095: Community and Moving Up To Partner – Josh LeBlanc from Edgar Kiker & Cross CPAs

For this episode of Life In Accounting, a podcast production of WhereAccountantsGo.com, we meet with Josh LeBlanc, partner with Edgar Kiker & Cross in Beaumont, Texas.

From Entry-level To Partner

Josh truly has a work-your-way-up story and we were honored that he was open to sharing it with our audience. Josh’s personal situation was such that he needed to work full-time in a regular job during college, and therefore he didn’t have the opportunity to search out internships because it would cut too much into his work schedule and consequently the living he needed to make.  When he graduated with his Bachelors degree in Accounting though, then it was time to get very serious about finding that first professional position.  Josh recounts the process he went through, but suffice it to say that he was very systematic in his approach and it paid off.  He started as an entry-level staff member at Edgar Kiker & Cross, and not too many years later he was offered the opportunity to become a partner at the firm.

Hurricane Harvey

While we spend much of the time in this interview covering career-related matters, we also took the opportunity to get Josh’s own personal viewpoint on the devastation that had been caused by Hurricane Harvey there in the Gulf area of Texas just less than a year ago. Luckily he and his family were spared severe damage from the storm, but none the less the whole area was affected.  Josh tells about some of his experiences gathering supplies, helping out neighbors, and dealing with the business delays caused by the simple lack of water.  It took almost 2 weeks before the office itself had a potable water supply!  They were definitely fortunate to be spared even more significant issues given the breadth of the damage that area sustained.  Some areas got over 60 inches of rain.

Please make sure to listen in on our discussion with Josh. We definitely wanted to cover the storm experience given the geographical area and what had occurred, but this is also one of our best career-growth related episodes as well.

To listen in on this interview with Josh LeBlanc, please use the player below: