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Cool Careers in Accounting Ep. 30 - SEC Football Meets the CPA World: NIL and Beyond with Christopher Cola
3 Plays1 second ago
Former Ole Miss offensive lineman Christopher Cola shares how football shaped his career in accounting and beyond. He discusses how lessons from the trenches—preparation, teamwork, and consistency—carried him through public accounting, the CPA Exam, and a wide-ranging business career. Today, he teaches, writes, and advises student-athletes navigating NIL and financial literacy. Cola connects “doing the things that take no talent” (showing up, discipline, and effort) to professional success, and explains why mentorship and a personal “board of directors” can be a game changer for students and young professionals.
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:02
Speaker
Music
00:00:09
Speaker
Hey, everyone. It's Mike Potenza from Becker Professional Education, and we're here for another episode in cool careers in accounting. Now, what a lot of you might not know about me is I am a big sports fan, especially football. I love everything football. I love college football. I love the NFL. You name it. I'm riveted on Saturdays and
Guest's Unique Background in Football and Accounting
00:00:30
Speaker
Sundays. So,
00:00:31
Speaker
I was speaking to someone at Becker and they said, oh, you know, we have someone that might be um very interesting for you to do a podcast with because not only are they an accountant, but they're also interested in football. So I said, oh, that's great. Someone I have some similarities and common interests with. And they said, no, you don't understand. He knows football. I'm like, well, what does that mean?
00:00:54
Speaker
So I meet the guest we have today, Christopher Cola. And when you hear his story and what he's done in football and in accounting, you will be riveted. So I am so excited to introduce my guest today, Christopher Cola. Christopher, thank you so much for being here today.
00:01:15
Speaker
Mike, I got to tell you, that intro, man, it blows me away. I'm so grateful to be here right now and and talking to you and talking to the folks at Becker that get a chance so to watch what we do. This is going to be a lot of fun. You're right.
00:01:27
Speaker
I do know football. I've played it since I was six years old till I was 23 years old. all the way through college. And it's it's one of the passions that I have. There's so much about life.
00:01:38
Speaker
There's so much about accounting. There's so much that I learned through football that I bring forward to business and everything else that
Influence of Family and Education
00:01:44
Speaker
I do. And in ah there's a lot we'll get into in terms of how I use a lot of coaching jargon and things of that nature and what I do for for for life right now. But man, it's going to be a great fun. Getting ready to to talk to you is going to be a blast.
00:01:59
Speaker
Well, thank you. I really appreciate you being here. You know, Christopher and I did have a little conversation before we got together today, and I was amazed at his background and his experience with football and what he still does with it today and how it ties into accounting. But I don't want to, you know, jump ahead too quickly.
00:02:14
Speaker
I just want to take a step back first to even understand who is Christopher and how did he get involved with this? So, Christopher, give me an idea. you know, where did you grow up and what was your childhood like?
00:02:26
Speaker
Man, thank you so much for that, Mike. um So I'm from ah the suburbs of New Orleans, and this this town called Metairie, Louisiana. ah so But I went to school in New Orleans. So I always tell those folks that that are not from the area, I'm from New Orleans, but my New Orleanian folks that will probably be listening to this to say, wait a second, you actually grew up in Metairie.
00:02:46
Speaker
But guys, relax, relax. We're all part of the same 504 area code. So I grew up in a great and wonderful household with two beautiful and wonderful parents who've since passed. But my my dad, Charles Cola, and my mom, Quintella Cola.
00:03:01
Speaker
ah My mom was an educator by by design and profession. She went to college to become an educator and was a public school teacher for over 30 years in
Balancing Football and Academic Life
00:03:11
Speaker
Orleans Parish. So And ah in she was one of those ladies that you didn't want to mess with her. She was all about five foot tall.
00:03:18
Speaker
But she said, but there was all of her former students said, man, we never mess with Miss Cola. We knew, you know, and and so so she was a great educator. So education has always been very central to my household. And my dad, though, didn't complete a four year degree, didn't have an associate's degree.
00:03:34
Speaker
But he went on to work for Shell. ah Norco, the refining company outside of New Orleans. And, you know, one of the great facts about him that I always love to tell people is that, you know, when he started working there, there was still segregated restroom.
00:03:48
Speaker
And that's a sad but true story. But the also the the sad but true thing is he became the first black to be a manager in the Shell refining system. And that's something that I'm super proud of for him and for what he accomplished. Not something he ever really talked about much, but something that he was definitely proud of. So I had great parents with great education as a mindset, as a background in in everything he did. And that's propelled me to where I am today because I find myself as a teacher as well in in this space and also spend a lot of time in industry industry. So my parents have played a central role in so many of the things that that I am and have become.
00:04:25
Speaker
Wow. You mentioned your mom's name was Quintella. Very beautiful name. I've not heard that name before. Is that a name from within the family or is there any history to that name? Yes, actually it is it's So it's her grandmother's name. And so that was a name that, um you know, she said proudly, if you ever met her, she would give you all three of her names, her first name, her middle name, her last name, with with great pride and reverence. And it it's something that she really, really enjoyed. And, you know, one of the things that was, you
00:04:57
Speaker
ah one of the great joys for my life. It's funny the little things that you kind of remember sometimes. And it's a little bit sad, but but also so something thats that's pretty refreshing. And I mean that and a little pun in cheek, and I'll tell you why.
00:05:10
Speaker
So the Coca-Cola company, you guys remember, would do the Share a Coke ah campaign and they put names on all the bottles. Well, my mom's name being Quintella is very hard to find that without getting it a custom made.
00:05:23
Speaker
But I was able to find a bottle with Quinn on it, which was the nickname that my my dad would often call her Quinn or other people would call her Quinn. And I found that and I took a picture of that bottle, brought it home.
00:05:36
Speaker
and to my dad and and showed him. And you know, when I took the picture, he sent me a note ah note back that said, you're a really great son. And that was something that I really hold in dear, you know, that that image of my dad just being happy that for his wife, for his bride, 47 years, he was able to, you know, be able to present her with her own bottle, you know, like the rest of us, you know, his name is Charles, my name is Christopher, my brother's name is Michael, those are pretty easy to find, but to find a Quinn to sort of complete our collection was something that that we held a great pride within our house.
00:06:08
Speaker
Oh, that is that is pretty amazing. That's a great story. Now. So growing up um in New Orleans or in that general area. Thank you. When when does the football you said six years old and do you just go straight through at a really high level like in high school is at a high level and then where did you play in college.
00:06:27
Speaker
Yeah, thanks, Mike. So, yeah you know, football for me has been life for for a long time. Six years old is where I started at what we call the playgrounds there. and it was a local park that I would go to and and played all the way through that. And one of the cool things, you know, the only time I ever won a championship in my my football life.
00:06:46
Speaker
was ah I was 10 years old and I was playing up on the on the the the the higher level team. And I was the only 10-year-old on that team. I remember like it was yesterday. They were going through the tryouts and all this kind of good stuff. And the coach was calling out names of who was who made the team after the tryouts.
00:07:04
Speaker
And I remember going up to the coach. I remember his name. I remember everything about the moment. And I had tears in my eyes. And I said, coach, you you you didn't call my name. Did I make the team? And he looked at me.
00:07:16
Speaker
And he must have just seen the the emotion on my face. And he said, yeah, you made it. And I was so excited. And so I went from there and I started playing off offensive line from from basically the time I was nine, 10 years old, all the way through college. And so I did play at the highest level in Louisiana.
00:07:34
Speaker
At the 5A level at the time was was the highest classification at at a great high school there, Jesuit High School in New Orleans. And then I went on to play collegiately at at the University of Mississippi, more affectionately known Ole Miss.
00:07:47
Speaker
We are the Rebels, which having a great season so far this year. Hopefully that will continue forward for for many more weeks and months to go. And so, ah you know, I was blessed to be able to play at Ole Miss for for five years.
00:08:00
Speaker
I got my bachelor's of accounting degree, got my master's of taxation degree at a top 10 accounting program. Also was a letterman on the team. So all lettermen have a permanent marker at the stadium. And that is one of the most beautiful things for me to see my name inscribed in perpetuity at the University of Mississippi. When I think of people that play there, like Archie Manning, of course, and Eli Manning, and and John Avery, and Deuce McAllister, and Terrence Metcalf, and all of these great guys that I got a chance to play with, not the Mannings so much, but
00:08:34
Speaker
But some of those other guys, ah it's a blessing. It's so awesome and to see to see those guys and to see my name right there next to them. So that that that's my football story.
00:08:45
Speaker
So, I mean, Ole Miss, SEC, you don't get bigger than that in college football. So that's absolutely amazing. But my question, though, is, so at Ole Miss, when you're playing football, are you also majoring in accounting?
00:09:01
Speaker
Yes, sir. I was. it You know, that's one of the beauties of of the story is that in I will talk about a little later, but being able to be an accountant and a football player, it made me a bit of a pariah, but also a hero.
Choosing Accounting Over Professional Football
00:09:18
Speaker
Right. Like in in the coaches, they're like, what are you talking about? You have to go and take a test or you have to do a thing like coach. That's just the only time it has available. They don't like that stuff.
00:09:29
Speaker
But when my classmates, there were non-football players in my professors that were loving college football. They're like, oh man, you're part of us. You're one of our guys. So. Yeah, it was a challenge. It was tough. it it But my my kids don't like it as much either because I get to tell them, like, guys, I did the hardest thing possible that you could do in college. I played football and I did accounting.
00:09:49
Speaker
Only thing more challenging is maybe taking an engineering course or something. but But I did the second hardest or hardest thing, depending on how you want to look at it. that that That's wild. I mean, honestly, it is wild because if I could try to if we tried to do some data analytics and tried to find out how many you know college football players at that elite level also majored in accounting, I mean, i would think it's like 0.01 percent or something like that. You just don't find that.
00:10:18
Speaker
That's right. That's right. It would not be many. And then, you know, I will, I will give Ole Miss in our coaching staff credit at the time for sure that there was a couple of other folks that were in there with me doing accounting and in no doubt it was, it was challenging, but, but honestly, I put a lot of credit to my professors, many of whom are still at Ole Miss to this day. One's,
00:10:39
Speaker
currently the dean and a couple of others or professors, they were so accommodating for the scheduling needs that I had, right? Like, so, you know, if we had a Thursday night game and there was a test on a Friday, they'd be like, hey, we get it.
00:10:53
Speaker
You just come and take that test on Monday, sit outside our offices and do that. Or, you know, if we had some other sort of thing. So that was during the fall. They were super accommodating. In the spring, on the other hand, hey, look, you got to be with everybody else.
00:11:04
Speaker
Even doing spring practice, sometimes I had to miss some practice to make sure I was there for for ah accounting related things, but it was the professors at the university, which which honestly, outside of my mother and their, her influence over me at home, my professors at the university, and even my great teachers at Jesuit high school, like the the importance of education, the importance of athletics and all of those things, that's what sort of drives so much of who and what I am today. And, you know, I take a lot of pride in being able to tell my so my sons, I've got two great sons
00:11:38
Speaker
One's 23, just graduated college, going off to grad school in another year, and one's starting his collegiate career at Ole Miss.
Navigating Career Transitions and CPA Exam
00:11:47
Speaker
And so, you know, what I take a lot of pride in that is because I tell them the standard is the standard.
00:11:53
Speaker
You know, they can't say, well, dad, it's too hard. It's too this, it's too that. Again, hey guys, I played football and I did well enough in accounting and I got a CPA, all of these things. And so that that kind of grinds their gears a little bit.
00:12:06
Speaker
But, you know, it's one of those things. It's a football acronym, right? It's standard is the standard. And the other thing that I use acronym wise that I use this with my some of my students, and we'll talk about when I would say students, what that means.
00:12:17
Speaker
I say TNT, do the things that take no talent. If you master the things that take no talent, you can be successful in life and anything else that you want to do.
00:12:28
Speaker
What's an example of something that takes no talent? Wow. The number one thing is showing up. You know, we talk about it in athletics. The best ability is availability. Showing up.
00:12:40
Speaker
Whether if you are injured or hurt, make sure you're showing up for treatment. You know show up for class on time. If you do the little things well, The big things will take care of themselves. And that's one of the things that I try to emphasize with people, with young people or or folks that I work with is we've got to do the little things well, because I define culture in this way when it comes about it. And again, a lot of this comes out of athletics.
00:13:04
Speaker
Culture is the least thing that will allow. If we're going to say the meeting starts at eight and if you're showing up at eight, then you're late. Right. Like being on time means that you're sitting in your desk, you're sitting where you're supposed to be on time so that we can make sure that we're ready to go. Soon as that bell goes, soon as that whistle blows, soon as the kickoff happens, we need to be on time. So the things that take no talent or the things that don't require an IQ test, it does it just just showing up is the number one thing that takes no talent. Just be there. Be present.
00:13:39
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it reminds me, i had a great coach in high school playing. And, you was a decent athlete. i was not a great athlete, but nobody tried harder than me. and And my coach had told me that he's like, listen, you might not be the best one out there, but no one should ever try harder than you. that part and And that always lived with me. So I was like, all right, well, you know, I'm going just give it 110%. And again, I love that. That takes no talent to try your best.
00:14:02
Speaker
That's it. That's it. That's exactly it. And, you know, and it's one of those things. it It sounds a little hokey, right? Like, but when when you stop and pause, you're like, yeah yeah, I guess if i if I just do the things that I can control, right? Another, you know, coaching acronym thing or that I think about oftentimes not acronym, but just a phrase of control the controllables.
00:14:21
Speaker
Right. Like like there's not a whole lot we can do about how people are going to respond to us. But we have all the control about how we respond to them, whether it's at a football game and we're lining up in a certain formation and a defense makes an adjustment. We can control what we do next.
00:14:37
Speaker
Right. And it's same with life and same with how, you know, practice is hard, but I still got to test. You know, ah the test was hard, but I still
Current Roles in Education and Sports Management
00:14:45
Speaker
got to go to practice. Life is hard, but I still got to wake up every day and I got to give my best. And at the end of the day, if we focus on doing our best and doing the mastering of things that take no talent. Now, look, we're going to have the need talent in order to excel and to do things. And that that's necessary. I'm not saying that that's not important.
00:15:03
Speaker
But what I am saying is it is important. And what's guided me in my life is just this opportunity that I get every day to be better than I was the day before. Be better than you were the day before. Because you've got two choices in life. You can get better or you can get worse. There's no staying the same.
00:15:22
Speaker
Because somebody else is looking to get better than you. So if you're not stepping your game up, then that means you're going to fall behind just by the the sheer math of it all. right like So take no talent.
00:15:33
Speaker
control the controllables, get better or get worse. Those are the things that that football has taught me, that life has taught me, that I try to bring into the accounting and this enthusiasm that I'm providing or that I think I'm doing right now.
00:15:44
Speaker
This is what it is, man. This this is how it goes because figure If we're going to do things and we're going to do life, why don't we just do it with great enthusiasm and just enjoy it? Because at the end of the day, we're only here for a short time. So I'd rather have a good time in a short time than just be miserable for a long time. That's just the way I think about it.
00:16:03
Speaker
Love that. Love that. So real fast, you don't have to go into the weeds, but just out of curiosity, you have the two boys. Any of them going the accounting route? You know, one tried. um My oldest, he thought about it, but but that wasn't his passion. that that Ultimately, he tried, though, and i was I was grateful. And you know the the sad, happy thing about that?
00:16:24
Speaker
Sadly, when he he stayed in it probably a semester longer than he should have because he wanted to do what I did. But he's more inclined to sort of marketing and digital things, and he's doing very well in that.
00:16:35
Speaker
And my younger son, he's a mechanical engineer. He's going to be ah a Formula One team principal and race engineer. So he's going a whole different route. But I've made it very important to him to lead.
00:16:47
Speaker
You got to know if you want to lead a team like a Formula One team, the number one thing you got to know how to do is business and you got to be able to manage people. and And that's something that accounting that is understanding. So that the my professors at Ole Miss, you're trying to squeeze him into getting a minor in a accounting. I don't know if he'll get there because he's got his engineering stuff is pretty packed. But I keep taking accounting course here or there, just maybe one or two.
00:17:10
Speaker
So I'm trying to help the profession as I can. but There you go. All right. So you play football at the highest level, SEC. Amazing. You're playing offensive line and you are studying accounting.
00:17:23
Speaker
I think there might be some people that are a little angry at you because you're breaking one of the stereotypes. What happened to dumb linemen that now no one can say that anymore because of you?
00:17:34
Speaker
Absolutely not. Hey, look, man, I say the smartest team on the field of football is the offensive line. Why? Because we're five people in one and we all have to do it together.
00:17:46
Speaker
Everybody else can do their own thing, but each of us individually has to do our job. And then collectively, we have to do our job. And we have to sometimes tell the quarterback, hey, look, you've got to shift this protection rate. Or ah if not, you're going hit the mouth.
00:18:01
Speaker
So if you don't do it, we're going to do it for you. you know Or hey, look, you might want to audible to this run play versus this pass play because we see something that we're not able to block. And if you want it to be successful, you've got to change this.
00:18:15
Speaker
So being an offensive lineman requires so much discipline to understand the entire game. You know, I equate it to a catcher in baseball. You know, they say catchers become great managers.
00:18:26
Speaker
Why? Because they have to see the entire field. They got to know what everyone's doing. After every pitch, after every out, the catcher's like, hey, one out. Two outs. Hey, it's three two Hey, you eight the play is at third. The play is at first. Whatever. That's what a catcher does.
00:18:40
Speaker
Offensive linemen are the exact same way. We're the ones, you if you ever watch a game and you see offensive linemen touching helmet or selling something or pointing it or looking to the side, hey, what do we need? We're talking. We're communicating.
00:18:52
Speaker
And so that brings me to the point of how is that tied to accounting? What do we have to do? The two things that we have to do in accounting, and this is what I teach my students, and we'll talk about that in more detail. We measure and we communicate.
00:19:04
Speaker
So as an offensive lineman, that's what we have to do. We have to measure what's going on in front of us. And then we have to communicate to ourselves and to the quarterback and sometimes the running back behind us to say, hey, look, I've got this guy running back. You've got to get this other guy, because if not, that quarterback's going to get punched in the mouth. So we've got to talk to each other. So that's that's how I tie all of the accounting and offensive line and football play together.
00:19:28
Speaker
So Christopher, let me ask you next. You now are getting ready to graduate. Your college football season or college football career is over. Do you have any thoughts about going to the NFL or do you say to yourself, you know what? It was a great run. I'm done with the football. I'm now going to just focus on my accounting career. So what was the thought process?
00:19:49
Speaker
You know, those NCAA commercials about people were going to go pro in something other than sports. That was always for me. You know, I was one of those, you know, call it rare, but, ah you know, in terms of athletes that I'd never really had a professional mindset of like, I want to go play pro. though my And I think maybe that was because my local team was the New Orleans Saints. And I'm like, oh. what i that Doesn't look a lot of fun as bad as they were in my youth. Right. ah You know, obviously got a lot better you know since then. But so I never really wanted to go pro. I never that was never an aspiration for me. Playing in college was was something that that was the highest order of things for me. And and so I was happy to do that.
00:20:29
Speaker
So when the opportunity came, you know, looking at the towards the end of the career that last fall and starting to do the recruiting visits to.
Closing Thoughts on Career and Education
00:20:38
Speaker
ah the various firms and things of that at nature. That was actually very exciting for me in what I was looking forward to. And, you you know, the firms that would come to campus all the times and sort of meet and touching with them.
00:20:49
Speaker
but But more importantly than that, the reason for me had everything to do with a commitment that was made to me at 13 years old. So I'm going to take you back a little bit, Mike. So my best friend's dad's best friend was a partner at Deloitte.
00:21:06
Speaker
And we were at a Christmas party at their house at 13 years old. Guy comes up to me. His name is Mike Keefe. He's retired partner from Deloitte. And he said to me, he goes, you know, what are you thinking about doing for college? Again, I'm 13 years old. i'm like, I don't know.
00:21:22
Speaker
like i have no idea. He goes, well, I'll tell you this. If you go and get an accounting degree and you get a 3.0 in accounting, I'll guarantee you a job at Deloitte. I was like, that's great okay, cool.
00:21:37
Speaker
Sign me up. Yeah. I tell my dad this, my dad's like, awesome, man. That's great. So I went through, i had the privilege of going through high school, college, knowing that if I just took care of my business, I was going to have a job.
00:21:53
Speaker
And so that was really kind of, Hey, I took care of business in college. My career is over. I took care of business academically. I guess now it's just time to go get a job.
00:22:04
Speaker
And so that opportunity to fulfill that promise that was made to me, you know i guess that would have been six, seven years prior, felt obligated to do that and did not delay it because any person that pours into you at a time when you're so malleable, right?
00:22:26
Speaker
And they delivered on that promise. And not only did they deliver on that promise, he paid me more than any other firm was offering to pay me. So for that,
00:22:37
Speaker
I'm thankful. I'm grateful and forever indebted to him. Because again, at 13 years old, like what like, what do I know? I didn't know anything. I didn't even know what accounting was. And so i was I was grateful for that. And now look at me, here I am, blessed to be a part of Becker and be able to continue this education and knowledge and sharing about the greatness of what accounting is and how you can go from a football player to an accountant and back again. And I'm i'm happy to be part of this.
00:23:07
Speaker
So tell me this, was Deloitte then your first job out of college and how long you stay there? How long before you get your CPA license? How did that all transpire?
00:23:19
Speaker
Yeah, sure. So, you know, yes, the short answer is yes. Deloitte was my first job out of college. you know, I was blessed to have offers from all at the time. I think it was the big six, I think, cause Cooper's and Pricewaterhouse had not merged yet.
00:23:34
Speaker
Ernst and Young had, you know, had merged Lloyd and Anderson was still around. Uh, so I think it was a six and KPMG was there. And, um, all of the firms with the exception of Cooper's offered me. And so I was, you know, happy to take the, the opportunity to go to Deloitte one to fulfill a promise that was made to me.
00:23:54
Speaker
Uh, You know, tried like many others to kind of get through the CPA exam. But, you know, but for those of us of a certain age, and Mike, I know you're one, the CPA exam prior to being digitized, you know, you had to take all four exams in two days and you had to pass two parts before you can even sit.
00:24:12
Speaker
For the other Zord, you got to kind of keep going. And so, you know, if ah if I'm being honest, it was ah it was a bear. You know, that discipline of football didn't trans try to translate into the practice of preparing for the CPA exam was a challenge for me.
00:24:28
Speaker
and And I say this, you know, not with with a little bit of pride, because obviously I passed it eventually. But even I've got young people to this day that I'm mentoring about passing a CPA exam and they get frustrated because we're we're used to being high achievers.
00:24:43
Speaker
And then you take that exam and it's it's so it's hard to challenge it. And so sometimes, you know, we're not when we're not successful, we start looking inward like, man, like, what does that say about me? I'm like, nothing. I said, because all of us that have passed this exam, very few have passed it the first time.
00:25:00
Speaker
Even fewer have passed it with a perfect score. And then those folks that passed with a perfect score, we all of all of us who didn't say you studied too hard. What are you doing? exactly The difference between ah a combined score of 300 or 400, they still call you a CPA. No one asks.
00:25:15
Speaker
so exactly So I finished school, tried various methods of preparing for the CPA exam, quite frankly, unsuccessfully for for a few years, probably three or four years. And then, you know, something I just recently advised a young man on is to say, you know what, sometimes you got to pause and just sort of step back, right? Like you just sort of reassess your your preparation process so that you can find success. And so I did that for about two years, two or three years. I did not take it at all.
00:25:44
Speaker
And then the moment came and What happens for a lot of us, right? Like those life events occur. For me, it was the the impending birth of my second child was the one that sort of said, you know what?
00:25:56
Speaker
Number one, I'm tired of people asking me, well, why aren't you a CPA? Why aren't you a CPA? Because the test is hard. Like that didn't seem like an appropriate answer. So with with my, gosh, he must have been my four-year-old in one hand, my newborn in another, i just sat down for six months with Becker's course.
00:26:15
Speaker
And this isn't just me shilling for Becker. I'm just being just straight up 100. This is how I did it. And I said, I'm going to get this thing done. You know, whatever the opening window was over the summer, the spring period, I started probably November around Thanksgiving and then just sort of went, you know, four to five hours a night, weekends, eight to 10 hours on weekends and just went through every single thing that Becker told me to do.
00:26:41
Speaker
I did it. I passed it. And, you know, the rest is history. One funny caveat in that. So I took the four sections. They were electronic at that time. And so I scheduled one at the the start of the period. Then I had the the next one scheduled two weeks or whatever. However, it was a two and a half months of show that it was over so I could schedule them all out and get them all done at once.
00:27:02
Speaker
Well, the first test. I failed with a 74. I don't think I've been so angry in my life. Yeah, that's so angry. One point away from the perfect score, right? point One point from the perfect score. You're right. Like one point from the perfect score.
00:27:20
Speaker
I immediately scheduled to take that a test again before taking the second test that I had scheduled. And I wound up getting that score back. I wound getting like an 85 on it. Then I was mad because I studied too much. It was like, what the heck? I just needed 75. But anyway, so that was the only repeat test of those four that I took on using the Becker method and was able to get through all of it in April 13th of 2007, that's when my license came in. I got the big envelope that says, you're a CPA. And now, obviously, that date room is stuck in my head. I remember the date. i remember everything. this is
00:27:54
Speaker
This is what it happens. And so, you know, with that, it's been such a blessing um since and even before. So for those of you out there that may be listening and wondering, like, man, you know, can you give it? Yeah, it's OK to pause. It's OK.
00:28:10
Speaker
We're here as Becker to help you. And that's our desire we want, I want everybody that wants to pass and take the CPA exam to pass. And we're we're doing the things and tools and and resources necessary to help you to get there. You're going to have to put in the effort. You're going to to put in work. going to have to do the things that take no talent.
00:28:27
Speaker
And if you do that, you'll get it. Well, I know you didn't start with Becker, but I'm glad you decided to finish with Becker and that we brought you over the hump. But we don't have to dwell on that. What I really want to dwell on now is the really interesting stuff you're doing. So you had your experience. You worked with Deloitte for a while, but then you left Deloitte, and now you're wearing a lot of different hats for from adjunct professor to still dealing with football and with conferences and with NILs and so many different things. So this is where I'm finding really the most interesting stuff. So tell me a little bit about what happened and what you're doing now.
00:29:00
Speaker
Yeah, so man, so so many great things. in in um and again, just it's all blessings to me, ah the the various, I'll call it trials, tribulations, opportunities, however you want to look at it in the most positive spin possible because it is all positive.
00:29:15
Speaker
So left Deloitte, went to a client like many of us do, you know, after getting promoted up to senior and did that. for a while. then you know I'm based here in Houston, Texas. And so we had this little incident that happened called Enron.
00:29:27
Speaker
And Enron was a, when you're in an energy trading space as I was, was a kind of depressor to a lot of companies that were tied somehow directly or indirectly to Enron.
00:29:39
Speaker
And so then that launched an opportunity for me to try into private equity through a relationship I had with a good friend of mine. Then went into pipeline business, went into other things.
00:29:50
Speaker
But all the all the while, using that accounting knowledge of process improvement and internal controls and all kind of stuff, that was sort of what was driving me. And then life is continues to progress positively for me and had an opportunity to get back into private equity. It made a a huge acquisition that that was transformative for my life and the lives of many of a couple of my friends that we did and and bought a large business in Florida called Coca-Cola Beverages, Florida.
00:30:18
Speaker
ah Yeah, that's my last name. And that was actually the the name of the company as well. So Coke, Florida. And that was fantastic. And then life circumstances happened and and I had to pivot away from that.
00:30:29
Speaker
But I pivoted into other things that matter to me. College sports, ah people that are trying to figure out college sports, and then also accounting as a profession. What can I do to give back? Because I give a lot of volunteer efforts and services, and the Jesuits taught me to be a man for others, and that's to give back to the community.
00:30:49
Speaker
And I said, well, how can I give back to you to the accounting profession? like what What can I do? like i don't I don't know. And then I said, well, I can teach. Right. Like, so I reached out to a local university, University of Houston downtown, which has a demographic population of students that a lot of commuters or a lot of people that are coming back for for education that have been away for a while.
00:31:10
Speaker
You know, they also have a lot of, you know, traditional students coming out of high school, going right into college. And so but the number one thing for me that I wanted to do was was be able to share with them all of the various things that I've done in in the accounting profession and the ways you can use an accounting degree to do anything you want to do.
00:31:28
Speaker
And so you talked about a couple of those things that that that I'm talking about now. So doing the adjunct profession, which I love, by the way, it's so much fun teaching the the young folks and kind of and that's weird for me to say young folks, but I've got I've got old sons, right? Like they're they're all young adults right now. So I could say that.
00:31:44
Speaker
But more importantly, also about college athletics. And you mentioned on that, and that's something i have a great passion for. And you and I, with our sports passion, is is where a lot of that thrives from. So part of it,
00:31:56
Speaker
has to deal with by accident. I would say my life is almost a story of happy accidents. you know I got into private equity and got to buy Coke Florida, honestly, by happy accident. I'm still in Houston, Texas, honestly, by happy accident. all you know I get a job at Deloitte by happy accident. right like So all of these things are happy accidents. So I'm working on building out a sports management business, a really focused on collegiate NIL in high school players because of this new dynamic in the NCAA that allows for transfer portal for kids to transfer with without limitations within their collegiate careers and also receive compensation for their name, image, and likeness, the NIL.
00:32:37
Speaker
But here's the thing. Many of those students, I say students because that's what they should be first, whether high school or college, are unprepared for that. Basically, call it the lottery winning of becoming an NIL compensated athlete you know within college. And so what I want to do is to educate and help them to set that foundation so that they can go forward in life. And if they have to choose a profession outside of sports, they can be prepared and have this nice little nest egg that can build for them and build life for them more efficiently and easily. So that's how I get into that.
00:33:15
Speaker
but more But the other thing about that, that was one aspect. I said, man, what else can I do? Well, you know, it bothers me that, you know, we as adults, oftentimes make decisions related to kids, but we don't really think about the kids when we're making the the decisions, right? Like we're like, oh, hey, let's, and where I'm going with that is, hey, let's just do this conference realignment.
00:33:37
Speaker
Let's take the PAC-12 to completely dismantle it. And let's put all those schools from Los Angeles and in Oregon and Washington, let's put them into the big 10, a Midwestern school system that also has schools all the way on the East Coast. And then, you know, what we're going to say, hey, that's football.
00:33:54
Speaker
Football is driving this revenue. Well, that's fantastic. Football's played once a week, one time a week. That's it. Here's a question about women's softball.
00:34:06
Speaker
What about women's volleyball? They play series. What about men's basketball and men's baseball? Those are things that are played multiple times throughout the week. And so the travel challenges for those things. And here's the other thing.
00:34:20
Speaker
Look, I'm a football guy. We chartered our flights. Guess who doesn't get to charter flights? Women's volleyball. They're flying commercial. So when they have to leave from Los Angeles, travel three time zones to go play Penn State or Rutgers or Michigan or Michigan State all across the country, they're losing time. So I start writing articles about these things.
00:34:41
Speaker
And I'm saying, hey, look, I'm not pushing an agenda one way or the other. I'm trying to stay middle of the road and just say, let's make some common sense here. And that's what accounting's taught me, right? like Because publicly traded companies have to present their financials fairly.
00:34:57
Speaker
We're not saying perfectly. U.S. GAAP states it clearly. It's fairly presented. And so that's all I'm offering is a fairly presented way in which we can maybe realign the conferences such that football can do its thing its its way, but we can have those regional aspects related to the non-revenue, non-sports, non-chartered flight sports that can Sort of stick to their thing. And I'll close with this one thing.
00:35:21
Speaker
You and I had talked about this on the pre-show a little bit. You know, you've had a daughter that was at the University of Miami. Well, just last year, the University of Miami had to go to Cal Berkeley for a ninth game at Berkeley.
00:35:35
Speaker
So geographically, let's just say those are kind of the farthest distance apart within the continental United States that you can get for two teams to play. That game went to double overtime with Heisman Trophy up winner Cam Ward at the at the helm.
00:35:51
Speaker
The game didn't end until midnight California time. So those young men and the staff and everybody associated with that program wouldn't leave California until... Two o'clock in the morning when you shower and all that, the buses, you don't get back to Miami till four or five o'clock in the morning.
00:36:08
Speaker
And then, hey, you got to go to class on Monday or you got practice. So anyway, sorry about that. But that's that that. I just get so fired up about this stuff. Right. That's the process improvement stuff around accounting that I try to bring to the articles that I write.
00:36:22
Speaker
I get it. My daughter was still in school and I know she was up till 3 a.m. m watching it. And then all of a sudden I'm paying this tuition and she's not going to class because she's asleep. I'm like, what is going on here? So so if I'm understanding, if I'm hearing what you're saying, yeah conference realignment, you know, really is something that should happen. You know, these decisions they made, you know, in in the grand scheme of things, probably not the best when you look at the entire body of all of the different sports and the different students.
00:36:48
Speaker
NIL, let me ask you this. NIL, listen, these these students, the colleges make a lot of money. So NIL is great for students who hit, like you said, the lottery and now they're getting money, but they don't know what to do with this money. And all of a sudden, somebody throws a million dollars or a couple hundred thousand dollars at you. If you don't have any education or financial literacy, how do you know what to do? You're going to just take that money and blow it. So it's really important that we have some kind of education for these people and teach them what to do with this money, so to speak. Am I right?
00:37:19
Speaker
Absolutely. and And that's exactly where I try to go, right? And because my my focus in terms of management, it's not about the deal. It's about what happens after you get the deal. It's about setting up the the proper structures and understanding the tax implications. Because what many of these Students don't know and what their parents don't realize is they're not employees. They're not salaried.
00:37:42
Speaker
They get a 1099, which at the end of the year, if you haven't reserved tax money for that or haven't set up a structure such that you can offset some of that revenue with some legal means of business expensing.
00:37:57
Speaker
going set yourself up for a huge tax bill of monies that you may not have. So that's the goal in terms of what I'm trying to do is educate the families and the student athletes so that they can, again, set themselves up to properly avoid taxes where they can legally, while at the same time structuring a life such that they can have a great foundation for where they're going to go next.
00:38:22
Speaker
and And that's a great service to provide. So how do you provide this? Is it ah you're teaching people in your class all about it? Do you reach out to these collegiate athletes? Like, how do you go about, you know, giving this education?
00:38:36
Speaker
Yeah, so so great point. So a lot of it is going, you know, outward in seeking, you know, those clients or informing them. So one of the ways is through the articles that I write, you know, where I'm um'm i'm putting out and purposely for me,
00:38:50
Speaker
Because I'm a dad, first and foremost, and people ask me, what are you? I'm a dad. So I'm thinking about these kids in a very paternalistic way. And so I communicate to the parents via my social channel. The primary one that I communicate through is through LinkedIn. And I do that purposely because generally that's where the parents are going to be. that are like, oh, I didn't know this. Oh, my son's or my daughter's dealing with it. I i had no idea.
00:39:14
Speaker
So I try to provide that service, a free educational service through the articles and things of that nature that I'm writing. And then the students, from what my children tell me, hey, we're on Twitter. We're not on that LinkedIn thing or X or whatever it's called now. Well, that's where we are So there's so many student athletes that are looking for opportunities or already in. And I sort of provide them basically the exact same article.
00:39:38
Speaker
Say, hey, look, read this. You know, you might want to pay attention to this and then start trying to educate them about the various. I'll call it collection of advice givers in that space.
00:39:49
Speaker
You know, whether it's, you know, folks like myself that I consider myself a manager, ah there's agents, there's lawyers, there's advisors. though they're They're all can serve a a function, but we've got to make sure that the the athlete remains the CEO.
00:40:05
Speaker
The COO to me would be the the sports manager, and then everyone else has their sort of role. So that manager is sort of helping to to navigate that. And so it's, you know, offering that information and just say, hey, look, if you want to connect, you want to talk, I'm i'm open. And you'd be surprised at how many parents and how many ah student athletes are just like, man, I didn't i didn't know that or or thank you for sharing that. And and it to me, it's not even about winning every client in engagement. It's about informing and making sure that we have better
00:40:35
Speaker
you know outcomes for those students going forward. So let me ask you, as you're reaching out and you know you're communicating with some of these college athletes, are you getting a combination? Some of them are, oh, Mr. Cola, this is so interesting. I had no idea about a 1099, what that meant, what taxes are, or are you getting a lot of, Mr. Cola, I got this. I know what I'm doing with money. You don't have to tell me what to do with my money. Like, what are you getting out of them?
00:41:01
Speaker
Yeah, you know, surprisingly, I think ah it's getting more of the former than the latter, quite honestly, right? Like, because some of, you know, many are like, You know, here's here's the other piece of it. I think it's important.
00:41:14
Speaker
You know, so there's no collective bargained agreement for college athletes. you know, they're basically on their own. So why why does that matter?
00:41:25
Speaker
In the professional leagues, there's a limit on what they can be charged for their agency, for the agents that work for them. There is no such limit in college athletes. So that's number one, where I can go in as a dad, as an advisor, as a manager and be like, hey, guys, you're getting overcharged if this guy is telling you he's going to take 25 percent of your NIL.
00:41:47
Speaker
We're not doing that. Right. Like, so that's one of the things. Right. Because so those that have gone through the process and it hasn't been successful as they want, they're the ones that are like, thank you.
00:41:59
Speaker
I didn't realize what I didn't know until I got into it and lost a bunch. And others will will be like, thank you. ah Yeah, my mom told me that she saw this article and I need to reach out to you and hit and be able to say like, hey, what am I doing? What do I need to do?
00:42:14
Speaker
And so so that's kind of where it is. So it's a little bit of a combination, but more the former. I mean, i think what I find as a former athlete, and I think that that's where there's a lot of resonance for these folks is I'm able to say, i know what it's like to be you when get no money.
00:42:30
Speaker
let's Let's be clear. I hadn't gotten no money. But the other side of it, because I've been in that situation, I know the the noise that comes all around and what that means. And you just want to focus on ball.
00:42:43
Speaker
And that's what I try to do is just step in so that they can focus on ball. And that seems to be something that is resonant with them that the idea that they can be like, okay, I can just sit here and just focus on Bolt. Like, yes, but we're going to teach you because I could, you know, one of the things in management consulting when I've done done that, the best thing that we can do, like when I'm helping a company through its IPO or or or helping you know set up a new Sarbanes-Oxley protocols, you want to work yourself out of a out of a job. right like That's the best thing that you can do as a managing consultant is work your way out of a job.
00:43:17
Speaker
And that's effectively what I want to do with these young men and young women to say, hey, look, I want to teach. i don't want to just do this. Now, if you want me to continue to help you, I will, obviously. But the best thing I can do is hopefully work my way out of a job by educating you on the best way that you can kind of go forward.
00:43:33
Speaker
All right, so I'm listening to all these different things that you do right now. So football's and over, but now you become an accountant, you're a CPA, but on top of it, you're a writer, you're an educator, you're an advisor of proper you know sports protocols and things you should do. like These are a lot of different hats you're wearing. Do you wake up and say, all right, Monday, I'm doing accounting. Tuesday, I'm an adjunct. Wednesday, I'm a writer. Thursday, I'm an educator. Friday, I'm a sports advisor. How do you balance all of this together ah and make a career out of it?
00:44:04
Speaker
Man, you know they thank you for asking that because I don't know. It's a big question sometimes. um you know Part of it, when you're in the when you're in advice space, as you know,
00:44:16
Speaker
you don't know when the advice is going to be needed. So you kind of always sort of on, right? Like you're always sort of waiting to see. But in terms of the writing piece of it, I do have a ah specific protocol in which i'm I build a series of things that I like to write. So I try not to write too many one-off articles. I try to build things such that it crescendos at and a point of view, such that people can kind of look back and say, oh, okay, if I pull all of these things together.
00:44:42
Speaker
So I try to put out an article a week. ah you know, for folks to to kind of do that. And so I get ahead of myself. So right now I'm probably you know, I probably have articles ready for November that I'm writing now, right? Like, so it's like things that are coming out in October, I've sort of wrote in September. So I try to be about two to three weeks ahead of time, because the ideas keep coming to me. So I just sort of keep putting them down. And then life keeps happening. And that just offers another avenue of opportunity to sort of write things out. What I'm what I've tried not to do is be a writer that's a reactionary in terms of like, in the moment, I'm not a reporter, I'm not a journalist, I'm not any of those things. I want to
00:45:19
Speaker
take that information, especially there's a couple of congressional things that are coming down specifically related to NIL that I'm going to be writing about in the coming weeks that they just came out like within the last week. But I'm not, I'm like, I got a point of view, but I got to finish some things up before I do that. So so that's one. I plan that. And then the the advice stuff is like, well, just when people call, you know, I pick up the phone and then the teaching, you know, that's pretty structured as well.
00:45:46
Speaker
You know, that I have to have to get through through that for the rest of it. So it's it's more trying to find when I say the balance of it. You know, I just try to balance the 24 hours that that I'm given by my creator and say, what can I do with this?
00:46:02
Speaker
and And sometimes it'll take me in a direction that I'm not expecting. But oftentimes, you know, if I say it's pretty structured with it, it it turns out to be pretty good. So if I want to read one of your articles, where do I find a Christopher Cola article?
00:46:16
Speaker
Thanks for asking that. Yeah, go to LinkedIn. Follow me on LinkedIn.com is the best way. I'm under my name, ah Christopher Cola CPA. You should find me this mug. You should see something like that out there that should be able to to help you to find it. And, you know, you can search up my name and and I've got all kinds of articles out there. that You know, everything from the transfer portal ah to NIL to, you know, managers, ah agents, lawyers, advisors to conference realignment to reimagining the NFL draft.
00:46:46
Speaker
or not just the NFL, but the NBA draft, how can we make that more equitable such that we can avoid teams that want to tank? when We penalize tanking while while you know those that that are consistently doing well. So kind of a blend of sort of the European soccer model in in what we do in the you know, in the United States, because we're the only professional league that that has a draft. Everybody else is sort of like a free for all, which I'm not saying that's better or worse. I think it's a little bit worse.
00:47:12
Speaker
I think we we can sort of blend. So I just try to provide things that, you know, Mike, I'll tell you, it's one of those things. I'm one of these people that, you know, like many of us will say, man, somebody should do something about that.
00:47:24
Speaker
And then I look in the mirror. I'm like, I guess that's me. It's like, i guess I'll be that somebody. Yeah, and you know, if going to professional um sporting events is very expensive today, right? So there's nothing worse than you say, oh you know, maybe I could go to a game towards the end of the season. Tickets aren't as much money. You know, the team's not doing it as well. But then you want to go see your favorite players and they're not playing because the team wants to lose because they want to get a better draft pick. That is maddening, right? Now I leave the game spending all that money and I'm in a bad mood because the whole reason I got there, I didn't even get to see the guy that I want to see play.
00:48:02
Speaker
that's That's right. And that's why I wrote a ah whole series of articles about that. And again, using the accounting bit of me to say, how economically can we make this work? Right. Like from a, you know, it's not just change the draft order and all that kind of get stuff. That's an aspect of it. But you got to think about media rights. You got to think about all those sorts of things. So that article series, I'm pretty proud of it because.
00:48:25
Speaker
I really took a lot of time to think through what, like, and look, selfishly, I just thought about myself. I'm like, I want to see happen. How would I want to see this? And then I pressure tested it with some friends of mine to kind of get their take. And like, it's not bad.
00:48:38
Speaker
So, you know, and in here here's ah another, ah you know yeah you know, axiom, right? It's like, let's not let perfect be the enemy of good. We've heard that before, right? Like, but But that's some something I do with with my articles.
00:48:51
Speaker
my My thing is I want them challenged. I want people to read them and say, yeah, no, I don't agree with that. OK. Or I do agree. Or, you know, well, maybe here's something different. OK. Either way, my thing is let's have the conversation and let's sort of drive this thing forward. Because, look, sports and entertainment, it's so much a part of our life. It's it's literally grounded me since I was six years old, Mike. I can i didn't tell you this story, but You know, there was a time when I was a little slimmer and I actually played running back.
00:49:18
Speaker
Wow. Look at that. yeah Yeah. From six to eight, man, I was the best. I was the best running back. And my guy was Walter Payton. And I think I used to I was i was sweetness, man. I used to have a 34 Bears jersey. My team wore the Bears.
00:49:33
Speaker
And I remember we were playing the Rams. And i I had on a breakaway run. I was around the right end. And then somebody came in and took my knee out, you know, six, seven years old.
00:49:44
Speaker
eight yeah It just, he put a helmet on the knee, nothing major, right? It wasn't torn or anything, but it kind of swole up a little bit. And I remember my coming home after the game and my dad was putting ice on it.
00:49:57
Speaker
And my dad said the words to me that, you know, still resonates to this day that scares the bejesus out of me. said, son, I don't think you're ever going to play football again. i don't think I cried as hard. And he was messing with me.
00:50:11
Speaker
He was teasing me. He didn't mean it at all. But when he saw the emotion on my face when I was like, wait, what? I'm never going to play football again. I'm seven years old. you know So from there, you know, it's so that love and that passion. And so I try to meld what I do, the passion for education,
00:50:30
Speaker
I do that through the university level. Through sports management, I do that through through the collegiate athletes level. The articles I'm writing, that's more education. And then underlining all of that with the accounting knowledge and and what I've gained and garnered from that, because accounting is a language of business.
00:50:46
Speaker
And it's the language of life in so many ways. in And in the thing that I love to bring, especially to my students, is, hey, look, those of you out there that are wondering, like,
00:50:58
Speaker
I got be a genius in math. I'm not. And most of us in accounting are not. I tell them that the thing you learned, the math you learned is in third and fourth grade, if you can multiply, subtract, and divide, like like you're good. like like That's it.
00:51:12
Speaker
like like That's the complication. Understanding the concepts gets a little tricky. And that's where I love to come in. so So melding all those things together, finding the time to sort of add that value to myself,
00:51:24
Speaker
to my my those that I engage, like like that's the fun stuff, man. Like that's what makes this this life of ours. Just engaging with you right now, Mike. it just It's like this is all part of it, man. And I just enjoy it.
00:51:36
Speaker
Well, that's great. And I've been taking up so much your time. I really appreciate it. But I have one last question for you. You know, you you've been doing a lot of teaching now. You're working with a lot of these college athletes. Have you come across like some piece of advice you've been giving them that you say, you know what?
00:51:51
Speaker
I wish everybody knew this. Like, what's the best piece of advice you could share for these young students? You know, that yeah there's so much of that I kind of thrown in some of these axioms that I mentioned before.
00:52:05
Speaker
but But I'll tell you, I think the best piece of advice, and it's something that, again, great parents will hopefully guide you and push you there. But if you don't have great parents, find great mentors.
00:52:20
Speaker
It's two things. Number one, my dad said to me, more than anything else, just go for it. Like if you're thinking it, man, just go for it. The articles that I'm writing, just go for it.
00:52:31
Speaker
that the The class you're taking, just go for it. Don't worry about what's going to happen if it doesn't work. Just go for it. Right? Like another axiom, right? You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. You miss 100% of the tackles you don't try. Like just just go for it.
00:52:47
Speaker
Whatever that thing is, man, whatever you're feeling No matter how crazy, no matter whatever it is, just go for it. Because you owe it to no one but yourself to look that person in the mirror every day and say, i did my best.
00:53:03
Speaker
I did all the things that took no talent today. And now I get to do it again tomorrow. And the second thing, I know you asked for one, but I apologize. I'm from New Orleans. We get this thing called lanyard in New Orleans. So all my New Orleans lanyard, that means it's a little bit extra. So with that, I'll explain to you quickly. So when you go to the donut shop, they give you 12. In New Orleans, we give you 13 because that's a little lanyard. We give you a little little something extra.
00:53:30
Speaker
So the second thing I'd say this, build your personal board of directors.
00:53:36
Speaker
Build out a collection of people that you can count on when you need advice. that you can call upon and say, hey, I'm going through a thing. And here's an important part. Make sure they're not all in the same kind of space.
00:53:51
Speaker
You might need personal advice about a relationship that you're in. You might need business advice about something you want to do. You might need educational advice. Try to find and and have a board of directors, like a public company or private company board, that's made up of people from various backgrounds. Here's the most important, fun part about that board of directors.
00:54:09
Speaker
Two things. Number one, they don't need to know that they're hired to be on your board of directors. And number two, they don't need to know when you fire them from your board of directors, because sometimes you got to make changes to that board. But if you create this personal board of directors of people that you can count on,
00:54:24
Speaker
that you can call that can be like, you know what? Hey, here, try this, try that, that sort of thing. I think those are the things that I try to elicit and offer to to my students, to people that I work with and just saying, hey, look, go for it and build that board of directors, man. they They can come in handy.
00:54:40
Speaker
sage advice, wisdom. I love it. I couldn't have asked for a better way to wrap things up. So Christopher, we went through a lot of stuff here and I look back at the body of your work over a career and it is something to be extremely proud of all of the good work that you're doing. And especially because it's related to accounting, which I even love even more. So I cannot thank you enough, but I just want to say it was really interesting. I hope our audience, I'm sure our audience got a lot of great stuff out of this. So thank you so much for coming on the show today.
00:55:10
Speaker
Thank you, Mike. I appreciate it. And and I look forward to continuing these conversations for for many months and years to come. Absolutely. All right. Thanks again, my friend. It was great. Thanks again, everyone, for listening to this podcast with Christopher Cola. It was awesome and he was awesome. And I really, really appreciate it.
00:55:28
Speaker
But I want to make sure you know that you can get CPE credit just for listening to this podcast. All you need to do, visit the link in the show notes to get your credit.
00:55:39
Speaker
But even better, if you are a prime CPE subscriber, you can earn the CPE credits at no extra cost. Just log in and you can finalize your credits.
00:55:50
Speaker
Thanks again. That's everything we have for this podcast in cool careers in accounting. And we look forward to seeing you in another episode in the future. Thanks.