Reacting to Opportunities for Your Career

I read an article in the recent issue of Management-Issues that got me thinking about the trajectory of my own career. The article , entitled Reacting Matters as Much as Planning, challenged the notion that a thorough plan or budget is always the most valuable road map for an organization. As is often the case with many small businesses that skyrocket to success, reacting to an unexpected challenge or opportunity can become a defining moment and a launch pad to greater things.

The same can be said for our careers. We're all dealing with a tough economy right now, which has brought the career plan of many accounting professionals to a screeching halt. Perhaps you have recently been laid off, or have decided to earn another degree now that your planned promotion has become a thousand times more competitive to win. I myself had a career plan all mapped out when I finished my undergraduate accounting degree. I intended to immediately pass the CPA exam, work in public accounting until I made senior manager, then move on to start my own business or become an executive at a small company. Life has certainly changed all of that, but I do not regret a single deviation from my initial career path. When I had my first child, my goals shifted. I wanted to make motherhood my full-time focus, while still keeping my part-time attention on continuing my accounting career. I initially moved from a life of intense client-focused travel in public accounting, to a corporate accounting job that allowed me to be home at 6pm every night. But even after that, I needed more time with my son, so I quit my job, not knowing how I would continue my career. The time off gave me an opportunity to write a book, start a blog, and expand my network. Through professional organizations, I met someone who was looking for a qualified part-time CPA to manage curriculum and tutor students for several online accounting MBA courses. It was the perfect opportunity for me, and one which I hadn't planned on at all. While I've been positioning myself to make my next career move when I am ready to get back into the full-time workforce, I am still keeping my mind and network open for the right opportunity for continuing professional development.

So while I've deviated quite a bit from my original career plan, the side trip was much more fulfilling than my original path could have been, and my flexible perspective has enabled me to grasp hold of opportunities that have unexpectedly come my way. If you are disappointed that your career is not moving exactly where or how you planned, take a step back from your career road map and look for new opportunities open by unexpected circumstances. Perhaps your new degree, company, or another change in the economic environment will unexpectedly move you up a few rungs on the professional ladder when the time is right.

The Importance of Being Honest

Have you ever called in sick when you actually had plans during a workday? Taking an occasional day of hooky a bit further, have you ever told your boss you were at a client site when you were really running personal errands or meeting up with a friend? Some professionals even stretch their little white lies as far as claiming to be out of town at a training or on a client assignment when they are really on vacation. Regardless of where you fall on this spectrum of dishonesty, you should know that employers are increasingly hiring private detectives and using technology such as phone GPS to keep tabs on employees who claim to be out sick or traveling for work. In 2008, a landmark court case found that an employer did nothing unlawful in hiring an off-duty police officer to follow an employee suspected of abusing her paid medical leave. The fired employee filed the suit against her employer and lost. This set a precedent for companies suspicious of employee activity, particularly when claiming to be off sick or on disability leave.

For client service professionals such as those in public accounting where team members are constantly on the road or out of the office, the opportunities play hooky are all the greater than in other industries. While working for the Big Four, a fellow senior associate on my audit team did not show up for work at least once a week, sometimes multiple times a week. His obvious fibbing about being caught in inclement weather (he did commute nearly 2 hours to the office each way), his wife's poor health, and a host of other stories got more and more creative as time went on. While those of us who worked directly with him suspected his reasons, it took quite a while for his bosses to catch on, since they were often out of the office or working in a different area of the building, and failed to notice just how frequent his absence was. He was eventually fired, but only after a painfully long time of pushing his luck to get out of work.

If you are in the habit of abusing any of your time on the your employer's clock for personal use, be warned that the corporate surveillance business is currently booming. According to workforce productivity firm Kronos, there has been a 20 percent increase from 2006 to 2010 in US salaried employees taking sick days when they're not really ill. Kronos' Senior Director Joyce Maroney speculates that "people are staying in jobs they don't like because of a fear that there won't be another job out there," so their lack of enthusiasm for work or dislike of their employer provides them with justification for abusing their sick leave.

As an accounting professional, your integrity is the most important asset upon which you build your professional reputation, not only with clients but with employers as well. If you are dishonest in your personal activities, your employer will question your reliability in other areas such as specific skills or experience represented on your resume. The public accounting profession is also one in which each level of professional is relied upon to train more junior staff. So even if you're not a partner or manager, you most likely are setting a glaring example for other staff members or interns. By setting a lax tone when it comes to occasionally abusing sick leave, you are telling your supervisees that it's okay to manipulate the truth when it comes to work-related matters. That is a dangerous precedent to set in a profession that exists to provide independent assurance over the honesty of the representations of others.

The next time you feel there is no harm in stretching the truth to get out of work, keep in mind the importance of being honest in our profession (and also the increased likelihood your boss is keeping tabs on you).

Continuing Professional Education...From a Toddler

Observing the behavior of children provides an insightful glimpse into the human psyche. I have spent the past 21 months taking a break from my full-time accounting career to stay home with my 2 year-old son. Each day he teaches me something about what it takes to succeed in life. Many of these lessons are applicable to my professional as well as personal life. The following are just a few things he's taught me about being a CPA:

1. With relentless determination, you can learn anything. - If a toddler is determined to do something, they won't give up until they have accomplished it. My son now grunts and hollers if he's trying to lift a toy onto a shelf that is an inch too high, or if he's trying to put a puzzle piece together that just doesn't seem to fit. His cries indicate frustration and determination. Rather than run immediately to his aid, I let him work it out for himself, and he almost always succeeds. We need to have the same determination in developing our professional knowledge. If you are assigned to a client in an entirely new industry, or are challenged to research a complex accounting issue you hardly understand, don't throw your hands in the air or run immediately to someone you know will give you all the answers. Try and work things out, do your homework, dig deeper, and ask questions. You'll learn infinitely more than if you give up and pass the challenge onto someone else. You'll also develop your problem solving skills, so you will have a better idea where to start the next time you are faced with a similar challenge.
2. Asking questions is the only way to acquire knowledge. - As I just mentioned, you often have to work things out for yourself, even if you don't know what you're doing. But you must also learn to leverage the knowledge of others. My son seems to be learning dozens of new words each month, because he constantly asks what everything is. He also learns what he can and cannot touch or play with by asking. If he didn't trust me to guide him, he would be constantly hurting himself by touching the stove, electrical outlets, or knives, and he would never learn to talk. Reaching out to more experienced and knowledgeable professionals will help you to develop your professional expertise much more rapidly than if you stubbornly insisted on fulfilling all of your responsibilities alone, from the confines of your cubicle. I've worked with many new professionals who were terrified of speaking to clients or managers. Rather than ask a simple question, they would spend an entire day trying to explain something that a more knowledgeable person could have clarified for them in five minutes. Knowing when to ask questions is key to learning.
3. Take a break when your body tells you it's overworked. - Infants and toddlers have an amazing ability to sleep wherever they are when their body tells them it's tired, whether it be in the car, on your shoulder, or in a stroller. They just close their eyes and seem to block everything out. While we can't just take a nap in the middle of a meeting, we do need to listen to our bodies when they are stressed. Busy season for CPAs often comes with 80 hour work weeks, caffeine overloads, and little sleep. If you are having trouble concentrating and functioning during your day, your body is trying to tell you something. Take care of yourself and avoid pushing yourself to the point of exhaustion. You'll be a lot more productive in your waking hours if you sleep more than one or two hours a night. No job is worth sacrificing your mental and physical health.

Mid-Career Dilemma: Transitioning into a Career in Accounting

I recently received a question from a professional looking to enter the accounting profession with 15 years of experience in a completely unrelated industry. She was completing a masters' degree in accounting with no previous accounting experience, and was frustrated when applying for accounting positions. Every interviewer seemed to question her lack of experience in the accounting field. I'm sure anyone who has attempted to make a mid-career transition into an entirely knew field understands this dilemma, which can make you feel as though your previous decade or more of successful experience is irrelevant and undervalued.

My recommendation to experienced professionals in other fields looking to break into accounting is to first get an accounting degree of some sort. A masters or MBA with a focus in accounting would be ideal if you already have an undergraduate degree in something else. Once you have your accounting degree, you can combine that with your particular experience to prove to employers that you are just the type of hands-on learner and experienced professional they need. If you are considering becoming a CPA and want to get your foot in the door with an accounting firm upon finishing your degree, pitch yourself to firms based on your industry expertise. If your 10+ years of experience are in a particular industry, look for a firm that serves a lot of clients in that industry. You would be an ideal member of the audit team since you already speak the language of your clients' business.

If you are looking to get into the corporate environment, an internal audit position might be a great way for you to get your foot in the door with an organization. After you've been there a while, you often have an opportunity to move into the accounting or finance departments, or another management function that interests you. The hardest part is finding the right organization that will give you the flexibility to combine your accounting interest, your degree, and your extensive experience to your greatest professional advantage. If there is a previous employer that thought highly of you in a function other than accounting, tap into your network of former co-workers and supervisors to get an internal recommendation to the accounting or internal audit departments.

To gain some actual accounting experience part-time if you're a full-time student, try working through an accounting temp agency like Account Temps. That way, you'll rotate through a few accounting positions as needed at various organizations, and you'll have some tangible examples of accounting functions you've performed when you're pitching yourself for a full-time accounting job upon completion of your degree.

Regardless of your specific experience, almost any expertise pairs well with accounting given that accountants are needed in every industry. Finding the right angle to position your transition from another field to accounting will be the spring board to your successful second career.

Updating Your Professional Wardrobe

A recent article in Bloomberg Businessweek addressed the decline of casual dress in the workplace, driven by a recent surge against it by bosses. Casual Friday used to be a "naughty thrill" that occurred once a month or less, allowing office employees to wear a pair of conservative jeans and a polo. According to a recent survey by the Society for Human Resource Management, only 34 percent of bosses officially permit casual dress among employees every day, a significant drop from the 53 percent in 2002.

American society still remains incredibly casual, according to Clinton Kelly of the Learning Channel's What Not To Wear. For some, the difficulty arises in the absence of clear definitions within corporate dress codes for terms such as "professional dress," "business casual," and and one-off "casual Friday" attire. As a CPA, your dress cues should be dictated by your clients when on site. I used to audit banks, and most banks still have a culture of wearing full suits every work day. While it seemed archaic, I could never go wrong following such a strict dress code. In other environments, it's a bit more difficult to judge.

If you're new to a firm, don't immediately assume you can wear jeans and sneakers on casual Friday. Wear your normal work attire on the first official casual day and take note of what is permissible. I used to work in Pittsburgh, a town notoriously loyal to their sports teams. Almost every weekend the Steelers were in a play-off game, all of the downtown professionals exchanged their suits and pantyhose for Steelers jerseys and face paint. This was completely acceptable, even when working at most client sites. In other cities, this would definitely not be tolerated.

Women seem to have a slightly greater challenge than men in navigating the vague "business casual" dress code. Are sleeveless shirts, open toed shoes, or dressy capri pants alright for the office? That depends on where you work and what your role is. While corporate dress codes officially apply to all employees, I've noticed an unofficial double standard in most workplaces depending upon the female employee's role. It was much more acceptable for administrative staff to wear sleeveless blouses or skirts without wearing pantyhose, simply because they served an internal role and rarely had contact with clients. Client service professionals, however, were unable to bend such roles. If you are unsure where to draw the line, look to your superiors for guidance on how to dress. More likely than not, if your boss shows off her toes in a pair of dressy open-toed shoes, it's okay for you to do the same.

Bloomberg Businessweek asked image consultants and office fashion experts for the most common workplace style sins. I'm sure you've seen them all before. Just make sure you're not the guilty party:

1. Hooker earrings-anything long and dangly that looks cheap should be put away until the weekend.
2. Chest plumes-fashion experts advise men to stop unbuttoning shirts when you begin seeing chest hair.
3. Exposed bra straps-these can be distracting and are generally considered unattractive.
4. Tattoos-people don't expect a CPA to have a dragon tattooed on their forearm. If you have tattoos, keep them covered to avoid snap judgements by colleagues or clients.
5. Toes-many workplaces require toes to be covered for safety reasons. A lot of people find toes to be disgusting. Play it safe and keep them covered.

Wanted: Forensic Accounting Specialists

According to a recent article by Yahoo! News, forensic accounting is one of the top new careers offering a sexy new version of a traditional profession. Imagine CSI: Wall Street, a drama featuring a team of accountants brought in to unravel the pieces of a Ponzi scheme or insider trading deal gone wrong. With the passage of Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform which includes the creation of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection as well as countless other regulatory reforms to be implemented and enforced, Washington's regulators have gone on a hiring binge. Thus, forensic accountants are in high demand. Even among consulting and auditing firms, forensic accounting practices are growing to meet the increased ethical scrutiny promoted both internally among companies as well as by regulators.

If you are looking for additional skills to make you more marketable or to reinvent yourself as an accountant, consider a career in forensic accounting. To become a forensic accountant, you must first become a licensed CPA. You will also need an additional forensic accounting industry certification such as the Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) designation, which can be earned upon completing a bachelor's degree and passing the CFE exam. There is an advanced Certified Forensic Accountant certification, requiring additional training and expertise. To find out more about a profession in forensic accounting, visit The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. Many online degree programs offer MBAs, bachelor's degrees, and certificates in investigative or forensic accounting that can enhance your career potential and expand your expertise.

Choosing the Right Leadership Outlet

It is said that leadership experience is a must on your resume. Without it, many people fear they'd have little to talk about during a job interview. However, not just any leadership experience will do. Given the myriad of extracurricular activities on most college campuses across the US, many students assume that leadership experience in any organization will satisfy recruiters. While you may have done a lot to advance the cause of your school's martial arts club or film club, many recruiters ask specifically about involvement in honors societies, professional organizations, and other exhibitions of academic interest. Having lead a large number of your peers in professional and academic pursuits speaks loudly of your ability to take a stand, collaborate, and propel ideas. In an interview, frame your experience in terms of what was accomplished under your leadership. Even though you've got to promote yourself, it's always important to highlight how you were able to include the opinions and talents of others to reach a compromise and accomplish tangible goals on behalf of your organization or cause.

Many people fear the executive role, opting for a committee chair or secretary position rather than president. Don't be afraid of the lime light, assuming that as president, you will be expected to carry the heaviest work load on behalf of the group. An effective executive is one who is able to recognize the strengths and ideas of others and delegate accordingly. While you may be the first point of contact for the organization as president, you do not have to do everything yourself. Potential employers love to hear about how you as a leader mobilized others to accomplish a goal. That is a much more impressive accomplishment than boasting about how you single handedly organized a banquet, decorated the banquet hall, hand-wrote all of the invitations, and prepared the meal for dozens of attendees. The first thought in an interviewer's mind after such a boast is "why couldn't you get anyone else to help?"

Leadership experience is more than just a resume filler. It is a life lesson that, if properly learned, will give you deep insight into what it takes to succeed in the business world. Having attained this insight will enable you to shine in any interview, breathing life into a mere bullet point on your resume.