Very early on, Steve and Trevor realized that they shared a similar vision on what a CPA firm should be, what it should offer, and most importantly, how it should treat people – both customers and team members.

They researched what the best firms in the industry were doing and incorporated them into their practice. They spent a lot of time and energy analyzing what the future of the accounting industry looked like. In short, they were not happy with the status quo. Rather than being a CPA firm like Blockbuster, GBA wanted to be more like a Netflix.

For those that do not know the story, three years into Netflix’s existence in 2000, co-founders Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings met with Blockbuster executives, including their CEO John Antioco. They pitched their company to Blockbuster, hoping that Blockbuster would acquire them for $50 million. Blockbuster did not see the future of their industry like Netflix saw it, and flat out rejected the offer. Marc Randolph said that after the meeting, “he thought the CEO was struggling not to laugh at our offer.”

Fast forward 20 years, Blockbuster is out of business having gone bankrupt with over $900 million in-debt, while Netflix is worth almost $300 Billion. Yes, that would be 6,000 times higher than the $50 million asking price.

GBA has become recognized as a leader with accounting technology, such as cloud accounting, like Xero and QBO. They were approached to participate in round table discussions and fireside chats with software developers and other accounting insiders.

GBA believes that their people are the secret to their success. After recognizing that technology was going to change the accounting world, it was only logical, at least to them, that if they wanted the best people, it really did not matter where they lived. GBA started investing heavily in people and technology. This technology allowed them to work where they were most comfortable – at GBA’s offices, or from home – literally wherever that may be.

One of the best benefits of working with clients that share our vision of the future, is that they have great ideas too. Good thing listening is one of our best strengths! A lot of what our clients tell us or request from us can be beneficial to other clients. Some of those conversations start with “do you think it is possible”… “Or can I get a report that shows”…Sometimes, random, ad-hoc conversations lead to real “a-ha” moments.

Today, GBA continues to provide outstanding customer service and proactive accounting, tax and business solutions. We continue to expand our team, which is sometimes challenging as we have high standards to ensure that they are as close to a perfect fit with GBA as possible. We strive to not only hire people with knowledge and expertise, but who are also passionate about the values that we, and our customers, share.

Our vision continues to evolve as we strive to be better tomorrow than we are today. We see ourselves as a combination of an Accounting/CPA firm, and a tech firm – by using today’s best technology in accounting, and an HR firm – because of the value we place on relationships (both internal and external).