This month we shine the spotlight on our Chief Financial Officer, Jeff Fisher. We are extremely grateful to have him as part of the team!
"My background – born in Texas and grew up in San Francisco Bay Area. Went to college at CSU Chico where I studied accounting. Went back to the Bay Area to work in public accounting for a couple years before deciding to move to Southern California and work in public accounting here. Got my CPA license in 2007, stayed in public accounting until 2013 and found IPG in 2014!
Working at IPG has been great! I remember when starting as Controller, Amber wanted 3 things from me – get our tax returns done, find efficiencies / process changes in the Accounting department and keep an eye on things around the office. I am happy to report that I was successful in 2 of the 3! For those who don’t know, besides completing 95% of our tax returns, I also work on 95% of our refinances (excluding Affordable) and review 100% of our checks / disbursements. Besides some of these core tasks I’m charged with, I also work on a variety of projects and that’s my favorite part of the job. Anything from a cost/benefit on solar to California Competes and Employee Retention Credits to NetSuite implementation. I love the challenge of a new project and the rewards of successfully completing a project. Although, it is important to know your limitations! I would not, for example naively take on a Tax Credit REAC Inspection and think I’m the right person for the job. Sometimes you have to know when you need an expert!
Besides the various projects previously mentioned, I also really enjoy working in the Accounting department. Urvi and Yvette are so very helpful – I always say they do such a good job it makes my job easy! I’ve seen very poorly functioning Accounting departments from the inside and outside; they are not pretty. It’s important in our line of work to have rigid guidelines and procedures to ensure the timely and accurate processing of transactions. I’m very comfortable with where we’re at and I think that helps us all focus on new issues as they come up instead of constantly putting out fires resulting from poor procedures.
In conclusion, I’d like to mention how important work ethic is for me. It’s really the way I live my life. The harder I work, the more I am rewarded. There is no benefit to being lazy. This goes for health too. I know tasks can seem daunting, and what’s always helped me is to just focus on one piece at a time and not be overwhelmed by something that seems difficult. I just did 100 “man-makers” with 40lb dumbbells yesterday and I did most of them in reps of 1 or 2. Years ago, we did motivational videos where I talk about this, and it still holds true. Despite having a mountain of work in front of me, if I keep my head down and knock out one piece at a time, I am never overwhelmed and always have time for everything."