charge of our self-funded health insurance plan at the manufacturing plant where I currently work.” Christian referred to her former job as IT audit manager with a large health care company. “Learning about the industry and the role IT plays in it was very challenging,” she commented, adding “Sometimes audits were conducted at the facilities, so I got the reward of meeting the people working within the facilities to help patients.” From her days in industry, Willis said, “I traveled to London once a quarter to gather accounting information and meet with staff there.” In addition, she explained, “I was on the SAP Implementation Team, where we tested how accounting information would be entered into the enterprise resource planning system and how it would be reported.” Talk of a busiest season led in several directions. At the privately held manufacturing company, a crunch time for accounting functions is January-March. A Call Report for the credit union is due to the national regulatory body after each quarter and financial statements must be provided for the monthly board of directors meeting. In the university, the beginning and the end of each semester are times of work compression; at the beginning, students are trying to make sure they’re in the right classes and the end requires wrap-up before final grades are due.
Work/Volunteer Skills and Chapter Involvement
Many of the skills needed to be volunteer leaders have been learned in business. Learning to work with all types of people who have various levels of education and work experience – with compassion and empathy – is crucial. Truly valuing other opinions is important. Also, time management is needed to fit chapter leadership into a life full of career and personal obligations.
MANY OF THE SKILLS NEEDED TO BE VOLUNTEER LEADERS HAVE BEEN LEARNED IN BUSINESS. Involvement in the chapter began in various ways. For all three, it started with encouragement from an experienced leader. Barnhart remembers, “I began attending meetings with our CFO, Mark Van Herpen, soon after moving to the area.” He modestly jokes, “I was nominated to a board position during a meeting that I missed and the rest is history!”
8 Texas Society of CPAs
Christian got involved with her previous chapter, San Antonio, through their Career Awareness Committee. She named Fred Timmons as her mentor. “He was enthusiastic and he wanted you to know that you belonged there,” she said. Willis also started her participation in the San Antonio Chapter; she volunteered to go to a high school and teach in the National Endowment for Financial Education Financial Literacy Program. When she moved back to Tyler, Kathy Kapka got her involved on the East Texas Chapter diversity committee; then, she started working with the chapter board of directors.
Career Rewards and Challenges
Barnhart is lucky enough to see, every day, the tangible output of the company where he works. Ledwell clients include the equipment rental, transportation, fire, waste, energy, governmental, agricultural and construction industries. Many of the products that are created there are a direct result of clients’ specific needs. He enthuses: “I enjoy seeing the heavy equipment being developed. Even though I’m not in the shops actually building them, I enjoy knowing that I had a part in it.” For Willis, a career reward is the opportunity to develop unique projects in areas such as Excel, current technology and auditing so that university students can learn the accounting and information systems they will need to be successful in their jobs. Another aspect is that her job led to serving as chapter advocate and faculty advisor for Beta Alpha Psi at UT Tyler. She has traveled to Arkansas to initiate new Beta Alpha Psi chapters and across the U.S. for their conferences. She goes on to say: “It’s so rewarding to watch students walk across the stage both at graduation and at the CPA Swearing-In Ceremony. Also, it’s rewarding to see a student’s excitement when they get their first internship or job offer. When they attain their goal of graduation and/or passing the CPA exam, it’s worth any challenges that I might have faced in helping them.” Later on, she receives emails from former students thanking her and expressing that they realize how much they actually learned. Turning the conversation to their challenges, Barnhart observes: “In large part, our success is dependent on our customers’ successes. We can’t grow if they aren’t also doing well.” Continuing to move forward and to groom potential replacements are issues on Christian’s mind. A recent challenge for her has been moving into the realm of teaching at the college level. Along those lines, Willis