The Family Practice

From the September 2009 Issue

With young professionals increasingly focused on work/life balance issues, many might look to Chad Bordeaux with a little envy, or perhaps as a role model for successfully combining work, family life and technology. The 37 year-old CPA is a co-principal in Bordeaux and Bordeaux, CPAs, PA (www.yourcpapartners.com) a full-service accounting firm in Lake Wylie, South Carolina.

A suburb of Charlotte, N.C., the town sports a distinctive Southern charm. Its location has helped it develop a thriving economy that attracts families to its lakeside living and respected schools. It’s this community atmosphere and spirit that led Chad and his family to move to the area, as well. And with his office only about a mile from his house, the family is able to share much of its time together.

But while location might be the key buzzword when it comes to some of his real estate clients, there’s another reason that Chad and his wife Donna spend much more time together than most couples — their business partnership. You see, Donna is also a CPA and an AICPA-credentialed Personal Financial Specialist (PFS), and she’s the other Bordeaux in the firm’s name. To be more precise, she’s actually the first Bordeaux, since she founded the practice in 1996 while the two were engaged and Chad was using the marketing degree he’d earned from Radford University.
But he soon grew tired of some of the sales aspects of that field, and he decided to return to school.

He had always liked working with numbers and finance, so an accounting degree made sense, and he enrolled at nearby University of North Carolina, Charlotte. After earning his BS in

accounting, he gained his CPA credential while working in the financial reporting department of the telecom company US LEC Corp., which was subsequently acquired by PAETEC. During nights and weekends, though, Chad found himself growing into a support role for his wife’s practice, and finding that he enjoyed it more than SEC reporting and SOX compliance. In 2006, shortly after the birth of their son Zack, Chad joined her full-time.

Professional Snapshot Chad Bordeaux, CPA Partner, Bordeaux & Bordeaux, CPAs, PA www.YourCPAPartners.com Lake Wylie, SC Productivity Score: 410 Follow Chad Twitter: @clt_cpa | Facebook: /cbordeaux | LinkedIn: /chadbordeaux

Chad says that the two have succeeded in developing their practice because of the shared respect the two have for technology and client service. “Donna saw the advantage of online programs early on and started using them in the practice in the late 1990s,” he said. “By using hosted programs, she helped develop a business model that now allows us to be a lot more flexible with our time.”

Their mobile flexibility is surely appreciated, allowing them to spend time with four year-old Zack (who occasionally interns at the office and will be starting junior kindergarten this fall), catch up on work from home or get away for a few days, while still being responsive to their clients’ needs. Fortunately, the third person in their practice will certainly be able to take on the workload. After all, administrative manager Nancy Nelson is Zack’s grandma and Donna’s mother. Yes, Chad works with his wife and mother-in-law, so I’m sure that he appreciates some mobile flexibility.