Bill Troup says he always felt more comfortable adding columns of numbers than he did schmoozing potential clients.
Nonetheless, Troup, with Sisterson & Co. for two decades and managing partner since 1997, has led what was a traditionally conservative firm — even for the buttoned-down accounting profession — into a decidedly more progressive posture when it comes to business development and relationship building.
“We decided that the one-stop shopping concept had become very popular, and that if we didn’t change our service offerings, we were going to start shrinking considerably while others around us were growing,” says Troup.
The growth strategy has built Sisterson into an 80-person concern offering not only tax and audit services, but consulting and financial services to a roster of closely held companies, nonprofits and private sector clients.
In the workplace, Troup has championed efforts to create alternative work arrangements at Sisterson and to establish an employee advisory council that provides all levels of nonowners a forum to discuss and handle workplace issues.
In the civic service realm, Troup has served on the board of directors of UPMC Passavant hospital for more than 20 years and helped the troubled Sherwood Oaks Lifetime Care Community avoid financial failure when he took over as its board chairman in 1996.
He has been an advocate of the American Institute of Public Accountants’ peer review system that evaluates accounting firm process quality. Since the inception of the peer review process in the early 1990s, Sisterson has consistently earned the highest ratings, placing it among the top 10 percent of firms in the United States.
Although he is Sisterson’s managing partner, Troup maintains a full roster of clients, a practice he says keeps him sharp and on top of what’s occurring in business and in his profession. How to reach: Sisterson & Co., www.sisterson.com
