John Harman CPA

John Harman, CPA

Current Awards: 
 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016,2017, 2018, 2019, and this year too! - Voted Best Accountant/CPA McKinney by the McKinney Living Magazine, the McKinney Chamber of Commerce and the McKinney Courier-Gazette.

Personal:
I have lived in the Dallas area since 1980, moving to McKinney in 1999.  I was born in Fort Worth and am a 4th generation Texan.  Unfortunately, none of my family had oil wells or cattle ranches.  I worked my way through high school and college.  I graduated with a double major in Finance and Accounting from the University of North Texas.

I started my accounting career as an assistant controller for a small company in Mineral Wells, Texas. 
Three years later I was offered a position working in Nigeria for a construction company.  I spent the next two years traveling between Nigeria and Texas.  I gained a lot of knowledge about people from other countries. When I returned from Africa, I worked for an oil and gas manufacturing company. The oil section crumbled and I began a career in real estate.  I purchased raw land, subdivided it and sold it.  The real estate market fell in the eighties just like it did here in 2008.

I decided to go back to the basics.  I worked for American Express managing a small tax preparation and financial planning office.  My next employer was Fast Tax, a national tax software company, working in their Partnership and then Fiduciary sections.  They created the software that the big accounting firms used.  In 1990, I started my career with Lacerte tax software.  At the time, they were the No. 1 tax software for medium to small CPA firms.  During my tenure there, spanning almost two decades, I taught tax to new employees, tested and helped create the annual tax program,  and was a national seminar speaker, traveling around the country presenting tax law and software updates to CPAs to audiences ranging from 20-200 CPAs per seminar.

In early 2008, I purchased a small McKinney CPA firm and merged my tax practice into it.  Due to growth, I have moved my office four times (three of the moves in the same building). Our next move in December 2017 will be into our own building. My practice has steadily grown and my staff has increased. However, I am committed to keeping the personal touch of a small firm, which I consider myself to be.  I believe a company should never grow so big that it no longer provides the personal service clients are entitled to.  This is the commitment and standard I hold my staff to.

Experience:
30+ years in the tax preparation field
20+ years preparing tax returns for profit

 
Education/Licenses:
UNT – BBA 1975 in Accounting and Finance
CPA License - December 1, 1984
Insurance License – 2011
Series 6 – 2011
Series 63 - 2011

Series 65 - 2015

Member of Better Business Bureau – 2010