Welcome to Ronnie Withaeger, CPA
Welcome! My name is Ronnie Withaeger, CPA. I wanted to take a few minutes to introduce myself, talk about my practice and how I work with people.
School Years
Born in Illinois, raised in Las Vegas. For college, I attended UNLV. When I first started there, I didn’t know what I wanted to study. But, I was inspired by a couple people I met on my LDS church mission and my aunt, all of whom I really respected, and were accountants or CPAs. I decided to follow in their footsteps and majored in accounting.
Accounting Experiences
After school, I started working for the fifth largest accounting firm and got my CPA. I then realized that I wanted to work more with small businesses owners, so I moved to a smaller firm where I could gain that experience. I found that I really love working with small business owners - I loved the connections, conversations and the opportunity to really just be a part of people’s businesses.
After a few years of working in that small firm, and having discovered the area I wanted to focus my career on, I had the opportunity to move to a law firm that specializes in serving small businesses.
I spent four years at the law firm, managing the law firm’s tax practice. I had a great experience working there. It gave me the opportunity to learn how to grow and manage a practice, from attorneys that were able to help me understand the legal side of business.
Working there gave me a wide range of experience, from hiring people, to working with small business owners, real estate developers, investors, etc.
Starting My Own CPA Practice
I always wanted to have my own business, but I had a list of things I felt were important to do first before starting my own business. Once I accomplished those steps, I felt like it was time to jump out and do my own thing.
For the last two years, I’ve been running my own CPA practice, located in the Summerlin area of Las Vegas. I’ve been spending my time building my business and have a few people that work with me here - tax preparers, CPAs and bookkeepers. We’re building our practice with a group of people with strong expertise and that care about people. A main pillar of what I’m about is that I care about and want to help people. I appreciate the opportunity I have in the financial world to really help people out.
Serving Business Owners
In the past 10 years as a CPA, I’ve collected a wide array of experience working with lots of different business owners. Because I work with so many business owners, I’ve been able to learn what things work really well. I have lots of ideas of things people can implement in their businesses to improve their processes - from new technology to specific problem solutions.
Something that makes me unique, is that I’m a business owner myself. Not just in my CPA business, I also have other businesses - some that I own, some I manage, some of which I’m a partner. So I understand the intricacies of owning and managing businesses, as well as the unique challenges of being a business partner.
Real Estate Taxes & Accounting
One of the primary focuses of our practice is real estate. We have tons of real estate clients who do everything from owning a rental property to large apartment complex syndications. Not to mention, I’m a real estate investor myself. So I’ve seen so many different situations at each end of the spectrum.
Investments & the Stock Market
I also enjoy messing around with the stock market - following specific stocks and doing silly stuff like day-trading. I’m sure there are people a little bit better than me at it, but it’s an interest of mine that helps me better understand the needs of my clients, that also invest in stocks.
A Proactive Approach to Taxes
In my experience, whether you’re just getting started or you’re more established in your business, you need ideas and planning. There are a lot of accountants who are too busy to really focus on planning. They have enough work, so sometimes they’re more reactionary or deliver a “see you next year” type of approach. But with our clients, I try to be proactive. I provide year-end tax planning. I send my clients a monthly email with pertinent, current topics. When we get a new tax law, I provide guidance on the impact. For example, when the government passed the Cares Act a couple months ago, I did a webinar breaking it all down - what it is, what the loans will mean to small businesses, etc. I want my clients to view me as an extension of their business. I want them to think “Ronnie’s on our team. We can call, text, email him, and he will help us out.”
Tax & Personal Finance Education
So far, this business has been built from a base of clients I’ve worked with over the years, word-of mouth-referrals, walk-ins and a practice that I bought. However, I realized that one thing I really haven’t done, is harness the full power of the internet and get the knowledge base that I have out into the world.
In college, I ended up working in an elementary school. There is a side of me that loves to teach. I love teaching people the complications of business in a simple way. I’ve found my clients really like the seminars and Q&A webinars I’ve provided, and it has helped me to gain their trust.
My desire is to help and teach, and that’s my goal here with my online platform. On my Youtube channel and here on my website, I plan to teach people how to save money on their taxes, how to be tax compliant with the deductions they’re taking, how to prepare for an IRS audit, and how to grow your business. I’m going to put a lot of information out there that I think will be really beneficial for people. I want to be an information base that really helps small business owners, since I’m right there with you.
A Personal Note
The most important thing to me is my family. I love my wife and my four daughters. I have four girls that range between nine months old and eight years old right now, so our hands are full with those girls when I'm outside of the office. They are the center of my life.
As far as hobbies go, I like to play sports such as basketball, pickleball, and golf. I like spending time with friends and talking about all the things that you’re not supposed to talk about-like money, politics and religion, so that’s the kind of stuff that you can probably catch me talking about. Thanks for joining me!