World of Accounting

By Cheryl Lynn Yawman, Rochester Chapter President

The Eighth Annual World of Accounting event was an inspiring experience that sparked the creative juices to write one of my last messages before turning over the reins to President-Elect Mary Murphy in June.

Over 140 high school students from schools in Monroe, Wayne and Livingston counties attended this half-day event geared toward educating high school students about the many career paths available to them in the accounting field. We had students attend from Churchville-Chili High School, Livonia Senior High School, Edison Technology and Occupational Education Center, Rush Henrietta High School, Wayne Central High School, Webster Schroeder High School and Wheatland Chili High School. All of these students are in business programs or had expressed interest in learning more about accounting careers.

Always at the ready, our dedicated and capable World of Accounting (WOA) Committee comprised of Kenneth Hall, Thomas Zuber, Harry Howe and Bill Dresnack delivered a fabulous lineup of varied speakers and events for the students.

Our thanks go out to the many professionals and public accounting practitioners who gave their time at this very busy time of year to speak to the students and open their offices for tours. Howe, from SUNY Geneseo, provided a college academic overview with four of his college accounting major students. Katie Hoy and Michelle Towner from Insero & Co. teamed with Carol Gubb from Mengel Metzger Barr & Co. to provide perspective on what recent college grads who are in public accounting experience.

Leveraging my background as an executive recruiter, I conducted a mock interview with Alissa Chaney from SUNY Brockport. She already has a job lined up, but had a great sense of humor as we tried to act out for the students the difference between a good and bad interviewee, allowing them to point out what she did correctly and incorrectly in the interview.

The corporate accounting perspective was well-represented by Jeff Fasoldt, CFO at Toshiba Business Solutions. Fasoldt also worked in public accounting and showed what life after public accounting can hold for CPAs.

The segment on government accounting was a favorite among the students. Keniel Ledgister, a special agent with the IRS Criminal Investigation Unit, was “packing heat” during his presentation, which was a big hit with the crowd. I heard many students exiting that session proclaiming that they now knew what they wanted to pursue as a career.

Lunch and tours of Mengel Metzger and Barr’s downtown offices by Michelle Cain were also a highlight for the students. It helps them to envision themselves in that environment, when they can see real CPAs at work versus just hearing them speak in an auditorium setting. My personal thanks goes to Mengel Metzger & Barr for opening their doors to 140+ students at this hectic time of year. I also appreciated board member Allis Marion taking her lunch hour to come over to talk with the students.

Hall and I wrapped up with a Q&A session, answering the many mysteries of accounting that were asked by the students, including the ever popular, “So how much money can you make?”

Our thanks also goes to Henry Montero, NYSSCPA’s student recruitment coordinator, for making the trip up to Rochester despite our late March dose of snow to welcome him.

We hold these WOA events at least once if not twice a year. We have had specific feedback linking students who are accounting majors in college to this field trip as what made them decide to pursue our profession. We need more students to pursue accounting as there are far more jobs in our field than qualified candidates (thank goodness or I’d have to find a new career!) The best way to ensure a continuous flow of talent coming up behind you in your organization is to join our cause and help us get more and more students interested in pursuing the profession that we have all chosen as our own.

Please consider presenting at one of these events. Better yet, join the WOA Committee. Have your firm host the tours or provide staff to speak to the students. The return on your minimal time investment will be exponential!

Cheryl Lynn Yawman can be reached at Cheryl@ccy.com.