A Conversation With ... Alan Nippes

Company: Samek Fritz & Co.

Education: Bachelor’s degree in chemistry, Missouri State University; certified public accountant since 2002; certified fraud examiner since 2005.

Tidbit: Nippes served three years as an infantryman in the U.S. Army, stationed in Fort Benning, Ga., and in New Mexico.

Contact: (417) 887-1562

Tell us about Samek Fritz & Co.

We’ve got about 15 employees. Ed Samek started the firm in 1980. We do individual and corporate taxes, tax planning and projections, financial statements and audits, and payroll and accounting. We’re a full-service CPA firm. I started here in 2004.

Why switch from chemistry to accounting?

At the time, I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do with a chemistry degree, and I thought, “Well, maybe I’ll take a few business classes,” to see where that led me and maybe couple it with my chemistry degree. I didn’t necessarily want to be working in a lab for my whole life with no chance to move up. I started taking a few accounting classes and liked it. I decided to take the CPA exam, and I never did use my chemistry degree.

What kinds of accounting do you do?

I work on a fair amount of audits … of small businesses and not-for-profit organizations, all local to southwest Missouri. During tax season, and sometimes outside of tax season, I do individual tax returns and corporate tax returns for small- to medium-sized businesses, and whatever tax planning or financial statement needs they have.

What does a certified fraud examiner do?

(Fraud) is usually found after the fact. If an employer suspects that some sort of fraudulent activity is going on, they would have a certified fraud examiner go in and review some of the accounting transactions … and see if they can determine exactly what the fraud was, who committed it and what the extent of the damages were and what could be done to prevent it in the future. Sometimes, a fraud examiner also might go (to a client) and say, “We’re going to do an assessment of … your susceptibility to fraud.”

Why did you become a CFE?

When I got (the certification), it was more high-profile in the accounting industry with … the failure of Enron … and I just thought maybe the industry was moving in that direction and clients could be better served if we had this capability. But it’s hard to convince people, sometimes, to invest their resources and their money to prevent fraud, if they’re struggling to keep their business afloat.

Can you spot fraud during routine audits?

The purpose of an audit is not to detect fraud, or even necessarily to look for fraud. It’s just to report on the financial statements of an entity. But during audit testing, I might come across something that makes me think there might have been a misappropriation of assets, ... and we need to look further. That would normally be outside the normal scope of the audit, so we’d stop and talk to management or the board of directors (about) what we found.

What pressures do you see among business clients?

It just depends on the industry. Housing contractors and developers seem more susceptible to the (economic) slowdown. That’s an example, but there are others. It’s tricky, because we can help them manage the numbers and budget cash flow for some of the … anticipated revenue shortfalls. We can help them look for areas (to) streamline their budgets. We can do cash flow projections … and try to make their current situations a little more efficient and help them get through a troubled time.

Tell us about your family.

My wife, Dana, is a registered dietitian with Rogersville schools. Both my parents live near Springfield. My sister and her husband live in Springfield and have three kids. We do a lot of stuff with the kids. I also have a brother, but he doesn’t live here.

Interview by Features Editor Maria Hoover.

Ready For Tax Time?

In addition to getting financial statements in order and making sure adjustments have been made, Nippes says now is a good time for business owners to look at year-to-date income and expenses and extrapolate those out for the rest of the year so they have some idea of how much tax will be owed when the time comes.