Anton Neff, Staff Accountant
Staff Spotlight on Anton Neff, CPA
By: Jennifer Deroin
Anton Neff joined The Nichols Accounting Group as a Staff Accountant in 2013 after transitioning from a large accounting firm. He grew up in Quincy, Washington, (population 6500) and finished his degree at Dickinson State University in North Dakota because of their accounting program, and because it was in a small rural area. His love of rural areas and agriculture brought him to Ontario with now wife Hilary and baby in tow. Since coming to the firm, we’ve learned that this soft-spoken CPA comes with a practical joker sense of humor. His comical take on tax laws, funny office signs, and redesigned name plates are just some of what you can expect.
I recently sat down with Anton to learn a little more about him, and his journey.
An excerpt from our conversation:
JD: So let’s start with the “big” question, how tall are you?
Anton: I’m a shade over 6’9”.
JD: Holy smokes! I remember when you arrived – they literally put your desk on wooden blocks. I was worried that it was a little “hill-billyish”, but you didn’t seem to mind.
Anton: Nope. I loved my tall hillbilly desk.
JD: Very good. What funny things have happened to you because of your height?
Anton: I have bumped my head on quite a few door frames, but nothing too much beyond that. My dad was tall (6’8”) so I was well aware of the struggles to find proper fitting clothes and low doorways from watching him as I grew up.
JD: Tell me more about how you arrived in Ontario, Oregon, at this Firm.
Anton: I had an internship at a Regional Firm and afterwards they offered me a permanent position. I was with them for 2 years and 4 months. Before I even started my internship though, they were purchased by another larger firm. After my internship was done, they then merged with an equal size firm, so they were going through a lot of change. We had a one hour meeting just to discuss why and how they chose the new Firm’s name.
JD: Wow, that’s a lot of change in a short period of time. What was that like?
Anton: The office I was at was fairly small. The people didn’t really change, but the company culture did and it started to have a big firm feeling. I decided that I wanted to be at a smaller firm and Hilary’s family is from New Plymouth, Idaho, so Nichols’ Ontario office seemed like a perfect fit.
JD: Now that you’re here and you’ve had the chance to experience both, what have you learned?
Anton: I’ve learned that at a smaller firm, the people that make the rules that impact you, see how those rules affect you on a daily basis. At the larger firm, a policy or method change would come from headquarters and those people hadn’t necessarily interacted with the staff it impacted. At a small firm, more thought goes into whether or not it helps the process, how it will create efficiencies, and how it will benefit the client.
JD: What surprises you about Nichols or a smaller firm in general?
Anton: That the discussions are always client driven. At the other firm, it always centered around revenue. When we talk about business here, it’s about taking care of the client.
JD: What have you enjoyed the most so far?
Anton: The variety – definitely the variety. Being right next to Doug, I get a lot of “Doug projects”. (laughing)
JD: Yes, that is code for “variety”.
Anton: When I was at the other firm, I mostly did only tax projects and anything extra was either payroll or 1099s. Here, they’re more managerial accounting in nature where we’re trying to help the client maximize their profits through various opportunities.
JD: What do you hope for your future here?
Anton: I just want to keep working towards becoming a great accountant, a trusted advisor so to speak. I want to provide the type of service to our clients that attracts other clients.
JD: Nice – I like that! Switching directions on you, what do you do when you’re not “accounting”?
Anton and Millie
Anton: I like traveling on my motorcycle, but that’s taken a back seat because Hilary won’t let me put a children’s car seat on the back for Millie. (laughing).
JD: Probably not! What do you ride, and where do you like to go?
Anton: I ride a retired police Road King named “Thunder Donkey”. Of the places I’ve been so far, Arizona was the best. My brother and I took a trip that started in Moses Lake, then on to Boise, to Las Vegas, to Havasu, to California, to Mexico, to New Mexico, back to Arizona, and then we wound our way back to Washington.
JD: Yikes! That’s a lot of time in the seat!
Anton: We were out 8 days and traveled almost 5000 miles. Five days into the trip I wrecked my motorcycle. I sheered the shifter and foot peg off the left side of my bike. My brother stuck an allen wrench through the hole where the shift peg was and wrapped it in baling wire just so I could make it back to town. That happened on Route 66 about 50 miles out of Havasu. When we got into town, we fashioned a temporary foot peg and shifter peg out of washers and bolts from the Home Depot. That worked well enough to get me through the 1,300 miles back home.
JD: So this explains why Hilary won’t allow Millie on the bike?
Anton: (laughs) Pretty much! I had another incident the Sunday before meeting with Pete and Bob to interview here at the firm. A car came into my lane, and I ended up in the ditch in a pile of puncture vines outside of Payette on highway 52. As kids growing up on the farm my brother and I would go with my grandpa to pull puncture vines for what felt like hours. My grandfather passed in 2006 so landing in that patch made me realize that he was watching out for me and reminded me that he has a sense of humor.
JD: That week launched a series of big changes for you. In the past two and a half years you’ve moved to a new place, started a new job, had a little girl, and got married. Those are all significant, but how do you think fatherhood has changed you?
Anton: I definitely take fewer risks, although my wife might not necessarily agree with that. I’m more aware of other issues. When I read the news, I can’t stand stories about children that are neglected or abused. I think overall it’s made me a more caring person.
JD: Millie’s almost three now. What are your favorite things to do together?
Anton: We read a lot together. She likes for me to make funny noises or use funny voices and then she tries to imitate me. I taught her to say “darn tootin”. It drives Hillary up the wall.
Hillary and Anton
JD: Speaking of Hillary. You just got married in October. From the guy’s perspective, how would you describe the experience in one word?
Anton: Cooperation. Hillary’s family was a huge help and my family came to town before the wedding to help as well. They all really helped us out.
JD: Yes, a wedding definitely takes a lot of cooperation. Good choice. What would your co-workers be surprised to learn about you?
Anton: That I have tractors tattooed on me?
JD: Yes, you win in the surprise category. Not necessarily the tattoo part – stereo-typically speaking, we’ve all seen your Harley in the parking lot, but the tractor part is a surprise. Are they significant in some way?
Anton: Tractor was my first word and I’ve just always enjoyed them. The first one is a John Deere 2520 it was my grandfather’s favorite and the first one he taught me to drive. For the second one, I had taken a break from college at one point and went back to the family farm. When I decided to leave the farm and go back to school, I got a second tattoo that signified me leaving the farm. The third one is an old Steiger articulate tractor that was similar to one that I spent a lot of time in growing up and is manufactured in North Dakota, it signified my time in North Dakota which was my first significant time away from the family farm as an adult.
JD: It’s a historical picture narrative, so to speak. Will there be new chapters documented?
Anton: It is tax season now so it is hard to see any chapters past April, and due to the whirlwind of a year I just had; I think the next chapter is going to be about just enjoying every day that God blesses me with on this earth and trying to make that day as productive as I can at home and at the office.
Anton on his Thunder Donkey