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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

SPECIAL REPORT: Robert Grimes

Robert “Bob” Grimes is the local representative of EY’s network of 28,000 tax professionals in 120 countries. From his Westlake Village office, he works with companies in the engineering, technology, consumer goods, distribution and manufacturing industries. He focuses on tax matters for large corporations and emerging companies. FIRM: Ernst & Young Global Ltd. SPECIALTY: Corporate Tax HOBBIES: Golf, fishing and travel Question: Why accounting? Answer: I majored in accounting and finance because I had a strong interest in the area of finance. But of course, when I was in college, I didn’t really know what the day-to-day life of an accountant would be like. Most interesting aspect of your job: I work side-by-side with entrepreneurs, CFOs, CIOs, and tax professionals at both established, market-leading and high-growth early stage companies. The combination of interacting with current and future business leaders and highly talented team members makes my job interesting every day. How does your personality help you as an accountant? Being a good communicator is important. Tax is complex, and excellent communication skills are needed to be able to provide clear counsel to clients. Typical work week: It really varies from week to week. I love my job, the people I work with and serving our clients, so I’m not thinking about the hours when I’m working! Favorite out-of-the-office activities: I often enjoy traveling with my family to local and foreign destinations, an occasional round of golf and spending time at the beach. How has accounting changed during your career? Early in my career, the fax machine was our version of instant messaging and 14-column, hand-written spreadsheets were the typical work product. Today, with a universe of information available at the touch of a keystroke and the ubiquity of mobile phones, the definition of responsiveness has changed. We have the opportunity to work flexibly today in ways that technology just couldn’t support when my career began. As far as our service to clients, today clients look to us for far more than traditional assurance and tax services; we are trusted advisors in helping them navigate their challenges. At EY, we have significantly expanded our advisory services, also known as consulting, and clients look to us for our deep industry experience in performance improvement, analytics, risk and cybersecurity, customer experience, strategy, operations, technology, social media, finance and tax. If you could change one law or accounting rule, what would it be? Thankfully, it’s not our role to change the laws or rules, it’s our role to help our clients comply with them. What gives a “power accountant” his/her power? At EY, our values define who we are. They guide our actions and behavior. They influence the way we work with each other – and the way we serve our clients. Our values give us the confidence that we are using the same principles to guide our clients, develop our people and help us make the right decisions throughout our global organization. Your role within the firm: I see myself as a team member and coach and hopefully a role model. Our profession is an apprenticeship model; our people take on more and greater responsibility as they move through their careers. All of us in leadership positions do everything we can to ensure that the people of EY wake up every day knowing what is right and what is wrong, and knowing that no matter what, nothing is more important than their own personal leadership and integrity and the integrity of our firm. What do you wish clients would do more often? With global tax laws continually changing, it’s more important than ever for businesses to have effective relationships with a trusted tax advisor. The most successful client relationships are usually evidenced by a very robust communication between client and tax advisor. Advice for others considering a career in accounting: Be curious. Many of our new hires join the firm right out of college, and those professionals are constantly learning from those who manage them and cultivating leadership skills that will help them throughout their careers. Reach out to those people you know in the profession. Ask what their experiences are and their views on the profession as a whole. The accounting profession may not be for everyone but for those who choose it, it can be a very exciting and rewarding career. Your life at tax time: There used to be a well-defined busy season for audit and tax. Today, our professionals are highly in demand all year long. Given that my role is heavily weighted toward corporate tax clients, my “busier” tax time is in the August/September timeframe. Biggest tax season challenge: Tax season is primarily associated with compliance, a process which is mostly centered on information flow. The timeliness of information between clients and our firm can be one of the biggest challenges. In our quest to provide exceptional client service, EY is continually enhancing the efficiency of information flow through technology.

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