Zane Stevens from Protea Financial
Full-bodied wine and accounting
Full-bodied wine and accounting with Zane Stevens
About the Episode
About the Episode
Transcript
Zane Stevens is the Director of Protea Financial—an accounting and bookkeeping firm specializing in wineries. In this episode, Zane talks about his life in South Africa, how he got into accounting, and what made him move to the US to start working in the winery consulting space. Zane and Stuart discuss what’s unique about winery accounting, how they attract clients, and what the future holds for Protea Financial.
Episode Themes
Episode Notes
- Growing up and going to college in South Africa (00:30)
- The start of Zane’s accounting career (02:00)
- Zane’s experience at KPMG (04:00)
- Pivoting to consulting work (06:40)
- Moving to Cape Town and working in IT consulting (08:00)
- Leaving KPMG and moving to the US (09:00)
- Entering the winery consulting space (12:30)
- Characteristics of winery accounting (15:30)
- The process of building the structure (18:30)
- Balancing work and family (19:30)
- Ways to attract new clients (21:40)
- What’s next for Protea Financial (25:30)
- Client stories (29:20)
Episode Themes
Episode Notes
- Growing up and going to college in South Africa (00:30)
- The start of Zane’s accounting career (02:00)
- Zane’s experience at KPMG (04:00)
- Pivoting to consulting work (06:40)
- Moving to Cape Town and working in IT consulting (08:00)
- Leaving KPMG and moving to the US (09:00)
- Entering the winery consulting space (12:30)
- Characteristics of winery accounting (15:30)
- The process of building the structure (18:30)
- Balancing work and family (19:30)
- Ways to attract new clients (21:40)
- What’s next for Protea Financial (25:30)
- Client stories (29:20)
About the Guest
Zane Stevens is the Director of Protea Financial - a flexible bookkeeping solutions platform that provides business owners and managers with financial information and insights. Before joining Protea, Zane worked as a Financial Manager at Syntell, a South African blue-chip tech company based in Cape Town. He was a supervisor at KPMG, where he led service lines including audit, financial, and information technology advisory. Zane received an Honors Degree in Accounting from Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and is registered as a Chartered Accountant with the South African Institute.
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