For nearly a century, Windes Accountancy Corporation, the largest and oldest accounting firm in Long Beach, has provided financial advising, management and consulting services for corporate and individual consumers. Managing Partner John DiCarlo discusses what sets the firm apart in offering top-notch services and solutions for today’s clients.
By Daniel Coats, California Business Journal
As John DiCarlo looks out the 22nd story windows of his firm’s Long Beach headquarters, he can see many of the local homes and businesses that have found a strong financial footing through the impact of Windes Accountancy Corporation.
As managing partner, DiCarlo believes that the firm’s focus on providing accounting, estate, succession planning and wealth management…show more content… His maternal great-grandmother was the bookkeeper for her husband’s business. When the couple went on vacation in Italy for a month, they left DiCarlo in charge of accounting, which gave him his first experience in the field.
Looking back at more than four decades as an accounting professional, DiCarlo says the greatest transformation in the field has been the development of technology. “When I joined Windes, we had an IBM computer that covered 500 square feet, with an elevated floor and an air conditioning unit,” he says. “I remember when we had the first personal computer delivered to the office and it was like the Holy Grail.” Long gone are the days in which Wite-Out corrected amended records. “We’re doing things much easier today and with far fewer people than years ago,” he says.
For young professionals seeking to enter the accounting industry, analytical and communication skills are even more important than mathematical abilities, which are typically associated with the field. “A lot of the work is a matter of looking at facts, and sometimes numbers, and seeing if things make sense, and then sharing this either verbally or in writing,” says