Kevin Lightheart knew he wanted to be a CPA before he finished high school.
The decision traces back to a class assignment that required him to interview someone in a career he might want to pursue. Math came easily, and after sitting down with a family friend who was a CPA, Lightheart said his path was set.
“As part of that assignment, I decided I was going to be a CPA and do taxes,” Lightheart said. “My career path never changed.”
More than 25 years later, Lightheart is bringing that long-held commitment — and a growing, multi-state firm — to Clarendon County through the purchase of Gibbons & Co., the longtime Manning accounting practice founded by retired CPA Al Gibbons.
Lightheart is president and a shareholder of Lightheart Sanders CPAs, a full-service firm headquartered in Madison, Mississippi, with offices in Mount Pleasant, Moncks Corner and now Manning. The firm employs about 30 people, including seasonal staff, and serves clients across the country.
Lightheart earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting from Brigham Young University in Utah, a choice shaped by both faith and academics.
“The church affiliation mattered, but their accounting program is also top five in the country,” he said.
After graduating in 1990, Lightheart worked for seven years with national accounting firm Grant Thornton in Portland, Oregon, before relocating to Mississippi in 1997. There, he joined a regional firm that would later become Lightheart Sanders. In 2008, he and current partner Jared Sanders bought out a retiring partner and became equal owners.
While Sanders remains based in Mississippi, Lightheart’s professional footprint has steadily expanded into South Carolina. He remarried 14 years ago; his wife is from Mount Pleasant, and the firm later opened an office there. In 2022, Lightheart Sanders acquired a Moncks Corner practice, followed this winter by the purchase of Gibbons’ firm in Manning.
Lightheart said the opportunity stood out because of Gibbons’ reputation and deep community roots.
“When I was doing the due diligence, the long-term client relationships said a lot about him,” Lightheart said. “That’s the kind of business we try to run — big enough to have resources, but small enough to still have a personal touch.”
That balance, he said, has guided the transition.
The Manning office will remain open year-round and continue to be staffed by Gibbons’ longtime employees. Lightheart will not be in the office daily, but clients can still walk in, call or schedule appointments.
Lightheart Sanders is also introducing optional technology tools, including a secure client portal that allows clients to upload documents, review returns, sign digitally and store records online.
“We don’t want to turn it into an assembly line,” Lightheart said. “Some people want to meet in person, and that’s fine. Others are comfortable doing everything online. We want to be able to offer both.”
He emphasized that the portal is not required, noting that many longtime clients prefer the traditional approach.
“It’s a balancing act,” he said. “We don’t want to throw a bunch of changes at people all at once.”
Beyond individual and small-business tax work, Lightheart Sanders has developed a national niche in audits and compliance services for cosmetology and barber schools that receive federal financial aid. The specialization grew from the firm’s government-audit training — often referred to as “Yellow Book” certification — and has expanded over the past two decades.
“There are only about a dozen firms in the country that do this kind of work,” Lightheart said.
The firm later expanded into serving salon owners, many of whom are connected to the schools.
At its core, Lightheart said, the work is about helping people through something most don’t enjoy.
“It’s a necessary evil,” he said. “Nobody really likes doing their taxes, but I like using my experience to help people do something they’re required to do and make the process as painless as possible.”
He often compares hiring a CPA to paying someone else to change your oil.
“You could do it yourself,” he said. “But you’d rather spend your time doing what you enjoy.”
Looking ahead, Lightheart said his goal for the Brooks Street office is continuity, not rapid growth.
“I want to continue the level of service and respect that Al built here,” he said. “And when it’s my turn to retire, I want to leave it in good hands.”
Outside the office, Lightheart and his wife divide their time between work, travel and a large blended family that includes nine children and 16 grandchildren. Summers are often spent at a family lake house in Greenwood, and travel fills the calendar when tax season allows.
The Manning transition, he said, is both challenge and opportunity — a new community, a new office, new relationships to earn.
“Just having a new challenge in general is kind of fun,” Lightheart said. “It’s good for you.”
