Carving a diverse path

By Reema Patel, CPA

Three years ago, Councilor, Buchanan & Mitchell, PC (CBM), created a plan to address what former managing partner Pete Reilly, CPA, CVA, called “pale, male, and stale” — a makeup of firm leadership that he felt needed to change. Pete was a visionary, and he began having conversations as early as 2010 with Dan Weaver, CPA, our new managing partner, to institute dramatic change. Those conversations ultimately became D-PATH, CBM’s diversity initiative founded by now-retired partner Patricia Drolet, CPA.

D-PATH stands for Diverse Professional Accountants & Advisors Transforming the Horizon. I run the program along with and my co-director, Michelle Vance, production, training & database manager; Dan Keefer, CPA, CVA, partner in the automotive dealerships services group; and Tana Papinova, human resources and finance manager. 

Not only was it necessary to encourage innovation, growth, and increasingly interesting collaborations internally, but it was becoming clear we needed to demonstrate those initiatives externally as well. Potential clients started asking for statistics and information about the demographic composition of our teams in their requests for proposals. We knew we needed to take a hard look at our efforts and make some changes.

Under Dan’s leadership, D-PATH demonstrates commitment to our core value of diversity and inclusion. D-PATH sets a few simple, attainable goals each year, varying from short-term (such as securing a speaker for our firm’s training related to diversity and inclusion topics) to mid- to long-term (such as implementing steps to evaluate firm efforts and progress in increasing diversity among all ranks of the firm while supporting an inclusive atmosphere). Our current mission statement is: “To cultivate a diverse and collaborative team that embraces the individuality of our professionals and provide a clear path forward to advance and develop women, minorities and LGBTQ professionals throughout the firm.” Each of our practice groups submit growth plans demonstrating diversity and inclusion and our other core values.

After a decade of working towards that vision, CBM began seeing results and now has been recognized by the Accounting and Financial Women’s Alliance (AFWA) and the Accounting MOVE Project for leadership equity among accounting firms nationwide three years in a row. 

One major success that came out of D-PATH was creating randomized groups of colleagues a few times throughout the year to meet and get to know each other via icebreaker questions and free-form discussion. Over the last two years, while we were adapting to working from home, these groups helped people feel connected to each other in an otherwise remote and isolating environment. Without the ‘natural’ run-ins in the office hallway or lunchroom to socialize, we had to be intentional about keeping connected.

As we hired several employees during the pandemic who were fully remote, these groups helped new employees create those ‘natural’ interactions with other people in the firm. It can be challenging to start your career in a remote environment, and this helped get those employees exposure throughout the year to individuals across all levels, including leadership. We found that these groups helped people feel more included during a time when it was difficult to feel it. And when people feel included, the morale of the organization improves overall and contributes to a positive, energizing environment.

Another success over the past two years was launching various donation-matching campaigns to support specific causes. We held successful campaigns in support of Black lives and women, supporting organizations such as National Association of Black Accountants National Scholarship Fund, the Equal Justice Initiative, Southern Poverty Law Center, Thurgood Marshall Fund, etc., as a firm and individually. We plan to continue to do so for other causes that help our community and are important to our employees. We also launched a CBM100 initiative to celebrate our 100th year; employees were encouraged and empowered to volunteer in their communities. We set a goal to volunteer for 100 charities over 100 weeks. 

D-PATH also surveyed all employees last year to help us gauge how the firm feels about our efforts and areas of improvement overall. Given the high participation rate, we plan to conduct this survey annually so that our employees are empowered to hold us accountable. Other changes include the creation of a book club exploring race relations in America started by a group of engaged and interested employees. Our executive committee began tracking compensation by demographic to ensure equity in pay. We also made changes to our recruiting and retention strategies, including where and how we recruit and providing visa, green card, and immigration assistance to employees. 

It’s been challenging, especially over the last two years, to really feel like we’re making a difference. There is so much information out there now about what we should and shouldn’t be doing. It’s amazing to have this compressed push for change. At the same time, it can be overwhelming to try and sort through the data on your own.

We try to start with authenticity first. Everything we do should feel genuine and strive to improve overall morale. Sometimes that means baby steps. I often have to remind myself that transformative change doesn’t happen overnight. It took several years and thoughtful intention to turn our firm from predominantly white men to 65% women and 30% non-white. It may take several more years to continue that trend and expand beyond racial and gender diversity, but with constant focus and intention, that kind of change can transform CBM into a more diverse and inclusive place. 

Reema Patel, CPA, is co-director of CBM’s diversity and inclusion initiative (D-PATH), which provides leadership, networking, and professional development opportunities for women and minority professionals throughout the firm. She has more than 10 years of experience serving the needs of automotive dealership, nonprofit, and professional services clients with audit, review, compilation, and tax planning and compliance expertise. In addition to her CPA, Reema is also on track to becoming a Certified Financial Planner. She enjoys helping young professionals manage their finances in addition to delivering high-quality accounting services.