Life In Accounting - The Where Accountants Go podcast

Ben Richmond, the Country Manager for the United States for the fast-growing Xero software company, joined us for this episode of Where Accountants Go, the Accounting Careers Podcast. In addition to our conversation about Xero and their continuing growth in popularity here in the US, you will also find Ben’s own career progression interesting as he recounts that journey for us during the first half of the show. Ben took a chance early in his career to join a firm in a “Cadet” position, which...

Dena Jansen, CPA, former accounting firm partner, and the Founder of Dena Speaks, joined us for a second time on this episode of Life In Accounting, the Where Accountants Go podcast. Dena’s career spans public accounting in small firms, to the “Big 4”, to then a major Austin-based regional firm. As her career developed in the approximately 15 years she spent in the audit field, she found that it was largely the interpersonal, or people development areas that she enjoyed. For that reason, she...

Anthony Pugliese, the CEO for the California Society of Certified Public Accountants (CalCPA), joined us for this episode of the Where Accountants Go podcast! Anthony had a wonderful career story to tell, as well as tremendous insight for us on the profession. If you are curious how an individual could start their career in a traditional staff auditor role, become the Chief Operating Officer of AICPA, and then go on to eventually lead the largest state society of CPAs as their CEO, you will...

Ryan Lazanis, the Founder of Future Firm Inc. in Canada, joined us for this episode of Life In Accounting, the Where Accountants Go podcast. Ryan’s career journey started as many do. His father was a strong influence in his life, and being an entrepreneur himself, he caused Ryan to naturally have an interest in business and accounting. However, after a few years in the accounting world, Ryan realized that he enjoyed the accounting business, but not necessarily how other firms performed the...

Geni Whitehouse, CPA, small business consultant, author, keynote speaker, and really a comedian (!), joined us for this episode of Life In Accounting, the Where Accountants Go podcast. You are really going to find happiness in this episode. We start by talking about Geni’s early career as a tax accountant, and even during that part of the interview you can hear the joy in her voice. We quickly moved into how her career transitioned into the software training and sales business, and then...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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”...

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...

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...