A Half Century at YHB….Sandy Walters
Picture the year 1961 – fresh out of high school and going out into the big world of business and trying to make a living. 50 years later, you’re celebrating a half-century milestone that no one at the firm has had before you…
Sandy Walters is celebrating 50 years with Yount, Hyde & Barbour, P.C.
Sandy began her years with YHB by completing an employment application for a typist position at Yount, Hyde & Company in 1961. Through her studies at James Wood High School and being Secretary of the Willing Workers 4-H Club, Sandy began building her skill set that would send her on to a good start with Winchester’s up and coming accounting firm. Jerry Kerr, a retired principal of the firm, noted that Sandy was a wiz at shorthand and was “faster than anyone I have ever known.” Back then anything that a partner wanted typed and sent to a client had to be dictated to a secretary and then typed and prepared for signature and mailing.
Technology has had many changes through the last 50 years. Sandy has adapted well to all of those changes. She began with a manual typewriter and then on to the updated electric typewriter. In the late ‘60s the firm invested in the IBM System 360. This mainframe computer system was used to help complete tax returns. Sandy was one of the operators and assisted the accountants with the data input in to this computer that filled a room.
As Sandy was progressing with technology, she also decided to take control of her career and began taking night classes in accounting at Lord Fairfax Community College. She was awarded the Phi Beta Lambda Accounting Award in 1983. Sandy competed in and won the National PBL in San Francisco after winning first place in a Virginia state wide accounting competition. Many people don’t know of these hard earned accomplishments. Sandy has shown great decorum by keeping her well deserved bragging to a minimum. Because of these accomplishments and her furthered education, Sandy was welcomed as a paraprofessional. In one principal’s words, “She’s a legend in the firm.”
Sandy continues to keep up-to-date on all changes effecting payroll and other accounting processes. She is the go-to person for many bookkeeping, sales tax, and payroll questions, just to name a few. “Call Sandy, she’ll know” is a comment resounding in the halls of every YHB office across the state.
On the personal side, Sandy is a straight shooter and will do anything for her team or anyone else in the firm. There are stories of how Sandy raises tomatoes and will often bring seedlings into work to share with her office mates. Sandy has earned the respect of all of YHB – from receptionist to CEO.
From the manual typewriter to the room filled with a single computer to the current desk top computers, Sandy has continued to progress with technology and the ever changing accounting systems and procedures for 50 years. We congratulate Sandy on all of her successes!