Q&A with Joe Wallis: How I found my true passion—and power—in nonprofit accounting

By Joe Wallis, CPA

The world of nonprofit accounting is not what most would call “typical.” But neither is Joe Wallis.

As a freshman in college, Joe couldn’t have cared less about accounting. But after embracing a career path that took him from community recreation to nonprofit advocacy, he found it to be his calling.

Keep reading to hear—in Joe’s words—how nonprofit accounting became his true north and why it’s so powerful for the organizations he serves.

(Edited for clarity.)

Abdo: How’d you get started in nonprofit accounting work?

Joe: I’ve probably had the most nontraditional path to accounting. In 2009, I got a degree in commercial recreation. I was going to be Leslie Knope from Parks and Rec and ended up in community recreation. Although it didn’t fulfill me professionally, it introduced me to working with people who have disabilities, which did.

From there, I went to work at a traumatic brain injury home and later got qualified to work in the group home industry. I was managing a group home in Iowa when I earned a promotion opportunity to move up to Minnesota, where we have some of the best laws and funding for people with disabilities within the home and community-based services industry.

My experience with managing a group home led me to advocacy work. I even stood in line at the Minnesota State Fair to ask the governor a question about not supporting people with disabilities. Later that year, Minnesota lawmakers passed a bill that improved funding for people with disabilities. I received an award from the Minnesota Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities in recognition of my persistence.

Before long, though, I started to wonder how I could help the nonprofit sector from a different perspective. While direct care was very rewarding, it was hard to manage work-life balance and plot out a sustainable career. So, I went back to school during the evenings and got my accounting degree at Metro State University with the intention of going back into nonprofit work.

After I earned my accounting degree, I applied to a ton of organizations, but I didn’t have the experience these positions required. I ended up taking a couple different jobs to get my feet wet outside of the nonprofit industry. One of these was a position in the state’s Office of Legislative Auditor, which gave me exposure to single audits.

When COVID hit, I burnt out. I found myself reflecting on what life really meant and what I should be doing. Unsure of what to do, I enrolled in a master’s program, and my wife found a job posting on LinkedIn for a nonprofit advisory position at a firm called Abdo, Eick & Meyers. Although I wasn’t interested in public accounting, I applied and eventually ended up sitting down with Steve Anseth and Jay Dunphy. We immediately bonded over our shared passion for nonprofits, and the rest is history.

So yes, I took a convoluted path to get here, but along the way I gained experience in nonprofit operation as well as the legislative complexities nonprofits face. More than anything, it showed me how essential nonprofits are to our society. I don’t want to know where our country would be without them.

Abdo: What excites you about working with nonprofits?

Joe: My favorite thing to do is to be out volunteering with client or to attend our clients’ fundraisers and community charity events. This is when I get to see the people our clients serve: my neighbors receiving services in my community.

I love knowing these lives are being touched by my tax dollars, my donations, and the work we’re doing at Abdo. The numbers we work with are people. Our clients’ program expenses are the people I see in their offices or being served at their events.

Abdo: How do you and your Abdo teammates support nonprofits in carrying out their missions?

Joe: I like to say we are nonprofit people who went to accounting school. We’re more than auditors; we’re advocates. We champion the nonprofit sector by attending events, participating in fundraising, wearing their merch, and talking about them on social and within our community.

It’s so much more than just doing our clients’ audits. As I tell my clients: “We care about your organization, and we also know how to do your audit.”

But when it comes to the audit, our approach is pretty unique from what I’ve seen. We spend a significant amount of time learning what our clients are doing. This ties back to one of our firm’s core values: relationships. We seek to build a relationship first by understanding our clients’ motivations, incentives, strategies, and, most important, whom they’re serving.

The audit is critical for both compliance and fundraising. At a bare minimum, it should not restrict the organization from carrying out its mission. We help our clients through their audits in a way that allows them to stay focused on their missions.

Many nonprofits think of the audit as this huge burdensome thing. This often happens because there’s a disconnect between the auditor and auditee. The more we can break down this divide, the better.

Part of how we do this is by continuously staying in communication with—and showing up for—our clients. We know the nonprofit world is not 9 to 5. It’s 24 hours a day.

Abdo: How can nonprofits make the most of their audits?

Joe: One of the most powerful ways an organization can leverage its audit is to use it to tell a good story. Yes, it takes a good narrator to tell a story, but the audit is what backs it up. This is how I like to present audits for boards and such—I talk a lot about the numbers, but I want people to see the stories behind them.

The audit can help to quantify the heart, blood, sweat, and tears behind an organization’s mission and vision. And this is what truly resonates.

To learn more about how Abdo empowers nonprofits, click here.