About Steve

Steven Sacks, CPA, CGMA, ABC

From accountant to assimilator: How I got here.

It didn’t take long to find motivation in the accounting profession beyond practicing in a CPA firm. It’s probably a result of my passion for, and natural ease as a communicator and collaborator. After a few years in the business of being a CPA, I quickly learned that I had a knack for finding the quickest route to business development and growth, and creating strategic communication as a key to those accomplishments.

In my early career, I found that leaders—and the consultants in the profession—are quick to point out the problems and barriers we face, but identifying the problem just wasn’t enough. We’d stagnate when we wouldn’t find a corrective action or project – and we’d get caught in a cycle of endless analysis of the problem and what was causing it, not the first and next steps we needed to take to solve it.

Dovetailing early career experience as a CPA, I took steps to broaden the reach of my career and capability. I realized I was a right-brain thinker in a mostly left-brain profession. And I felt that I could do more for my firm by bringing an organized, functional perspective to the consultative approach to professional services.

This thinking led me to growing and managing a consulting services membership section for the largest professional services trade association in the world. Here I led efforts to create the first set of consulting services standards and develop the Accredited in Business Valuation credential. I also conceived and created award-winning newsletters, including CPA Expert for valuation and litigation support practitioners.

Experience really is the best teacher.

My ability to recognize what’s needed, develop an integrated cross-functional team to accomplish it, and create clear and compelling messages that motivate people to action provided motivation to diverse work groups.

As Executive Director, I led Moore Stephens North America to its status as a top-ten worldwide firm membership organization. There I solidified my understanding and learned that a solutions-to-results approach is much needed in a world of change, tight human resources and limited time. I earned the Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) and Accredited Business Communicator (ABC) designations, deepening my knowledge of the impact of communications on business success and problem solving.

That’s why we should have a conversation. There’s not much out there (by way of problem solving) that I haven’t seen or heard. Let’s talk. No one-size-fits-all approach, no template reports and position papers. And you won’t hear the blah blah blah standard fare either; the jargon, sugarcoating and pabulum that doesn’t move your firm forward won’t be part of our conversation.