Small biz tax firm growing
Range of services has also expanded
Keri Sharp met her future business partner when she was 17 and working for her father’s mechanical contracting company.
At that time, Jim Wong was the accountant for the business.
The company later closed, but Sharp and Wong continued their working relationship.
“We started doing income taxes in his basement and throughout the years we’ve worked on growing,” says Sharp, who, with Wong, operates Concept Business Services Ltd. The business provides a wide range of financial services for personal and corporate clients.
“It’s been a slow build, but most of our clientele is referrals,” says Sharp.
Concept started in 1994 and today has five employees in a sixth-floor office in the Beltline. It moved out of Wong’s basement and into its first office in 1998.
Its services now include accounting, bookkeeping, financial statements, tax planning, payroll and estate and trust tax preparation.
“I’m wanting to expand a lot further,” says Sharp, adding the company is hoping to double its business in the next couple of years to 800 personal tax return clients and 500 corporate clients.
“It’s been a really long process. Every year is better. ”
The company has a wide range of clients from operations with no employees to those with 80 employees, all from a variety of industries and businesses.
“We love startups. I like to put them on the right path and give them a lot of information so they don’t make the mistakes some people do in the beginning and end up closing within the first couple of years,” says Sharp.