Who Is John A. Harris? Background and Teaching Credentials of Financial Accounting Workshops' Founder

John A. Harris is a CPA and CFA charterholder who founded Financial Accounting Workshops in 1995. Before starting the firm, he spent 15 years in credit and financial management in the oil and gas industry and in banking. He holds an MBA and an MS from the University of North Texas and a BBA from Texas Tech University. He is known for making complex accounting issues understandable and applicable to daily practice, and for bringing energy to his presentations.

If you are evaluating whether his workshops are worth your time — for CFA Program preparation, investment banking training, or continuing education — the relevant question is whether his mix of credentials, industry experience, and teaching style matches how you learn.

Credentials at a Glance

The combination matters for a specific reason: the CPA designation signals accounting depth, while the CFA charter signals grounding in the analyst perspective. For an audience of non-accountants — analysts, bankers, lawyers — that pairing is directly relevant, because the instructor has sat on both sides of the financial statement.

Why He Started the Firm

Harris established Financial Accounting Workshops in 1995 after identifying what the firm describes as a real need for effective accounting education and training for non-accountants. The original audience was the financial analyst community, particularly candidates in the Chartered Analyst (CFA®) Program.

That origin explains the teaching approach: the material is built for people who need to read, interpret, and use financial information in their work, not for people training to become accountants.

Who His Teaching Has Reached

• CFA Program candidates — thousands worldwide have attended his live workshops in preparation for the CFA® Program exam.
• Investment bank training programs — his audience expanded into bank training as word spread.
• Law firms — continuing education for legal professionals, based on the same premise that all personnel benefit from being able to "speak the language of business."
• All levels of the financial organization — he has developed and taught courses across the range of roles within financial firms.

What His Teaching Style Is Known For

The site describes two consistent traits:

1. Making complex accounting issues understandable and applicable to daily practice. This is the core claim — not simplification for its own sake, but translation into something you can use on the job.
2. Energy and excitement in presentation. He is described as a dynamic public speaker who brings energy to every presentation.

For a live workshop format, the second point is not incidental. Long-format accounting instruction depends heavily on whether the presenter can hold attention, and the firm's positioning treats that as part of the product.

How to Judge Fit for Your Situation

Consider his workshops if:

• You are a CFA Program candidate who wants live instruction that complements the curriculum — the firm states its workshops are developed to complement the CFA® Program curriculum and facilitate the learning process.
• You work in finance, banking, or law and need working fluency in accounting rather than preparer-level technical training.
• You learn better from a live presenter with industry experience than from self-study materials alone.

Look elsewhere if:

• You need formal accounting qualification or academic credit — the firm positions itself as professional education and training, not a degree or licensure program.
• You want self-paced, on-demand content only; the emphasis in the source material is on live workshops.

One Caveat Worth Noting

The firm's own site states that the information it publishes is intended as general guidelines and information, and is not legal, accounting, tax, investment, or other advice. It also notes that laws and regulations vary widely and that the firm and John A. Harris, CPA are not responsible for errors or results obtained from using the site. That is a standard disclaimer, but it is a useful signal about scope: this is education, not professional advice on your specific situation.

The Short Answer

John A. Harris is a CPA and CFA charterholder with 15 years of hands-on credit and financial management experience before founding Financial Accounting Workshops in 1995. His teaching credentials rest on three things: dual professional designations that bridge accounting and analysis, a career spent in industry rather than only in the classroom, and a long track record teaching non-accountants — starting with CFA candidates and expanding to investment banks and law firms. If your goal is practical accounting fluency for financial work, his background is directly aligned with that need.