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Cool Careers in Accounting Ep. 24 - Redefining Public Accounting with Ellen Sulistio
170 Plays1 day ago
In this candid conversation, CPA Ellen Sulistio joins host Mike Potenza to recount her fascinating career journey. She describes her unexpected leap from psychology student to CPA, a decade-long audit career at PwC, an advisory stint at Deloitte, and her current role heading accounting advisory at the subscription-based start-up CPA Club, where she guides firms through the new QC 1000 quality-control standard. You won’t want to miss Ellen’s story, which spotlights the power of mentorship, continuous learning, and work-life balance, all while earning recognition as a 2025 “Woman to Watch.”
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Transcript
Introduction and Background
00:00:09
Speaker
everyone, it's Mike Potenza from Becker Cool Careers in Accounting. And I have a very special guest today, Ellen Selesio. Now, she's got some really good experience and she's doing some things that I think you're going to find interesting. So, Ellen, I'm so happy to have you as a guest on the show today.
00:00:26
Speaker
Thank you. I'm happy to be here. Excellent. Well, thanks again. And what I'd like to do is i always like to get an idea of somebody's roots, you know, where they came from, what's their background. So, you know, tell me, where did you grow up? Where'd you go to school? ah The audience always loves to know that information. Sure. i'm Happy to share. Well, thank you so much for having me here.
00:00:45
Speaker
ah So, yes, my name is Ellen and I grew up in Orange County, California.
Academic Journey and Challenges
00:00:49
Speaker
beautifully Honestly, I was born and raised there. And even I was born in the same hospital that my mom worked at. at the time. So very local to the Orange County area.
00:00:59
Speaker
Grew up there and I even went to college at Chapman University, which is a small private school in Orange County as as well. At Chapman, I majored in business administration and accounting, and I was involved in the accounting society and then also a couple of professional um organizations as well at my time at Chapman. Excellent. So you were an accounting major, would you call it, or just business major? It was a double major. So both, yeah, accounting and business.
00:01:26
Speaker
So would you commute to school or you actually live on campus? I did. So I commuted to school. It was maybe about a 20 minute drive. um And yeah, I i enjoyed living at at home with my dad during the time. So it was it was nice. Excellent. So I went to school in Manhattan and grew up in the Bronx and I was a commuter also. So, okay you know, my kids, it's a little different. They're all living away at school. okay ah yeah You know, sometimes I look at it and I'm like, oh, did I miss out on that? But it's good and bad on each side. Of course, of course.
00:01:54
Speaker
Excellent. So now you go to the accounting program and did you just kind of sign up not knowing or were you undecided or did you know well ahead of time? You know what? I think accounting, that's a profession for me.
00:02:05
Speaker
You know, that's a great question because when I had applied to um college, I actually applied as a psychology major. So I had initially gone to college thinking I wanted to be a psychologist and I wanted to sit down and help people that manner.
00:02:20
Speaker
in that manner ah However, on the first day of college orientation, you know, you're going and you're meeting so many people. um Actually, on one of the school tours, they were saying that she had a lot of psychology major friends and they're constantly in the library doing a ton of research.
00:02:36
Speaker
And I was like, i didn't. You know, i had to do research as a psychologist. um So actually on that same day, I went to the registrar's office and I changed to to pre-business. um And from there, I did my pre-business, um which is basically you have to pass a couple of certain classes and a certain GPA and some of the basic business classes before actually becoming a business major. Mm-hmm. And then once I did that and I officially declared being a business major, and then I also added on accounting as well. After taking Bullet Club accounting classes, I actually had no idea what accounting really was when I first entered college. A lot of people don't. Yeah, i had no idea. And then I took my first accounting 101 class and I actually really struggled through it. I remember going to the office hours a lot and I remember going to the extra tutoring hours that was offered too.
00:03:24
Speaker
um and it was ah but a bit of ah a challenge, um but I think I persisted and i continued to do the cost accounting, managerial ah ah accounting. And by the end of it, I was very close to being an accounting major. I'm like, I think I only need three or four more classes to have a double major. So I just went for it and here I am, a CPA.
00:03:46
Speaker
um But I did go through the process of becoming, or I guess starting as a psychology major, changing to pre-business, doing well in those classes, business major, adding on an accounting major.
00:03:58
Speaker
And it's it's been great so long. Well, very interesting because statistics show that most people that struggle in 101 drop it and they're like oh, this is too hard for me. I'm not going to do it. So you said you struggled, but you persevered. Did you have like a mentor or a friend or like what made you say, you know what, even though I'm not doing so well, I think it's a path I still want to go down.
Career Beginnings and PwC Experience
00:04:20
Speaker
Yeah, I would say the the tutors that I had at Chapman really made it click, I would say. And I also think that the professors that I had were very inspiring and in what they did in in their careers and their willingness to help me kind of through the struggle made it all the more worth it to to go through. I would also say because I went to all the Tutoring and office hours, I developed, you know, some friends that also were pursuing accounting some of these people, they knew they wanted to do accounting from the get go. And they're like, I'm going to be an accountant. um
00:04:54
Speaker
So they were going through all the accounting classes and at a small school, basically all of the accountants are in the same classes and you have the herd travels together. Exactly, exactly. and So I stayed in in in that herd and I knew a couple of people in the class above me as well.
00:05:09
Speaker
And I was actually influenced a lot by by them too, because all of a sudden, sometimes they would come to call or to class in suits and business wear. And i'm like, where why are you guys so dressed up? You know, where you we're usually wearing jeans.
00:05:22
Speaker
But after class, they would go to a lot of events. um So at my school, they called it Meet the Firms, where, you know, they'd have a bunch of different firms at our school and they'd become to recruit And I was like, maybe I should be getting behind this train and going to to these events, starting to network.
00:05:38
Speaker
So as early as my sophomore year, that's when I started going to some different events and I got in touch with the recruiters at these firms. So and that's kind of how I got involved in it. I kind of just followed the footsteps of what those around me were doing.
00:05:53
Speaker
We're doing. And at that time, I didn't even know I wanted to be an accounting major, but I was like, hey, if this is going to help me get a job at the end of college, which, in my opinion, is a goal of most people going to college, you know, having something secure. And most parents sending their kids to college. Exactly. Yeah. You want to make your parents proud, too. Yeah.
00:06:09
Speaker
yeah yeah So that makes sense. When you said you struggle in one-on-one, I'm like, oh, that's so strange that she went kept going. But now you prove the other stats where they say if you have an inspiring professor or professors yeah and a good cohort, it makes all the difference in the world. So I was part of that same kind of cohort model and part of that same herd. And they called us the nerd herd, which I loved it. I loved it. was like, I'm awarded as a badge of honor. like, damn straight. I'm a nerd herd. and I'm going rule the world. Yeah.
00:06:35
Speaker
Yeah, it's always great. It's always great. So that's excellent. So, okay, so you graduate, you have your double major, of them is in accounting, and you get a job right away after graduating. you have internships over the summer, get a job right away? Were they related?
00:06:48
Speaker
Yeah. So actually through Chapman, they helped us go through the recruiting process. And it was great because they would review our resumes. They would help us make sure that we hit the deadlines to apply. We had even mock interviews where we could pretend to interview with people. So I feel like they did a really good job helping with my professional development as well.
00:07:07
Speaker
So that was one thing that also helped me um get to where I am today. today But I did end up getting an internship with PwC in my junior year of of college. um And I really enjoyed my internship. I did an audit internship with them.
00:07:20
Speaker
And then after that, I was offered a full time offer and to start in the following fall. So I took them on. I took them up on the offer and I was really happy because it was really nice going into my senior year already having a job lined up.
00:07:34
Speaker
Those internships come in handy. That is for sure. And then you said you are a CPA. So did you start staying for the exam before graduation? Or were you working at PwC? And you know how did you prepare for it? Yeah, absolutely. So I actually had the pleasure of graduating one semester early. So I graduated in December.
00:07:53
Speaker
So I had a full nine months period. um of not working before starting at PwC. So that's the time that I took to use Becker. so And I studied for my CPA exam before that. I mean, I took a couple of breaks here and that I wasn't, you know, studying nine to five every day for nine months.
00:08:09
Speaker
um But I did pass three of the exams using Becker's materials before starting PwC. And then I passed my last exam maybe a couple of months after I started. Love those shameless plugs. Nothing the matter with that. All right. So now you're at PwC. So tell me, how long did you wind up staying at PwC? and And just walk me through like some of the ah you know real formative experiences you had and how that kind of helped shape what you did in the future professionally.
00:08:34
Speaker
Sure. Yeah. So I started at PwC and I primarily worked in the audit practice. So I was there for a total of about 10 years. um But I can walk you through a little bit of kind of the journey to to get there and kind of some of the big milestones. Mm-hmm. So one of the big milestones at PwC is becoming a senior associate, which typically happens at the two or three year mark.
00:08:56
Speaker
um And as you get promoted to senior associate back in the day, they would send all the seniors kind of on a wellness retreat to a beautiful resort. and in Southern California. Ooh, I like that. Yes. um And it wasn't a it was a training really focused on wellbeing, um which really inspired me because I think that so many of us in public accounting work so many hours and get burnt out.
00:09:20
Speaker
And this was really a reflection of like, okay, this is going to be your career. How are you going make it sustainable? How are you going to have the energy to lead a audit continuously?
00:09:31
Speaker
um So I had a really impactful moment at at and they they They call it PwC Discover. They probably have a different name now because it was quite a while ago. um But you really discover yourself, how how you work, because as you step into that senior role, it's really um a different leadership style than you were as an associate or as an experienced associate, because you're really the leader of the audit and people are looking to you for how we're going to get this done.
00:09:57
Speaker
And you need to be able to manage and take care of yourself before you can take care of other people. And that's one thing that I learned. um We had a a coach there um to help us through kind of all those discussions and really helping us develop that personal side of our leadership style.
00:10:13
Speaker
Excellent. So that was a big part of a big milestone in my senior year, that kind of helped my trajectory to probably help me stay longer at PwC. So I didn't experience the burnout. So a lot of that is, you know, taking breaks, making sure that you're, if you are going to be working long hours that you take breaks throughout, you don't eat at your desk every day.
00:10:33
Speaker
You still get some sunshine. It sounds basic, but when you're in the heat of the stress, It is very hard. for Trenches. Exactly. it it It is very hard to sometimes step away. And I always made that a big priority on the teams I was at. And I think that it resonated with a lot of people. And I think I'm probably biased, but I feel like the more the the team morale on my team is often very high because I really focused on having that good team team culture.
00:10:58
Speaker
I love that. So were you primarily in audit throughout your tenure at PwC? I was, but I did have a couple of distinct experiences while I was there too. So when I was a manager, I had the opportunity to do a national tour um with their with with the national office. So ah a tour is basically for two years, I get sent to the national office and they have different specialties.
00:11:20
Speaker
And the one that I chose was learning and development. And in my role in learning development, we had the ability to ah develop the trainings for PwC. So anyone from an intern to a partner, we would develop any of the trainings that they would do, ah whether it be their annual trainings or whether it be a quarterly webinar kind of defining what the content is so that we can really upskill our people so they can perform high high quality audits.
00:11:45
Speaker
And a lot of the trainings that we did were in response to PCAOB inspection comments that we got as a whole at PwC. um So it was a really great learning experience um during my my tour there.
00:11:59
Speaker
um And I would say that one of the things that happened during my tour was COVID. um so so So switching from an in-person learning environment to a virtual environment in the snap of a finger was a really big ah project for all of us. And I'm sure everyone can relate. ah Probably a lot of you guys who are listening went through that change when you're either in high school or college, you know, going from ah in-person environment where you see your colleagues every day and then immediately switching to a Zoom environment or Google Hangouts, whatever your firm is. Right.
00:12:33
Speaker
So now you're working PwC for basically a decade and COVID hits, and then you leave PwC and you took a job with another big four, right? they did, yes. And was that, did you, do you think COVID had something to do with that? Or what was the reason to say, you know i want a little bit of a change? Yeah.
Transition to Deloitte and CPA Club
00:12:50
Speaker
So actually, and so after I did my national tour, I did one more stint in a different department at PwC called their Center of Excellence. Sure. And basically, PwC has these things called Center of Excellence, which specialize in auditing certain areas. Mm-hmm.
00:13:06
Speaker
a center of excellence might specialize in auditing accounts receivable or cash or payroll. And just to make the audits more efficient, um I had the pleasure of working in the insurance center of excellence.
00:13:18
Speaker
So I was an expert in auditing premiums and claims. However, i was a senior manager at the time and i kind of felt like I still wanted to learn more about the whole industry and not be pigeonholed in the insurance industry. sure um So that's when I decided to look at outside jobs. And that's where I ended up at Deloitte. And at Deloitte, I actually took on an accounting and advisory job. So I was leaving the audit space and entering the advisory space there.
00:13:45
Speaker
So, you know, you have a great resume, right? You're doing great work at PwC, at Deloitte, but you didn't stay too long at Deloitte and you moved to your current gig at CPA Club. So tell me why you decided to leave Deloitte pretty quickly and go to CPA Club and, you know, what type of work are you doing over there now? And, you know, is it related to everything you did coming up through the ranks?
00:14:05
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. So I actually really enjoyed the work that I did at Deloitte. It was advisory work. And when you do advisory work, you know, you really feel like you're on the same team as the clients that you're helping out. right And when I was at Deloitte, I really wasn't looking for a new job.
00:14:20
Speaker
However, one day i received a LinkedIn message um from my current employer. um His name is Chris Vanover. And I had worked with him previously PwC.
00:14:32
Speaker
And he messaged me saying like, hey, this might be a long shot, but just wanted to see if you want to get coffee. um Just want to chat and see how everything's going. And I had kept in touch with Chris every now and then because we just had known each other from our days at PwC.
00:14:46
Speaker
um But basically, it was a Tuesday morning and I got coffee with with Chris and I learned what he was doing at CPA Club. And it really... in intrigued me. And we can talk about more about that in a little bit.
00:14:58
Speaker
um But yeah, I met with Chris on a Tuesday. On Wednesday, I met with a couple of other people um at CPA Club. And then on Thursday, I had an offer in my inbox um to join the club.
00:15:09
Speaker
And I was very ecstatic. And it all happened so fast, because like I've said before, I wasn't looking for a job because as you know, when you look for a job, you know, you have to apply, you have to wait, ye you have to get screened by HR, you have to do first round, second round, third round, maybe even a technical exercise. And then maybe you don't even like that company or it wasn't ah a a good match. You have to repeat that process for so many different companies.
00:15:33
Speaker
But this made it really easy. And I think having that personal connection with Chris and really trusting my career with him and was a no brainer. Well, that's great to hear. And I mean, it's great advice for everyone out there, but especially for the younger people out there, relationships are key, right? When you're going through, whether it's big four, top 10, top 25, or even a small or mid-sized farm, keeping contact with those relationships opens up so many more doors and gives you future opportunities that you would just never even have.
00:16:03
Speaker
So, you know, it's really great to hear another success story on yeah keeping and cultivating those relationships. Yeah. Absolutely. Okay, so now you're at clubs it should be CPA Club. Tell me about the type of work you're doing there. Yeah, so at CPA Club, I oversee our accounting advisory practice.
00:16:19
Speaker
So we help a number of of companies with managed accounting services. So whether people need a fractional senior accountant, fractional manager, fractional controller, or or CFO, we are there to help.
00:16:33
Speaker
Because as you know, there is a shortage of CPAs out there And that's why a lot of us are overworked and stressed out because there's just not enough of us, frankly. So our our company comes in and we can help out um the companies who are struggling, who who may have interim needs or who who who may just need an extra pair of hands helping them with with their books.
00:16:56
Speaker
So that's great. You know, I love that word fractional, right? Because a lot of companies, they don't need a full time person, right? Exactly. You could just kind of really divide it up here and there when they need those hours. So that makes a lot of sense.
00:17:08
Speaker
But that's ah one thing that you do for this organization, for CPA Club, you know, providing services to clients. Mm But if you go down a little deeper, you were telling me that you were involved with that whole PCAOB, GC1000 and the new audit standards that are out that we all know that date, December 15, 2025, where this is a requirement for firms. So how are you doing that? Are you stepping away from providing services to clients and just focusing in on that? Or are you just overseeing it in a bit? So tell me about how that whole relationship worked.
00:17:41
Speaker
Yeah, so it's a little bit of both. So I still ah oversee the the company side of of our practice. But like you mentioned, there is a deadline of December 15th for firms to implement this SQMS and QC1000 standard.
00:17:55
Speaker
um So that has been kind of a mini project for for us. And I was involved in creating the the content for Caseware for QC1000. And what that really means is that PCOB has released you know these QC1000 standards that need to be implemented by CPA firms.
00:18:13
Speaker
And what it really is, is the equivalent of stocks 404, but for CPA firms, right? So if you think about your public company, they have to have internal controls set up.
00:18:24
Speaker
Now the PCOB and the AICPA are saying, hey, you know what? CPA firms, they should also have quality management as well. And this should be managed in the form of or through QC 1000 and SQMS.
00:18:36
Speaker
So what we've done and and what but I've helped caseware with is develop the library for QC 1000. And what that means is taking a look at what the what the standards are saying, what the objectives are, and kind of helping firms understand what the risks are as they go through this process so they can develop new policies and new procedures to address QC 1000.
00:18:57
Speaker
what the standards are saying in QC 1000. So it was a pretty big project last fall to develop that content for them. And now CPA Club is in the process of helping firms design and implement what their system of quality control should look like. So if you think and if you compare it to a company, if they're implementing SOX for the first time, it's like, OK, what controls should should be in place?
00:19:20
Speaker
But this is just for the CPA firms. What controls should a CPA firm have in place? I love when you first started to talk about that answer. You're updating all of the audit standards and you called it a mini project. I said, mini project? I don't want to know your definition of major project. That's for sure. Wow. Well, that is interesting because, yeah, I mean, this is a big change, right? a big shift. It's huge. So to be at the ground level of doing that, I mean, there's just so much more value you're adding to yourself, your resume, and to the firm being at that ground level. So that's really interesting. Absolutely. Now, I know at CPA Club, the way you're approaching the services you provide, there's a lot of innovation.
Innovations and Contributions at CPA Club
00:20:04
Speaker
You're doing things that a lot of other firms aren't doing. And I know you're working with in there and you're providing all these other services. So just talk to me about the organization and the innovation. And, you know, it must be very interesting, I assume. Yeah, absolutely. And I think one thing that I would add to that helps make the innovation more exciting as well is that CPA Club, we operate on a subscription model.
00:20:29
Speaker
So people will subscribe monthly or or annually to our services. And we've thrown out the traditional model of billable hours, right? Because in our minds, if firms are billing on a billable hour basis, there's not really an incentive to be efficient, right? Because if it if it takes a firm, let's say 12 hours to get something done, then they're going to bill but for those 12 hours and they'll get paid for the 12 hours.
00:20:55
Speaker
But if we can we can if we can find a way to be innovative and use AI or some of the other technologies out there to get that same task done in one hour, then they can only bill for one hour of work.
00:21:06
Speaker
But if they're doing the same amount of work. Counterintuitive. It's counterintuitive. So that's why at CPA Club, we really focus on the solutions that we provide and the value that we provide to our to our members rather than how many hours did did it take us.
00:21:19
Speaker
So it makes it easier on on on our end for us and for our employees to be like, hey, how can we we make this more efficient? Because no matter how much time it it takes us, we're going to get paid the same amount.
00:21:30
Speaker
So if we can find a faster way to do it, let's do let's do that. Yeah, I mean, it makes total sense here. I don't know how other firms going to react to that. They're hey, you're making us look bad here. Stop that. Stop that. Right?
00:21:41
Speaker
Yeah. All right. So let me ask you about something else. As I was reading up on your company, you yeah talk about things like structured learning paths and project tracking tools. So is that all part of the innovation? Is that something different than what other firms are doing?
00:21:54
Speaker
Yeah, so and in my role at CPA Club, I also serve as our people leader. um So as part of that, I develop structured like um learning paths for everyone.
00:22:05
Speaker
So it's ah it's ah pretty much a a map of how they're going to hit their CPE credits to remain ah licensed CPA. And we have a ah a variety of different ways that they could do that, whether it's through Becker or we have um some other podcasts that they could listen to through service called you ear earmark.
00:22:24
Speaker
And then we also attend conferences as, as well. So it's really defining, okay, what classes make the most sense and what CP makes the most sense for our people and when's the right time for them to take it.
00:22:34
Speaker
Cause oftentimes sometimes at the bigger firms, they're like, all right, here's your annual training, send you away for a week or, or, or two, but it's not really timely and relevant to what you're learning at the time.
00:22:45
Speaker
Whereas for one of our, um, in, in, employees, I just sent him to an FP&A training the other week because that's something that we're helping our um our members with. So I wanted it to be relevant and timely for him.
00:22:56
Speaker
um So that's something that I incorporated into his learning path for the whole year. And he kind of has an idea of like what he's going to be learning for the whole year and how he's going to hit his CPE. Sure. So these almost custom individual development plans as opposed to, hey, here's a plan for everybody. Just rinse and repeat over and over.
00:23:13
Speaker
But you focus on, all right, what are you doing? Where do you need skill improvement? So that makes a lot of sense. I'm sure the staff is very happy about that as well. Yeah. And I would also add that I also put the ball into their court saying, hey, what skills do you guys need to be more successful at your job? Do you need more more trainings in certain technologies? You need more trainings on the technical side. And i I ask them what they want to learn about, because I often find that when you get input from people for what they actually what actually interests them, they're more ah app to learning about that.
00:23:44
Speaker
So is that tied into, I know you're a, what's called a certified coach. So is that all part of the same process? And what does that mean to be a certified coach? Yeah.
Personal Development and Well-being Focus
00:23:53
Speaker
So it's a little bit different. So certified coach is um a certification that one can ah obtain for how to become basically a a coach and in someone's life.
00:24:03
Speaker
And that could be anywhere from a career coach to an executive leadership coach and a wellness coach. And that's actually something that I got inspired to obtain after I went to the PwC Senior to Discover it experience where we went to that nice resort in Southern California, and because one of the coaches there was really helpful and instrumental.
00:24:23
Speaker
for me to think about how I'm approaching my life and how i'm approaching my career. So I actually got a certification to be a coach um because one of my favorite parts about being in the accounting career is actually coaching and mentoring some of the junior staff.
00:24:39
Speaker
So I felt that that was really helpful for me in my career. And I kind of want to pay it forward and be able to be that mentor or that coach um for someone at a younger level as well. Yeah. And that, you know, we call this cool careers in accounting, right? Because you're doing a lot of accounting, but you're doing so many things beyond just accounting. And, you know, you might not be able to do that at a very large firm where all these different hats were to, you know, a smaller firm or startup where you could do a lot of these things because, you know, you went through your audit path and, you know, now you're going through developing SQMS and, PCAOB, QC1000. But now you're also developing staff, you're coaching.
00:25:19
Speaker
And I know you're also involved. We had a conversation about just well-being and avoiding burnout. So is that all part of the same process? And is that just stuff that you try to help the younger staff understand how to really guide their careers to make sure that they're not going to burn out?
00:25:36
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. I think it's all tied together because I think that um when we are um are our best selves, that's when we're rested and we're taking breaks and we really have the opportunity to think clearly and in those moments. But if we're constantly stressed and burnt out, that's when, you know,
00:25:55
Speaker
We start to question our our our life choices. um But I think that being able to have a clear mind and knowing that you're making the choices that you want to make in in this career um is something that has helped me you know stay as as long as I have in this career. But this career isn't for everyone. And you'll even see that, especially in some of the bigger firms. Some people might only stay for a year or two and pivot into something else saying, hey, it's not for for me.
00:26:21
Speaker
But I think what I've done that's unique about my career is I've found the things that I liked about this career and kind of held on to them. For example, learning and development. When I was at PwC, I did a tour in that. and i kind of what I was still doing accounting, but it was in the learning and development side. And I still enjoy teaching classes ah as well.
00:26:39
Speaker
And then even obtaining the coaching certification, I'm still doing all the technical accounting stuff, but I've just shown an interest to my leaders and to my bosses saying, hey, but I'm also really interested in developing the people here and's kind of just finding a way to make it work um and thinking about what you like about the profession and kind of giving it back as well.
00:26:58
Speaker
So you're doing all of this, wearing all these different hats. And yeah on top of it, correct me if I'm wrong here, but don't you also have a ah very young child and you're trying to, you know, raise this child and do all of these things? yeah Are you able to balance it yourself personally?
00:27:12
Speaker
Yes. So I do have a little baby boy. And I feel like even using the word baby is not even the right term anymore because he's going to be two this summer. um But he is small. um And I would say that having a career in accounting does allow you to have you know a flexible work-life balance. And I think one silver lining out of COVID is the shift in mentality of being able to work in a hybrid environment. Mm-hmm.
00:27:34
Speaker
So at my firm, we go in twice a week and then I work ah from home twice a week. And one thing that I actually didn't mention is that CPA Club often um observes a four day work week. So we typically work Monday through Thursday.
00:27:47
Speaker
And on Fridays, I can spend time with my boy. But I would also say that um I wouldn't be able to have this work life balance if it weren't for all the family and friends that are able to help out. So for example, we get a lot of help from my mom and from my in-law and just from my brother-in-law and, you know, just everyone's pitches in, whether it's even just watching ah the baby for like an hour or so, so I can just crank away at work or get a workout in.
00:28:13
Speaker
um It's really about saying, it's really about understanding what your, your needs are and asking for help when you need it. So, I mean, this is not all what you're doing, you know, professionally and for the people. It's not going unrecognized. yeah As a matter of fact, Cal CPA nominated you as a woman to watch for 2025. That must give you a great sense of pride that, hey, I'm doing all of this work and other people see it.
00:28:37
Speaker
So talk to me about, you know, the recognition you received for that. Yeah, I mean, I was really surprised to be nominated for that award. And I think just even the fact that I was recognized for the the nomination was a big deal to me because I don't even think of myself as, you know, a woman to watch or someone that's to to be on on the lookout for.
00:28:58
Speaker
But after I read, you know, for the reasons that why i I was nominated, you know, just for my career path, the things that I've been in involved in, I think that I was like, what, I'll take some credit for the things that I've been nominated for. And it made me happy to reflect on the career that I've built so far.
00:29:16
Speaker
um And ah it also makes me hopeful for what's ahead as ah as well. And just being at the conference where I was nominated, it was mainly a woman. a there i mean, there was men there too, but there was a lot of women there. And was very inspiring to hear their stories, how they ended up in in their career and kind of just be inspired by um all the stories around us.
00:29:35
Speaker
Well, it's great. as ah As someone married and three daughters, I live in a household full of women. And it's always great. I love the recognition because they are, you know, my kids. It's the same thing. just it's a whole different thought process. And I think it's great to be recognized for it I mean, I listen to everything that you do as we have this conversation and I'm tired.
00:29:54
Speaker
I need a nap. Like, do we have a hammock? I would love a nap. Don't get me wrong. All right. So you've done so much
Personal Interests and Advice
00:30:02
Speaker
professionally. So is the plan right now, you know, you're happy at CPA Club and you're like, hey, this is something I want to do for long haul? Or are you just kind of taking it, you know, day by day, week by week? Tell me about what do you think you have in store for yourself in the future?
00:30:15
Speaker
Yeah, so actually, i really enjoy CPA Club and I feel like I've put my career in the hands of Chris Vanover, who is our our leader. And I'm i'm here for for for for, I'm sorry, i I'm here for good.
00:30:28
Speaker
So i'm I'm looking forward to helping the club grow and i don't see any other options as my career, basically. This is it. And, you know, there there is a lot of talk about billable hours and efficiencies and things like that. And, you know, there's always one domino that falls first before all the other dominoes yeah have to fall. Right. So will be interesting to see if, you know, something is going to happen throughout the profession. You know, you never know. Right. You just never know when it's going to happen. So it will be interesting. Yeah, definitely. So let's let's stop talking about accounting for a minute. We talked about you professionally, right? But you talked about, hey, we don't want to burn out and you have to know what it is you like to do and how to have a life balance, right? A work life balance. So talk to me about, you know, fun facts, things about Ellen that you like to do outside of accounting. Yeah. So actually i grew up as a dancer. So I started dancing at the age of three. What kind of dance?
00:31:21
Speaker
I did ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, lyrical, and I actually danced competitively too. So it was quite the workload for a you know, elementary school kid all the way through high school. I think it was like 15 to 25 hours a week just after school.
00:31:37
Speaker
dance practice, competitions, recitals. It's a big time commitment, but I really enjoyed it. And I feel like it also fed my soul and in a way. um And it was a good break from school.
00:31:48
Speaker
um And then um also, in addition to being a dancer, um in once I started working full time and had so my so some money of my own. um I also enjoyed traveling as as well. So um I enjoy traveling the world. And it's not it's something that i actually started later in in life. I know some people um have the opportunity to travel, you know, from a young age um with their families. But um I only started traveling probably after college when I had my own money to to ah fund it. um So, yeah, traveling is a big deal. Traveling is great. Learning about other countries and other cultures. I find it fascinating myself. So, you know, give me maybe the best or the two best places that you visited. Yeah. You know, it's hard to say the best um place because it really depends on, you know, what mood you're in. But um one of the pleasures I had was when I was at PwC, I actually took a sabbatical.
00:32:40
Speaker
And during that sabbatical, I had the opportunity to take some time to travel. um So during that time, I traveled, I think, to about 13 different countries. I will say if you're looking for nature, my favorite is definitely Iceland. It's just very...
00:32:55
Speaker
idyllic And there's so many different terrains in in Iceland that I enjoy. um But for something a little more adventurous, I would say I really enjoyed my time in Rwanda and Tanzania. So there I did um a safari where we saw lots of animals in the wild. and And I think it takes you back just to your roots of seeing just what Mother Nature is. You know, you got to see the hunting and the eating and kind of the sneaking up on the animals. Yeah. I always see online those like safari videos gone wrong and the elephants are charging. I'd be scared. None of that. You didn't feel threatened or anything. I never felt. Like a rhino coming at you. I never felt threatened. But I will say as part of that experience, we we actually slept in or we were doing some some glamping and we slept in some very nice tents there. and But during the nighttime, you can hear the elephants and the animals kind of.
00:33:45
Speaker
walking and hurting through where, where, where you're sleeping, which is a little bit scary. Um, but we're here and we made it through. yeah thank goodness So it seems to me like you have it figured out. You have it figured out professionally, personally, things seem to be going well.
00:34:02
Speaker
So if there's someone, let's say, you know, trying to figure out what they want to do, maybe they're just in high school or just starting college. Yeah. Any advice you could give them? Maybe it's related to accounting or do you want to be an accountant or just something outside of accounting?
00:34:14
Speaker
Yeah, you know, I would say um keep your keep an open mind is probably the the best the best advice that that I could give because you never know who's going to come into your path. And I think, like I alluded to a little bit before, but relationships are really the best way to kind of get into a different industry or to get a a job.
00:34:34
Speaker
And really the people that you work for make all the all the difference. And it could be hit or miss, whoever you you work for. And I would probably say that in my job, it doesn't matter um what I'm actually doing, but it's who I'm working for, who I'm working alongside with that makes the the biggest difference. So you can take my whole team right now. If you were to throw us into the restaurant business or the construction business, we would still find a way to make it work. And I would still enjoy it because of the people that I i work with. And I know their capabilities of being able to pivot and learn something new.
00:35:06
Speaker
um So I feel like it doesn't necessarily matter exactly what you're doing, but the people that you work with make the most difference. um I would say that I do enjoy accounting as well. um So if you want to go into accounting, I have no regrets going into accounting either. Well, it seems to have served you well, that's yeah for sure And no plans to leave Southern California that's home and that's where you're staying? Yes, born and raised. And it's very hard for me to leave this beautiful weather that we have here. And it's just a beautiful place to live.
00:35:34
Speaker
Well, sounds like a great place to me. And thank you so much for coming here and sharing all of this information. Really fascinating what you're doing and what I can't imagine what you're going to be doing in the future. So thank you again for taking the time. We really appreciate it. Yes, of course. Thank you.
00:35:49
Speaker
Now, I just want to make sure that everyone is aware that you can watch these for free, but if you want to get CPE credit, guess what? All you need to do is go to the show notes, click on the link, follow the instructions, and you can get credit for watching this.
00:36:03
Speaker
And if you are a prime CPE subscriber at Becker, you could just log in and finalize your credits and you don't have to do anything else beyond that. So thanks everyone for coming to another Becker Cool Careers in Accounting podcast.
00:36:17
Speaker
Thank you, Ellen. And we look forward to seeing you in our next upcoming episode.