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.
Advisory Principal Rebecca K. Smith shares her thoughts.
Question: Everyone has a story about how they decided to enter their career field. What made you want to pursue accounting? Did you always know or did you discover it in school?
Rebecca: I decided to enter the field of accounting while attending high school. Many years ago, I worked for a large New Orleans based grocery store chain in their customer service office. My job entailed daily balancing of each cash register till, preparing the bank deposit for the armored car service pick-up, and managing the check-out lines. I enjoyed making sure that everything balanced and tied out at the end of the day. Whenever a hurricane was approaching, the store was absolutely jammed and became a madhouse which helped me to develop the skills to multi-task and operate under pressure. I loved going to work each day and knew at that time that I wanted to be an accountant.
How has public accounting evolved since you entered the workforce?
Rebecca: The field of public accounting has evolved a great deal since I entered the workforce. I remember heavy computers with two floppy disk drives, DOS operating systems, and heavy audit bags that we would drag to client offices. Our workpaper files were paper files and we used different colored pencils to depict various tick marks and initials for reviewers. Currently, we perform all of our accounting work in the cloud. As long as we have access to the internet, our teams are able to work from anywhere and at any time of the day in order to meet the needs of our clients.
To face the future effectively, what are the most critical changes we need to make in the industry?
Rebecca: To face the future, the most critical changes that we need to make in the industry include staying abreast of the constantly changing accounting technologies for real-time information and efficient automated accounting processes, along with making changes in the hiring and recruiting of accounting personnel. Companies need to be able to make decisions on a daily basis which requires the need for real-time reporting instead of reporting on historical data. This need also leads to a company outsourcing their accounting departments to an accounting firm in order to be able to capitalize on accurate and timely reporting along with the benefit of advice from a trusted advisor. Additionally, changes need to be made in hiring and recruiting for accounting firms. Firms need to think outside of the box and employ non-CPAs, including technology and software implementation specialists along with Data scientists. Technology and software implementation specialists add value by converting accounting data to the ever-changing software applications. Data scientists are able to interpret big data and analyze data through data analytics by developing and using machine learning, artificial intelligence, robotic process automation, and bots in order to gain efficiency for all accounting processes. Windham Brannon is currently working with numerous clients in helping them automate their processes in order to lead to greater efficiencies from automation.
What are some ways people in the accounting field are making a difference in the world?
Rebecca: Accountants serve a very important role in assisting companies by becoming their trusted advisors. In today’s environment, accountants must be able to interpret and prepare financial statements, cash flows, projections and various key performance indicators on a real-time basis allowing management to make informed decisions in a timely fashion. This valuable information assists company management in controlling inventory, having more efficient processes, and better managing cash flow. The information also allows the company to remain competitive in their respective industry. Therefore, people in the accounting field have a direct impact on making a positive difference in the world.
