The Accounting “Circle of Life”

Abstract

I was honored when Auditing Section President Mark Peecher asked me to be the luncheon speaker today. But I was especially pleased when I saw that the theme of this year’s meeting is “Building Our Accounting Community.” That is something I’ve always been passionate about, and I’m happy to share my thoughts on the theme with you. I’d love to hear your thoughts as well. During the past decade, I have been privileged to spend an increasing percentage of my time working to bring more women and people of color into our profession. Especially in the last two years, since accepting the assignment to lead the Deloitte Foundation, I have focused particular attention on the educational infrastructure that fills our talent pool. Many people think accountants are made in college and graduate school. But educators know that the seeds of a career are often planted early. Parents know this, too. Your three-year-old sees a shiny red fire truck roaring down the street and declares, “I want to be a fireman!” A nine-year-old sees the grace and power of a home run sailing out of the park and decides to be a baseball player. A 12-year-old watches the drama of an election year and sets out to become president. But you do not often hear of similar epiphanies about our profession. Imagine a child emerging from his or her bedroom, ink-stained hands clutching a sheaf of papers covered in math problems, and shouting, “I WANT TO BE AN ACCOUNTANT!” It just does not happen. Or at least it does not happen enough. That’s why the Deloitte Foundation and many others support business and accounting education from grade school to graduate school—with a special emphasis on bringing more people of color into the profession. Once these budding accountants get into the capable hands of our friends from academia, you educate them and inspire them, and for that you have our respect and our support. Year after year, you send us young people who are more than qualified to lead our profession forward. We are pleased to support them in whatever career choice they make, whether they choose to remain in academia and educate future generations of accountants or wish to embark on a career in the profession—perhaps to return to academia in retirement. That’s a big “perhaps,” I know. We’ll talk more about it in a few minutes. You might call this progression from awareness to education to career, and possibly back to education, our profession’s version of the “circle of life.” The work you do in academia and the work we do in the business world feed each other. In fact, they are now and always will be linked.