Meet Christine Myers, CPA, tax manager for Cherry, Bekaert & Holland

What college or university did you attend?
University of Richmond, B.S. in Business Administration, 1996.

When did you decide to major in accounting and to become a CPA?
My sophomore or junior year in high school. I wasn't into health sciences, but I liked math and numbers. It was going to be either an engineer or an accountant. I took a few accounting classes in high school and still thought this would be a good direction for me to go in. I didn't know that accounting was much more than just the simple debit/credit entries we did in class.

What is your current position?
I work at Cherry, Bekaert & Holland in our Richmond office. I am a tax manager working mostly in the area of estates and trusts.

What do you like most about your job?
I like the variety of work. I'm always doing something different. Even if it's a familiar client from past years, there's always new issues that come up, or changes in the tax law that keep me on my toes. I am constantly learning something new.

What piece of advice do you have for students about the "real world" of accounting?
Accounting is far much more complicated that just recording the transactions of a business. There's a lot of work that goes into preparing financial statements or a tax return. I don't think you will ever feel like you know everything in your field of expertise.

What are some of your volunteer activities?
Most of my volunteer activities come from business organizations like the Virginia Society of CPAs or through my church.

What do you do for fun? Hobbies?
I like to do outdoor stuff, like camping, hiking, etc. I also enjoy cooking and am a wine lover.

What do you think people would be most surprised to learn about you?
I have a pretty cool collection of beer bottles. I think my last count was somewhere close to 300.