Professional Profile: Anil Melwani, 2014

Name: Anil Melwani Title: Owner and President Company: 212 Tax & Accounting Services Location: Manhattan, New York City Birthplace: Manhattan, New York City Education: Great Neck North High School (Long Island) and then Babson College, Wellesley, MA First job: Staff Accountant at Deloitte & Touche Most recent job before this one: Vice President of Armel Enterprises, Inc., working with my father in the home furnishings industry. What do you do now and what are you planning for the future? I own and operate my own CPA firm and I plan on growing my client base and the variety of services we can provide to them. How do you unwind from a busy day in real estate? A busy day for me usually involves serving our diverse clientele in multiple industries and categories from real estate and hospitality to doctors and dentists. I love working with clients and have strong connections to real estate. My father now focuses on investing in real estate across the country and my brother is a commercial broker right here in N.Y.C. I am a big believer in diversifying your assets and I have invested in various real estate deals myself. Also, several of my very close high school and college friends range among real estate brokers, developers and/or full time investors. Favorite book or author: Honestly I haven't read a book in several years. When I am not working or spending time with my wife and daughters, I use every spare moment to read accounting and tax journals such as The CPA Journal, Accounting Today, and The Tax Adviser. I feel it is the best way to improve my knowledge of what is current in my profession and enables me to serve our clients in the best way possible. Favorite movie: The Social Network Last song you purchased/downloaded? I don't have an iPhone or iPod. I have a Blackberry and use Pandora to listen to music in my office because I prefer variety when it comes to music. One word to describe your work environment: Focused Rules to live by in business: Always respond and if you can't respond then have someone respond for you within a reasonable time frame, even if you have to say "I will look into that and get back to you." No one enjoys being ignored. Also, nothing, including money, revenue and profit, is more important than your reputation and your integrity. Those are by far the two most important things in business. If you could invite one person to dinner (living or dead) who would it be and where would you go? Phil Jackson (multiple time NBA Champion player and coach and current President of the Knicks) and we would go to Campagnola on the Upper East Side. What is your dream job? The one I have right now. I love working for myself and owning and operating my own firm.