Clients depend on Veronica Larriva to handle matters that often are beyond their knowledge base. A partner and certified public accountant at McHale PA in Fort Myers, Larriva specializes in forensic accounting focusing on litigation support.

“The challenge is expressing complex financial transactions to non-accountants in written reports,” she says. “I always like to assume that the reader has zero accounting background, so I try to make the explanations very simple by using graphs and colors.”

According to her nominator, Larriva presents herself as a true professional in her interactions with the courts, attorneys and other professionals. “She is meticulous in her work and is readily available to assist whenever necessary.”

She also is involved in mentoring other accountants, whom, she hopes will follow her philosophy. “I always remind myself that each case is the most important case for that client,” she says. “Even if we have multiple cases in our office at the same time, it’s important to put yourself in your client’s shoes and approach the case as if it were the only case you were working on.”

Larriva, who is from Ecuador and speaks English, Spanish and Portuguese, volunteers and has participated in triathlons, a 70.3 Ironman competition.