Arthur Bell Jr. seems to have a knack for knowing when it's time for change. That's why after years of contemplation, Bell has chosen to appoint a new managing member for his 42-year-old accounting and future trading advisory firm, Arthur Bell.
It's not retirement, the 74-year-old said. He will work with select clients and develop the company in new ways as its chairman, but it won't be the 50-plus hours a week he used to put in.
"It was time for a transition," Bell said. "I've been running this firm for 40-something years now. We definitely needed young blood and new people running it other than me. I wanted to cut back my responsibilities and my hours and ultimately retire."
Before Bell's firm could afford to hire nearly 140 employees, have branch locations in New York, Ireland and the Cayman Islands, Bell was the sole employee, working out of his home.
In his early 30s, he was the chief financial officer of the Kirk Corp., a longtime Baltimore silver manufacturer. Seeing an opportunity, Bell convinced the company to begin trading silver futures contracts.
Others started to look at him as the go-to guy for accounting advice, and it developed into a business, Bell said. He left Kirk and formed his firm in 1974.
"I'd like to say I was brilliant and had foresight when selecting this business," Bell said. "But that's not the case. It was sort of a haphazard journey. With many things in life, you run into changes. The first job you have may not work out, and the first woman you marry may not work out. All the things you do change over time."
Bell's firm has weathered many changes in the industry. But the biggest hurdle didn't come from government regulations, new accounting practices or competitors, he said. It came about six years after the company's inception, when a service company Bell paid to maintain tax forms through an early digital network connection went out of business without warning.
"It was in February at the height of tax season," Bell said. "We had no plan or resources. How were we going to do tax returns? It seemed pretty hopeless."
When he let his employees know, some of them thought the firm wouldn't survive.
"I think if you are an entrepreneur, you never think of failure," he said. "You are always an optimist even in the worst of times. Entrepreneurs believe in something and pursue it even when a rational person would quit."
He contacted his clients and told them they could go somewhere else if they wanted, but none of them left, he said.
"One of the things we look for and stress is honesty," Bell said about his firm. "It's the little things that matter. Returning a client's call. Charging reasonable fees. I've always said we are a business first and a CPA second."
Arthur F. Bell Jr.
Current title: Chairman of Arthur Bell
Age: 74
Birthplace: Burlington, Vt.
Residence: Ellicott City
Education: Bachelor's degree, the Johns Hopkins University
Other activities: Stevenson University's board of trustees; Hippodrome Foundation's board of directors
Family: Wife of 30 years, daughter, grandson and granddaughter
Hobbies/interests: Racing Corvettes