Life In Accounting - The Where Accountants Go Podcast

Wayne Richard, the Chief Operating Officer and a Partner at Bean Ninjas, joined us for this episode of Life In Accounting, the Where Accountants Go podcast. In this episode, Wayne shares how his career started with major corporations in industry such as IBM and HP. He spent many years “climbing the corporate ladder” with Hewlett Packard, until an unfortunate turn of events caused a downsizing and restructuring in his department. However, it ended up not being as unfortunate as many would expect. It was exactly this catalyst that launched him full-time into the world he loves: working with small businesses. Wayne now serves as a Partner and the COO of Bean Ninjas, the company he merged his prior business into, and he fully enjoys his career. If you are curious about the business model of working with remote clients, or even looking for that type of accounting service yourself, make sure you listen to this episode. Wayne is a very humble individual, but you can tell that he is definitely passionate about thei

David Cieslak, a CPA and frequent presenter on technology in the accounting world, joined us for this episode of Life In Accounting, the Where Accountants Go podcast. In this interview, we start with David’s early career as a staff accountant with Price Waterhouse, and then move into how he ventured into a partnership with previous colleagues and built an accounting practice.  Along the way as they built that practice, he realized that his true interest was in how technology could help companies run more efficiently, so they further developed that aspect of their offerings.  Fast forward 20+ years, and through a couple mergers David now serves as the Chief Cloud Officer for RKL eSolutions, a larger company that they merged with a few years ago.  In addition, for years he has been a speaker on various technology topics and very deservedly earned the nickname “Inspector Gadget”! You will thoroughly enjoy this story if you… Have an interest in how your accounting background can fast track you into a career

Dana Garnett, CPA turned mediator, speaker, and conflict strategist, joined us for this episode of Life In Accounting, the Where Accountants Go podcast. Listen in as Dana shares her career journey with us… Starting from a solid foundation with one of the major accounting firms, To 12 years with the multi-national Coca-Cola Company, Through her many roles with Coca-Cola, including several overseas, To taking an “early—out” package and eventually transitioning into her business now, The Mindful Strategy, a mediation and conflict resolution service If you have ever considered what opportunities may arise from a career with a global organization, or conversely are interested in how your accounting background can have benefit in other small business areas, this episode is for you. Other episodes that will interest you include:  Shanikwa Davis and Sandy Smith Leyva For publications that can help you in your career, make sure you visit our Books section. To listen in on this episode with Dana Garnett,

Bridget Kaigler, an accomplished state & local tax expert in the Louisiana area that is also making a difference in the area of helping emerging leaders grow, joined us for this episode of Life In Accounting, the Where Accountants Go podcast. In this interview, we cover how Bridget’s career journey… Started later than you may expect as she was a “non-traditional student”, needed to work to support herself early in life, To how she turned to accounting as a way to provide a better life for her young son and herself, To her entry into the SALT (state and local tax) field happened by accident, but was a blessing as well, Up through her creation of Bringing Leadership Back LLC, an entity she formed to help aspiring leaders grow their leadership skills This is a truly inspiring story, and I hope you take the time to listen to the whole interview.  Bridget worked hard to get where she is, with the help of a few friends of course.  But now she is working hard to help others grow as well.  You may even wan

Bethany Eggleston, a CPA whose career journey took her into the field of project management, shares her insights on the similarities and differences between the two fields on this episode of Life In Accounting, the Where Accountants Go podcast. In this interview, we will cover Bethany’s early years as she became interested in accounting due to a familial influence, and then how her career started with one of the Big 4 firms in an audit position.  We’ll also cover her transition into a position in industry with a publicly-traded organization, and then her eventual move into project management within the energy sector. Bethany also covers… How project management and audit require some of the same skill-sets, What she finds fascinating and enjoys each day about her role in project management, and How getting involved in professional associations such as the CPA Society in your area can help you stay connected and move along faster in your career This episode is packed with insights, and you’ll get a li

Crystal Cooke , Senior Manager of Governance and Talent at the Center for Audit Quality, joined us for this episode of Life In Accounting, the Where Accountants Go podcast. In this episode, Crystal recounts the story of her career starting with a role in internal audit, and then moving into public accounting audit in order to expand the variety of her experience, and then to the AICPA-supported Center for Audit Quality (CAQ). We also discuss the topics of diversity and attaining your certification as well.  Crystal had a wealth of insights to share. If you are… Interested in audit as a potential career choice, or Trying to decide what type of audit role to pursue, or Interested in how decisions are made that affect the audit field as a whole, or Considering whether or not to pursue a certification exam, … then this episode is for you! Other episodes that may interest you include:  Samantha Bowling and Deborah Beams For the career content blog mentioned in this episode, click here. To listen in

We know your time is short during the holidays, so instead of bringing you a full episode, we had just a few items to pass on to you this Christmas Eve 2019. Thank you! First and foremost, thank you so so much for continuing to listen in on our interviews with successful accounting professionals.  It’s hard to believe over 3 years have passed since we first started, and 150+ guests as well!  It’s been fun.  However, it wouldn’t be near as much fun without you – the listener.  Thank you for continuing to come back each week.  We appreciate you. LinkedIn and Facebook While we are on the topic of following the show, make sure you follow us on LinkedIn and/or Facebook as well.  We generally use those two platforms for all our special announcements, so it’s a great way to stay up to date on what’s going on at Where Accountants Go. Our LinkedIn page is:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/where-accountants-go?trk=public_profile_experience-item_result-card_image-click Our Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/w

Sabine Charles in New York shares her story of starting as a French & Spanish major, to landing in internal audit, to now starting the audit function with a national educational institution!  Plus, Sabine helps others attain the professional certifications they desire through customized, strategic coaching programs.  We discuss all these topics, plus many more career insights, all on this episode of Life In Accounting, the Where Accountants Go podcast. If you… Are or have been a “non-traditional student”, having come to accounting later in life, Or are thinking about a career in Internal Audit, Or have had difficulty, or think you will, getting the professional certification you desire, … then this episode is for you! To listen in on our interview with Sabine Charles, please use the player below. Other episodes you may enjoy will include:  Kelly Richmond-Pope and Mansour Farhat For the publication referenced in this episode, “49 Tips For A Successful Accounting Career”, click here. To listen in o

Jay Kimelman, Founder of The Digital CPA, joined us for this episode of Life In Accounting, the Where Accountants Go podcast.  In this episode, we cover Jay’s career starting in industry accounting roles, through owning a nutritional business, and then to starting The Digital CPA and becoming an Ambassador for Xero. “Let’s take Accounting for fun” Jay shares the story of how he became interested in accounting early in the interview.  His uncle was a partner with one of the national accounting firms, so the field was always of interest to him.  He had the opportunity to take accounting in high school and get college credit for the class, so he and a few friends decided to “take it for fun”.  Per Jay, they were the “jokers” in the class, but obviously it worked out well for him.  He later eventually became a CPA, and fast forward a few years and he has founded several accounting-related businesses! The middle years Prior to starting The Digital CPA though, Jay learned more about business and technology integrat

This week we revisit one of our most popular shows from 2018, “How To Pass The CPA Exam – Tips from 5 Newly Certified CPAs”. This episode was popular for many reasons.  First, all the participants were very recently certified at the time of the recording, so the efforts they went through to pass the CPA exam were still very fresh on their minds.  Consequently, the insight they share is invaluable for those looking to pass the CPA exam themselves. Secondly, the insight wasn’t just fresh, it was truthful.  Our newly-certified CPA guests were very transparent about how much time they truly had to devote to studying, as well as what they truly had to give up in their personal lives while pursuing the exam.  The sacrifices were temporary, but they definitely had to give up a few things in order to get their primary goal accomplished. And lastly, the insights our team shared are meaningful because passing the exam and becoming a CPA really does make a difference in your career and your life.  Although there were

Delene Taylor, CPA and Marketing Director for Deming, Malone, Livesay, & Ostroff in Kentucky joined us for this episode of Life In Accounting, the Where Accountants Go podcast. The early days… Delene started her career in accounting because of the positive influence from both her mother and father.  Mom had worked in accounting, and Dad worked in systems with IBM.  Consequently, when she entered college she decided to pursue both accounting and computer science.  However, she found out quickly that she didn’t care for coding, and therefore decided to drop the computer science focus. Delene's first job out of college was with Arthur Andersen.  She was an auditor on some of their larger client engagements.  To her surprise, the audit role wasn’t something she enjoyed as much as she thought she would.  The particular engagements that she worked on were limited in scope, and she felt like she was always a bother to the client being audited.  It wasn’t something that she could see herself doing for long.  Consequ

Adriana Carpenter, the Chief Accounting Officer for Ping Identity, a company in Colorado that just recently went public, joined us for this episode of Life In Accounting, the Where Accountants Go podcast. From finance major to CPA Adriana knew from an early age that the business world appealed to her, and consequently she started out early in an internship with IBM in the Accounts Payable department. However, due to her dislike of that particular internship, she decided to go the finance route in college instead and initially got her Bachelor’s degree in Finance. After a short time in her first financial analyst role though, she realized that she wanted to be closer to the financial reporting process, so with the support of her employer she went back to school to finish a Masters in Accounting, and subsequently became a CPA as well. Narrowing in on her interests After becoming a CPA and continuing her career in industry for a few years, she decided to move on into the Big 4. For almost 12 years, she worked he

Kecia Williams Smith, PhD and CPA from the North Carolina area, joined us for this episode of Life In Accounting, the Where Accountants Go podcast. A strong foundation Kecia became interested in accounting and overall business at an early age.  As she was about to enter college, it became apparent to her and her family all the opportunities that existed in accounting at that time, and so she made the choice to pursue the field as her career.  As Kecia describes it, she was a “cookie cutter” accounting major, and started in a typical intern role with Deloitte that later turned into a full-time position.  The next 9 years or so with Deloitte gave her a strong foundation in many areas, and also helped her realize where her passions and strengths were – in the audit quality and risk management arenas. An exciting adventure – early days at the PCAOB She received a recruiting call for the PCAOB  after about 9 years at Deloitte. It was just starting up, and the opportunity was to get in on the ground floor as an ins

Brian Kush and Amber Setter of Intend2Lead joined us to discuss strategies for passing the CPA exam on this episode of Life In Accounting, the Where Accountants Go podcast. It’s more than just the basic goal… While goal setting is an important part of any passing strategy, our experts Brian and Amber discuss with us the right way to set a goal specific to passing the exam.  Many exam takers will set deadlines and timelines for studying, but it’s important to recognize that every individual’s situation is unique.  What works for one examinee won’t necessarily work for another.  When setting your own personal goals, you need to do more than simply follow a prescribed amount of study time.  You need to take into account what is effective for you personally, and your specific strengths and weaknesses with regards to topics. Visualization Another topic that we get into deeply is the strategy of visualizing what success will look like once you pass.  For many of us, we may have visualized seeing the passing results

Stefanie Cavanaugh in Austin, Texas, joined us to share her career journey moving from a national accounting firm audit position, to CFO of a small non-profit in only 5 years, to executive-level roles with billion-dollar, publicly-traded companies. It all started in middle school As we began the interview, Stefanie shared that she became interested in accounting at a much earlier age than most.  She had heard that accounting was a good field for women while she was still in middle school, so when she entered high school she not only took the accounting courses, but she also was involved in FBLA and even worked doing bookkeeping on a volunteer basis. Progressing from audit to CFO Her career started as many do, in an auditor position with an accounting firm – Arthur Young in this case.  It was after 5 years with Arthur Young (and then Ernst & Young), that she decided to move into industry.  Her first industry position was the CFO role with a local city symphony.  She much enjoyed the position as she was quickly

Anoop Mehta, CPA and President of Science Systems and Applications Incorporated, joined us for this episode of Life In Accounting, the Where Accountants Go podcast. Thank you Mr. Miller… As with many of our guests, Anoop became interested in accounting at an early age.  He had many influencers, including his father, but one influencer made a greater impact than you may imagine.  For many accountants, the interest in accounting starts in a high school class.  Anoop’s story is similar, except that he had an extremely dedicated high school accounting instructor.  His teacher, Mr. Miller, not only provided the basic bookkeeping class that many high schools make available, he also allowed students to sign up for a second year of accounting under an independent study program where they could learn about accounting in even more depth.  It was through Mr. Miller’s efforts that Anoop was able to delve deeper into accounting at a much earlier age than normal. Moving up to President This early start in accounting couple

This is a much shorter episode we produced specifically to highlight the launch of our most recent book:  "49 Tips For Working With A Headhunter". In this second book, we cover tips for both employers and job seekers.  The purpose in releasing "49 Tips For Working With A Headhunter" was for individuals to understand more about how the industry works from the inside, so that they can get the best results possible no matter which side of the desk they are on. Topics that are covered for job seekers include... The truth about whether or not salary should be discussed How working through a headhunter really works And how to get the best match, among other topics Topics that are covered for employers include... What the fee truly covers and why it really is an investment What to expect in terms of services that should, and perhaps shouldn't, be provided How to make sure the headhunter really understands what you need And the best part of this episode, is that for listeners that listen to the enti

Robin Thieme, CPA and owner of KBS CFO in Maryland, joined us for this episode of Life In Accounting, the Where Accountants Go podcast to discuss her career and building a virtual CFO practice. Always interested in tech Robin starts the interview by sharing with us that she has always, and she means always, been interested in how technology can make life better.  From the time when she was a little girl and played “future house” with her friend, she imagined all the technological advances (translation: gadgets) that may be invented later on to make our lives easier.  It’s no surprise that as she got into her accounting career, she was naturally drawn to learning about how technology could be integrated into accounting processes. Getting the experience Even with the interest in technology, Robin’s career started in a “typical” fashion.  She worked a while in public accounting, and then moved into industry where she gained a lot of the experience she now uses to serve as CFO for several organizations.  Eventual

Shanikwa Davis of S. Davis Tax Consultants in Braintree, Massachusetts, joined us for this episode of Life In Accounting, the Where Accountants Go podcast. Growing up inner city… We start the interview as we do with most, by getting details on Shanikwa’s early career.  Shanikwa started out with an interest in tax due to a fortuitous assignment she had shadowing an executive with an investment company.  However, as her life moved on she had other priorities that necessitated that she focus on providing for her family.  It wasn’t long though and she realized that if she pursued tax as a long-term career choice, she would achieve the life that she wanted for her kids, so she got back into her education and worked towards her master’s degree.  She then eventually attained her CPA. Enrolled Agent too! We discuss this in the interview as well because I found it interesting that Shanikwa is both a CPA and an EA.  As she explains, becoming an Enrolled Agent was a practical move as it allowed her to more quickly repre

Amber Setter, a CPA turned Professional Certified Coach, joined us for this episode of Life In Accounting, the Where Accountants Go podcast. An easy “A” Although Amber ultimately decided to take her career in a different direction, accounting was something that always seemed to make sense and be easily understandable for her.  She loved the accounting courses she took in her early education, and found them to be “easy A’s” as well!  It wasn’t until she started her career and put in a few busy seasons that she decided perhaps accounting itself wasn’t for her.  She had started to realize that it was the people development and personal interaction side of business that she enjoyed. Write your own job description! Fortunately for Amber at this point, she was working with a rapidly growing accounting firm that was open to the idea of moving her into recruiting.  When she approached them about becoming a campus recruiter, they said if you can define the job in such a way that makes sense, we are onboard.  That was