Meet TSCPA Member: Chris Picciurro, CPA, MBA, PFS, ARA
For TSCPA member Chris Picciurro, CPA, MBA, PFS, ARA, it’s all about “collaboration over competition.” As the founder of online educational system Teaching Tax Flow, Picciurro took his 20 years of experience in private practice and developed a proprietary process to teach tax planning and strategy. “It’s a passion project as a community to help the unserved and underserved taxpayers out there to understand the value of tax planning and strategy, and it’s built to complement tax preparation,” he explains. “That’s what Teaching Tax Flow’s all about, really bringing people together.”
Back in the Day
I was very blessed to be raised by amazing parents. They’re still together and create a great example for our family. I grew up in an Italian American family in the Detroit area. I grew up in a very working-class neighborhood, and if anyone’s ever watched the movie “The Sandlot,” that pretty much is my childhood. When it was warm out, we would play baseball, basketball and do things that everyone in those days would. I got yelled at by my friends’ parents just as much as my own parents. That’s just the way it was back in the day. The summers of Michigan are amazing. Our family would look forward to going up north and enjoying the Great Lakes.
All About Numbers
I loved sports and I really wanted to be a sports statistician when I was younger, but I really liked accounting. I really liked numbers. I was very fortunate to go to a private high school De La Salle in the Detroit area, which is an all-boys Catholic high school. I was even more fortunate they had accounting. I took accounting my junior year, and then I took AP accounting my senior year, and I just kind of fell in love with it. I always was very entrepreneurial, and it seemed to me that if you can become a CPA, you could really do anything in business.
On the CPA Exam
Took it over two days – pencil and paper – and I did pass all four parts the first time, luckily. I remember it was the first week of May. They only offered it in May and October. You had to wait until August to even get the results. You had no clue if you passed or not. So, you’re thinking, do I study, do I not study? I just chose to go back to work and not really study, hoping I at least passed two of the parts. Then, I’ll never forget, in August – the rumor was, if you get a thin envelope, that’s good. If you get a thick envelope, that’s a registration for another exam. I remember getting the thin envelope. I opened it up, and I realized I passed. Now, mind you, this is no cell phones at the time. My whole family was up north with aunts and uncles and everyone. I drove up there, and I tell my parents I passed the test. Everyone was jumping around, yelling! Just even talking about it – you just feel that all over again. I just felt like, okay, I’ve been blessed with this opportunity. You know, to whom much is given, much is expected. So, this is it. Now, do something with it.
A Change of Focus
When I first started my practice, I was teaching at a couple colleges back up in the Detroit area. Then it really grew into a larger CPA practice. But I was doing things the old way, turning and burning, and we said, you know what? Really, the future is tax planning and strategy. And so, we transitioned our CPA practice exclusively to a subscription-based model that focuses on tax planning and strategy. Because as CPAs, we are very trusted advisors and we want to do planning and strategy, but there’s not really a roadmap.
On TSCPA
We moved here in the middle of 2016. Once I rented an office and the reciprocity came through, I joined TSCPA. I’m a big advocate of formal organizations, especially being a small practitioner. I’ve been able to meet a lot of great people. Obviously, the continuing education opportunities are there, getting involved with the local chapters. I just joined my first task force focusing on helping younger CPAs, so I’m in there. I think it’s a huge value. We should like collaboration over competition. There are so many people that need our help as CPAs; we need to work together.
Playing Around
About a year ago, I started a new relationship with something that I fell in love with, and that is pickleball. So, that is my new love. I also love my wife. Luckily, she likes to play, too. We’ve been married 15 years. I was looking for something that I could play the rest of my life.
Words of Encouragement
I try to tell our children all the time, if you want to see your future, look around you. That could be your colleagues, it could be your client base and it could be whatever you take that for. Embrace being the least experienced, maybe least knowledgeable person in a meeting, because that’s how you learn – and the worst pickleball player on the court, because that’s how you get better.
This article was originally published in the March/April 2023 Tennessee CPA Journal.