If you’ve ever called, chatted, emailed or tweeted in to Kashoo Customer Support, there’s a good chance you know this month’s 20 Questions interviewee, Sandra Tomlinson. In short, Sandra is our oracle of small business accounting. Let’s get to know here a little more… Full Name? Sandra Louise Fauber Tomlinson Nicknames? San, Sans, Sand, Soni, Misty (Ms. T. Get it?) Hometown? New Providence, New Jersey since high school. I’m an Army brat so I moved around in my early years: Lebanon, Pennsylvania; Panama; Atlanta, Georgia; Alexandria, Virginia; Army bases in Pirmasens and Stuttgart, Germany; the list goes on. Then my folks settled in New Providence just in time for me to go to high school. How’d you land at Kashoo? In October 2011, after I had been using Kashoo for a few years for a family business, I had a question about how to enter a transaction in the app. I called customer support only to find out that it would take a number of days before someone who knew the answer could get back to me. So I suggested that more accounting-focused support would not only benefit the customer base, but the company as a whole. The rep I was talking to agreed and then I told him that Kashoo should hire me! A few days later I had a phone interview with Jim (CEO) and two weeks later I answered my first email as Kashoo Customer Support/Accounting Expert. Best vacation you ever took and why? Two weeks of trains, boats and planes from Bangkok to Singapore to Manila to Hong Kong to Tokyo. Incredible sights, cultures, people, food and shopping. Coffee? Tea? Other? Tea during the day. But there is nothing like a Tanqueray and tonic on a hot summer day. The best part about New Jersey is… Family, friends and proximity to New York City. I love going into the city for Broadway plays and to Queens for Mets games. Computing rig? I have a big Dell desktop PC with two 24” widescreen monitors so that I can have all the pages I need open at the same time. Plus, I have separate keyboard to make typing all those emails a bit faster. Kashoo customers are… What excites me each morning. I love them for their enthusiasm, their willingness to learn, their patience, their appreciation. Many feel like my friends. Pets? Two cats who love to walk on my keyboard when I am answering emails. Random crazy accounting story… In a previous life, I was the Controller of an operation based in Maine. One Halloween, my staff and I decided to surprise everyone and come to work in costume. Surprise was on me though as no one told me that the corporate brass was visiting. So there I was sitting through a full day of meetings dressed as the newly nicknamed “Wicked Witch of the North.” You get to listen to one album for the rest of your life. What is it and why? Well, it would definitely be Elton John. But which one? Hmm. Tough to decide. I mean, who can write better lyrics than Taupin? And Elton’s voice is exactly in my range so I can just sing along to my heart’s content. (Yes, I sing tenor. When I was a young girl, they used to nicely try to tell me that it’s “second alto,” but it’s definitely tenor.) Same question as #12, but this time you get one book… The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum. I am a Ludlum fan for as long as I can remember. I used to travel to the Far East a lot on business. Those books are what kept me from going crazy on those excruciatingly long flights. The President is coming to your house for dinner. What are you cooking? I don’t cook much but when I do, I go all out. I have a wonderful recipe for veal marsala that I came up with myself so I guess I could break that one out for a VIP. And of course lemon chiffon pie for dessert. Boil all of your accounting wisdom into one sentence… The antiquity of an error is no excuse for its perpetuity. Favorite actor of all time? Sean Connery. Very easy to look at for multiple hours at a time. Favorite holiday and why… I love Christmas. My mother used to decorate the entire house and it was just a magical time. You knew you wanted to be an accountant when… I flunked the last requirement to be a math major. Doing so led me to find another major that used numbers. Turns out I liked accounting more. (Plus, I was really good at it.) What’s the furthest you’ve ever been from home? Singapore. You get one superpower. What is it and why? Teleportation. I love to travel but hate to drive or fly commercially. It would save so much time and I could be so much more efficient at everything. I might even be able to show up where I am supposed to be on time for a change. And that, friends, is Kashoo’s font of small business accounting knowledge, Sandra Tomlinson. Drop her a line anytime!
