Tony Proctor: Turn Dumb Ideas into Brilliant Solutions | The Disruptors

Reward curiosity, encourage experimentation, and involve the team in every step of firm transformation.

The Disruptors
With Liz Farr

Like many guests on The Disruptors, Tony Proctor didn’t start out as an accountant. His firm, Proctor and Associates, started as a side hustle in 2007 when he was working in IT management. As a testament to the client service focus of his tech-forward firm, his very first paid client remains his customer. 

“They are actually still on the roster, and so I’m very excited about that, and I’m excited that they are still willing to pay what today’s price is, and they are not stuck on what the price was in 2007, so I love that,” Proctor says.  

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Proctor, like many of today’s forward-thinking accountants, thinks like an entrepreneur. As he explains, accountants are “usually very risk averse and very honed in on the details, and it’s like compliance first,” while entrepreneurs are “what I would call risk tolerant, and so they usually are seeking the risk and figuring out what opportunities are presented from that.” 

Thinking solely like an accountant, Proctor says, can lead to paralysis.