Name: Zach Hoffman

Title: Accountant

Hired: 2014

Marital Status: Married

Children: 3

Hobbies: Hunting

Bio: It was a case of being in the right place, at the right time. Zach Hoffman never imagined he’d be the accountant for a hose and rubber supply company. In fact, he never thought he’d be an accountant, period.

“It’s kind of crazy,” Hoffman laughed. “I’ve always kind of liked working with numbers, but if you would’ve told me in high school that I was going to work in an accounting office and deal with spreadsheets all day, I would have laughed at you.”

He’s not laughing now, though. Hoffman has worked at Hose & Rubber Supply Company since April of 2014 and, he says, it’s a job that he has fallen in love with.

Hoffman stated that he lived in a small town as a kid and couldn’t wait to leave it when he graduated high school.

“I grew up in Randolph, Utah,” Hoffman said. “I think we have about 500 people for our population. I spent my whole childhood trying to get out of here, but as soon as I got a family and stuff, I was ready to move back.”

It wasn’t just the fact that he was starting a new family that brought him back home, either. Hoffman also found out that his dad had passed away, so he felt it was his responsibility to be close to his mother and his brothers, to help ease some of their burden.

“My dad passed away in 2012 in an ATV accident,” he said. “After that, I was just like, ‘Okay, what am I doing?’ I needed to get home and I wanted to be home, to be around my family and help out. So I started looking at all sorts of jobs. My father-in-law ran into Paul Acree, who’s the controller and my boss. And right at that time, Hose and Rubber had merged both the Casper site and the Salt Lake site. They merged in the end of 2013 and I got hired in April of 2014, so it was just kind of perfect timing.”

Hoffman said he met with his future boss for a lunch interview and shortly thereafter, he was offered the job. It was a relief to him, but it was even more of a relief to his wife.

“My wife has this irrational fear of cats,” he laughed. “One day, she took our dog for a walk and a cat came into the house through our doggie door. And she was ready to burn the whole place down. So she called me and said, ‘What are we going to do? We can’t live here.’ In her mind, it was the worst-case scenario. But Paul called and offered me the job that night, so I was able to tell my wife she didn’t have to stay in the house much longer.”

It’s a sweet story, that. And it speaks to the kind of person Hoffman actually is. He took the job because he wanted to be closer to his family, and because he wanted to keep his wife away from cats.

“It was a very quick process” he said. “Like I said, they merged at the beginning of the year and I think they were pretty overwhelmed after that; they only had three other employees at the time. So I think that helped me get the job as much as anything. Me wanting to move to Randolph and them being very desperate worked in my favor.”

Those in charge, however, would say that they didn’t hire Hoffman out of desperation; they hired him because he is very, very good at his job. This is even more remarkable because everything he knew when he started as an accountant for Hose and Rubber Supply was what he taught himself.

“When I started, I had minimal, basic Excel computer knowledge,” he said. “I could find my way around and everything. But once I started here and started getting into it, it’s been a lot of teaching myself and almost just proving to myself what can be done. I think that’s the most challenging part, but the fun is in the challenge. I like coming up with processes that improve our data, working on daily sales reports, and making it easier for financial reports to be readable for the management.”

Hoffman likes the challenge of learning new things; well, teaching himself new things. But he wants to learn more, so in addition to his fulltime job with Hose & Rubber Supply, Hoffman is also currently pursuing his accounting degree.

“I have about a year-and-a-half left, but it seems like forever,” he laughed.

As if that’s not enough, Hoffman also helps his mother with what little free time he has left.

“My mom owns the gas station here in town, and I do the books for her,” he stated. “So, the goal with me getting my accounting degree, outside of Hose & Rubber, would be to help her so that she doesn’t have to go through a CPA. That’s pretty much my only hobby outside of work.”

Hoffman’s work ethic speaks for itself; as does his character, which is exactly why Hose & Rubber Supply hired him. That respect is mutual, which is why Hoffman has remained at Hose & Rubber all this time.

“It’s small enough that we all feel like a family, even though we’re all spread out,” Hoffman said. “It feels like you know everybody and it just has a real family culture here.”

Family is important to Zach Hoffman. It’s why he moved back to Randolph. It’s why he works so hard for his wife and his three children. It’s why he helps his mom with ‘the books.’ When Hoffman’s father died, he really did become ‘the man of the house,’ so to speak. And it’s not a responsibility that he takes lightly.

And if Hoffman’s father was around today, what would he say to his boy?

“My dad knew that I never didn’t necessarily want to work on the ranch like my brothers do,” Hoffman reflected. “My brothers both have jobs but do ranch work on the side, but my dad knew I didn’t really want to do that. So I think that he would tell me that he was proud that I was able to find my own way, in my own way. And to be able to do what I want to do, but still be close to home; I think he’d be proud of me.”

He would be.