BDO Alliance USA is among the industry’s largest associations of accounting and professional services firms in more than 900 locations nationwide. In this series, we introduce you to Alliance Member leaders who are making a difference in their firms.
Meet Ed Moss, CPA, Managing Partner of Moss, Krusick & Associates, LLC (MKA).
How did you decide to major in accounting?
I’ve always wanted to be a business owner. I started as an IT major, but back when I was in school, you had to utilize the computer lab for basically any projects or homework, and the lines were always very long. It was at this point I changed my major to Accounting. I am originally from Kentucky and ended up going to college in Florida. I played basketball for two years at Manatee State College and later transferred to the University of Florida. I graduated with high honors with a Bachelor of Science degree, and I am a CPA in both Florida and Georgia.
Which has been more valuable in your career – your education or your experience?
Most definitely the experience and training I’ve received due to the people that I’ve met along the way. I was at Price Waterhouse for eight years and met so many folks during my time there. I have more than 30 years of accounting and auditing experience, and with those years of experience, I wouldn’t be where I am today without the people that I met along the way.
What is your greatest accomplishment?
I had the honor of being the best free throw shooter in the country in both high school and college. 98+ percentile and 276 free throws in a row. This little nugget of information worked against me and for me with a couple of work interviews that I’ve had in the past. One interviewer dismissed this information and basically did not give me the time of day, while another dug in a little deeper and asked more questions, which opened a dialogue and landed me the job!
Tell us more about your family.
I have three girls. Mya, a high school senior; Macy, a high school sophomore; and Mika, a 2-year-old. Life can be quite busy with volleyball tournaments, college recruiting/research, and keeping on our toes with a 2-year-old. I work many hours but managed to take Mya and Macy to school every morning for 12 years and be involved in their extracurricular activities and be home every night to put Mika to bed.
What is your favorite thing to do when not working?
I guess you can say that I love going to sporting events. I attend the Orlando Magic games frequently, and I also love attending my kids’ events. Travel is very important to me as well; I have been to every continent and have visited every natural wonder of the world. It took me 10 years to achieve this! Ken Dixon, who is a very close friend and well-known throughout the Orlando community for his philanthropy, has joined me on many of these trips. We have known each other since my time at Price Waterhouse, working together on many joint ventures, and he has brought a lot of business to MKA over the years. He has also been a very generous donor to the University of Central Florida (UCF) and even had the School of Accounting and Athletics Village named after him. Ken is the godfather to my youngest child, Mika.
What’s been the best and most challenging part of your job?
We acquired and merged in 10 firms in the last 10 years. We have 120 people and 15 partners, so it’s been a lot to juggle.
What are you most proud of as it relates to serving as managing partner?
I’m most proud of the many awards that our firm has received over the years. A few include: 12 years as a Best Places to Work Central Florida; 10 years as a Top Philanthropic Company; two years in Best of Orlando; five years in Best of Winter Park; and over 10 years named to INSIDE Public Accounting’s Top 300 and 400 Firms’ lists. I am also a member of the Peer Review Executive Committee for FICPA and a frequent speaker at UCF and guest writer for the Orlando Business Journal.
Tell us about your intern program and recruiting from local universities.
We get 8-10 interns every year from UCF in Orlando. We have a very successful program that lasts 10 months. We start our interns in July on one of our many nonprofit audit clients, which keeps them busy through the fall. By the time spring arrives, they are experienced and ready to jump into tax season.
Does your firm do any fun activities through the year to keep morale high in tax season, or any community service opportunities?
Our culture is a day-to-day activity. It is just the personality of the firm. We have so much flexibility for our staff that we make it a point to work with everyone on a schedule that fits best for them. And … we do have a beer refrigerator on Friday afternoons at 4 pm to help celebrate our wins and build on the camaraderie.
What would you like to share about your experience with the BDO Alliance USA?
We have been a member for over 10 years. We first joined because we needed access to technical expertise and that remains one of the biggest benefits we still receive. At the time, we belonged to another association but kept reaching dead ends with the help we were looking for. I attended an accounting conference where Michael Horwitz, Alliance Executive Director, was attending and, after a brief conversation, I was sold. Best decision we’ve ever made! When I am working with new recruits, I always acknowledge the fact that we have national firm resources at our fingertips. Along with the technical assistance, we have had great success with referrals from the local BDO office, too.
Rapid Fire Finale …
- Describe yourself in three words: Determined, humorous and storyteller.
- What is your passion? Building this firm and my family, of course!
- Who was your mentor growing up? Probably the many basketball coaches I had when I was younger.
- First job? Baseball umpire.
- If you could go back, what advice would you give your younger self? I wish I would have developed a stronger niche area in IT expertise. We had no idea the magnitude of where technology would be in a relatively short about of time.