Ali Bartusiak is FWI Legal’s certified public accountant.
Ali Bartusiak was fortunate enough to be born and raised in the Denver Metro Area. She graduated Grandview High School a semester early, choosing to work for a mortgage company to save for college. Ali worked various small accounting and hotel jobs throughout college in Omaha, Nebraska. During her time at Creighton University, Ali was afforded the privilege to study abroad in Limerick, Ireland. A frivolous decision that was made after watching the cult-classic film “Boondock Saints” with college friends, which would turn out to be fortuitous and life-altering. Five days after earning her BA in Accounting at Creighton, Ali sold all her worldly possessions and moved to Dublin, Ireland for graduate school.
Ali attended the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland, where students are required to perform a 4-year employment training contract with a local qualified accounting firm – who in turn pay for the tuition and fees required to earn a post-graduate accounting qualification.Ali fulfilled her employment contract with Noone Casey Accountants under the unfaltering leadership of Anthony Casey and Andrew Noone. Working a full-time job while also attending college in the evenings and weekends proved to be formative developmental years in Ali’s early career. It was during this time that she learned the meaning of hard work. Not for any notable income, but for security and an investment in her future. At Noone Casey, Ali received a well-rounded working education for an entry-level accountant, concentrating on small contractors, personal and business taxes, small company audits and advisory services.
The blessings continued in Ireland, as Ali was hired by one of her audit clients Fulfillment of Information Technology Services, where Ali was able to cut her teeth as a Financial Controller; learning to operate in the emerging small business environment. This position allowed Ali to travel around Europe and sit with heads of large European corporations as she assisted the CEO Sean O’Nuallain and COO Shena Brien with their IT procurement company. The relationships built during her time in Dublin would become pillars of support in Ali’s life for years to come.
Nearly eight years after the flippant decision to move abroad, a fateful accident involving a clumsy stranger in an aerobics class at the YMCA Dublin would completely sever her left Achilles tendon and be the first spark in a domino-like chain of events that would bring Ali back home to Colorado. Her time in Ireland would show huge returns on investment as Ali went to work for big 4 accounting firms – first PWC (Price Waterhouse Cooper) as an auditor and later KPMG as an Audit Resource Manager. Having been injured herself, Ali is passionate about helping FWI Legal clients with their settlement disbursements and the financial portions of their cases.
Q & A with Ali Bartusiak:
1. Why did you decide to become an accountant?
Honestly? When I was a sophomore in high school, there was a cute boy who was taking an accounting elective class, so I signed up as well. We didn’t end up in the same session, and I can’t even remember his name, but it turned out I was naturally talented in accounting. I won the Grandview High School Outstanding Achievement Award in Accounting that year. My dad, also an accountant, was delighted, but I don’t think he ever knew about the boy.
2. What are your interests outside of accounting?
My husband Justin and I have two small boys, so parenting takes up virtually all my formerly-free time. If I reach back into the archives of my memory before becoming a mother, I used to love being on the Speech and Debate team in school, I wrote fictional novels for fun and I do love to bake. Most of my life I was terrified of putting my head under water, and I decided when I was 28 years old that I wasn’t ok with being afraid of anything. So, I hired a swim coach and now lap-swimming is my absolute favorite form of exercise.
3. Why are you proud to call FWI Legal your favorite accounting client?
Of the valuable things I obtained over my career are the treasured relationships I have been privileged to hold. I’ve known Vinny Iyer since I was a freshman at Creighton University, so longer than I care to admit. He is one of the most genuine people I’ve ever known. Vinny is the kind of friend that you turn to when you have a dilemma, especially of an ethical nature. Not that I needed much reassuring, but my old friend chose wisely in his business partners. I have come to value both Jerrod and Brianne for their incredible strength and breadth of knowledge. All 3 of the partners at Falgien, Warr & Iyer P.C. are intelligent, hard-working, and fiercely dedicated to client service. They have organizational goals that go above and beyond the mold of a typical law firm and I am proud to work with them and their dynamite paralegal team. I really enjoy the small business, family-like setting, and getting to develop accounting processes as the firm grows.
