Mint Hill CPA Terry Aaseby’s life looked a lot different fifteen years ago. “I was actually a youth pastor,” says Aaseby. “I tell everyone it’s a natural segue from youth ministry into CPA-ism,” jokes Aaseby. “Everyone’s doing it!”
“I’ve always loved numbers, putting puzzles together, figuring things out,” says Aaseby, “and a year before our senior pastor left, which was a natural segue and transition period, I felt like I needed to go back to school.” Aaseby took a chance on a weekend accounting course at CPCC, and he found he had a natural aptitude for it.
“The teacher pulled me aside afterward and said, ‘Man, you’re blowing the curve on everyone! If you want to do it, go do it!” What started as a chance on a weekend class ended with Aaseby earning his Masters in Accountancy from UNCC. Initially, Aaseby worked for a large public accounting firm, but after about four and a half years, he came to realize that working in a big firm left little time for family.
Looking for something different, Aaseby moved to a smaller firm in Salisbury that catered to medical practices. Five years ago, he started his own firm, Terry V. Aaseby, CPA, PLLC, a full service certified public accounting firm licensed in NC, which now operates out of office space in downtown Mint Hill.
Aaseby offers a broad range of services that address the day-to-day, practical financial concerns of business owners, executives and independent professionals. Those services include small business accounting, QuickBooks setups and training, and, perhaps most relevant this time of year, tax services like planning, preparation and dealing with problems.
Aaseby readily admits that a lot of people can tackle their taxes on their own. “If they have the ability to do it, and the smarts, and the background, then go for it,” says Aaseby. At the same time, Aaseby is confident that his experience can help a certain client, and often for a better price than some of the big-name agencies out there. “The biggest thing that I’ve seen is people just don’t know what they don’t know. They don’t know where to put things on tax returns, so they’re just setting themselves up for failure trying to do it all themselves.”
It’s these businesses and individuals that Aaseby can really help with his fifteen years’ experience as a CPA. “Ultimately, we’re bringing our knowledge to the table,” says Aaseby. “We’ve got a lot of clients coming in this year that used to do TurboTax on their own, but because now they have a different situation – maybe they sold a home or they have something that makes them feel uncomfortable – they come to me to find out more information on that and we help them out.”
In a field dominated by number-crunchers, Aaseby is known as “the CPA with a personality.” “I enjoy people, and I like to laugh,” says Aaseby, who feels his background as a youth pastor taught him the importance of building relationships. “I know the business aspect of it is serious, and we’ll get down to those numbers, but I like enjoying the relationships that I have with people.”
A Mint Hill resident for twenty years, Aaseby finds Mint Hill to be the perfect middle ground between the 77-person small town he grew up in in Minnesota and the 8 million people Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex he moved to. “Mint Hill gives you that feel of a small town,” says Aaseby. “There are still some older buildings, people are friendly. I enjoy the camaraderie of the small town here, but yet we’ve got everything within our reach.”
Why choose Aaseby to help you this tax season? “The small-town, personal feel that I bring to relationships with people,” says Aaseby confidently. “What it comes down to is that you count and you matter.”
To learn more about Terry Aaesby, email info@aasebycpa.com or call 704-433-7622. You can also learn more on his website (http://www.aasebycpa.com/) or Facebook page.
