http://toptierlife.com/2007/07/03/interview-series-part-3/
Francine McKenna (Linkedin profile here) has led a remarkable career in professional services, including stints in Big 4 accounting and consulting firms. She currently runs her own consultancy, and writes her own blog, re:The Auditors keeping a close and critical eye on the activies of the audit industry. We are very happy she has agreed to be interviewed for Top Tier Life.
Francine, what made you get into accounting as a profession?
Hi Andrew. I decided to major in accounting because it seemed like a good idea at the time. I wanted to graduate in four years and had to work during the summer to pay for school and so I couldn’t afford to take a lot of extra classes in the summer. Marketing seemed too light and Finance a bore. I actually ended up in the business school at the last minute after having been first accepted to the university at the end of my junior year of high school into an Economics Honors program. When I went back to high school after summer break and told my teachers, they advised me, as a girl, to go into something more transferable into a job – nursing, teaching or accounting. I chose accounting.
Can you tell us a little about how you have managed your career?
Well, I would not advise anyone to take as many twists and turns as I have, unless they are very resilient and have a supportive family and/or spouse/partner. Looking back, I wonder if staying at anyone of the places I worked for at least twice as many years woud have been better. But in the end, I have always been driven to take on more responsibility and to learn. More money has come as a happy consequence of both, but this is not something I planned. People also think I am am a super-networker and I do know a lot of people and have some relationships that go back to my days at as an intern at a bank while in college. But I have also lost many contacts along the way. I dont believe the saying, “Don’t burn any bridges.” I think sometimes people and jobs are best left in the dust. I am actually what has been called an introvert with learned extrovert tendencies. I realy prefer one-one one interactions but have learned how to do things like business development and public speakng because they are necessary for the career I have chosen and because they provide a different kind of gratification than solo activities.
You have been creative in your approach to managing your career, and have been very successful in the Big 4 environment. What is your advice to those just starting out their careers in the profession?
Make sure you want to be there. Examine your motives, feelings, drivers at every step. Many people make a very successful career in public accounting and professional services. Not all of them are happy or good people. I do not believe in the concept of work-life-family balance. What I mean is that you should always be moving towards convergence of all of your interests, aptitudes and passions. Making a living often takes a lot of time away from family and other hobbies or interests. Wouldn’t it be nice if the work, the vocation you choose, is also an expansion of your interests and in synch with the lifestyle you want to lead, whether that is a solo existence, with a partner or spouse, or with a big family? Writing about professional services is finally a way to mix what I know, what I’m good at and the opportunity to be around other people whose interests I share.
Do you have any advice on how to make partner, and whether that is a worthwhile goal?
It’s not for me to say whether that’s worthwhile. That depends on the person and a lot depends on the firm, the circumstances and your personal goals, etc. It’s a big finanical and professional risk, as we saw with Anderson. It’s also a great way to be an entrepreneur with a safety net. You have the infrastructure of a group of partners and a ready-made operational infrastructure. But if you are good with clients and develop your area of expertise, you are really a small business, almost like a franchise within a larger entity. There can be a lot of freedom and a lot of security in being a well regarded expert in your field. Knowledge is portable. No one can take that away from you.
How to do it? Well I did it once before, at KPMG Consulting/Bearing Point. Business development is even more important to becoming a partner in the consulting practices than in the audit practices. But it’s not the hard sell. It’s the long term development of good relationships built on trust and credibility. That’s what the profession stands for and that’s what it needs to earn back, in my estimation. Becoming a partner is a road that still takes a long time, 10-12 years on average. Best bet is to give it your best shot at one firm. I’ve found the firms have a hard time accepting transfers at the experienced levels from other firms and especially from outside the Big 4, unless it’s at the pre-manager level.
Your blog is often highly critical of the practices of Big 4 accounting firms. How do you see them changing in the future?
I am not sure. I think the model is due for a huge shift, whether it is to a more public service model or to an expansion of transparency and accountability in the firms in order to restore public trust. My intention is to use my independent status to ask questions that others can’t. Some can’t because they are caught up in a self-serving circle. Others can’t because they have to make a living and meet their obligations.
What is the objective of your blog?
The blog is my personal commentary on people, places and things that interest me. It’s also a way for me to build a foundation for the book and to explore a portfolio of activities that include consulting, writing, teaching and speaking that will allow me to live the way I want to live.
Lecturers may tell you thousands of things – big strategies, a lot of principles etc, but if you don’t use them in you every day life – you either forget all these, or just don’t need it.