Huntsville is a memorable place for Stephanie Livingston, a certified public accountant (CPA) in Montgomery. In 2023, she opened a Huntsville office; since that time, she has been able to rekindle some of the lasting friendships she made twenty years ago when she lived in the area. She also remembers with nostalgia the recital she performed as a 16-year-old aspiring concert pianist at the Gaertner Performing Arts Center at Sam Houston State University “I played one of the best recital performances of my life there,” she says.
When Stephanie was growing up in College Station, she reached the point in her piano studies that her instructor could teach her nothing more. She suggested Stephanie take private lessons from Dr. Richard Smith, a professor at SHSU. Later, while still in high school, Stephanie studied with another professor at Baylor University. She was somehow managing to go to class, work part-time and drive to distant piano lessons; in addition, she practiced two to three hours per day. Although her “first love career pursuit” was to become a concert pianist, she says, she began to wonder if being a professional musician and performing artist was the right choice for her. She realized such a demanding career would make it hard for her to have a family; besides, her income would be unpredictable.
Fortunately, at the suggestion of her best friend, Stephanie took a basic accounting class and discovered she had a remarkable aptitude for accounting; furthermore, she enjoyed it. “Numbers are fun,” she says. After graduating from the University of Texas at Austin in 1990 with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting, she began working professionally for UT Austin, then for Texas A&M University, as a fund accountant. She later earned her Master of Business Administration from Stephen F. Austin State University before becoming licensed as a Texas CPA.
When people learn Stephanie is a CPA, they usually ask, “So, you do taxes?” Although every CPA knows how to prepare taxes, Stephanie typically works for small businesses and corporations, including non-profits, to perform a variety of other important tasks. “I do so much more,” she says, noting she is well-known professionally by her peers and colleagues for being able to solve sophisticated accounting and taxation issues for businesses, both large and small.
Besides being an accomplished pianist, Stephanie plays guitar, sings, draws, paints, and makes a variety of crafts. This creativity is also evident in her work with businesses. Her imaginative thinking has given her a reputation for providing unique ways to solve business operational and accounting problems her business clients encounter. “The creative side of business strategy is so easy for me,” she says. “I seem to be able to provide high-value, strategic execution for business-issues problem solving, where most people are unable to see a way. And because of my many years in private industry, as well as my artistic background in music, I have developed a very diverse skillset with many tricks in my bag.”
One of the jobs Stephanie enjoys most is forensic accounting. In this role, she usually answers the question, “What happened to the money?” Sometimes, her client is going through a divorce and believes a spouse is hiding money or is undervaluing a business that should be split equally between spouses. Sometimes her client is a corporation. “They will say, ‘We are not sure how it’s happening, but we believe something nefarious is going on in our organization.’ I found out I was highly gifted in this area of accounting,” she says. “I also enjoy the legal aspects of accounting, because part of my strategic services is not just how to save money at tax time, but how to structure a business so there can be legal separations from business-related liabilities.” Furthermore, as a CPA expert witness, she is qualified to defend her forensic work in court if needed.
Stephanie also performs business valuations and can use this expertise—along with her negotiating skills—to neutrally broker the buying or selling of businesses for one or both sides. One of her favorite success stories involves a business that was profitable for decades until crippled by fraud and theft. Through her accounting, Stephanie was able to show the true worth of the business. Both the buyer and the seller were Stephanie’s clients, and both benefited from her ability to use proven business valuation methods and to negotiate a sale of more than $10 million.
Stephanie can also bridge the gap for small businesses that need chief financial officer and controller services, but do not need them full-time. It often makes good financial sense for such businesses to hire Stephanie on a part-time, as-needed basis. “I solve high value problems or introduce procedures and processes to streamline cash flows, resolve business-flow bottleneck issues, and show ways to increase profit margins in the many layers businesses revenues have. This helps businesses more strategically align their day-to-day with their end goal—which is usually how to make more profit, increase profit margins, and pay less tax.”
Stephanie’s creativity has also helped her to become an entrepreneur and inventor. She has successfully engineered many business start-ups, and is also an inventor and co-inventor with patents pending.
A former boss used to tell Stephanie her managerial style reminded him of a teacher. This came as no surprise to Stephanie, who loves to teach. She instructed her first beginner piano students when she was a teenager–today, she offers pro bono classes several times a year on a variety of accounting topics. (She is most-commonly requested to teach the fundamentals of non-profit accounting.) Stephanie also helps her clients understand accounting principles. “Too many people don’t use their financial statements for directing and predicting business operations,” she says. “Metrics don’t lie, and analytics using percentages are critical. There is hidden information inside the profit and loss statement that is understandable when you perform analytical diagnostics. These techniques allow for the profit and loss statement to perform a higher role in strategic business planning. It is one great way to reveal how much money a business is really making, and can pinpoint what aspects of a business’s products or services are the true money-makers.”
Stephanie’s business motto is “Strategy wins the game,” because she believes running a successful business requires strategy. “It’s like playing a game of chess,” she says. “Every move is a strategy. You know winning the game means more profit and less tax for your business, but there are many ways to get there. I help them pick the best one for their particular business. Strategy and creativity produce a unique synergy. When they are paired together, more solutions are available.”
While many business clients initially contact Stephanie because they need help with their taxes, they soon find she can help them in many other ways. “They are happy they landed with somebody who basically is a one-stop-shop for problems needing the expertise of a CPA,” she says. Furthermore, clients are usually pleased she is so responsive. Her reputation is spreading, and she has clients in Montgomery, Walker, Harris, Polk, and Grimes counties.
For more information, visit https://www.livingstoncpa.consulting
16915 Walden Rd Montgomery, Texas 77356 FRIDAY
1719 11th Street Huntsville, Texas 77340 TUESDAY | THURSDAY
Remote Appointments by Zoom MONDAY | WEDNESDAY
CLIENT SITE VISITS: By Appointment
Postcards Magazine
936-293-1188
PO Box 690
Huntsville, TX 77342
