Happy National Women’s History Month! Windham Brannon marks the occasion by spotlighting some of our female leadership. Windham Brannon proudly affirms that 57% of our employee base and more than half of our leadership team is female. We support several different women-based and women-owned organizations including: Commercial Real Estate Women, Women’s Global Leadership Summit, Women in Pensions Network, Accounting & Financial Women’s Alliance, Kate’s Club, American Women’s Society of Certified Public Accountants.
CEO & Managing Partner Heidi LaMarca reflects on her career journey and how the accounting profession has evolved.
Heidi LaMarca: How has public accounting evolved since you entered the workforce?
Answer: I’ve been in public accounting for 28 years…it has dramatically changed! When I started, we had two computers and one dot matrix printer for an audit team of 10 people. We had trunks to carry all of our hard copy binders and workpapers. We had to be in the client’s offices because most of what we received was in paper form and we were looking through hard copy files for testing. Today, everyone has their own laptop and our workpapers are electronic. We have the ability to receive all information electronically, have virtual meetings over Microsoft Teams and issue final financial statements in electronic form. We can do the entire audit remotely. In the current environment with COVID-19, a remote audit is crucial and we are uniquely qualified to do this.
Heidi LaMarca: What has helped you get to where you are, and what advice would you share with people who are interested in following a similar path?
Answer: I did not set out in this career with the thought that I wanted to be a managing partner of a CPA firm. Windham Brannon has been a place that has supported women since before I joined the firm in 1994. Charlie McGimsey was the managing partner of Windham Brannon from 1996 – 2011. He didn’t care what anyone looked like – if they did a good job, they would be successful. If Windham Brannon had a good employee and they needed to take time off when they had children or go part-time to take care of their children, then the Firm would do whatever we needed to do in order to make it work. I believe that is why over 50% of our management group are women. I also had two female partners that took me under their wings when I was a young principal, Barbara Coats, and Carolyn Riticher. They invited me to their accountability group – we met every week for 30 minutes to report to each other what business development activity we had going on. Being the youngest principal in that group, I would not show up unprepared. And then, there is my husband. He has been encouraging me for years now that I can do this, I am a good leader, and gave me the confidence to go for it. I would encourage people to follow their passion and get out of their comfort zone. Find a mentor that will help you learn what it takes to run a business, not just prepare a tax return, or complete an audit. Then, go for it!
