From the kitchen to the ledger.
Michael Heston came to accounting by an unusual route, and it is his biggest strength. He trained as a chef, earned a culinary degree, and spent years in professional kitchens — including a stretch as a pastry chef, work he loved for the same reason he loves accounting: precision, discipline, and zero tolerance for error.
The numbers kept pulling at him. As closing manager at a high-volume diner he ran daily budgets, cash reconciliations, and inventory controls while supervising a team of eight. As chef and closing operations manager at a Spokane gastropub, he ran the cost side of the business — variance analysis on sales, food cost, and labor; menu pricing; inventory valuation for period-end reporting.
So he made it official. While working full-time, he completed a B.S. in Business Administration (Accounting) and then a Master of Science in Accounting with an Auditing specialization at Western Governors University. Today he handles payroll and tax compliance for a Spokane company, where he built a GAAP-aligned QuickBooks system from the ground up, produces monthly financial statements, and put internal controls in place that ended recurring tax penalties.
Now he is preparing for the Washington State CPA examination, with the Information Systems and Controls discipline, and is an associate member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. His interest points toward audit, compliance, and forensic accounting — and years of service work gave him something no classroom teaches: he is genuinely good with people, at every level of an organization.
