Condo Media - February 2017 - 64

Ask a Busy Person
How did you come to specialize
in condominiums?
When I moved back to Boston,
I bought a tiny condo in the North
End. The owner, who had inherited
the rental property and converted it,
asked me to do the tax return. When
he converted a couple of more rental
buildings to condos, he asked me to
do those returns too. Suddenly, with
no strategy at all, I had acquired some
condominium association clients. A
few years later, I bought a small condominium practice from an accountant
who had retired, and I had a condominium practice. I still have many of
those association clients today.
What attracted you to the
condominium arena?
It was a new, very small and still
unstructured industry at the time. And
I very much liked the idea that we were
creating something from the beginning.
There also weren't very many accountants who had a condominium practice,
and that appealed too.
You got involved in CAI early on and
have remained active. Why has this
been important to you?
In the beginning, CAI really helped me
learn about condominiums and condominium issues. It's still a great source of
information. I was impressed then and
am still impressed by the willingness of
peers to share information and ideas with
competitors. I stay involved because I get
a lot of enjoyment out of it, but that's just
part of the reason. Another big part: When
I was starting out, CAI gave me the exposure that helped me build a successful
business. I know it sounds corny, but I still
feel tremendous loyalty because of that.
What's most satisfying
about your work?
A lot of what accountants do is pretty
mundane, but working with condominium boards, I can shed a little bit
of light on financial issues that people
don't understand. And that is really
rewarding.

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CONDOMEDIA

Is there a problem you've solved that
you are particularly proud of ?
When the state legislature approved
a change in the tax law that would have
required condominiums to file more
complicated tax returns, I worked with
other CAI members to persuade lawmakers to improve the law significantly.
That was very rewarding.

KENNETH BLOOM, CPA
Bloom Cohen Hayes, LLC
When his high school friends
headed to college after graduating,
Ken didn't follow. He took a year off instead to work in one of the businesses
his father owned. The experience was
"invaluable," he says. "I didn't have a
clue what I wanted to do." The year off
gave him the direction he needed.
He enrolled in business school at
Babson, discovered that accounting
was easy for him and, equally important, that he enjoyed it. After earning
his masters, he followed a traditional
path, working for Big Eight accounting firms in New York and Boston.
He enjoyed his corporate experience,
but as an undergraduate, he had
focused on entrepreneurial studies
and he'd never lost that interest. "In
the back of my mind, I was thinking
about hanging out my own shingle,"
he says. "My dad was always self-employed, and I thought one day I would
be too. I always wanted to control my
own destiny. Being a CPA isn't all that
entrepreneurial," he admits, "but I've
been self-employed since 1989."
In that respect, he has followed in
his father's footsteps. "My parents
never pushed me in one direction
or another," he says, "but I think my
dad always hoped this is the path I'd
choose."

What are the most common
financial mistakes community
associations make?
They overuse loans, without fully considering the costs. It always fascinates
me that boards will debate endlessly
competing bids that are only a few thousand dollars apart, but they won't blink at
paying 4 percent interest on the money
they are going to borrow to finance the
project. That is shortsighted. I'm not
saying associations should never borrow
money. I'm just saying that shouldn't
be the default position. Boards need to
be judicious in their use of loans. They
should borrow the minimum amount
necessary for the shortest term possible.

What would it surprise
people to know about you?
I'm an old 'Deadhead.' Years ago, I
followed the Grateful Dead all over the
Northeast for a couple of springs. It was
great fun.
If you could give condominium
boards one piece of advice,
what would it be?
Learn the basics of finance. If you
can't understand the story your financial statement is telling, you won't be
able to make informed decisions.
Condo Media - February 2017

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