Interview

                I decided to interview my performance coach at Wipfli LLP.  Her name is Kelly Annen.  She is currently a senior associate at Wipfli.  I am very interested in the progressing in the accounting industry and wanted to get the opinion of someone who is close to my age it.  I created my own questions to ask her that I wanted to know the answer to.  I first wanted to know why she chose accounting in general.  I feel like this is a common question accounting majors are asked because some people think it would be a bore.  She said “I took an accounting course in high school and really enjoyed it.  When I got to college, I had enough credits to start taking business courses early on.  That allowed me to continue to take the accounting courses right out of high school.  After hearing about all of the opportunities that a career in accounting offered, I decided that it was the right path to start my career with.”  I totally agree with what she said.  There are so many things that you can do with an accounting degree after school.  It really opens up a lot of doors for you. 

                Taking your CPA after college though is very controversial.  Some people will tell you that you have to.  Why would you get an accounting degree and then not take it they say.  Then others say you are just fine without it.  It is just another title.  So I wanted to know what Kelly’s opinion was on the subject.  She said, “I knew I wanted to go into public accounting after my internship with Wipfli.  In order to be promoted past the manager position, you are required to have your CPA license.  I took the exam while still finishing grad school and working part-time at Wipfli.  Becker offered a "Fast Pass" study course on campus at UW-Whitewater.  That allowed me to study and complete the exam in an accelerated time frame.”  I never knew that you needed it to be promoted.  I found this very interesting.  I knew then that I would want to take it because I want to be able to have the opportunity to advance in my career.  So she helped me decide that it would be a good idea for me to take the CPA after college.  She also said to take it right away when you are still in a studying mode.  If you wait too long it becomes very difficult.

                Then I just had some more general questions for her.  I know being an accountant you have to work a lot.  I asked her what advice she had about balancing your family and being a CPA.  She responded with, “Develop good working habits early on and find a personal passion outside of work/family.”  I was totally not expecting this as an answer.  I am very focused on family and I didn’t think she would say find a personal passion outside of them.  This was really interesting to me, but was a good point.  Sometimes you just need some sort of a stress-reliever and you can’t have it be your family every time.  I then asked what the best part of her job was and she said, “The people I work with.”  This did not surprise me one bit.  I have realized through this internship that the people at Wipfli LLP are great people.  Everyone is willing to help and is very friendly.  I did not feel like an intern there, I felt like an actual employee. 

                The last question I asked her is a question that I am struggling with.  I asked her what the deciding factor between tax and audit was for her.  She said, “I enjoyed traveling for audit at the beginning, but it quickly got to be too much.  Tax allowed me to have more structure and routine outside of work.  I also enjoy the routine of the tax projects I work on in the financial institutions area.”  Right now I feel like tax is not for me.  I think it is a little boring.  I think traveling for audit would be awesome.  I mean who wouldn’t want to travel for free, but she really got me thinking.  Audit would be fun for a while, but if I ever wanted to have a family and a life outside of work it would be really difficult.  Audit is so sporadic that it is hard to plan.  You might be in Milwaukee one week, but then be in Alabama the next.  I am really struggling with what direction I want to go in.  It was very beneficial doing an interview with Kelly because now I have the input of someone who can relate to me.  She is recently out of college and wants to be successful in her career.  This is exactly what I want in my future.  I learned a lot from her.