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When someone mentions accounting, most people think of math. But, there’ s much more to the profession than numbers, a message that David Stone’ 13 is taking to schools. David – a Senior Manager in the Financial Services Practice Group at BerryDunn, the Portlandbased professional services firm that provides assurance, tax, and consulting services to organizations across the U. S. – wants students to know that accounting and auditing are more than just numbers.

“ People are surprised at how much writing I do,” he says, rattling off writingheavy projects that include staff memos, articles for the BerryDunn website, and procedural instructions for clients.“ Financial statements can be 50-plus pages and 40 pages of that can be written. Writing skills can be equal, if not more important, than math skills in the accounting profession.”

A member of the Jazz Band while at TA, David planned to study music in college, until his high school sweetheart – and now wife – Mayson( Picard)’ 14, suggested that he try accounting. Mayson, a CPA and Tax Manager at cloud computing platform Vultr, studied accounting at the Biddeford Regional Center of Technology( BRCOT) through Thornton and thought it would be a good fit for David.“ I thought I could still pursue music without a degree and took my first accounting class in college and fell in love with it,” he says.

David began an internship in BerryDunn’ s tax department

during his junior year at the University of Southern Maine. David continued as an intern at BerryDunn while earning an MBA through an accelerated program at Thomas College the following year. He then became a full-fledged employee after graduation in 2018.

A rising star, David later received the Elijah Watt Sells Award, given to those who pass the rigorous Uniform Certified Public Accountant( CPA) Exam with a cumulative average score above 95.50 across all four sections. Only 110 of the 86,000 people who took the exam that year received the award.

David served as a Loaned Executive to the United Way of Greater Portland( now United Way of Southern Maine) during its 2018 campaign, and was selected to participate in the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants( AICPA) National Leadership Academy in North Carolina, last December, becoming the first Mainer to receive that honor since 2019. He also served as the President of the Maine Society of Certified Public Accountants for two years, representing the profession throughout the state.

His next milestone will be that of Dad. David and Mayson are expecting their first child in May. Baby Stone will join a TA family that includes David’ s parents Kelly( Gonneville)’ 90 and Keith Stone ' 85, as well as David ' s siblings, Roger ' 18 and Alexis ' 20, and Mayson ' s sisters Mariah ' 11 and McKenna ' 20. We look forward to welcoming Baby Stone into the Class of 2043.