Advancing Accounting
What does the CPA of the future look like? If they’re anything like Carla (Stella) McCall ’89, P ’28: whip smart, passionate about the industry and a tireless advocate for evolving the profession. The managing partner at AAFCPAs, a 325-person CPA and consulting firm based near Boston, McCall is the new chair of the American Institute for CPAs (AICPA). She’s hit the ground running as a champion for accounting. “People have an old view of what we do. One of my responsibilities as chair of the AICPA is PR for accounting. We don’t do math! We use technology, we solve complex problems, we own public trust, we work in teams,” she says.
The top skills McCall looks for in a new hire: agile thinking, adaptability quotient, critical thinking and analytics skills. “Accounting used to be an apprenticeship model: you started on the ground floor and learned the basics,” she explains. “Now, more and more of that lower level work is being done by technology. Learning and development in firms need to change, and colleges and universities also need to prepare students for what they’re going to encounter.”
McCall is doing her part on that front: her firm established an MBA program with a local college to ensure that students learn the right kinds of skills, along with coaching for the CPA exam. Her advice? Take the exam as early as possible in your career — when you’re still in a learning mindset. The more responsibility you gain at work and in your personal life, the harder it will become.
Of her Bentley education, McCall remembers that hands-on work solving business cases was most valuable. “People came together from different areas — marketing, finance, accounting — and it taught you how to respect other people’s perspectives.” McCall notes Bentley’s great reputation for partnering with businesses to ensure real-world education.
On Finding Your Purpose
McCall credits a very progressive managing partner at the small public accounting firm she joined after graduating from Bentley with allowing her to find her way. “He gave a lot of face time to younger employees, and I learned very quickly that this profession is a relationship business.” When it came time for her next move, she knew she wanted to find a firm that was open to her becoming a partner: “I loved the diversity of the work. I love meeting new people, I love people coming to me for advice, I love relationship building.” AAFCPAs was the right fit for that, and it also aligned with McCall’s commitment to community service.
After becoming a partner at AAFCPAs in 2003, McCall dubbed herself the partner in charge of staff development, wanting to bridge the gap between partners and staff. Over the years she created a number of development programs: human resources, mentoring, coaching, a professional development department, and the Women’s Opportunity Network, which became an early model for the firm’s prominent focus on diversity, equity and inclusion. In 2011, her dedication and hard work earned her a managing partner seat at AAFCPAs.
Reflecting on her career path, McCall says, “I’ve learned I have a deep desire to help other people and improve the environment around me. I’m now in the role I was born to be in: vision, strategy and leadership. My partners tell me, ‘You’re a better leader than you were an audit partner.’”
But not everyone’s path will take them to leadership. McCall notes the importance for everyone to find their own purpose. Be bold and ask for a variety of assignments in your first few years in the field. Companies should help staff find the right fit — if a smart employee isn’t happy or in the right position, they’ll leave to find something that is.
How can someone identify what work is meaningful to them? “When you’re doing work and you feel your adrenaline is up, and you’re excited, try to stop and isolate those moments,” advises McCall. “Are you working alone? On a team? Is it the client? Try and do more of that. Take time for self-reflection.”
The Future of Accounting
McCall earned attention as a member of AICPA by not being afraid to speak up, and was voted to the board with her first nomination, a rarity. She’s served as vice chair and now chair. Her charge, as she sees it, is to promote the value and sustainability of the profession.
“It’s so much more than doing people’s taxes,” McCall says. “There’s also an and strategy. Accounting and technology. Accounting and sustainability. Accounting is the language of business. If you want to own your own business; negotiate a personal loan; sit on a board of directors and understand the financial statements — having an accounting background is very valuable.”
Three areas she plans to focus on as AICPA chair:
- Sustainability of the accounting profession. There’s an incredible diversity of accounting work: public, private, government, nonprofit, academia. This industry is not run by the big four or a handful of firms. The AICPA includes 43,000 firms as members. I hope to get all of these firms to think differently, collaborate with one another and share information. If we all do better, the profession is stronger.
- Transformation and innovation. We can’t do things the same old way. We need to use technology and embrace tools like artificial intelligence, robotic process automation, blockchain. The goal of every company should be to work smarter, not harder.
- Valuing differences. I have seen firsthand that diverse minds around a table come to better decisions and better outcomes. Diversity is defined in many ways. If we all have the same background, we’re not going to find the best decision.
There isn’t a better leader for advancing the accounting profession than a Bentley Falcon. McCall has been recognized with countless awards: Most Powerful Women in Accounting (AICPA/CPA Practice Advisor Magazine); Power 100 (Worcester Business Journal); Top 200 CPAs (Forbes); National Managing Partner Elite List (Accounting Today)…the list goes on. 
What we hope is one of her proudest: the inaugural Harry C. Bentley Alumni Achievement Award in 2017 from her alma mater. In addition to her work growing her firm, McCall’s volunteerism and commitment to giving back to the community contributed to her selection.
Carla’s son Evan joins the Falcon family as a first-year student this fall. Her biggest hope for him: to find his people, like she did, and to live in the Tree dorms — “the best place to live.” She unfortunately won’t be joining him at Falcon Weekend in September, when her 35th Bentley Reunion takes place, in favor of her daughter’s final family weekend at Syracuse. But Carla will be celebrating in spirit with her classmates and sorority sisters, whom she keeps in touch with all year long.
