This week's CPA of Ohio is Derek Koester, manager at Nolan Giere & Company.

When did you first know you wanted to be a CPA?

“Junior or senior year of high school. Growing up I came from a family of mechanics and I thought I always wanted to be one too. Some of my cousins I grew up with went to college for accounting, so I started to look more into that. I tried a class and really liked it. I would say later in high school is when I officially knew.”

What do you like to do in your free time?

“My wife and I bought a camper this last spring, so we’ve been camping a lot lately. Before we had the camper, we tent camped. We welcomed our first daughter in May of 2019 and our second daughter in December just about a month ago. We didn’t want to tent camp with the kids, so we decided to get a camper and that’s what we enjoy doing most.”

Is there any life advice someone has given you that really resonated?

“Don’t fret the small things. It’s pretty easy in public accounting to get caught up in deadlines and client needs but I think if you can get past that and just focus on your work it gets a lot easier.”