story?
DS: I am on LinkedIn for a professional purposes and Facebook for personal purposes. Although I do not post or use either site frequently, I like the ability they provide to snapshot current activities of many people. Currently, I do not use either site to promote AdvanceCPA. I see the primary purpose of these sites to tell the story of individuals, while AdvanceCPA is a team serving clients, not a specific individual or a “famous person.”
SC: If you were stranded on a desert island with only one technology, what would it be, and why?
DS: Like technology, this changes on a monthly basis, but my current favorite is the iPhone. I know it’s cliché, but I just can’t put it down. E-mail, news, sports, directions, it has it all. I can even make phone calls!