Just like any Community, there are people in the QuickBooks Online community that go above and beyond. Think of your community… Frida who bakes cookies for the new neighbor. Or the young teenage boy that shovels driveways in the winter. Or the super friendly couple who organizes Bingo on Thursdays and knows the latest “scoop” on the neighborhood because they truly care.

And in the QuickBooks Online Community we have Super Mario (aka Ozzy).

Mario Fusaro never quits helping QuickBooks Online customers, so the nickname Super Mario just fits.  He has been the backbone of this community for about 5 years.   The rewards for his very active participation–deep QuickBooks Online product knowledge and just plain awesome-ness.  By the way, Mario was also the first QuickBooks Online Community super user to have his status upgraded to an All-Star.

So who is this All-Star? Great question. Instead of answering it straight away with stories of Super Mario’s childhood, we’re going to publish an “ShoutOut to SUPER MARIO”.

QuickBooks Online ShoutOut to Super Mario:

• Super Mario goes above and beyond the call of duty. He partners  with his son to test QuickBooks Online on new browsers/platforms on his own time.
• Super Mario keeps things afloat when our moderators need to sleep.  He is truly the eyes and ears of the community.
• Super Mario has the knowledge. Mario is to QuickBooks Online Community what Genius’s are to Apple’s Genius Bar, without the blue shirt.
• When Super Mario posts, he tells it like it is and we appreciate his candor.  He’s often the first one to show up to the party when there’s something going on in the community.
• Recently, Super Mario did it again. He emailed us to ask if we could help upgrade another user’s status to All Star as well, because she deserved it.

And that is our ShoutOut to SUPER MARIO.  Jealous yet? We thought so. Start participating in the community and you too can have a ShoutOut published about you. And here you thought your dreams could never come true.

Founded in 2004, Wendroff & Associates provides full service accounting and business consulting services. They’ve built their practice around QuickBooks Online as its anywhere access helps them save time and money for themselves and their clients. I caught up with Brian last week to better understand their practice and attempt to glean some secrets behind their success.

How did you decide to become a CPA?
I grew up in an entrepreneurial family, and I even remember selling baseball cards and candy bars in elementary school to make extra money. When I was in the Army, working in the Pentagon, I started a local vending machine business in my free time. After leaving the military, I pursued a degree in accounting because I liked the idea of working with all types of businesses and understanding the internal systems of how they generate revenue. I thought the profession was the right direction for me.

Why do you and your clients use QuickBooks Online?
We love how QuickBooks Online allows our firm to seamlessly access our clients’ information from any online connection. This allows our accountants to troubleshoot our clients’ accounting issues quickly and efficiently to save them time and money and provide better CFO consulting. And by being more efficient, it allows our firm to focus on other areas such as client response times and developing better growth strategies for our clients. Our clients love QuickBooks Online because it doesn’t tie them down to one computer, so when they travel, they can still easily monitor their business’ financials, and they’re able to delegate accounting responsibilities within their own company more effectively.

Do you have a favorite feature in QuickBooks Online?
We love the ability to schedule reports, which is unique to QuickBooks Online. I personally schedule our A/R Aging report twice a month, which we’ve customized with contact info to keep our A/R efficient and improve cash flow. We do the same for our balance sheet, P&L, and time tracking budget reports. Our non-profit clients also use this feature to schedule and email reports, as some have board members all over the country who need these financial reports and QuickBooks Online makes this process so efficient.

How has the economy impacted your business?
Wendroff & Associates has actually tripled in size in the past year. I feel we made excellent investments in our internal technology and systems, which has allowed us to give better customer support to our clients. We decided at the end of last year that tax preparation would just be the beginning of what we do. Consulting with organizations to help them grow and reach the next level would be our core service. QuickBooks Online has of course helped with this, as smart businesses used this down period to make their own systems more efficient and effective. We’ve been reviewing our internal systems in the third quarter, and we found that almost every single one of our clients has grown their businesses during the recession.

What is the biggest challenge facing your practice?
Definitely being able to manage growth while continuing to improve our overall service. We’ve seen a big influx of new clients through referrals, and we’ve been very vigilant not to let our company grow beyond our ability to provide excellent customer service. We want to focus on internal development and even client development to ensure we are creating a company culture that always strives to understand the best ways to help entrepreneurs grow their organizations.

What sets you and your firm apart from other accountants?
My partner and I were talking about this very subject today. Accounting services are just the beginning of what we do at Wendroff & Associates, we’re entrepreneurs also and our focus is on creating the best systems to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses. Our firm has more than 100 years accounting experience, so we know we excel at the nuts and bolts, but we feel the extra step is excellent customer service, fast response times and exceptional consulting, whether that be setting up systems or putting our clients in touch with the right networks to grow. That is what the big four firms such as Deloitte do, and there’s no reason why a boutique firm cannot provide the same level of service. I’ve heard other CPA firms say accounting is a commodity, and I totally disagree. Commodities are based on price, not on quality, and our CPA’s strive to provide the highest quality service and advice. Tax Compliance is a given, so our mission is to see how can we take it to the next level and help our clients grow their business. CPA’s are a business’ most trusted advisor, and we take that responsibility to the upmost importance.

You can find Wendroff & Associates on the web and also @wendfroffcpa, where they actively tweet about business finance and tax issues.

Will Hambly

About Me: I am on the QuickBooks Online product marketing team and like to drink good coffee, go running, and play guitar.