Reflecting on 2025, Senter CPA has experienced significant growth and success, both personally and professionally. As we roll into 2026, we’re heading into our ninth year as a firm. That’s wild. It honestly feels like just yesterday that we unlocked the doors on January 1, 2018.
Here’s a glimpse into our past year:
Team Expansion and Development:
- We welcomed two new TEAM members:
- Marisa Kruszewski joined our team in July as our Front Office Administrator. She jumped right in and strengthened our team on day one, and it feels like she has been a part of our crew for years. You can learn more about her HERE.
- Shannon Currie joined our team in December two days before Christmas, as a Staff Accountant focusing on client accounting services. Her get-to-know-you blog is coming soon.
- Continuing Education: Our team attended the MICPA Elevate conference in June and the MSU Income Tax School two-day tax update seminar in November. I also attended the NATP Taxposium conferences in Las Vegas in July.
- Accomplishments: Tracy Sanda passed the CPA exam this year! She Counted, She Conquered, She’s Now a CPA!
- The rest of the team you know and love: Let’s be honest Kelly, Lisa, Jordan and Tracy are kicking ass and taking names as usual. Lisa went to a part-time role after this past tax season, but you wouldn’t know it with all that she does for our team. You won’t see her in front of the office anymore.
- Shameful plug of how awesome accountants are: Accountants or Superheroes? You decide. We also tossed in a friendly nudge asking for a REVIEW if you’re feeling generous.
Community Engagement:
- Educational Support: We continued our collaboration with the Rotary Club of Clarkston to expand Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, promoting literacy in our community.
- Volunteering: Our team spent time giving back through several community efforts.
- DRAW (Disaster Relief at Work)
- Annual On a Dragonfly’s Wings Golf Tournament Photos: Facebook Post
- Volunteering at the Clarkston Family Farm: Facebook Post
Operational Milestones:
- Team Building Activities: We stay busy, but we still make time for board games at the office, volunteering, and connecting outside of work.
- Pricing Update: Nobody loves price increases. We get it. Costs are rising and our team continues to work hard. More details can be found HERE.
- Tax Dome: Most of you know by now, we have upgraded our client portal and document delivery system. If you missed it, the original alert can be found HERE. Others are below.
- Getting Started with Tax Dome: Your Senter CPA Client Portal
- Mastering Your Client Portal
- Keeping Your Files Safe
- Paying Your Invoice
- Tax Law Update? You knew that was coming! A few tidbits HERE, with more details HERE.
- You know we love you. We hope you love us too. Here’s our annual end-of-tax-season Thank You!
- Annual Senter CPA Christmas Party Photos: Facebook Post
Looking Back
2025 flew by here at Senter CPA. What fun it is to be an accountant. Yes, I said that with a straight face.
As always, we focused on serving clients, sharpening our processes, supporting our communities, and growing our TEAM. We’re proud to be an extension of your team. We’re incredibly grateful you trust us to be part of it.
Looking back, it’s humbling to see how much we accomplished. It’s funny how, during the year, we forget to celebrate the wins. There’s always another deadline, project, or fire to put out. We worked hard, had fun doing it, and we’re fired up for 2026.
Our team’s success comes from our amazing clients and the families and communities that support us. We value the work we do and take pride in giving back.
Internally, it can feel like we’re always fixing things and chasing improvements, but year after year, we keep moving forward. If you haven’t stopped by lately, swing in or shoot us a note. There are a couple new faces to meet and all the familiar ones to catch up with.
We are beyond grateful.
The Senter Family
Our family stays busy and rarely slows down. The kids keep growing faster than they should. Ben (18), Waylon (9), Charlotte (7), and our new puppy Chiggy (9 months). It’s a loud house and the crew is wild!
Ben turned 18 a few days ago, which still doesn’t feel real. He’s a senior. WOW. He’s usually at school, work, or with friends. You’ll see him cruising around in his truck, still his pride and joy. He is still working over at Ace Hardware, so be sure to ask him for help finding things around the store or give him a hard time at the register. Recently he has started looking for gigs in the auto repair space. He’s big into fishing, wrenching on cars, and trading mechanical projects on Facebook Marketplace. We toured the Oakland Community College’s trades program, and automotive looks like his next stop.
Waylon, well if you know him, you know he’s the loudest person in the room. He’s running mock 10 with his hair on fire from sunup to sundown. He’s also the biggest jokester in our crew. He loves his video games, robots and when I can get him there, the outdoors. He still loves riding his bike and our summer camping trips. He’s enjoying the third grade even though he says he doesn’t. If you’re around him, he’s sure to make you laugh.
Charlotte is now in the first grade and loves all the things school has to offer. Gaining quite the attitude at times, but I wouldn’t want it any other way. She’s a sweet old soul that reminds me of my grandmother. Her extreme food allergies are still a big thing, and you’ll still see us carrying her “med bag” everywhere we go quipped with her EpiPens and all the goodies needed for an emergency. On the bright side, she did make improvements on that side of things and has been able to include a few new things to her diet. If you ask her what she wants to eat, she’s going to tell you a “ham sammy”, poor gal. She’s also losing teeth faster than she can grow them. We attended the Daddy-Daughter dance again and even though neither of us is much on dancing, it’s our thing. She enjoys crafting, drawing, coloring and most of all making a mess. She got the bike she wanted last year but her stamina from the food allergies doesn’t allow her to keep up with the brothers but she’s getting better every day.
Chiggy joined our family in July. He’s an Australian Labradoodle and somehow manages to be everywhere at once. After years of avoiding pets due to allergies, finding a hypoallergenic pup was a game changer. He’s also been a frequent visitor to the office and fits right in.
Cassie and I continued our new tradition of taking our camper around during the summer for fun family trips and memories. We visited several places in 2025 but found two regular stops each year, one week in the Cedar Point campground and a Halloween weekend for the kids in Southern Michigan. We took our usual trips to Tennessee to visit family and friends. I attended my first Tennessee Football game in a while, which was in Atlanta for their home opener this year. Cassie and I made two trips to Las Vegas last year. Once around the new year for fun, the second trip was for Continuing Education to keep up with the fast pace of the CPA profession. Cassie is still working on her master’s degree in social work at Wayne State University and started an Internship with Oakland Schools Technical Campuses. Being the rock star that she is, she maintains a 4.0 GPA with schoolwork, works a normal 9-5 in the IT world, works an internship for her degree, keeps our crew sane and has started a side gig reselling things online. She’s the real MVP. We had a great year traveling, doing new things and enjoying time as a family.
We’re taking the kids to Disney in mid-January before tax season kicks back up.
Fun fact. As I write this in the early hours of January 1, 2026, I just got home from the ER and learned I have gout. I turn 40 in a few months. That was not on my bingo card.
Per usual the Senter crew stays busy doing all we can but most importantly we’re having a good time doing it.
To Our Clients and Friends
Thank you. Plain and simple. You allow us to keep doing what we love year after year. We wouldn’t be here without you.
As we step into 2026, we appreciate your trust, support, and referrals. We look forward to another year working together.
We are always here for you and look forward to seeing you soon. In the meantime, please feel free to call us at 248-934-0550 or contact us HERE. If you’d like to stay in close and continuous contact with us, be sure to like us on Facebook, follow us on LinkedIn, subscribe to our monthly newsletter and frequent our blog page.
Want to revisit our prior years in review? Links below.
- 2024 Senter, CPA Year in Review
- 2023 Senter, CPA Year in Review
- 2022 Senter, CPA Year in Review
- 2021 Senter, CPA Year in Review
- 2020 Senter CPA Year in Review
- 2019 Our Year in Review
As I wrap this up, if you’re able, please consider supporting Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library through the Rotary Club of Clarkston. Cassie and I spend a lot of time helping manage and fundraise for this project. Details HERE.
2026 is going to be a good one.
Cheers,
~Matt
