News Stories

On October 28th, over 90 business students attended the tenth annual Corporate Accounting Career Panel Discussion held on campus in Benson Center’s Williman Room. Professor Chris Paisley, who started this event ten years ago, moderated a panel of four SCU accounting/A&IS alums featuring:

• Ashley Do ’17- Strategic Finance Lead (Intuit)
  (Post grad: EY - 2 yrs 3 mo)
• Sean Festle ’18 - Sr Technical Revenue Accounting Analyst (Adobe)
  (Post grad:  EY - 3 yrs 4 mo)
• Kristen Lee ’21 - Financial Analyst (Shultze, Boone & Silva, an Accountancy Corporation)
  (Post grad:  Deloitte - 2 yrs, EY - 6 mo)
• Timothy Quock ’11 - Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer (Finite State)(Post grad: PwC - 4 yrss 6 mo, Fastly - 2 yrs, Mattermost - 3 yrs 9 mo, Horizon3.ai - 2yrs 6 mo)

The Panel Discussion was organized by SCU’s Center for Accounting Research and Education (CARE), which is chartered by the Leavey School to strengthen the bridges among accounting research, accounting education, and accounting practice.

First-year and sophomore students made up about 87% of the attendees. Among the student participants, approximately 46% were Accounting/A&IS majors, 22% were Finance majors, 15% were undeclared, and the remaining 17% represented other business school majors.

During the 90-minute event, panelists answered questions from both the moderator and the audience. According to the student feedback survey, attendees overwhelmingly agreed that the panel featured a good mix of experienced professionals with diverse backgrounds, ages, company sizes, and varied career paths after public accounting. Panelists were recognized for being authentic, transparent, and sharing realistic experiences about their professional journeys and work/life balance.

Students learned that building a public accounting foundation is a strong, stable approach that helps build essential experience and offers flexibility for diverse, non-linear career paths, the ability to transition into finance roles, and opens doors for future opportunities.  Regarding AI, all panelists emphasized that it serves as a productivity tool that “creates efficiencies” through streamlined processes, data gathering and dashboards, thus elevating their role to include more strategic and critical thinking.  The panelists and Professor Paisley concurred that AI may be a great learning/efficiency tool; however, the students are still responsible to understand the data and to “know the what and the why of what they are doing.”

Some key takeaways from the Panel Discussion include the following:

• In-person work is important for learning and collaboration, especially when starting a new job. In office interactions cannot be replaced and are invaluable, so maximize your in-office work.
• Technical skills are essential; however, is it equally important to stay curious and have an analytical and strategic mind set.
• Think of AI as a productivity tool/thought partner that allows you to step back, assess, and analyze data and trends, thus providing the ability to be more informed with better research.
• Good communication/soft skills are important and imperative for good team work and networking.
• Find a company and team that engages you.
• The panelist with the most start up experience, Tim Quock, mentioned the following book he found insightful: What Got You Here Won’t Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith with Mark Reiter, a bestselling 2026 leadership and self-development book.

We extend a special thanks to Chris Paisley and the panelists for being candid and openly sharing their experiences with SCU students. Additionally, Professor Paisley and the panelists stayed after the event to informally talk with individual students who had more questions.  Thanks to Chris’s preparation and guidance, as well as the panelists’ authentic responses, 97% of the student feedback reported the event was informative and interesting. Students that checked in upon arrival to the event and also completed a feedback survey after the event were entered into a raffle drawing with winners Benjamin Mazza (Class of 2029, Accounting) and Estephanya Gonzalez (Class of 2029, Management) each receiving a $25 Door Dash gift card. 

In Winter Quarter 2027 (January 12^th ), CARE will sponsor a second panel discussion on career opportunities for accounting/A&IS majors called “Accounting Information Night.” This second event features a panel that includes CPA firm partners, senior executives, and young professionals with accounting/A&IS degrees, as well as small group breakout discussions. This in-person event will be held in Locatelli Center and is open to all business students.