Part 1: Interview with Nelson Oliver, Founder.
We sat down recently to speak with TORIC Fund’s founder, Nelson Oliver, to learn a little more about his motivations behind establishing a career in Accounting and Finance.
Tell us a little about what drew you into this type of a career?
One factor initially was having a natural inclination towards attentiveness to detail, which is a quality suited for this type of work. But, also a curiosity with respect to how the monetary and the economic system worked in our country.
From a young age I noticed that a lot of our decisions, my parents' decisions specifically, were influenced by money and their financial or economic ability to make things happen. And it was a very curious thing for me at the time as a child thinking the things we could or couldn’t do.
Fortunately, my dad was very inclusive early on talking about finance and the economic system, and my mom’s consistency and discipline with money really impacted me, as her father, my grandfather, was a CPA and entrepreneur. And, so, when I got to university, my first accounting class really came somewhat naturally.
That's where I took a closer look at accounting and finance as a career focus despite having heard such horror stories about Accounting 101 and 102 not being the most enjoyable classes.
Once I got into the program and talked about my direction with the advisors, essentially the best course of action was to get a master's degree and sit for the CPA exam. I recognized the value in having a professional credential that I could carry forward with me in all of my activities and endeavors. It also gave me the ability to really discern, with an expert perspective, the opportunities and the different sort of directions that the market really had to offer.
Looking across your career, what types of accounting have you practiced?
Actually, even before I finished my Master’s program, I was a bookkeeper for a small real estate renovation, restoration and rental company. One of the owners who had experience in accounting and law became my mentor, introducing me to the nuances of contracts, invoices and recording financial activity so that it is representative of actual business events.
After university, I went with Deloitte to perform audit and advisory work for the Enterprise Risk Services division in New York City, and was licensed by the State of New York as a CPA. This experience introduced me to a whole other level of business operations, not only because of the size of the firm and its clients, but also because it was during the financial crisis of 2008. A lot was changing in the finance world at this time.
What aspects have you found most enjoyable and why?
Accounting and finance really are the nuts and bolts of all businesses. Sales drive a business's ability to operate, but if you don't know where your sales are going, what course they're on, or where your money is then you are not really set up for success.
A mentor once told me you can bankrupt a business focusing on driving sales alone, and this struck me as I saw so many executives extremely “top-line” focused. The interrelationship of revenue and profit is very important in focusing the right balance of variables to make a business successful.
In this way, accounting is kind of like a puzzle, a language that describes real world transactions in books and records, and is a balanced equation. The chart of accounts is the skeleton that helps define the interrelationships between accounts to fit the needs of a business.
Once recorded to the ledger, transactions reflect a snapshot of a business’s “real-life” activities, and tell a story for management and investors who use the information for decision-making.
I work to apply principles of accounting and finance in a congruent way to businesses with a mindset that is focused on economic abundance and vitality; and also environmental sustainability and personal health, wellness, and individual acuity.
It is extremely fun and rewarding to balance the books in your business and personal life because it acts as a foundation upon which you can build skyscrapers, or any vision you have for your life.
