Derek Toren - In His Own Words
I graduated from the University of Utah in December 1997
with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and wanted to
get some experience with a national firm, but I was only
interested in joining the tax department, which narrowed
my options a bit with the larger firms. At that time
the national firms really only looked at students with a
master’s degree, but somehow I snuck under the radar
and was fortunate to receive offers from Coopers & Lybrand,
LLP in Portland, Oregon and Arthur Andersen, LLP in Woodland
Hills, California. My wife and I decided that Portland,
Oregon would be more suited for our lifestyle and I liked
the office personnel better at Coopers & Lybrand, so
we moved there in January 1998 to begin my public accounting
career.
I worked in Portland for Coopers & Lybrand (later became
PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP) for about two years before being
recruited away by Arthur Andersen where I worked for another
two years. After spending four years with national
firms I decided that I wanted to see whether life was any
different in a smaller CPA firm. At the local CPA firms
I found that I really enjoyed working directly with the smaller
clients. I noticed the client relationships were stronger
since the clients really depended heavily on the CPA for
guidance with a variety of issues.
However, in 2003 PricewaterhouseCoopers recruited me back
where I became a tax manager. While working as a tax
manager I got a glimpse of the road ahead to becoming partner
in a national firm. The chances of becoming partner
were very slim as promotions to that level were highly competitive
and very few partner slots were available each year. I worked
an insane amount of hours coupled with a 2-3 hour commute
each day. My wife and I finally decided that it just
wasn’t the lifestyle we wanted for our family. I
also didn’t like the thoughts of becoming a tax partner
in a large city such as Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, etc.,
which is what would have most likely happened.
I wanted to be able to spend time with my family and be
a part of my kids’ lives as they grew up. I
also love the outdoor activities (fly fishing, hiking, camping,
etc.) and there just wasn’t enough time to enjoy those
activities while working at a national firm. We began
exploring different options in Oregon and in Montana. Through
some contacts I had in the Flathead Valley I was introduced
to the executive director of the Montana Society of CPAs. She
was kind enough to allow me to put an advertisement in the
MSCPA newsletter, which described my wish to return to Montana
to continue my public accounting career.
I was grateful to join Jordahl & Sliter PLLC in Kalispell
in November 2005 and return to the Flathead Valley where I
grew up. The work has been very interesting and challenging. I
know the quality of our life has improved since our return
to Montana as I am now able to spend a significantly greater
amount of time with my wife and kids. I certainly do
not regret the amount of training and experience I received
while working at a national firm and am very grateful I did
have that opportunity. However, it’s great
to be home again in Montana doing what I love to do for a
career.
Derek
Toren
Jordahl & Sliter
PLLC
Kalispell
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