Dennis Duban Of DLD Accountancy: Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Began Leading My Company

It is not the experience that determines who we are, but rather the way we respond to it and move forward.

As part of our series called “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Began Leading My Company” I had the pleasure of interviewing Dennis Duban.

Dennis Duban, CPA, is a certified public accountant with over 40 years of experience and is the chairman and owner of DLD Accountancy, LLP in Los Angeles, CA. He graduated from the University of Southern California with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting. In 1973, Dennis joined an international CPA firm, and eventually branched out on his own to create Duban Accountancy in 1979 to offer tax and accounting expertise to individuals and businesses. In 2014, the firm name was changed to DLD Accountancy, LLP. Dennis’ specialties include tax compliance and planning for individuals, partnerships, corporations, estates and trusts. His specific areas of tax expertise include real estate, the entertainment industry, construction and development, professional corporations, retirement and estate planning. He believes that each client’s financial goals are achieved by careful, insightful and individual attention to their needs and by creating an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?

I graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Southern California in June of 1973 with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting. When I graduated, I was proud to receive the Elijah Watt Sells Award and the Forbes Gold Medal for the highest score on the May 1973 Uniform CPA Examination. I took the plunge 42 years ago and began my own firm with my adoring sister, ten years my junior, managing the phone and files and I busily turning out tax returns to our modest number of clients. Since then, the firm has grown in size, but maintained the same core values my sister and I started with.

What was the “Aha Moment” that led to the idea for your current company? Can you share that story with us?

Starting out in the world of accounting I was highly praised, but always felt like a fish out of water. I loved what I did, much unlike anyone else whose paths I crossed working in accounting or even to the surprise of most of the public who loved to joke that accountants are the most boring creatures on the planet. I found it like an exacting puzzle just waiting to be solved. So when I worked at my first job as a CPA in one of the “Big 8” accounting firms I quickly realized that moving up the ladder would be more of a step ladder to my dreams and I just wasn’t interested. Starting my own firm gave me more ability and freedom to work with specific clients and other talented accounting professionals. I’ve found that starting my own firm has provided me with more fulfillment in life than I could have ever imagined if I continued working for someone else at an accounting firm.

Can you tell us a story about the hard times that you faced when you first started your journey? Did you ever consider giving up? Where did you get the drive to continue even though things were so hard?

I think the most challenging issue of running the firm is staff and employee care taking. I didn’t realize in the beginning that running a firm is a lot like running a family, with emotions and sibling rivalries that seem to overshadow the day to day job at hand. I think if I had known that beforehand, I would have prepared with a few more psychology courses that could have given me insight to what are the best methods to handle those fragile egos and tender feelings. Funnily enough one feels, as a business person, that it is only getting the job done that matters, but it truly takes coaching and impressive management skills to successfully run a firm.

So, how are things going today? How did your grit and resilience lead to your eventual success?

Pitfalls these things may be, but worth it? You betcha! It was the best decision I made in business to take the reins of my own firm and give myself the ability to soar and prosper at a level that would have never been possible in any other business model. There are days that I suddenly look around my company, at the staff and the clients, and I can’t help but declare: “I love this place.” One of the greatest joys of my life was the day my daughter was born. I never knew I could love that much. Parenting was the most work and the hardest thing I have ever done…but truly the greatest joy. Owning a firm can never compare to being a father, but on some level it is exactly the same recipe and outcome…the hardest work, but the greatest thing you have ever done.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

In the world of public accounting, like in any industry providing services, one of one’s most important goals is to try to differentiate their firm from others. In my case, the two items that make our company stand out, were, I believe, two key aspects of the genuine me. I was being who I am; I was wanting to deliver the best experience I could to my clients and I did not see that as “a way to make us stand out” or a way to “differentiate us from others,” but rather I wanted our clients to feel they had made the right choice in selecting us OR were going to make the right choice if they did select us. Truly, both of the items I am about to mention were unintentional means of differentiating us.

I have always loved what I do. The accounting activities are like a puzzle; the clients give you all sorts of data in all sorts of forms and order and our job is to put it all together in a generally accepted accounting principles form (GAAP) and prepare financial statements that the client can use to manage their businesses, affairs, give to banks or mortgage companies and use for their income taxes. The income tax laws are like a chess game. The laws are established and interpreted and it is our job to come up with the most creative solutions that will minimize the tax burden of the client and leave them with the greatest percentage of their earnings.

So, having looked at this as puzzles and games, my mind set was to enjoy what I did. And I did. And I do! But in the delivery, I was having such a great time communicating information to clients and listening to their stories that they also had a great time. Instead of one’s tax appointment being on the level of a dental cleaning, I found clients recommending me by saying to their peers and family and friends, “It is really fun to go and have my taxes done!” and “This guy loves what he does (who knows why) and he takes the stress out of doing income taxes and I really enjoy going to see him every year.” To me that was a huge compliment. It was not my intention or my goal, it was an unanticipated benefit of loving what I do. That really does differentiate us from other CPAs who may not give their clients the same experience. People like coming to our office or having a Zoom conference! Most CPAs will have the answers. People in their industries typically have the answers. To me, it is not the answer, but rather how you deliver it, that differentiates one CPA from another.

The second thing I heard time and time again was that as a client departed the office, whether it was to the front office staff or people they talked to on the way home (or at home before cell phones!) the communication was “When I leave Dennis’ office, I always feel like it is going to ALL BE OKAY. I was stressed and worried and nervous and feeling disorganized when I arrived and after we spoke and he took his notes and reviewed my data and gave his opinions, he always had either a solution, or the encouraging words to say ‘we can handle this. You will be okay.’ And I believed him and he was right.”

I think those two comments made me work harder to achieve that result at every meeting and on every call. Firstly, make sure the clients have a fun experience and secondly, let them know it is going to be okay.

My mom used to say that when I was VERY young, she had challenges keeping me busy. I had lots of energy and lots to accomplish. So she would buy puzzles and have me put them together to occupy me so she could deal with being a wife and mother. But I did the puzzles too fast. So she started throwing multiple puzzles together in one pile, so that first I had to figure out which pieces went with which puzzle…… it served her, but it also served me and to this day, I break up large projects into their individual components so that the task is manageable in layers.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘takeaways’ you learned from that?

I am not sure I have ever considered a mistake funny, but I will share what might be the funniest line I delivered over the past 42 years. I was sitting in a very important consulting meeting with a group of about 30 beneficiaries of a Hawaiian trust that was worth somewhere in the billions. These are pretty serious meetings as you can imagine, there is a lot of money at stake not to mention tax consequences, generational estate planning and the life blood of 100 years of history.

So all of these VIP clients were sitting in a banquet conference room in Hawaii and I was fielding questions about the future of the trusts/LLCs and their finances. It was really cold in there and someone had turned the air conditioning down so low that people were freezing. After all, these are Hawaiians! There were tables in the back that had huge white table cloths and people started grabbing them and wrapping themselves up to protect them from the cold. Some even went so far as to put them over their heads.

At one point, one of the participants asked me if a certain complicated structure for a future entity would be possible. I looked around the room and said, “Given the fact that I, a Jewish, Gay man from the mainland is sitting here in a room full of people wearing white sheets as headgear, ANYTHING is possible!” To date it might be the best reaction I have had to an impromptu one liner…..

Often leaders are asked to share the best advice they received. But let’s reverse the question. Can you share a story about advice you’ve received that you now wish you never followed?

Yes. Early in my career I met a man who was truly a mover and shaker. He was a successful real estate developer and had great taste and a great delivery and was able to charm people, raise money and spend it just as quickly. His homes were stunning and it seemed he could do no wrong. I was impressed. During the times we worked together, I went from being just his CPA to a partner in developing real estate and building homes. His philosophy was that it doesn’t matter what you pay for something, it is simply the terms of the purchase (interest rate, amortization of principal, due date, etc.) that matter. And, he said, you cannot be too leveraged because you can always raise or borrow more money and increase the price of your product. Well, during the late 1970s and very early 1980s, real estate was booming and prices were rising. But then one day we woke up and variable rates were approaching 18% and if you were highly leveraged it got ugly. Furthermore, at some point all loans must be paid back and if the amount borrowed or the amount paid for land and construction turned out to be more than the value of the finished product, it got even uglier. I think that looking back, that was bad advice and it cost us both dearly……

You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

Somewhere in college I decided I wanted to be the best there is. I was a student in college, and I had no interests in sports, I had no hobbies, and I did not have a plethora of friends or social life, so I defaulted to being the best in my classes. It did not matter if it was my accounting class or my archeology class, I was going to excel and be the best. I am sure I had issues of feeling “less than” but this was going to show the world. So I worked as hard as humanly possible. And I learned how to work hard. Really hard. Incredibly hard. And I excelled. I excelled to the point that when I took the CPA exam I received a gold medal for the highest score. That was a pretty big deal to me, and that accomplishment showed me that if you worked the hardest you were the most successful. So early on in my career (maybe not just early on, maybe the first 40 years) I worked very hard and I do attribute that to my success.

Secondly, in my senior year of college, when I truly was on a roll, getting As in courses I could never have imagined, I got to a class and turned in an exam very early in the period and handed it to the professor. He knew that I worked hard and that I knew my stuff, but there was something about me that apparently he did not like… we got our grades the next day and my score was stellar. He was handing out the exams in reverse order, so I got mine last. Most students had left the classroom by then and as I was putting it into my binder he looked up and said, “I hope you realize you will never make it in this industry, public accounting is not for you and you will do yourself and others a favor if you find something else more appropriate and cut your losses…..”

I was devastated. This was the last month of my senior year in college. I had just dedicated four years (25% of my life!) to getting an accounting degree; I loved accounting and he was telling me I would fail….. when in fact I knew that I would be better at this than anyone else (in my mind anyway…). Crushed, I mentioned his comment to another professor who I really respected. He told me that I would always meet people who didn’t believe in me, and I would even meet people that didn’t like me or want to be around me. He said to stick with it and power through and do what I love and that I would be successful. I took his advice. Looking back maybe my personality didn’t jive with the one professor, maybe I was too gay (my daughter says I have that tendency) but whatever it was, taking the encouragement rather than the discouragement changed my life and always has. I try to be a positive influence on others and I know to this day that you can and should find ways to encourage people, not discourage them.

Lastly, the third characteristic is bouncing back. In business we have wins and we have losses. We have successes and failures and there are actually a lot of folks out there that say you can learn more from a failure, and I suspect this is probably true. It is not the experience that determines who we are, but rather the way we respond to it and move forward.

Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?

Taking care of yourself is paramount to heading your own firm. If you go to burn-out then you are no good to your clients or your staff. You must carve out time to rejuvenate and relax to reboot and revive your own soul. This is so tricky because the tendency is to feel that you have to constantly be on call, because somehow something is going to fall through the cracks and could spell disaster. But, over these many years I have found that things tend to work out even if I’m not paying attention every second and that I am much more productive and happy (which benefits everyone) when I have been recharged and ready to dive in again. My whole world is better when I have taken time for myself, which only translates into a better work environment at the office. Acknowledge what you have created. Whenever I remember I take a moment as I am walking in or out of the Dennis Duban Building I smile and nod at the accomplishments.

What are the most common mistakes you have seen CEOs & founders make when they start a business? What can be done to avoid those errors?

Choosing equity partners is its own cagey animal. I have found, more than a few times, that you must be very careful if you are going to share the investment in the firm with ones that haven’t been fully tested. It’s a bit like dating and being blinded by their exquisite dressing and on their best behavior at the beginning, only to show some true colors after you move in together. You have to be incredibly sure that they are someone you want to go the distance with and worth taking the risk for because you could be headed to a very messy divorce… which no one wants to go through. Just like relationships, they are out there, but you have to be careful and I might even suggest a matchmaker to make sure they are the one.

In your experience, which aspect of running a company tends to be most underestimated? Can you explain or give an example?

I think when I founded the firm I was very clear what my duties were and what needed to be done. It becomes a bit more complicated when you start adding employees. They are ready and willing, but need lots of guidance. I mistakenly didn’t include all the time and energy that it would take to make sure that the firm worked as a well-oiled machine. But, it is truly essential! You reap so many benefits by making sure your staff knows exactly what their duties are, what they need to do to accomplish them and that they have support whenever they need it. Whatever time is put into training and supporting the staff comes back to you in technicolor. The employees are happier, more effective and much better at taking care of clients. The investment in your employees is one of the most critical aspects of having a cohesive, productive and congenial firm.

I also think that most people don’t realize when you’re the boss that not only the buck but everything imaginable stops squarely on you. It is a 24-hour-a-day gig that you bring home and even toys with you in your dreams. You are solely responsible for the payroll, rent, client’s happiness and everything else in between. You can’t close the office door at 5:30pm and leave it all behind. It’s important to know that there is a burden of responsibility that will come with you everywhere you go whether on vacation or at the grocery store. Don’t get me wrong… there are huge benefits that come with the challenge. Making your own hours, taking vacations whenever you choose and especially gaining the potential to make profits that aren’t possible on a fixed salary aren’t possible if you’re not your own boss. The risks, my friend, fully pale to the rewards. But, there are more than a few sleepless nights that come with the territory. Just sayin’!

Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Began Leading My Company”? Please share a story or an example for each.

1. Best Ways to Care For and Manage Others: As a business owner in the field of accounting, the responsibility of dealing with and caring for others such as employees was quite jolting when I made the jump into starting my own firm. Business and accounting are thought of as very systematic and straightforward practices, but regardless of the field, when you add other humans into the mix, things can get dicey.
2. Work Becomes Life: I knew leading my own firm would be time consuming; however, I wasn’t prepared for just how much time my business would take. When leading a firm, it’s more than just your accounting responsibilities: the rent, payroll, recruiting, etc. all falls onto you. Suddenly, your business is all you think about and sometimes even dream about!
3. Pick Wisely Who You Surround Yourself With: It can be tricky finding the right people to work with and the right people to hire. It is crucial to vet the people you are working closely with and follow your gut if something doesn’t feel right. Same goes for prospective employees. It can be easy for people to show enthusiasm in the beginning, but always make sure to pay close attention or check back in to make sure they are still committed to the success of your firm. Unfortunately, experiences like this are part of being human and sometimes you have to learn from experience, but make sure to learn that lesson the first time around so it doesn’t become a pattern. Choosing equity partners is its own cagey animal. I have found, more than a few times, that you must be very careful if you are going to share the investment in the firm with ones that haven’t been fully tested. It’s a bit like dating and being blinded by their exquisite dressing and on their best behavior at the beginning, only to show some true colors after you move in together. You have to be incredibly sure that they are someone you want to go the distance with and worth taking the risk for because you could be headed to a very messy divorce…which no one wants to go through. Just like relationships, they are out there, but you have to be careful and I might even suggest a matchmaker to make sure they are the one.
4. Training Others: When I started my firm, I knew what my responsibilities were and what my employees responsibilities were, but I made the mistake of not dedicating enough time to training my employees and getting them acclimated to the firm. Every firm is different and it’s important for employees to have a clear understanding of their job to succeed. I learned very quickly to spend enough time with each employee I hired to talk about the position, its responsibilities and goals.
5. Self-Care: Even though leading your firm will be on your mind 24 hours a day, it is important to take time for yourself to avoid burnout. Taking a few hours to do something I love or getting things done around the house helps me to rejuvenate and come back to work with a clear mind which translates to more quality work.

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I have a really simple recipe for my life. Be kind and be compassionate. It’s not rocket science. I think that my motto would not be the golden rule, as in Do unto others as you would have them do unto you (i.e., treat others as you would want them to treat you), but rather my movement would be to “treat others as THEY would want to be treated.” I think that would result in a pretty incredible world.

How can our readers further follow you online?

Follow me on my LinkedIn: Dennis Duban and on YouTube.

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this!