BRANCHING OUT
NFL Chief Information Officer Michelle McKenna-Doyle (BS ’87) believes that her public accounting beginnings gave her a strong cross-section of business.
BRANCHING OUT: Accounting Roots, Unique Career Paths Saxophone artist Kenny G earned a degree in accounting. So did former ultimate fighting champion Chuck Liddell, actor Bob Newhart, novelist John Grisham, Home Depot co-founder Arthur Blank, and world-famous financier J.P. Morgan. But none actually earned fame as practicing accountants. Instead, learning the ‘language of business’ opened the doors to a variety of career and business opportunities beyond the traditional path. Perhaps the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants summed it best: “…there’s one degree that gives you the education to succeed at just about anything in the business world. It’s an accounting degree. Accounting opens doors in every kind of business coast to coast. It can give you the foundation you need to go on and become a CPA. It can prepare you to become a partner in an accounting firm, to pursue a career in finance or corporate management, to work in government, or even to become an entrepreneur. In fact, no matter what you decide to do, having an accounting background can open doors wide.” Take Michelle McKenna-Doyle, for example. The Enterprise, Alabama, native earned a BS in Accounting at Auburn in 1987 and immediately went to work as an auditor at Coopers & Lybrand, a predecessor firm of PwC. Today, she is Chief Information Officer at the National Football League – making the leap from the grid of a spreadsheet to the grid of a football field.
SOA Outstanding Alumnus and real estate developer Bob Broadway (BS ’91) believes that accounting opens more doors than any other business major.
“If you can understand the financials of a company, you can dig deeper to understand what is driving those results and learn how to impact them positively,” said McKenna-Doyle, who oversees the League’s technology strategy, application, and implementation. “When you do that, companies will give you a shot at running any number of initiatives or lines of business. I received a strong cross-section of the business world by working for a big public firm. Ultimately, I transitioned.” Bob Broadway, owner and founder of Huntsville, Alabama, commercial real estate firm, The Broadway Group, holds an Auburn accounting degree but has never held the title “accountant.” “When I graduated in 1991, I realized that while I enjoyed the accounting course work, I really didn’t want to be an accountant,” said Broadway, who specialized in commercial real estate lending at Barnett Bank in Jacksonville, Florida, after college. With accounting, you’re not piFall 2015
The SOA Connection
3