Skip To Main Content
CPA Joshua Faier sitting on couch with laptop
Features
From Pivot Magazine

Joshua Faier, 29

The director finance at Sprout Therapy earned his CPA designation in 2017

CPA Joshua Faier sitting on couch with laptopFaier advises new CPAs to get experience at the big firms and in specialized industries (Photograph by Rudolphe Baulieu)

In summer 2017, while working at KPMG, I went camping with an engineering friend who was obsessed with CPA-perspectives-on-blockchain. He thought it would be revolutionary, opening up the financial world to people who have limited access to funds or bank accounts. They just need internet access and, bam, suddenly they can use this global currency. I fell down the blockchain rabbit hole, spending all my free time reading articles and books on the subject and signing up for courses to learn more about it.

Later that year, I approached the partner of innovation at KPMG and told her I wanted to focus on blockchain clients. In this capacity, I helped translate crypto-speak for people at my company and offered advice about how we could audit a crypto client’s work. After a few months, we landed our first blockchain account—and I was in charge of that file. 

Over the years, I’ve learned to be malleable. Our generation is tech-forward, so knowledge is available at our fingertips. Whatever I don’t know, I can learn. In summer 2020, I came across a posting for a director role at Sprout Therapy, which provides in-home care for children with autism. The company is also developing a platform to help connect therapists with clients through scheduling, benefits management, and billing and reporting features. 

“In the startup space, you get thrown into things. Every day is different.”

When I joined Sprout in June 2020, there were 30 corporate employees. Eight months later, we had 200 people. I started off doing financial reporting and projections. Then I moved to revenue cycle management, which involved navigating American health care and figuring out how to properly bill insurance companies. It was a neat opportunity to lead a new team in an industry that’s outside of my comfort zone. I got to learn on the fly.

In the startup space, you get thrown into things. Every day is different, and that’s what makes it so exciting. At work, I’ve learned so much about the health care system in the United States and how to manage and improve revenue-generating processes.

Sprout is a fully remote company, so that’s been an interesting experience, too. I enjoy the flexibility of working from home. And I’ve managed employees across Canada and the U.S. and as far as Ukraine. It’s been fun to learn about different cultures, customs and work habits. Best of all, when you hire internationally, you can find the top talent for each role. You end up with a highly motivated team of go-getters, all working to bring the company to its full potential. It also means I’m receiving and sending communications at all hours. I don’t mind, but it can be a challenge to turn off your work brain when you get messages around the clock.

I’m enjoying my time in tech. Right now, many new accountants work at the big firms right after school. But I think we’re going to see more people entering specialized industries. It’s valuable to have experience in both. You go through years of structure and discipline at an accounting firm, then you get experience dealing with uncertainty and spontaneity at a startup.  

Accounting is becoming much more than just financial reporting. One of the most important changes will be how we use our time. With all the SaaS [software as a service] platforms available, preparing financial statements is much quicker than it used to be. Month-end processes have become quicker. That gives us more time to spend on analysis and strategy so we can bring our companies to the next level.

NEXT GENERATION CPAs

Read about four other up-and-coming accountants hungry to make a difference.

Also, delve into insights emerging from CPA Canada’s strategic initiative, Foresight: Reimagining the Profession, and learn what the future holds for accounting.