Like most major cities, Detroit has its share of artisan businesses – breweries, clothiers, paper-clip makers, and thousands more. As of May 1, it will boast its first artisan CPA Firm: Hewlett Artisan Certified Public Accounting.
“The artisan movement is about more than making things,” says firm founder Jennifer Hewlett. “It’s also about accounting for things.” Her new firm, she says, will account for things in an artisan manner.
“An artisan CPA is going to do things with your tax return that a non-artisan CPA simply won’t,” says Hewlett. This, she says, includes an artisan-focused review of all income and expenses, artisan-based consultation if needed, and the use of artisan envelopes and stamps when it’s necessary to mail in completed forms.
To practice in Michigan, regular CPAs must first of all be accountants – and then they must become both certified and public. Becoming an artisan CPA requires 335 hours of additional course work, a wardrobe consultation, diet requirements, plus sitting through the comprehensive Artisan CPA Exam.
On average, it takes 15 attempts to pass all 37 parts of the exam, says Hewlett, a process that took her nearly five years.
While Hewlett admits that artisan-prepared tax returns are audited no less frequently than non-artisan ones, she says that employing an artisan CPA has one distinct advantage:
“In the unlikely event you’re audited,” she says, “we can guarantee you’ll be dealing with an artisan IRS agent.”
