Life In Accounting - The Where Accountants Go Podcast

Josh Bauerle, an Ohio CPA that serves many clients including podcaster John Lee Dumas of Entrepreneur On Fire, joined us for this week’s episode of Life In Accounting: The Where Accountants Go podcast. “CPA on Fire” Josh started his career by trying several different roles – cost accounting, financial advising, and public accounting – before deciding that developing his own practice was the ideal fit for him. He came from an entrepreneurial family, so although he and his wife had just become the parents of twin boys (!), the risk didn’t thwart his determination. He talks a little about the early years, but it was when he started working with John Dumas of Entrepreneur On Fire that his technology clientele seems to have started to grow exponentially. As of the timing of this interview, almost all of his clients have some type of online business – with many being in the e-commerce sales industry. All Remote! One of the more interesting parts of this interview is when Josh gets to talking about the make-up of hi

Connie Clark, CPA with Faske Lay & Company in Austin, Texas, joined us for this week’s episode of Life In Accounting: The Where Accountants Go podcast. Meant to be a CPA Connie’s career actually started in the information technology industry, but after her husband’s career led them to move to Austin she re-evaluated her situation and decided that it was time for a change. A friend of hers suggested that she consider becoming a CPA, and since she only needed a few courses in addition to the MBA she had already received she decided to pursue getting certified. She passed all four parts of the exam in only 5 months – she obviously had found her calling. The power of connection Connie quickly became involved in the local CPA Society and it was there that she received some of the most consequential advice of her career – “someone will hire you on your terms”. She was a new mother and was concerned that she may not find the right opportunity in public accounting, but a staff member at the CPA Society gave her that

Carol Severyn, CPA and EVP with Frost Bank, joined us for this week’s episode of Life In Accounting: The Where Accountants Go podcast. Celebrating 24 years! Carol started working in the financial institution industry while in college and later moved into an audit role with a CPA firm.  After a short time with the accounting firm, a former professor of hers recommended her to Frost Bank for a Senior Auditor role – which obviously has worked out well given that she has just had her 24th anniversary with Frost. Commit yourself I asked Carol about the ‘secret to her success’ so-to-speak since she has had a very fruitful career there at Frost. She mentions two key items in that discussion. First of all, it’s important to find an organization that is a good match for your own personal value system. And secondly, once you find that organization make sure you are fully committed career-wise. Step up for new assignments, volunteer for new challenges, and give it the proverbial 100%. This type of commitment is what led

Wade Beal, a Senior Associate in the Campus Recruiting function with PwC (PriceWaterhouseCoopers), joined us for this week’s episode of Life In Accounting: The Where Accountants Go podcast! PwC While the purpose of this episode was to give some insight on the process to prospective interviewees, I wanted to start with some background information on PwC and what makes them unique. Wade covers several important points including how he’s found the culture to be 'true' to how it was originally represented to him personally, which is obviously refreshing, as well as a few of the more unique benefits that PwC offers it’s employees. ‘Own’ your own development I also found this comment from Wade very enlightening: “own your own development”. Wade makes the point that it’s not only important to achieve a good GPA, but that it's also important to be responsible for your own continuing development from a soft-skills perspective. We all know that leadership ability and the ability to manage relationships over time makes

This week’s guest on Life In Accounting: The Where Accountants Go podcast is … me! We’ve been wanting to launch a new free service for our audience and are taking the opportunity between our guests’ vacation schedules to start our “Ask Mark” career question hotline. Special Edition! We will be continuing our regular interview format after the July 4th holiday, but in the meantime are launching our new ASK MARK service to answer any and all career related questions you may have. Whether you are wondering how to get a raise, how to get your foot in the door for an interview, or how to answer the most challenging interview question you’ve ever heard, simply email askmark@whereaccountantsgo.com or fill out the ‘Contact Us’ form on the www.WhereAccountantsGo.com website, and we will not only respond to your question with a detailed email response, but we will include it in a special edition podcast where we will address all the emailed issues in one Q&A show. All anonymously of course. The hard questions Please

Billy Petty from Heyman & Associates in Austin, Texas, joined us for this week’s episode of Life In Accounting: The Where Accountants Go podcast. Part 2! If you haven’t listened to episode #037, you may want to go back and hear that as well. Billy is one of the expert consultants on Michele Heyman’s team, our guest from the last episode. Billy spent over 20 years in various law enforcement roles including working in the Austin Police Department and for the Sheriff’s office. At one point he decided he would apply for a promotion, and that effort took him into the financial crimes area and then later into the white-collar crimes department. Networking works! While attending an educational conference for Certified Fraud Examiners (CFE), he met Michele Heyman and they discussed the possibility of him coming on board with Heyman & Associates. A couple years later when he was approaching retirement from the police force, he decided to take Michele up on the offer to join their firm. All I can say is Wow! Billy disc

Michele Heyman, owner of Heyman & Associates in Austin – an accounting firm that specializes in forensic accounting, business appraisal, & fraud prevention, joined us for this episode of Life In Accounting: The Where Accountants Go podcast! It started in high school… Michele first contemplated pursuing accounting as a profession when her high school accounting class was visited by an audit partner that talked to the class about his career path. The way he described auditing work appealed to her, and it sounded like accounting could give the successful individual a comfortable lifestyle, so she decided to pursue it. She attended the Rochester Institute of Technology, and took the public accounting route and became a CPA. Becoming self-employed Although it was audit that first attracted her to the profession, she initially worked in tax. Over the years she worked off-and-on in audit while doing tax work as well, until she eventually decided to start her own practice in 2011. Starting with only 2 clients, she’s

Tim Pike, Audit Partner with Howard LLP, joined us for this week’s episode of Life In Accounting: The Where Accountants Go podcast. It was too much paperwork… In an interesting initial twist to this interview, we learn that Tim actually started out to be a physical therapist early in life. However, when he interned in the field he realized that there was more repetitive paperwork than he really wanted on an ongoing basis in the physical therapy profession so he decided to look elsewhere. We laugh a little in the interview given that he settled on accounting after deciding that he wanted less paperwork... but truly what it was that drew him to the profession was the higher level of diversity in servicing client needs overall. What it means to be “Partner” I felt that one of the most valuable parts of the interview was the discussion of what it truly means to be a “partner” in a CPA firm. Tim discusses how many people initially simply think of it as a managerial and profit sharing position, but in reality it me

Bette Williams, CPA of Austin, Texas joined us for this week’s episode of Life In Accounting: The Where Accountants Go podcast. Paving the Way As you will hear in the interview, Bette started in the profession in the 1950’s when the opportunities for women to enter and progress in accounting were much more limited to say the least. Bette took her initial accounting courses at Texas A&M at a time when women were not allowed to register unless they were registered with another college as well. Plus, she recounts how during her early days in public accounting it was a challenge to move up because women participating in business development activities (golf, etc) was not quite as accepted as it is in the present day. Exam before degree Another interesting detail of this interview for me personally was that Bette actually passed the CPA exam prior to attaining her degree. The requirements to sit for the exam were different at that time, and she actually had only completed an Associates when she originally sat for

Kelly Noe, a PhD CPA & CGMA that is currently serving as the Interim Director for the School of Accountancy at Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches, Texas, joined us this week for Life In Accounting: The Where Accountants Go podcast. “I’ve been a lucky person” In this episode, Kelly recounts the story of how she decided to become an accountant in the first place – a process that started with the influence of her grandmother. At 11 years old, she was paid $5/hour to help in her grandmother’s firm with basic bookkeeping related tasks. And 5 years later when she got a job working as a cashier in a grocery store, she realized that she was going to be making less than she did at the age of 11… so maybe accounting was a good career to consider! It was at that point that her direction was set. Why don’t you come teach? After working several years in the profession, including in a CFO position for a hospice, she made the choice to stay home and raise her family. She decided after a while though that perhaps a

Carolyn Newman, the owner of Audimation Services in Houston, Texas, joined us for this week’s episode of Life In Accounting: The Where Accountants Go podcast. Bachelors in Speech! As with most of our guests, I asked Carolyn to recount the story of how she got into accounting in the first place. Carolyn tells the story of how her options were a little limited when going through school, and she actually initially majored in Speech. It was her first boss though that influenced her to consider getting an accounting degree. She had started in a payroll role and moved into cost accounting, and it was that manager that advised her that her options would be limited without the formal accounting education. It was at that point that she decided to return to school and get her MBA in Accountancy. Systems training… It was at another juncture in her career that education once again made a difference. Carolyn was progressing in an audit career as information systems auditing was becoming more and more important. She decide

Michael Berlanga, CPA, owner of Resolutions Now and recent Republican candidate for the Bexar County Appraisal District, joined us for this episode of Life In Accounting: The Where Accountants Go podcast. Humble beginnings… Michael got started down the road to become an accountant at a young age. Although his original thoughts were to go to seminary, his father passed away unexpectedly when Michael was only 14 years old and therefore he decided he needed to get through school and into a career as quickly as possible. Accounting ended up being that career choice. Moving fast… You will likely catch onto this theme early in the podcast, but just in case you don’t, Michael definitely isn’t one to sit still or be satisfied with moving at an average pace. He graduated in 3 years from Central Catholic High School, graduated from college in 3 years as well, and then left public accounting around the age of 24 due to feeling “burned out” because he felt like he wasn’t able to move up as fast as he felt he should. This

Rick Mangum, CPA, joined us for this episode of Life In Accounting: The Where Accountants Go podcast. I invited Rick on the show for several reasons, but primarily for the discussion of a venture he was involved in that was backed by private equity where he served as the CFO on the executive team that built the company for eventual sale. The company we are referring to was Vidacare, a medical device company that sold to Teleflex just a few years back. Golf wasn’t going to work out… As with all our interviews, we started with the question of how Rick decided to pursue accounting as a career in the first place. Interestingly enough, Rick started out as a golf major but when he realized that wasn’t going to work out for him as a long-term career option, he decided to look into accounting. Taking risks… Although his career started in a more ‘traditional’ manner with his first job being at EY (Ernst & Whinney at the time), he later got into roles that were higher risk / higher reward with his moves to Clear Channe

Matt Malcom, Owner of Malcom Accounting Services LLC, joined us for this episode of Life In Accounting: The Where Accountants Go podcast. Mom Lied to Me! One of the most humorous parts of this interview comes in the very first few minutes. As is our tradition I started with asking about how Matt came to decide to pursue accounting as a career, and the direct quote from Matt was, “It came from a lie from my mother!” Obviously he said this in jest, but it made for a great start to the show. I don’t want to give away the punchline of course, so you’ll need to listen in to hear the full story. It’s definitely original! Regional / national firm experience Matt also shares how he started his career with the predecessor firm to Cohen Reznick, and built up his knowledge base and experience over a 15 year period with that firm. It’s experience that continues to benefit him today, and although he had left full-time employment with the firm, he continues to work with them on contract projects and has for years. Self-emp

Bob McAdams, Retired BDO Partner, joined us for this episode of Life In Accounting: The Where Accountants Go podcast. Becoming Managing Partner… Bob’s story is interesting for several reasons, but one of the most interesting points for me was that he was recruited off campus while at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio by Bill Chumney Jr., and eventually became Managing Partner at that very firm – Carneiro Chumney & Company. Several years later, as many of the partners were approaching retirement age, the firm merged with BDO – one of the largest national firms in the United States. A Leader in the Profession In addition to being a leader in his firm, you will hear in the interview that Bob had a desire to make a difference in the profession overall as well. He’s been active for many, many years with the TSCPA organization, but the opportunity to get even more involved presented itself when he was approached about serving on the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy as their Treasurer – a position that he

Jesse Dominguez, CPA and CFO for the Texas Trucking Association, joined us this week on Life In Accounting: The Where Accountants Go podcast. Middle school! We generally start out the podcast interview finding out how our guest had decided to pursue accounting as a career, and as you can guess we get many different answers. Jesse’s was a first though. Jesse became aware of the profession in middle school when a couple CPAs visited their school for a short presentation. Jesse admittedly doesn’t remember many of the details of the talk, but obviously it made an impression on him and he decided to take accounting in high school and major in it later at St. Edwards in Austin. Staying the Course... One of the items you will notice about Jesse’s career in the interview is that he’s been with the Texas Trucking Association for 20 years. Over that time his role has changed, both in title and responsibilities. His story is a good example of how sometimes it makes sense to look for growth within your own organization a

We were fortunate to have Janice Flynn, the Global Corporate Controller for Rackspace, join us for this episode of Life In Accounting: The Where Accountants Go podcast. Staff Auditor, to VP, and onward… Janice’s career has followed the path that most of college students dream of. She started in an internship, her boss referred her into an audit position, she worked for national accounting firms, and now most recently large corporations – progressing with each step along the way.  However, she’s very quick to point out that she has had the good fortune to work for some truly exceptional managers. It's those managers that she credits with providing her with all of the opportunities she has been blessed with. Empowerment As we got to the point in the interview where we were discussing Rackspace itself, one of the observations Janice made was that Rackspace is highly efficient when it comes to the implementation of new ideas, particularly given that they are an organization of over 5000 employees at this point!  

Wendi Christian, VP of Corporate Administration with Script Care, joined us for this week’s episode of Life In Accounting: The Where Accountants Go podcast. Interesting fields I asked Wendi to share her story with our audience because many accountants look to get into related fields such as information systems audit and risk management as their careers move forward, and Wendi has done just that. Wendi started her career in public accounting, but then over time moved into internal audit, IT audit, and risk management roles as those opportunities became available.  Since the biggest obstacle to making those types of changes in your career typically is just getting someone to give you a chance, I thought Wendi’s experience in navigating through those different roles would be priceless for people looking to make a change. Association involvement & certification One of the themes you are going to hear throughout the interview is how pursuing related certifications and getting involved in professional associations

Ed Polansky was our guest this week for Life In Accounting: The Where Accountants Go podcast. Those in Texas will recognize Ed’s name. Ed has served as TSCPA Chair several years ago, worked in the national firms for many years, founded his own firm, eventually merged it into Weaver, and now post-retirement is publishing children’s books! A typical, non-typical beginning… As I’ve learned through many of these podcast interviews, Ed became interested in accounting through a non-typical route, which is actually usually the way it happens. (Does that make sense??) Ed was actually initially interested in Math as a course of study, but as it got more and more advanced, he wasn’t convinced that math at the higher levels had as many practical applications as he would prefer, so he decided on Accounting instead. Through working initially for a sole proprietor, and then later at Arthur Young (EY), he realized that a firm size somewhere in the middle was likely the best fit for him.  Therefore when the time was approp

Craig Fuller, the Executive Director for Daily Bread Ministries, and a CPA that was in public practice for 30 years (!), joined us for this episode of Life In Accounting: The Where Accountants Go podcast. Transition… One of the reasons I asked Craig to join us on the show is that I always find it intriguing how accountants use the skills they gain on the job and through their education to benefit other areas of their life – and in this case a 2nd career.  Craig’s career started in a ‘typical’ sort of fashion in that he majored in accounting and worked in a public accounting firm.  However, after about 30 years in the industry, he decided to make a career change and go into full-time ministry, which launched him along the route that eventually led to his current position as Executive Director for Daily Bread Ministries in San Antonio. Being your own boss A substantial amount of this interview is dedicated to discussing how Craig started a practice in Dalhart, Texas, and ran that practice along with a partner i