No regrets: Reflections on a family-owned CPA firm’s ‘great run’

For Kevin Martin, CPA, the many happy memories of his father — also a CPA named Kevin Martin — outweigh the grief that accompanied the elder Martin’s death in 2019.

An otherwise healthy 78-year-old, the grandfather to Kevin and Lisa Martin’s four children was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a debilitating disease that has no cure. He died about a month later.  

Kevin Martin, the son, didn’t want those memories to fade away, and so, in the middle of the pandemic, he decided to write. He kept writing, and eventually his grief journal became a book, All Is Well: Life Lessons from a Preacher’s Father.

In this episode of the JofA podcast, Martin discusses the “preacher” part of the book’s title, how the family-owned CPA firm has moved forward, and advice for dealing with life-altering events.

What you’ll learn from this episode:

• The upheaval in accounting and other industries that affected Martin’s firm at the onset of the pandemic.
• Why Martin decided to write a book about his father.
• The last words of Martin’s father in the hospital.
• Why Martin says “grief has no rules.”
• Martin’s advice for how to assist grieving coworkers, including “bringing down the boundaries.”
• The book’s role in fundraising for ALS charities and research.

Play the episode below or read the edited transcript:

To comment on this episode or to suggest an idea for another episode, contact Neil Amato at Neil.Amato@aicpa-cima.com.

Transcript

Neil Amato: Welcome to the Journal of Accountancy podcast. This is Neil Amato. On today’s episode, we’re going to talk to a well-rounded, productive, energetic, and generally upbeat CPA about a difficult topic — the death of his father. It’s a family story, a CPA-specific family story, and it has lessons for all of us on remembering the good about those no longer with us and on how to deal with grief.

I’m joined for this episode by Kevin Martin. He’s a CPA from Boston. Kevin, welcome to the Journal of Accountancy podcast.

Kevin Martin: Thanks so much, Neil. I’m thrilled to be here. I’ve been a member of the AICPA since I graduated college in 1986, so a long time.

Amato: Great to have you along as a longtime member, and great to have you on the show. You and your father worked in the same CPA firm for years. I don’t know if you had a succession plan in place, but obviously, in 2019, you got some news that, in the summer of that year, probably changed your thinking on how things were going.

Martin: I had been working with my dad for decades, and those years were the best of times. Absolutely the best of times, and I would give anything to go back to those days. Like anything in life, we often don’t appreciate them until we look back over our shoulder a little bit.

But I grew up in Boston. My dad grew up in Boston. He went to Bentley [University] nights, and Bentley is a big accounting school that was local, then became regional. It has a national reputation now. He went to Bentley nights in 1968. I went to Bentley, graduated in 1986, met my future wife there in ’85. We’ve been married for 32 years now. Again, I can’t believe where the years have gone. She’s also a CPA. Both got our bachelor’s and our master’s at Bentley. At the time, we had both joined what was the Big Eight, now Big Four. I had worked at one of those firms for about five years and then joined my dad in 1991. Again, just looking back, just beautiful, beautiful years. We didn’t work on the same clients. We bumped into each other a lot in the hallway, and you might make some small talk about what the plans for the weekend were, but it was just beautiful decades.

Sadly, in 2019, he was diagnosed with ALS [amyotrophic lateral sclerosis]. Generally speaking, a very healthy guy, and slowly he started having some issues with his legs. The doctor said, “Hey, what do you want? You’re 78.”

He started having some issues with his shoulder strength, and they thought it was a herniated disc, so we did some PT. Started having some breathing issues along the way, and the doctor said maybe you needed a heart stent, and started seeing some cardiologists. ALS is one of those types of diseases, unfortunately, that often gets diagnosed by elimination of many other things. So even though he had been generally healthy his entire life, that last year, he had a lot of things creeping up, then ultimately got diagnosed with ALS, Lou Gehrig’s disease as many people know it. Just devastating. Devastating.

Amato: How long after the diagnosis of ALS did he pass away?

Martin: He passed away about a month later. It’s interesting that when you talk, if you know somebody — and many of us know somebody, some degree of separation with somebody with ALS — it’s a tough disease and often it can be two years, it can be five years. There are people out there who can live for a decade and I actually know one of those people, but it’s a debilitating disease. Over time you lose your ability to move, the physicality, the mobility to engage.

Technology has been beautiful. Many people that get diagnosed are now able to use a voice bank where you can put your voice into a bank with some expressions. I love you. Please. Thank you. Whatever your common expressions might be for your family and friends. But over time, it is just a tough disease.

My dad had respiratory issues in the very beginning stages, which is why he went so quickly. I’m a very religious guy and believe in my own way that God gave mercy to a person who was so merciful to others.

Amato: What was the name of the firm that you worked in with your father?

Martin: The name of the firm was Kevin P. Martin and Associates. It had been in business for over 50 years, and in 2019 we had over 100 team members, many of whom had been there for decades and decades. We worked in classic audit tax, lot of advisory work in numerous industries — affordable housing, commercial real estate, not-for-profit, a lot of consumer hospitality work, and just many, many individual clients that 50 years later we were still working with. I was very proud to always tell people, our two first clients of the firm — one in affordable housing, one a nonprofit that my dad started with 50 years ago — were still clients of the firm in 2019. Many clients, similar stories.

Amato: Now you’ve been, I guess, merged into another firm, a larger firm. Is that right?

Martin: It’s interesting. Never saw it coming with my dad passing away in 2019.

Then literally five months later, who would’ve ever thought we’d end up in a worldwide pandemic? That changed the industry. Then along the way as well, that despite the pandemic, the economy was still very robust, and the public accounting landscape had changed in that private equity started moving in, consolidation was happening very much in the way that it was happening when I was in school, when the Big Eight went to four.

It was kind of the same things happening, that many of the large regional firms were now either combining together or moving up in the marketplace. I think along that way, private equity, everything else, I think that the partner group had a good conversation. What does the future look like? What does succession planning look like? Where are the resources that we need? Are we building the technology? Are we innovative enough? Are we truly adding value to all of our clients?

We combined with another national firm named CohnReznick, and I am the managing partner of the Massachusetts offices, the combined offices. We had known of that firm for decades doing similar type of work, and it’s been a wonderful reset button in many ways.

Amato: Tell me some about why you decided, after your father died, to write a book about all that had happened.

Martin: It’s funny, I never planned to write a book, and if I did plan to write a book, I had one of those bucket lists like everybody has. The book was probably going to be about entrepreneurship or family businesses. Whether I ever got around to it was something else, but I always felt like that would be cool to do that, but never really overly paid attention to it. Never had planned to write this book, but after my father had died, again, the pandemic sets in a few months later, I found myself with time — and not that you really have time because there’s always an endless list of things to do at home, at work. But I found myself with my gym having closed down. I’m involved in a lot of charity work. The charity work had shut down. All of the events that we think that we all have to go to from an industry perspective, chambers of commerce, all shut down.

I found myself working at home and in this profound grief. I’m an only child. I always was very close with my mom and dad. When my wife and I got married, after we had lived out for about a year or so, my mother and father had a two-family house in Southie. I grew up in the home of Good Will Hunting to give a point of reference for the listeners. When we moved out eight or nine years later, it was with four kids and two bedrooms. We had four kids in one bedroom: upper bunk, lower bunk, trundle, and a toddler bed. Honestly, it was the best of times, and maybe we didn’t know that at the time, but it was the best of times.

And, never planned to write a book. But I think I used the grieving process. I kept a journal, and as crazy as it sounds, I thought I was going to forget my dad. How we talked, the stories he told, how he smelled. I think a lot of listeners can relate to that. So I started writing down those stories for the benefit of my own kids. I’ve got four in their 20s. And 50,000 words later, my wife Lisa said, “I think you’ve got something here that might be valuable to other people.” She encouraged me to stop looking at it solely as a journal and that maybe it was a book. The journal, I started breaking it down into themes, and the themes became chapters, and unknowingly the chapters became a book, and the title of the book All Is Well  — um, “All is well” were my dad’s last words in the hospital when he was at the very end.

He ended up in the ICU in Boston at Mass General Hospital. He was intubated, couldn’t speak, but could communicate. And the nurses had given him a hospital journal, and he was writing. And some of the notes were “What’s the score for the Red Sox game?” Some of the notes might have been, “Can I see the nurse?” or “What’s going on?” But when he passed away, his very last words in that journal were “All is well,” and as difficult as it was, I think for me, it was this sense of it’s all OK. It was a place of contentment. His last words weren’t “I’m in pain” or “I don’t know what’s going on.” It was just this sense of peace. The last words that he communicated to us were “All is well,” and then the page before that, the last set of words was “We had a great run.”

I think it still brings tears to my eyes as I’m even talking to you about it. But I loved my dad so incredibly much. We had this wonderful relationship, even in the office. Family businesses can be tough. I advise a lot of them, and I’ve been in lots of meetings when siblings are screaming and yelling and dad or mom is pounding the table. My dad and I agreed a lot, and we disagreed a lot. But it was always done in a very respectful, loving, patient, kind manner.

I don’t remember once — and I’ve just turned 60, my dad was 78 when he died, he would have been in his early 80s now — I literally don’t remember once in the 30-plus years I’ve worked with him that we had one of those types of situations. It was always just nothing short of just perfect.

Amato: You mentioned your wife’s a CPA. Obviously, your father was as well, so you’ve shared the profession with him, but what else did you have in common with your dad?

Martin: We shared the profession. Again, my wife and I and the kids lived in that two-family house in South Boston for close to a decade. It’s funny, I look back and, again, it’s almost comical. I might be working late. My wife would go food shopping. My father and mother would come out to help with the errands. Again, I’m Irish, I grew up in a meat-and-potatoes household, and we lived on that type of food. My wife might make meatloaf, and it gets sent down. My mom might make a turkey dinner, and it gets sent up. My dad might be out in the backyard, making hamburgers and hot dogs, and who knows where the kids were going to be, but it was just that type of multi-generational house.

We also shared homes together on Cape Cod. My wife and I have a home on Cape Cod that was about 50 yards from my parents’ house. We went to the beach together. My dad and I golf. My dad taught my kids — again, you’re talking about the closeness of their relationship, and I talk about this in the book that my dad taught my kids how to golf. My dad taught my kids how to play cribbage. My dad taught my kids how to play chess. He wasn’t the grandfather that would periodically call and say, “How’s school going?” — a generic question. He was the one that would call and say, “How did that Latin test go yesterday? I knew that you were nervous and you weren’t sure if you were prepared.” He was just engaged in real time.

Even myself in the office, we both had couches in our offices, and either I would stop by his office or he’d stop by my office after he made the rounds. He was great about making the rounds and engaging the staff — “What’s going on this weekend?”

Somehow, some way, we’d end up some place. We were big Red Sox fans. My dad had season tickets for 40 years. I’ve since taken over those tickets. But we had many nights under the stars, having a beer, having a slice of pizza, having a hot dog, and solving all the problems of the world. Many Patriots games on a Sunday afternoon at our house and lots of food. It was always lots of food at those events, but you’re right. It wasn’t just work. It was vacationing together, taking cruises together, going into Disney, going to lots of beautiful places around the world. I very much miss those times.

Amato: Remind me, after All Is Well, what’s the rest of the title of the book?

Martin: The book is All Is Well: Life Lessons from a Preacher’s Father. I am also a Catholic deacon, ordained in the church. Went to seminary for four years, then got a master’s degree in ministry. Also have a master’s in taxation. It’s interesting, the extremes of the bookends. But Life Lessons from a Preacher’s Father, so I being the preacher and the lessons coming from my dad. I’d like to think the book has got a little something for everybody. If you’re religious, those religious themes are there. There’s business lessons in there on coaching and mentorship and being a servant leader. Just us being husbands and wives and children and grandparents and friends. We all take on many labels. Just humanity lessons on compassion and care and empathy and love and hope and joy.

Amato: Now, obviously personally and professionally, dealing with the sudden diagnosis and then your father’s passing was not easy. Not everyone’s going to have to deal with that, but they are going to have to deal with moments of upheaval, life-altering events. Do you have advice for for other CPAs, other professionals, for how to get through those things?

Martin: I try to bring my best self to all parts of my life every day. Again, I’m married for 32 years. I try to do it as a husband. I try to do it as a dad. I try to do it as a friend. I try to do it when I come to the office every day as a managing partner of a public accounting firm. I think finding that balance, whether we’re in public or private, is difficult. I’m very focused on that. I do triathlons. I’m a deacon. I’ve always gotten to my kids’ games through the years. I think finding that balance was important to me.

Maybe it’s loss. Maybe it’s a terminal illness. Maybe it’s a broken foot. Maybe it’s mental health issues. Maybe it’s a difficult marriage. But everybody is going through something. I think from a grief perspective, just focusing on the father-son relationship that we’re talking about, I think one of the things I learned is that grief has no rules.

There’s no rules. There’s a bunch of books on grief, and they all come at it from a different angle. They’re not right. They’re not wrong. There’s no rules. There’s no boundaries. One minute, I’m having a great day. The next minute, a song comes on the radio, and I’m in tears in my car. I’ve learned the hard way that grief has no rules.

Regardless of what the struggle is, I think just taking the deep breath and being patient with ourselves and not always trying to be perfect. I think that we all sell ourselves as being superhuman. I work with so many wonderful people, and I’ve got so many wonderful friends. We all try to be the best team player and the best parent and the best spouse. We’re all spinning 10 plates and, every once in a while, a couple of plates fall off. I think that’s OK. I think just being patient with ourselves, allowing ourselves to be human.

If we’re not the person who is grieving, but we’re the friend of the person who’s had a loss or a difficulty, check in on them. I appreciated — and I didn’t return all those calls — but that call, that text, that email just saying, “How are you doing?” I was getting lots of them. I didn’t return most of them. They always brought a smile to my face when I got that message. I think if we know someone who’s struggling, be comfortable reaching out. You don’t always know what to say. That’s OK not knowing what to say, but just saying, “How are you doing today?” or “How are you doing this minute?”

I know from a work perspective, some people don’t like to blend the two, when there’s boundaries, and boundaries are important. Maybe when we’re struggling a bit, bringing down the boundary sometimes can be helpful because people do care. I think humanity does care about each other. If we’re willing to have a cup of coffee with a work friend about a loss, about a difficult marriage, about the death of a child, about all the things we struggle with, I think just bringing down the boundaries a little bit can be very helpful.

Amato: You mentioned your triathlons. I think you’ve used those as a vehicle to raise money for various charities related to ALS. You’ve also said proceeds of the book sales will go to ALS research and charities. Can you tell me some about that?

Martin: My father had instilled upon me the importance of giving back. That he was fortunate, I’m fortunate, to be in a position to give back. In the book, I have an entire chapter on giving, on some of the charities that we’ve always supported through the years and why giving is important and maybe raising the question why people don’t give. We sometimes wonder, does it really make a difference? Can one person make a difference? I think I’ve learned along the way, it makes a difference.

The family supports a number of charities, and of course, since my dad’s diagnosis and passing, ALS has become extremely meaningful to us. There’s two sides to ALS. There’s the care of those people who had ALS who need lots of technology, lots of mobility. Just think about the cost of an electric wheelchair — that can be $30,000 or $40,000. Think about the ramps going into a house, or we talked about the voice bank or technology. There are numerous charities that support the compassionate care of people with ALS.

Obviously, we want to eliminate it. Just like we’ve eliminated polio and so many other things, we want to eliminate ALS, and there’s a number of charities and great organizations out there that support research. The book profits are going 100% to various ALS research and care charities.

Amato: Kevin, appreciate you sharing this about the [great] run. Anything you’d like to add in closing?

Martin: I would add that my hope with the book is that everybody gets a little something out of it. Again, you might come at it as a CPA working. You might come at it as a non-CPA in private. You might come at it as a mother or father or someone who’s grieving. You might come at it from a perspective of business lessons, but my hope is that every reader gets something out of it.

We’re all trying to figure out the best life ever. The reality of it is that to achieve that, it’s about the lows as much as it’s about the highs. That we all struggle with many things. We’re all doing the best we can every day. But the hope is that you can find this life where you’re savoring the little moments in life. You’re building bucket lists. You worked through trying to find this life that when you get to the tail end, that it’s not about regrets. That you’ve got wonderful relationships with family and friends and children and parents. That we’ve contributed something meaningful along the way. It really is about living this life where all is well.

Amato: Kevin, thank you very much.

Martin: Thank you so much, Neil.