Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 23, 1994 TAG: 9401240263
SECTION: ECONOMY PAGE: EC-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KATHLEEN WILSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It may be a small firm.
And maybe it is just a little more than a year old.
"We're hot, though," stressed Clark Cole of Cole & King, the CPA firm he and C.J. King opened near the end of 1992.
Cole left his position with Newbern-Trane; King departed Brown Edwards & Co.
Both felt they had reached a point where they could pursue a shared dream of having a firm of their own.
It was a good dream.
Business has been so strong, they've just hired a third accountant, Robyn Lindawood.
"We'd gotten to the point where it was all we could physically do to keep up with what we brought in," explained Cole. "If we brought it in, we had to sit down and do it."
Lindawood's addition to the firm will free them up to get out and market themselves more aggressively and add to their client list.
"We can't attract new clients if we're always in the office," Cole explained.
Cole & King serves more than 40 business clients, mostly small businesses. It's expanded some into real estate development.
"And then we do our share of individual tax returns," said Cole.
The first year of business wildly exceeded their expectations, he said.
"Things just fell out of the sky into our laps," he admitted.
\ COLE & KING\ A NEW NAME\ \ The company: A certified public accounting firm, specializing in work for small businesses.
\ Headquarters: 2702 Brambleton Ave., Roanoke.
\ Roanoke Valley operation: Accounting office.
Memo: ***CORRECTION***