Who are Los Bank Auditors?

Meet Bryan Newlin, the mastermind behind the “I’m on an Audit” rap video, the winner of the ATOM’s Got Talent Video Contest with Next Generation Consulting. Newlin, a manager at Yount, Hyde & Barbour in Virginia, said the idea for the video originally came from wanting to parody a Saturday Night Live skit for their Annual Firm Day. Here, Newlin tells us more about what happened behind the scenes.

How did you come up with the idea for the video?

The idea for a rap video was born of the four main rappers. We wanted to do something outside the scope of a day at the office. At the time, the Saturday Night Live skit, “I’m on a Boat” was going viral on YouTube, so we decided to parody that for bank auditing. Lyrics and video ideas were developed during our lunch hour at Chili’s. Rapping came naturally.

How did folks in your firm (partners especially) react to your video?

Yount, Hyde & Barbour holds an annual Firm Day, where everyone in the company comes together to mingle and catch up, learn about the goals and accomplishments of the firm, and recognize the accomplishments of team members throughout the firm. What made the September 2009 firm day memorable was the request for each department to record a video showcasing their creativity. We took that request and ran with it. This event is where the video originally debuted. When we saw the ATOM’s Got Talent contest, we knew our video would fit the bill nicely.

The creativity of the team members at YHB knows no bounds. At our Firm Day Film Festival, each team’s video was shown, ours included. We had tax accountants dancing to Thriller, a unique rendition of YMCA and several other priceless pieces of cinema magic.  Laughter ensued. Our video includes some particularly fun parts, like when small allusions were recognized like the “professor” in our video is the tax professor at Shepherd University, where many of the partners and staff attended college. The Bank Team partners loved the concept so much they agreed to cameo appearances. Our CEO even lent us his front yard for our shout out to him.

Who’s going to Vegas?

I plan to take my wife, who spent dozens of hours helping us import, cut, and edit the video. She also provided the background vocals throughout the entire video.

Who is in the video?

The rappers include Aaron Poffenberger, Manager, Bryan Newlin, Manager, Tim LeHew, Supervisory Senior and Greg Mercer, Supervisory Senior.

Newlin won two round trip tickets to Las Vegas, courtesy of Next Generation Consulting. You can watch the winning video here.