One of Us: Peter Reynolds

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Peter Reynolds is managing partner of Pivot CPAs. The Ponte Vedra Beach firm recently opened new offices in Nocatee and Gainesville and has signed on as the official CPA firm of the Web.com Tour Championship.

What are your primary duties and responsibilities as managing partner of Pivot CPAs?

We very much have a team environment at Pivot, but my specific role is to provide strategic guidance. I help build, create and sustain our firm’s culture, and I interact with the community as the firm’s representative. That said, we all represent the firm in that capacity because it’s an important part of our culture. There isn’t a person on our management team, and maybe on our entire team, that isn’t involved in the community.

What distinguishes Pivot CPAs from similar firms?

Most fundamentally, “Local firm attitude, national firm aptitude.” Knowing the local markets is incredibly important to what we do. We have a unique culture here, and we serve the local market well. That doesn’t mean small businesses. There are plenty of large companies here whom we serve, but we recognize the uniqueness of North Florida. At the same time, because we are in the BDO Alliance, we have all the resources of a large national firm so we have the firepower to service large, national companies as well as companies that focus on the regional and local markets. It’s certainly a point of differentiation for us. 

Pivot was previously known as The GriggsGroup. What was the impetus behind the name change?

The partnership and management team felt it was time to break with the tradition of naming the firm after the partners. We wanted a name that truly communicates the value of an accounting firm within its clients’ business. After talking to our clients, we learned that they think of us as business partners and not just a vendor who does their taxes and audits once a year; that they rely on us for guidance and leadership. One definition of “pivot” is a central point of focus and a resource on whom people rely, which led us to the name Pivot CPAs. We are grateful to play a pivotal and trusted role in our clients’ business and thrilled to be the ones our clients call with an idea or an issue. We are excited to be what may be the first CPA firm, at least in our market, to not be named after its partners. We’re unique in what many think of as a commoditized industry, and the new brand demonstrates that.

Your firm recently opened a new office in Nocatee Town Center. What types of services does your new office provide?

It’s not that we provide any different services in Nocatee – or our newly opened Gainesville office – than we do in our Ponte Vedra Beach office. It’s really more of a reflection of our dedication to being in the markets we serve. It is no secret that Nocatee is growing quickly, and strategically we wanted to be there early. But it’s just a further reflection of supporting that community.

 

What types of civic or charitable activities does Pivot support?

We have recently been significant sponsors behind the Roscolusa event in Nocatee – which ultimately benefits the Jay Fund – and we recently signed on as the official CPA firm of the Web.com Tour Championship in Atlantic Beach, which supports Wolfson and Nemours hospitals. Those are two of our more visible commitments, but it’s consistent with our firm’s culture of involvement with the communities we serve. Our approach to charitable endeavors is to encourage our professionals to get involved with charities in a board and advisory capacity, though many times, like the Donna Foundation, we just love the cause or have a personal connection to it. We’re involved in close to 20 organizations, including Rotary Club of Ponte Vedra Beach, Boys & Girls Clubs of Northeast Florida, Daniel, Beaches Educational Foundation, the Cultural Center at Ponte Vedra Beach, Junior Achievement, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Girls Inc., the Ponte Vedra Woman’s Club and so many more. We really stress the importance of giving back to the community.

 

You grew up in Atlantic Beach and have lived in all of the Beaches communities. What do you enjoy most about living on the First Coast?

 I think there is a sense of pride on the First Coast that maybe you don’t see in other parts of Florida. It’s like we all feel as though “we’re in this together.” There are so many different cultures here, from the beaches to the city. Having grown up here, I’ve kind of seen it all, and it’s exciting – and it’s still an exciting time to be here.

  

How do you enjoy spending your free time?

As typical as it may sound, I just enjoy being with my family and my kids. Whether it’s chasing them around the ball fields or going to the beach, it’s about that balance. I play some golf with “the guys” when I can, but my family comes first. When you put in the hours we all put in at Pivot, particularly from January through April, that time is so meaningful. It’s something we stress within the firm – when you’re out of the office, you’re out of the office.