Joe Page’s business is all about numbers – big ones.
As the managing partner of The Whitlock Co., Page’s individual annual billing totaled $850,000 in 2015 – an 11 percent increase from $765,000 the previous year – across 103 clients with total net worth of $1.5 billion.
Companywide, the growth Page experienced is felt everywhere from new offices to new programs. In November, The Whitlock Co. launched a Kansas City office, which Page says was a good opportunity to expand into the area’s underserved market of midsize firms.
And it may not be the only expansion on the horizon as the company investigates the potential for a merger over the next year.
Last year, Page says a major contributor to internal growth was a new division that outsourced chief financial officer and controller services to other companies.
“The reason we launched that service offering is because it’s often difficult for businesses to find the right level of talent, and a small growing business may not necessarily need a full-time salary, high-level person on staff all the time,” Page says. “It offers small businesses a step above basic accounting and actually gets into helping them run the business.”
Although Whitlock Co. traditionally has been heavy on tax preparation and consulting, Page says the firm is doing more auditing. However, his attention to numerous details makes him a valuable consultant to client College of the Ozarks, according to controller Samuel Ketcher.
“Joe has given guidance and shared his expertise in a variety of things, including tax return preparation, retirement plan audits and plan document structure, A-133 audits and international student tax issues,” Ketcher says.
“We value his opinions and perspectives, as he knows our organization well and understands our goals.”
Benefits have been something of a hot topic for Whitlock Co.’s clients in 2016. Page says much like the Affordable Health Care Act before it, new overtime rules out of the U.S. Department of Labor due to take effect in December already are changing the way businesses look at their bottom line.
“Quite a few people who are under the new threshold had been considered salaried and were not required to be paid overtime, so we’re working with clients on how to deal with that training and transition,” Page says.
More constant is Page’s role in his industry and community. A member of the Missouri Society of Certified Public Accountants, the American Institute of CPAs and the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, Page also has facilitated management training sessions for Allinial Global’s annual 2015 and 2016 conferences and serves as a member of the firm management committee. With 97 firms across North America as members, Page says Allinial Global is a good resource for staying tapped into the trends of the accounting world.
Locally, Page serves as board president of the Ozarks’ crisis nursery, Isabel’s House, and is a current member of the Springfield Catholic School’s finance committee and Springfield Southeast Rotary Club. A graduate of Leadership Springfield’s Class 13, he’s also completing his sixth and final year as that organization’s treasurer.
