40 Under 40 Honoree: Jared T. Walsh, CPA, CFP – 29

Education – BSBA Accounting, Ohio Northern Univ.
Family – Wife Shonda (also a CPA); son Jackson 2; daughter
Tatum 5 months.
Hobbies & Interests – His children, reading, baseball,
running, exploring history and studying economics.
Professional Affiliations – AICPA, Ohio Society of CPAs
(former local chapter Board of Directors), FPA.

What peers, clients and friends say about Jared:
After graduating with honors, Jared attained the 10th highest score in Ohio
on the Uniform CPA exam. He has been a shareholder in the local tax and accounting
firm of Sielschott & Walsh CPAs, Inc. since 2001. Jared was integral to
bringing this firm into the “modern era” as far as technology and
software optimization, helping it to increase revenue from approximately $600k
to over $1 million. He is also a Certified Financial Planner practitioner, and
holds securities licenses that have enabled him to bring financial services
to Sielschott & Walsh. He is leading the way in Northwest Ohio as far as
the next generation of accountants and continues to strive for advances in client
service offerings and internal use of technology to increase productivity.

What technology or business process does Jared see affecting the tax
and accounting profession in the next five years?
“Continued advances in tax and accounting software and office hardware
allow CPAs to be more productive than ever, but also place pressure on fee levels
and profitability because of these advances allowing (a) the client to handle
certain accounting functions internally, and (b) more practitioners to enter
the market, whether or not they are a CPA. As the ‘old guard’ of
CPA/Partners begins to wind down their careers, an opportunity exists to make
a practice more efficient in hiring the current crop of college graduates, who
are extremely tech savvy. CPAs in local tax practice will need to seek new and
diverse revenue streams, such as financial planning, fraud detection and prevention,
and litigation support services.”