We’ve Got High Expectations

Hayes shares a similar path with other Dark Horse CPAs. Like her colleague Niki Potter, she was a Gaucho who got her accounting degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara and moved to North County, San Diego. Like Suzi Drennen, she is a long-time resident of Cardiff (20 years!) who can be spotted at the beach on the reg. Like many DH CPAs, she started her career at one of the Big Four (Ernst & Young). And, like all Dark Horses, her desire to advance her career and life and to do something wildly different from "accounting as usual" lead her here. She loves problem-solving and learning new things in a collaborative fashion, so the move to Dark Horse...well, it just made sense.

Hayes grew up in Dallas, Texas but found a better lifestyle fit in Southern California after coming out for her undergrad studies. She decided to deepen her roots in the region by starting her career at E&Y in San Diego and, shortly after that, earning her MBA at San Diego State University. After working for 12 years in the corporate accounting and finance world, she decided to go out on her own, providing a host of accounting services to small businesses and startups. Along the way, she gained deep knowledge and experience in forensic accounting.

When not cleaning up and perfecting financial statements, you can find Hayes on a walk (with her yellow lab, Hank), a jog, hiking, camping, surfing, hanging out at the beach or watching her kids play sports. In other words, you probably won't find her inside. Hayes met her husband, Jeff, in college at UCSB and has been married to him for 20 years. They started their family in Cardiff, which includes the aforementioned 4-legged friend, Beau (15), Lyla (12) and Farrah (9). They are (surprise, surprise) quite active and always on the go, like their mom

Sometimes you discover your calling in life far from home. For Riana, that calling was accounting, and that place was Eugene, Oregon. Riana grew up in Phoenix and, like many folks at that age, felt the calling to leave home and explore. A year in LA, six months in Atlanta, and then…Eugene. Maybe because the rain forces you to find indoor interests, Riana discovered her interest in (and eventual love for) accounting. Thus, Riana got her degree in Accounting from the University of Oregon. After a 16-year stint in the Beaver State (don’t tell that to an Oregon Ducks fan), she decided the state she left wasn’t so bad after all and the dry heat made her feel a lot better than the gloomy cold of the Pacific Northwest.

The Accounting Equation is Assets = Liabilities + Equity. Not many folks get excited about that, but Riana does. Even fewer would express love for an equation, but Riana does. The equation represents a form of order and structure absent in much of the world. Her accounting career has led her to firms small and large, each of which left her with a desire to start a firm of her own. When she found Dark Horse, she knew her new accounting equation would be Riana + Her Own Practice = Dark Horse CPAs.

Riana loves helping small business owners dial in their financial forecasting to make strategic business decisions and deploy tax-saving maneuvers to increase their global bottom line. She’s also passionate about sustainability and the triple bottom line. Riana’s bottom line is that she loves her work. Outside of work, she loves seeing as much live music as she can, chasing waterfalls (sorry, TLC), and spending time with her family: her partner, Robert, and her cat and dog, Spike and Lea, respectively.