BIO--Vicki L. Sims aka Vicki Sims

I graduated from Georgia State University with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting, following almost three years at UGA as an art student (fabric design).  I worked as a bookkeeper while at GSU, for a computer manufacturing firm and then a real estate investment trust, and I joined a public accounting firm on January 21, 1981, the day that the hostages in Iran were released, the day after Reagan was inaugurated. 

Six years later, with my CPA certificate and our one year-old daughter, I set out in my own practice.  That was over 20 years ago, so I've been at this for more than a quarter of a century now, working with an interesting variety of tax and small-business clients--individuals, corporations, partnerships, estates, trusts and not-for-profit organizations. 

         Etta James, I'll Take Care Of You

My client list includes several television production folks (my husband, Dave, works in video production), web designers, musicians, a songwriter, restaurants, a nightclub, real estate developers, real estate agents, builders, photographers, artists, several journalists, healthcare professionals, a dental lab, a jewelry manufacturer, and a sci-fi fantasy author.  I work with clients all around the country, sometimes in other countries, though I did meet those clients when they were here in the Atlanta area.  I met my longest-standing client at the lithography lab at UGA when we were both students, over 30 years ago, so I'm here for the long haul, pretty much 23/7.

Most of my work is with Lacerte tax software, QuickBooks Pro, and Excel or 123.  I consult with clients using other accounting software, and I encourage the use of QuickBooks, when necessary and possible.  It's an excellent bookkeeping and accounting product, far superior to Quicken.  Some of my clients keep their own books, and some have me do that work for them, depending on several factors.  I maintain multiple QB versions on my system, in an effort to keep up with upgraded clients without forcing all clients to upgrade. 

Over the last few years I've done quite a bit of personal work with web sites, designing using canned products.  Search engine optimization (SEO) has been a big focus in that work, and I've learned a lot about what it takes to get ranking with a site.  Virtual presence on the WWW is a literal necessity in this whole wide world, and I like that work enough to want to do much more of it. 

New for this century, I'm getting closer and closer to paperless.   

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