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An extremely well-rounded CPA whose greatest strength is that he has actually done and participated in what most other CPAs only consult and advise about. He comes from a family of Virginian and Scottish entrepreneurs, including one that opened an architectural office on Richmond's Main Street in 1906 (www.CharlesMRobinson.com). David Robinson always seeks to design his professional service business models to provide empathetic custom-created solutions to solve difficult situations. His ears are not just sympathetic, they are experienced. 

History of David B. Robinson, CPA Personally & Professionally

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In early 1990, David B. Robinson, CPA founded a sole proprietorship accounting and business consulting firm, "David B. Robinson, CPA," operating from a home office with five clients. Through his own marketing effort, the Firm had about 30 clients two months after the commencement of operations. By December 1990, with another significant increase in the number of clients forthcoming during the busy tax preparation season, David B. Robinson, CPA moved to a one-room office location in retail space in Market Square Shopping Center in Brandermill, a large residential community in Chesterfield County, Virginia.

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In May 1993, after more significant growth, the offices were expanded to include more office space and a conference center.

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Back in 1994, in the early days of the Internet, David's website, www.GreatCPA.com, won an award from Harcourt Brace Professional Publishing Company as one of the "Top 5 Accounting Websites." 

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In September, 1996, the offices of David B. Robinson, CPA relocated to the Ivymont Manor House in the Ivymont Shopping Center in the Village of Midlothian. This 1850s plantation house had to undergo extensive renovations to restore the home to its original design with some more modern additions to provide a professional setting to meet with clients in a creative and synergistic atmosphere. 

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He is very well connected with trade and specialty professionals (both white and blue collar) and specializes in networking “can do” emergency service to clients about anything. He started his first entrepreneurial venture at age eleven, and has owned other companies that compliment his professional accounting, tax preparation and business consulting activities. He maintains an avid interest in real estate sales and renovation. He has been admitted as an Expert Witness in Chesterfield, Henrico and Powhatan Courts. He has also been trained as a licensed private investigator, but does not hold a current license.

 

Born in Richmond, Virginia into a family of entrepreneurs, David Robinson graduated from Henrico County's Douglas Freeman High School and the University of Richmond. From 1984 to 1989 he was employed by the International "Big-3" firm of Deloitte.

 

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From 1999 to 2002, he hosted and produced almost 300 live radio shows on several Richmond radio stations. His show was called "The Entrepreneurs' Hour Radio Show."

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The October 29, 2003 Richmond-Times Dispatch Editorial Page ran a special feature that commented on the James River Soil and Water Conservation District race.  They stated "... David Robinson, an impressive candidate who would raise the standard of performance on the commission — or, we suspect, that of any other office he chose to seek."

 

By August 2005, Robinson's firm had grown to approximately 1,300 clients with seven part-time employees. Robinson sold his firm to a larger firm because he wished to take advantage of other opportunities that had been presented to him. Robinson retained a core group of tax preparation clients and began to pursue those other entrepreneurial interests.

 

After the acquisition of his large Midlothian-based firm, Robinson started a new company, Custer Robinson, LLC, first headquartered in Petersburg, Virginia and now (effective September 2007) headquartered in Richmond's Fan District near Virginia Commonwealth University. 

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In September 2005, concurrent to the founding of Custer Robinson, LLC, Robinson accepted the position of Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of a Midlothian-based management and holding company for four Virginia restaurants.

 

In March 2007, Robinson left his position with the restaurant group and began to add more tax preparation clients to the core group of Custer Robinson, LLC clients.

 

With the expiration in September 2008 of a covenant-not-to-compete that had been placed on him when he sold his Midlothian firm in August 2005, Robinson began to accept more tax preparation and tax consulting clients for his new firm, Custer Robinson, LLC.

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In January 2008, he accepted the part-time salaried position of Acting Chief Financial Officer of CenterStage Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit whose principal mission was the construction of a $90,000,000 (inclusive of all construction, soft and general and administrative costs) performing arts complex in downtown Richmond. His primary duties involved negotiation of the Federal and Virginia Historic and Federal New Market tax credit portions of the financing of the project. Ancillary duties involved establishing and maintaining internal financial controls for the Foundation and serving as a brainstorming partner for the Treasurer and other officers. He was responsible for overall financial statement preparation, external audit management and pledge and cash flow forecasting.

In November and December 2008, he was personally responsible for the final execution of the documents relating to the receipt of approximately $21,500,000 in equity from tax credit investor-partners. In late December 2008, he was the authorized signer of all tax credit documents for the for-profit, wholly-owned subsidiary of the Foundation, Richmond Performing Arts Center, Inc. In June and July 2009, he oversaw the production of a Balanced Budget for Fiscal Year 2010 and stepped down September 30, 2009 after the Facility held its Grand Opening as a fully-functional performing arts venue.

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Commencing in October 2009, Robinson began to accept more tax preparation and consulting clients to add to his now Richmond-based firm, Custer Robinson, LLC.

 

Though he has been an editorial adviser to two national magazines, the Journal of Accountancy and LaPosta, he is also a writer himself. His first paperback booklets, written in 1977 about his great-grandfather, Charles M. Robinson, a master Virginia architect, are now kept by colleges and universities and state libraries in their rare book rooms because they are definitive works on Virginia architecture. For more about Charles M. Robinson, please visit www.CharlesMRobinson.com

 

He wrote a weekly newsletter about entrepreneurialism from 1993 to 2005 (over 620 issues) and has written two small paperback pamphlets (production run 10,000 each) entitled "Tales, Ideas and Quotes from a GreatCPA™" that were distributed on college campuses nationwide. He has been compiling many of his ever-evolving entrepreneurial thoughts in his STILL as-yet unpublished manuscript entitled Tales, Ideas and Quotes from a GreatCPA® — THE BOOK!

 

In October and November 2010, he briefly served as Transition Chief Financial Officer of 4U2U Brands, LLC, a Richmond-based beverage bottling company. In Fall 2011, he briefly served as Transition Chief Financial Officer of Dominion Construction Partners, LLC. In Summer 2012, he served as Acting Chief Financial Officer of The Virginia Center for Architecture, now known as the Branch Museum of Architecture and Design.

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He has been nationally recognized for his expertise in marketing and as a Certified Public Accountant. In 1997, Inc. magazine chose the Accounting and Business Consulting Firm of David B. Robinson, CPA as a finalist in its "Marketing Masters" award competition. Robinson was selected by the United States Government's Small Business Administration as its 1998-1999 Virginia Accountant Advocate of the Year. Robinson was selected by Virginia Business Magazine in 2002, 2004 and 2005 as a "Super CPA," a designation conferred by CPAs upon fellow CPAs. Approximately 2-3% of Virginia CPAs receive this award each year.

 

Robinson is a seasoned public speaker and guest lecturer. He has previously taught Principles of Accounting at the college level as an adjunct professor, but currently confines his classroom activities to guest lecturing for a select group of professors. He also consults with other CPAs about target marketing and practice management issues. 

In January and June 2015, David Robinson was featured on CBS Sunday Morning’s segment about philately, the collection and study of postage stamps. Approximately 16.8 million people saw the segment on its original air date, which was the highest-rated CBS Sunday Morning episode in 10 years, according to the producer. Also featured on the segment was Bill Gross, the founder of Janus.

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As he begins to enter the mid-2020s, and relocating his office on October 1, 2023 to 6968 Forest Hill Avenue in Richmond, having been previously at 1330 West Main for over a decade and a half, David has about 450 individual tax preparation clients and a group of small businesses that he serves through year-round consulting. His 6968 Forest Hill Avenue contains a classroom where sometimes he gives classes on a variety of topics.  

 

Above all else, he remains committed to the promise that every client will always deal with the senior partner and never be passed off to someone in the back room that the client doesn't know or has never met. Personal attention, passion and enthusiasm — all the same values with which he started his career in 1984 — are the same hallmarks that every client enjoys today.

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Volunteer board memberships, appointments and voluntary and elected positions — past and present — are extensive:​

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Elected Public Official, Chesterfield County Soil and Water Conservation District Director

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President of the Board of Directors, Richmond’s Firehouse Theatre Project 

 

Chair, First Community Bank’s Richmond, Virginia Advisory Board

 

Chair, CommonWealth Bank’s Richmond, Virginia Advisory Board

 

Chair, Randolph-Macon College’s Board of Associates

 

Chair, Advisory Board, James River Writers, Inc.

 

Chair, The Amazing Raise Fundraising Campaign, The Richmond Symphony, 2012-2016

 

Chair, The Biennial Richmond Symphony Music Marathon, 2017 and 2019

 

Treasurer, Ms. Wheelchair Virginia, Inc.   

 

Treasurer, ART180, Inc.   

 

Treasurer, Richmond’s Firehouse Theatre Project

Treasurer, Encore! Theatre, Inc., a/k/a “Richmond Shakespeare,” now known as Quill Theatre.

 

Secretary, Residents’ Advisory Committee of CenterStage Foundation

 

Gubernatorial Appointee and Treasurer, Assistive Technology Loan Fund Authority

 

Governmental Appointee, Chesterfield County, Virginia’s Tax Structure Committee

 

Founding Board Member, Animal Adoptive Rescue Association (“AARF”)  

 

Founding Board Member and Treasurer, Polycystic Kidney Disease of Virginia, Inc. 

 

Founding Donor and Consultant, GivingTuesdayRVA

 

Board Member, Randolph-Macon College Board of Trustees

 

Board Member, James River Writers, Inc. 

 

Board Member, Johns Foundation of CJW Medical Center  

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Board Member, Holocaust Education Committee of the Jewish Federation of Richmond

Board Member, Virginia Commonwealth University’s Deans Council

 

Council Member, Richmond Symphony Orchestra Council

 

Member, Audit Committee of the Board of Trustees, Randolph-Macon College

 

Member, Finance Committee of the Board of Directors, CenterStage Foundation

 

Founding Adviser and 501(c)(3) Architect, Sycamore Rouge Theater Company, Petersburg

 

Founding Adviser and 501(c)(3) Architect, The Virginia Muslim Coalition, Inc.

 

Founding Adviser and 501(c)(3) Architect, Polycystic Kidney Disease of Virginia, Inc.

 

Trustee, The Virginia Postal History Society, Inc.

The only GreatCPA there is
Justin Laughter & Christopher Gatewood, Threshold Counsel, PC defend the trademark

The only GreatCPA® there is.

While there are plenty of great CPAs out there, David B. Robinson, CPA is the only person that is legally authorized in the United States to refer to themselves as a GreatCPA® … he is the brand! On July 12, 2016 after having secured and used the Virginia service mark "GreatCPA" since 1993, David was awarded the Registered Service Mark GreatCPA® by the United States of America Patent and Trademark Office (Registration Number 4,997,563). 

 

David knows that he has thrown down the gauntlet with this moniker of being "the only GreatCPA® there is," and he takes that into account with every single client relationship he undertakes. To make that representation is big. To try to live up to it is what he wakes up every day thinking about.

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