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When I graduated from college and passed the CPA exam, I went to work in the Big Four. I didn’t even consider a career in industry at that time. Working as a consultant in public accounting firms, I spent almost thirteen years providing forensic accounting, investigation, compliance, and assurance services.
As a consultant in public accounting, I worked with a variety of companies – public, private, governmental, and nonprofits – to investigate alleged fraud and advise them on financial and compliance implications of various situations. I worked with a lot of incredibly smart people who mentored me and helped hone my investigative skills through diverse projects. After advancing to a Director position, my role included business development and leading investigative teams.
During my last few years as a consultant, I watched many of my colleagues have positive experiences transitioning to industry roles while leveraging their experience in public accounting. In thinking about my long-term career goals, I wanted to focus on developing a deep understanding of a company’s goals and operations versus moving from client to client in the public accounting setting. I spent time meeting various accounting and compliance professionals in industry roles, and ultimately found a great fit at Boston Scientific.
In my current role as part of Boston Scientific’s Global Compliance team, I investigate alleged compliance violations while collaborating with various stakeholders to achieve the team’s objectives. Instead of supporting various clients like I did in consulting, I now handle various types of investigations across its own business units and geographies. Performing compliance investigations has been a great opportunity to utilize my financial accounting experience and analytical skills for the benefit of a single organization.
Although my work is now focused on internal stakeholders, strong analytical skills and a detail-oriented approach are still key to success in my role. Another often overlooked skillset of a forensic accountant is the people skills, and specifically interview skills. It is essential to be able to speak with individuals and obtain information in order to supplement documentary evidence.
Being a forensic accountant is not a career with only one type of career journey. I would tell other people considering this path to explore whether a role in industry might be a great fit for leveraging accounting skills within an organization with a broader purpose. Reach out to people who have career journeys that seem interesting to you, and you might just find inspiration for your own path.