Stephanie Ray

I think one time I had a previous employer say that I was tenacious, because I like to understand the why of why we do things. I don't like doing things the hard way if that's not necessary. I enjoy learning new technology, and anytime that we can leverage software, methods, or really nearly anything, including AI, any way that we can make the process better and easier, I do it because I really like to think about the people that we work with. Work does take up a significant portion of your life, but it shouldn't be your whole life. We want to do our jobs well and provide the client with the services that they've paid for, but public accounting generally has such a bad reputation for the amount of effort it takes just to put the hours in. I'd really like to give people time back in their personal lives, so that their whole job should not be their whole identity. It shouldn't be the sole focus of their life.

When I worked for KPMG, somebody said to me, the firm will take everything that you will give it. A lot of times, if you work for a big nameless company or faceless company, they will take all of the overtime, especially when you're a salaried employee. They will take all the overtime you will give, and they will take it and take it and take it, and they will not say no. So you have to set the boundary of how much are you willing to give to your career without giving up your personal life, or your leisure time, or your time with your family, and that kind of thing. A work-life balance isn't always given to you. Sometimes you have to be the one that draws the line to create a work-life balance.

I really genuinely think this is a really good field to be in, because tax is ever-changing but it's also incredibly consistent. Taxes aren't going anywhere, so you will have consistent career opportunities. It is not the most interesting topic in the world, so sometimes you have to find the fun in it, and if you enjoy the puzzle and the nitty-gritty of the details, it can be a job that continues to change. I would like to think that in the accounting world, it's a level playing field regardless of your gender. Get your CPA license, because that's a huge thing and it's sort of the be-all, end-all credential in our field. Plan for your retirement and plan for your future independent of another person. Max out your 401K every year, and make sure you're educated about what your money can do for you, especially from a young age. If people entering the job market in their 20s had maxed out their 401Ks for like 10 years, they really could just goof off for a lot of their 30s and 40s. I think unfortunately a lot of women don't always consider their own financial independence and stability for the entirety of their life. My mom used to always say, don't ever get yourself in a position where you can't afford to leave something, whether that's a marriage or a job. Don't get yourself in a position where you can't afford to make a different decision.

Time is the biggest challenge, because we work on a system of deadlines that are imposed by 50 plus municipalities. Everything that we do is dependent on when our clients provide us with their information, so we're sort of stuck in a hard place. We're waiting on them to provide this to us, and if they provide it late, we still have to meet the deadlines because the deadlines don't change.

Probably honesty. I like people that are very upfront and transparent. I try to be sort of what you see is what you get. I'm pretty straightforward about things. One of the things that's very important to me is being non-judgmental towards other people's learning. I've worked in a couple different job environments where questions were like a sign of weakness or were used against you later to say, oh, I know you don't know how to do this part of your job because you asked me this question. I always tell our new hires, our interns, or anybody that I'm training, there's not a dumb question. I'm really into the psychology of safety in the workplace, to the idea that if you do make a mistake, we need to know about it so we can address it and fix it, and then you grow from mistakes. Instead of creating a blame culture or finger-pointing, because that just encourages people to hide their mistakes, and then it grows into things that sometimes you can't fix. You learn more from your mistakes. I genuinely don't want people to be miserable at work, because work can be so miserable. We could at least make an enjoyable work environment on top of it.