Accountant Spotlight: Brandon Hall at Hall CPA PLLC
Our Accounting Spotlights highlight inspirational leaders in the profession who are making a difference for their clients and community. Know someone who deserves to be featured? Submit a nomination.
In our latest Accountant Spotlight Series, we're thrilled to introduce Brandon Hall, CEO and Managing Partner at Hall CPA PLLC. His story is one defined by entrepreneurship, expertise, and innovation.
Learning the language of business
From an early age, Brandon Hall had a special affinity for numbers and logic. Following this passion into adulthood, Brandon saw accounting as the perfect culmination of his interests. Earning a Master’s of Business with a double concentration in finance and accounting, he became fluent in the health of a company’s performance and position, opening the door to a diverse array of career opportunities.
Starting his professional journey with some of the largest accounting firms in the world, Brandon gained valuable experience working at both PwC and EY. As his skills added up, Brandon made the decision to write the story of his own business. In 2016, Hall CPA PLLC was launched and has scaled quickly to over 90 people globally. They are recognized today on the Inc. 5000 as one of the fastest growing accounting firms in the nation in addition to being named a Top 500 CPA firm by Inside Public Accounting.
Taking a specialist approach
While many traditional firms serve clients across a wide range of industries, Hall CPA specializes in real estate, providing exceptional expertise to investors and business owners. With over 800 clients sharing this commonality, Brandon and his team have developed deep knowledge, possessing years of experience advancing the financial health of the industry.
Supporting clients that are primarily entrepreneurial, Brandon’s vision for growth is mirrored by an equally ambitious client base. “Most of our clients are entrepreneurial in that they don’t stop after buying one rental, they want to buy ten more”, explains Brandon. In partnering with Hall CPA to improve the accuracy of their financials, real estate investors are able to increase cash flow and secure better loans, achieving their goals 5-10x faster.
Scaling client growth alongside talent
Having worked with hundreds of real estate investors, the team at Hall CPA has come to intimately understand the unique challenges of this industry. Chief amongst these challenges, according to Brandon, is a lack of understanding of the tax code. “We all pay taxes, yet so few of us understand what can and cannot be deducted,” he shares. Without knowing how to ask the right questions, real estate investors often end up in unfavorable situations, lacking the proper insight into their tax returns. “It really pays to get training on the fundamentals, especially if running a business or investing in real estate is on the table,” Brandon advises.
Another common challenge his clients encounter in owning investment real estate, or small businesses, is a lack of formal bookkeeping processes. Without access to accurate, well documented day-to-day transactions, it becomes nearly impossible to help clients plan for taxes.
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To address these challenges, amongst others, Hall CPA provides large real estate funds with a team of accountants to perform their day-to-day transaction capture. With seamless hand off to the tax team come year end, Hall CPA makes tax return preparation easy. “Some funds have hundreds or thousands of investors,” shares Brandon. “The general partners are very excited when we can deliver K-1 tax forms to their investors in a timely manner.” With a team working 100% remotely across the U.S. and globe, clients receive access to the best talent, regardless of location. And with Ramp as the firm’s primary expense management solution, the impact of this talent is amplified even further. Brandon shared, “I love Ramp’s virtual cards that I can distribute to people on my team with rules and spending limits. Ramp has helped me scale employee expense management effectively.”
Leadership with heart
Brandon is described by his family as being extremely motivated, unrelenting, and big-hearted. With the goal of building a modern remote firm, one that shakes up the accounting industry, his passion and drive as a pioneer is evident in both his personal and professional life.
Brandon balances his devotion to his team at Hall CPA with family time. Whether it’s golfing, playing soccer with his four year old son, or making homemade lattes and Neapolitan pizza. And, every once in a while, these worlds collide. This past year, Brandon took his kids to Disney World, overlapping the trip with a company retreat, during which he flew the entire team to Orlando to join in the fun. We celebrate Brandon’s ambitious spirit and expert mind that positions him as a leader in his industry.
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