For Josh

As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, we’ve been taking time to reflect on how thankful we are for all of the memorable moments that we got to have with Josh.  So, we wanted to take this opportunity to share some of these moments with you by sharing our dedication to Josh from his memorial:

Saima:

Good morning, everyone. My name is Saima and this is Sam and Lindsay.  We were Josh’s partners at Lance CPA Group.   Our team has put together some words we wanted to share about who Josh was to us: a mentor, a big brother, a trusted confidant, a caring friend and most importantly- a cool accountant. Or so he thought!

I remember when the movie “The Accountant” came out with Ben Affleck, I was discussing how I watched it with my husband and told Josh how relatable just the accounting part was to what we actually do. Josh’s response to that with a smirk was, “Yes!! I feel like I’m exactly like the Accountant!” And I was like NO!! You are not! You are not a trained killer you just do accounting sir.

Sam:

We think there are a lot of reasons why Josh thought he was a cool accountant:

  • Every one of his responses could be a meme from The Office.
  • When he would randomly say “yo.”
  • The fact that he ran an accounting firm where the staff didn’t wear suits but rather t-shirts and hoodies. Or sometimes eagle robes! 
  • We worked with breweries which meant that brewery visits were a business expense.
  • He was “famous” in the accounting community – I often referred to him as Xero’s Wonder Boy. 
  • He continually made the 40 under 40 list by CPA Practice Advisor.
  • He worked from the spectacular Mega Desk.
  • He saw nothing wrong with his driving.
  • He thought he could secretly multitask on our internal calls – but for the record, he was NOT good at it. I would regularly demand, “Where are your eyes! What are you doing!?” and often he’d say “Nothing. Nothing.” Though one time he did sheepishly admit he was looking at Peloton bikes…
  • He loved to rent and zip around on an electric scooter whenever he could. I remember asking him how a conference was, and he said “It was great! I got a scooter.”
  • He LOVED Moana. So much so, that he actually did an entire presentation at the Iowa Craft Brewers Guild on forecasting themed to Moana. He had photos of Maui and a slide titled “Wayfinder” and he proudly presented this to a room full of mostly male, Iowa craft brewers. And they LOVED it too. 
  • His wardrobe was mainly filled with free t-shirts from software vendors
  • In recent years, I upped my gif game and I’ll say- my gif posting talents kept Josh on his toes. We would have FULL conversations back and forth communicating only in Schitts Creek gifs. My favorite to send to him was David (meaning I was rolling my eyes at him or telling him I did NOT like his ideas) and his favorite to send back to me was Moira (as in, I was behaving like Moira Rose).

Lindsay:

What we never told Josh was that we agreed he was a cool accountant but for different reasons: 

  • When he was Florida Josh (FL Josh was who we got after his vacations to FL – he was relaxed, extra easy going and would go with the flow- Everyone loved FL Josh except Sam, which if you know Sam, then you understand why she had her issues with FL Josh).
  • He had the sweetest reactions to his kids or Leesa interrupting a video call – He would pick up Nathan for a hug (which became harder as Nathan got taller) and patiently listened to Ella’s stories.
  • He also had some of the best check-ins on our team calls. From attending a Bulls game with Nathan, to flying to Minneapolis with Ella to watch Everton Football Club, to his epic cruise and Epcot getaway and restaurant outings with Leesa. 
  • And speaking of restaurants – You always knew you would eat and drink well when with him
  • His calm demeanor, even in the thick of tax season, deadlines looming. 
  • He went above and beyond to take care of our team – even giving up his own pay during part of the pandemic to make sure the team was covered
  • There was nothing he didn’t know, no problem he couldn’t solve.
  • He approached every challenge with a kind perspective
  • He was understanding when it came to working mother’s and allowing them flexibility in their jobs so they could put their kids first. He didn’t put pressure on us to get something done right away if it didn’t need to be.
  • He always encouraged us to not to look at work while on vacation. He would say, “Delete the apps and be present with your family.” 
  • He wrote a beautiful, vulnerable letter to our firm after the murder of George Floyd, and he was proud to share that he believed Black Lives Matter. 
  • He always encouraged us to share our ideas and to even disagree with him 
  • Josh took a chance on every single one of us.
  • He also believed in us – always pushed us to try hard things, and assured us we could do it, reminding us all along the way that, “It’ll be fine!” 

 

So, as we tentatively move forward, we’ll do so with Josh’s words in the back of our minds saying, “It’ll be fine.”