Tim McGovern was recently promoted to partner at Ernst & Young in Las Vegas.
He was raised in Andover, Mass., and earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting from Notre Dame.
His 16 years of experience as a CPA has allowed him to travel the world including working in Germany and Chicago before coming to Las Vegas two years ago.
Q. When did you know being an accountant or working in accounting was for you?
A. It’s interesting. When I decided to become an accounting major, it was really something I knew frankly I could get a job that way. So, out of school, I began working for EY because I liked the people I met through the recruiting process. Over the years, I’ve been working in a Big Four public accounting firm, you get a lot of opportunities to move elsewhere. People like to hire people away from Big Four but I just liked working, I liked working on different clients. In my role here at EY, I’m able to work with all sorts of different clients, not just one particular industry or one particular size. So, I like seeing and visiting clients from all different (circumstances), again, from small startups to large multinational. So, I knew accounting was something I enjoyed and I wanted to continue in it because I liked working with a lot of different people.
Q. What brought you to Las Vegas?
A. I began my career right out of school, in the EY New York office. So, I’ve been with EY 16 years now. I’ve worked in their New York office, also Charlotte, North Carolina, Chicago, two years over in Frankfurt, Germany, and now here in Las Vegas. I’ve been in various roles, auditing all sorts of different companies from entrepreneurial startups up to Fortune 500 multinationals. I’ve had a pretty wide experience with EY. I had an opportunity within the firm to move to Las Vegas and so I took it. The firm presented me with the opportunity to come out here to Las Vegas and work in the gaming industry; it’s really been terrific learning the gaming industry and auditing. We serve here in Las Vegas pretty much all of the Fortune 1000 companies; we audit 70 percent of the U.S. public company gaming operators here in Las Vegas. We touch on pretty much everyone here in town; whether that’s from our traditional audit or tax services all the way to consulting services or what we call our advisory services.
Q. What do you find interesting about your co-workers at a large firm?
A. Every year, we recruit new people out of university. So, at any one time in the office you have people at all different stages in their careers; whether it’s Baby Boomers looking to retire, Generation X, Generation Y, all the way down to the millennials now. So, it’s truly reinvigorating to be working with people right out of school who are really motivated and anxious to get started with their careers. I knew pretty early on that I enjoyed what I was doing and having the flexibility and opportunity to be mobile, live in different places and especially overseas was something that was really attractive for me. So, that’s what’s kept me in the profession.
Q. What drew you to Ernst & Young and what do like most about working there?
A. During the recruiting process, I really enjoyed the people I talked to and I kind of developed a rapport with them, and so I decided to go with EY. Actually, when I was growing up — I think I was about 10 or 12 years old — I had to go interview someone else that wasn’t a family member. I picked my next door neighbor, and it turns out he was a retired EY partner. In talking with him, he had retired and had spent most of the year flying off to Canada, fishing and going to baseball and hockey games, and I thought that looked good to me. So, I remember when I was going through the recruiting process that stuck in my head that he worked for EY. So, when I was deciding what firm to go work for I thought, you know, I like the people at EY, he looked like he had a nice life after working for EY, so I chose EY.
Q. How has the promotion to partner challenged you?
A. The promotion, it’s really been taking on a new leadership role within the firm. As you progress through the firm, you take on different leadership roles overseeing the younger folks behind you. When you become a partner in the office, you’re really in charge of the office wide and how the office is viewed by the community. And so, now I’m the main point of contact for the C suite, which is really exciting because I get to meet all the leaders in town here in Las Vegas who are really entrepreneurial and forward thinking.
Q. What community nonprofits might you be associated with?
A. As a partner in the EY office, we feel that volunteering in the local community is very important. For instance, every year we do an EY Connect Day when we actually close our offices and go out and volunteer in the community. This year we went and helped the Sahara West Library raise funds by holding an EY book drive, which consists of donating new and used books and helping the library staff with their book sales. So each year we do one full day of service in the community. I do not currently sit on any boards. I’ve been in Las Vegas two years now. I’m somewhat new to the community… So, that’s certainly something I looking forward to do.