"I certainly never envisioned when I was 25 years old that I would be an owner and manager of a grand hotel," says Joel Bedor, CEO and general partner of the Mount Washington Hotel in Breton Woods, New Hampshire. But, by the same token, he adds, "without my CPA background, I doubt that I would have made that transition."

Early on, Bedor began to focus his career on serving the needs of business clients. Frequently called upon by clients striving to grow their businesses, Bedor began to zero in on business planning as a special area of expertise and commitment. What enticed him was the focus on the future and playing a role in making that future happen for his clients.

Originally a mathematics major at the University of New Hampshire, Bedor moved into accounting because of the profession’s reputation, along with his facility with numbers, obtaining a graduate degree from Northeastern University. After graduation, he practiced public accounting in the Boston office of Arthur Anderson & Co. When he and his wife decided to return to their hometown of Littleton, New Hampshire, Bedor worked for a regional firm, Smith, Bachelder, and Rugg, and later set up his own accounting firm, Bedor and Associates.

In his own practice, Bedor began to offer services beyond those offered by his competitors. He quickly realized that he enjoyed the forward-looking perspective inherent in serving the business community. That perspective, in turn, led him to make the move into business himself.

"I view myself as both a CPA and a businessman," says Bedor. In his first venture in 1983, a partnership in the Mount Washington Cog Railway, he realized that his accounting background served him well in managing the investment needed to make a sorely neglected railway a successful enterprise. In 1991, he brought the same kind of expertise to an effort to draw investment to restore the Mount Washington Hotel. Realizing that hands-on management was an equal partner with capital in the formula for success, he began to guide the effort in a financially sound fashion that has resulted in a thriving business and a beautifully restored grand hotel – serving guests, the community and the state of New Hampshire. He now serves as co-managing director as well as the chief financial officer.

Putting his career path in a larger perspective, Bedor reflects that "when you really help someone – looking to the future, assisting with problems, growing their businesses, rather than reporting on the historical numbers – that’s where the future is, and I think it’s that perspective that has allowed me to be successful, not only with my own accounting firm, but in developing my own businesses." He adds that "over the past 20 years the CPA profession, I think, has shifted from being a reporter of historical numbers to being a business adviser – and I think the successful CPA, and probably the happy CPA, needs to feel ever more comfortable with that role."