Owner
Cedar Hill Bookkeeping and Tax Service
Adjunct Accounting Instructor
Cedar Valley College

“I attended college for several years but dropped out to help with the family business of running a bridal and fashion specialty store. But my heart wasn’t in the fashion industry; I spent more and more time running the clerical side of things. I realized I had always been interested in accounting, so I left the family business and came back to Texas, where I began taking classes at Cedar Valley College.

“The smaller classes at Cedar Valley were important to me. I was there as a mature student in my late 20s, not because Mom and Dad wanted me there, but because I wanted to be there and I needed an education. My accounting education at Cedar Valley started the ball rolling in my career.

“Dr. Suryakant Desai was so instrumental in my education that I nominated him as the most influential person in accounting education through Northwood University. He saw my natural ability in accounting — but I also studied my rear end off. Any student who’s dedicated and serious and has his heart in his education will succeed.

“The staff at Cedar Valley care and want you to learn and succeed. At a four-year university, I was just a number. The professors there didn’t always even teach their own classes; sometimes it was a teaching assistant. But at Cedar Valley, I always had Dr. Desai as a professor. Cedar Valley gave me all the tools I needed to succeed. It was a stepping stone for me.

“What I learned in Dr. Desai’s class is that if you do your homework, you’ll be successful. It sounds trite, but that’s a principle that I still follow, and it works.”

A former payroll supervisor and auditor for Dallas County, John Cassar owns and operates Cedar Hill Bookkeeping and Tax Service, specializing in services for small businesses, with clients in several states. He also teaches accounting payroll and income tax classes as an adjunct faculty member at Cedar Valley College.