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THE LAST WORD / Andrew Hunzicker, CPA

Andrew Hunzicker, CPA, is
founder and CEO of Dope CFO
in Bend, Ore.

Favorite food: Simple foods like
pasta, eggs, steaks, pizza, and mac and
cheese.
Favorite musician or group: Bruce
Springsteen was my first favorite, and I
still enjoy music from that era.
Favorite travel destination: Europe.
I’ve been three times and love it.

Favorite leisure activity: I’ve been a
rock climber for over 40 years and still
participate at a pretty high level, even
today at age 58.

‘Become a valuable expert in your niche …’

Building success out of failure: After I failed at my first equity programs and often don’t have a business educa-
career owning an indoor rock-climbing gym, I completed tion or background. Many of these startups achieve $5
my accounting degree and became a CPA. I won the Gold million to $20 million in sales, but they are weak in basic
Medal Award for the highest score on the CPA Exam in accounting, controls, governance, and tax, even though
Oklahoma in 1995, which enabled me to get a job with their products and brand are strong. They need help from
a Big Four firm in Dallas. Afterwards, my career led me qualified professionals, and it has been great to provide a
to a 10-year stint as CFO of a large oil and gas company, real value to these types of business owners.
where I co-founded a drilling company with my boss. We
sold it to Chesapeake Energy in 2010 for almost $90 mil- Finding success in a niche practice: Some sources expect
lion. I semiretired to Bend, Ore., where I did fractional legal recreational and medical cannabis sales in the United
CFO work from 2010 to 2018 and served clients in the States to reach $33 billion in 2022. This sector is generat-
cannabis industry and began teaching accounting for the ing interest and research by governments, universities, and
cannabis/CBD/hemp industry to other CPAs all over the the pharmaceutical industry. I would advise new CPAs to
United States. In 2017, I was runner-up in the Portland consider picking a great and rapidly growing niche, such as
Business Journal’s CFO of the Year in the small company cannabis. For CPAs to be effective in the cannabis market,
category, becoming the first-ever cannabis CFO nomi- they need more than just accounting and tax knowledge.
nated in that program. They need education on topics covering medicine and
After receiving that honor, I started getting emails from science, branding, software, operations, politics, compli-
CPAs asking for advice, so as a side business, I began edu- ance, cost accounting, federal tax codes, and court cases. By
cating other CPAs on how to start a cannabis accounting investing time and money into your knowledge and skills,
practice. It grew quickly, and in January 2018, I transferred you can become a valuable expert in your niche, which
all my clients to my student CPAs, started Dope CFO, and could lead to a successful and lucrative career.
began focusing 100% of my time and energy on that. PHOTO BY JOE KLINE/AP IMAGES
— As told to Teri Saylor, a freelance writer based in North Caroli-
Startup founders need CPAs’ help: I have found that na. To comment on this article or to suggest another subject for Last
many startup founders in cannabis come out of social Word, contact Courtney Vien at Courtney.Vien@aicpa-cima.com.

44 | Journal of Accountancy November 2022