2021 Ones to Watch: Anthony Passudetti, CPA, The Fuoco Group

Name: Anthony Passudetti, CPA

Title: Audit and Accounting Supervisor

Company Name: The Fuoco Group

Real estate associations or organizations that you are currently a member of: AICPA, NYSSCPA, and Hauppauge Industrial Association (HIA-LI)

How do you keep your team motivated despite conflicts and obstacles?
I am a “roll up your sleeves” kind of guy and in the trenches every day with our staff. I stay involved with each client’s engagement so the team knows that they are not alone when dealing with challenges or obstacles. How can you stay motivated if there is an obstacle keeping the project from moving forward? It’s important the team knows they have my support both as a coach and as a mentor.

What did you want to be when you grew up?
If this question was asked 3 years ago, I honestly wouldn’t have known the answer; but luckily my mother was cleaning out the house one day and going through the items she saved from when I was a kid. She found a piece of loose-leaf notebook paper from when I was in 3rd grade titled: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Most kids back then wanted to be an astronaut or a firefighter. Not me. This paper said “accountant.”

Favorite quote:
From the movie The Accountant, “Life is a series of choices, none of which are new. The oldest is choosing to be a victim. Or choosing not to. The second oldest is loyalty–family first, good times or bad.”

How do you contribute to your community or your profession?
I love what I do, but I struggled along the way as a CPA moving up the food chain in public accounting. I can see the younger staff dealing with the same issues I struggled with at the same point in my career, and I try to teach them the skills they need to succeed. The key is to thrive, not just survive. I also encourage them to pursue their CPA license as soon as possible once they have their Master’s Degree.

What led you to your current profession?
I started out in college as a computer science major against the advice of my high school guidance counselor who suggested accounting. I soon realized that computer science was not for me and switched to accounting.

Top three things on your bucket list:
Retire early; visit all of the Major League Baseball teams’ ballparks; and travel to Italy with my beautiful wife. Not necessarily in that order!