During the first few months of the pandemic, our tax department had a lot to handle. We were all working remotely, many of us for the first time, and there were new announcements and IRS guidance issued almost weekly.
SBF’s clients got the benefit of having Julie Smith Moore, our senior manager leading our tax department, to help navigate these unprecedented challenges. During the pandemic, her role shifted from relatively predictable to rapidly evolving, as she helped her team and our entire firm understand the new programs rolling out to help business owners.
“The government started issuing relief funds — the Paycheck Protection Program, SBA assistance, Employee Retention Credits,” she said. “In addition to our normal busy season and client load, the tax department all pitched in – even our newest associates, who had been on the job for less than a year – to learn the rules and help our clients apply and receive the funds ASAP.”
Luckily, a fast-paced environment with rapid change is perfect for Julie. “My husband jokes that I can’t sit still for longer than five minutes,” she said.
Julie has worked at SBF since 2016, and she’s been in accounting for over 12 years. She was the first new team member interviewed after the merger that formed SBF, and she was sold on the company right away. “The three partners asked my recruiter for advice on what they should wear to my interview. This made me realize that SBF is a place where even the top management of the firm cares about its people and making a good impression internally, not just with our external clients,” she said.
Since then, Julie has felt consistently supported in her role at SBF. “There’s constant room for growth,” she said. “You never get bored, but also never feel like you’re competing with the person next to you. There’s so much opportunity for everyone if they want it.”
When she’s not figuring out the latest SBA rules or helping clients get their taxes straight, Julie is navigating change in a different way — on the water. “My husband and I recently took up sailing after many visits to our favorite place, St. John USVI,” she said. “We spent a week on a catamaran sailing throughout the islands and decided we wanted a boat for ourselves. We now own a sailboat in downtown St. Pete and have dreams to sail longer distances someday.”