Tommye Barie, CPA – 2020-2021 Most Powerful Women in Accounting

There are limitless opportunities available for women in the accounting profession. However, careers don’t generally randomly happen with passive behavior.  It is important to speak up and volunteer for projects and activities that will raise your profile.

What steps would you offer to employers to be more effective in retaining and advancing women?   

Provide equal access to targeted development and high-impact high-influential advocacy and experiences.  Often times lack of doing such is not intentional – it is just human tendency to mentor or coach those who remind us of ourselves.  Eliminating that unconscious bias can significantly impact the career trajectory of a woman from the standpoint of helping her to navigate the culture and strategies that will elevate her value. 

Why did you choose to work in – and stay in – an accounting related field? 

Our profession provides diversity of work opportunities, challenging assignments, and financial rewards.  In my opinion, there is no better profession regardless of gender.

What book(s), blog(s), or podcast(s) do you recommend that have guided you on your journey?   

• Emotional Intelligence:  Why it Can Matter More Than IQ, by Daniel Goleman.

McKinsey & Company issued their 2020 Women in the Workplace study that basically says that the current pandemic is starting to impact the strides women, especially women of color, have made in the profession. What advice would you give to employers to support women during this time so that the future of our workforce isn’t negatively impacted? 

Now, more than ever, women are being pulled in different directions with increasing responsibilities at home and at work amid a pandemic.  One of the points made in McKinsey’s 2020 Women in the Workplace study is the necessity for employers to be flexible and empathetic – the need for employers to nurture a culture in which women have equal opportunity to achieve their potential over the long-term.  Throughout most of my career, there hasn’t been much appetite to provide a flexible path of advancement for people who don’t work a full time schedule and when such flexibility was offered, it often seemed to carry a stigma that the person wasn’t as motivated or committed as the rest.  In my experience, that stigma is often misplaced.  Contributions of people needing a flexible work arrangement are staggering and organizations that don’t provide flexibility along with the opportunity for advancement are losing an inordinate amount of talent.

What advice would you share with young women CPAs striving to achieve similar success in this profession?

Be bold, brave and diligent in pursing what you want.  Additionally, it is important for women to have access to stretch assignments necessary for advancement and networking opportunities that increase the person’s knowledge.  Open communication with leadership about the desire to have access to such will raise awareness of this and increase the odds of those things happening.

Describe one person who has been an important mentor and sponsor to you and how that person helped shape the direction or focus of your professional life.

When identifying a mentor, I looked for someone I respected and who was very well respected by others in our profession.  I’ve had a female and a male mentor for many years – neither of which I’ve ever worked with for a significant period of time.  Both perspectives have been very valuable to me.  They coached me to be strategic and persistent in making decisions to enhance my career and to always be authentic. 

Please share a personal rule or principle that you follow.   

We have choices in everything we do.  I take responsibility for the choices I make as they shape my life whether professional or personal.

Read more about the 2020-2021 Most Powerful Women in Accounting Winners.