Transcript: Interview With Courtney Arrington, CPA

Maureen:
Welcome to Leading Forward the Virginia Society of CPAs podcast, where we focus on innovation leadership and the CPA profession. I'm your host, Maureen Dingus. And I invite thought leaders for sure, casual conversations on topics and trends important to the success of the CPA profession.

Maureen:
All right, welcome to Leading Forward today, we are with Courtney Arrington. She is a VSCPA member and an investment accountant at Genworth. Courtney is very involved at the VSCPA. She is a member of our Young Professional Advisory Council (YPAC) in our diversity and inclusion advisory council, which just kicked off this fall. So Courtney, thank you for all of you do for the via CPA. We're really happy that you could take some time to talk to us today. Thank you so much for having me. All right. So Courtney what I'd love to kick it off just for a little bit to have you tell us your story. So your leadership journey how did you come to where you are in your career or your involvement in your organizations and all the, all the things that have gotten you where you are today?

Courtney:
Okay. Yeah, so, so basically I started you know, I graduated from VCU in 2016 and I got started working for a public accounting firm here. DHG I got my start with them. I did an internship in their, their busy season tax internship my senior year, and then came on full-time with them in 2016 and I worked in their tax practice and that's when I had already joined the VSCPA when I was in college. But I kinda just didn't really do anything as a professional. Once I got into my role at DHG, the VSCPA was very involved with one of the partners there, Gary Thompson. So, you know, they would, they would always be kind of in our office. And so I decided to join the Young Professional Advisory Council it's available.

Courtney:
And so it's been really great joining and just being a part of such a great organization. There's a lot of other people who work in different parts of accounting in the organization, so that's been nice. So yeah, I did that for two and a half to three years, I think it was with DHG. And then I recently came into my role at Genworth working in investment accounting in June of last year. And so for the leadership piece, I kind of have always been doing that from a social media perspective. So even though I don't work in a leadership position at work for me, like my non-positional leadership has been really important. I run a blog called the accounting struggle. I started that when I first started working in accounting because I was struggling, I was not really catching on really fast.

Courtney:
And I was I just found that there were a lot of concepts and things that were not transferring from college into the professional world as smoothly as I kind of anticipated. So I started the blog because I wanted to help other students who I thought could potentially be experiencing the same struggles and it ended up taking off a little bit more than I expected it to. I thought maybe like one or two people from, you know, from LinkedIn or so might see it and share it and that kind of thing. But, m actually got a lot of good reception from it and it just, it has encouraged me to keep going with it because people will reach out to me. I mean, I've shared my entire like CPA journey throughout. I have a YouTube channel where I'm kind of making videos, talking about how things are going in my career and that sort of thing.

Courtney:
And just giving advice. And I get such overwhelming feedback of like, thank you so much for making this video. I wanted to, I have stopped studying for the CPA and now I want to like get back on it. And this is really encouraging. And then just people reaching out with questions about how should I go about getting into this type of career field, or I'm working in public accounting now, and I'm wanting to switch over into industry. What does that look like? Can you give me any tips? So I've been able to really impact a lot of people which has been so, so rewarding. I never thought that it was going to turn into this big thing, but it has, and it's just, it's really grown and it's work that I feel is very important, even though my title is not necessarily like a leadership role, not in management at my current role, but I know that I have a lot of people who are watching and who are impacted by things that I'm doing and putting out there. So for me, social media is kind of where I do my leadership.

Maureen:
Yeah. Yeah. Well, I have to, I have to tell you, that's where I first started seeing you, you kept popping up in my LinkedIn feed and Molly Wash on our staff said, yeah, she's a member. She's evolved. I went, Oh my gosh. It's like this is like a no joke, social media. It's really, really cool. So I hope that everyone that's listening well will look you up. What, what should they search for if they're wanting to know

Courtney:
The Accounting Struggle, so it's TheAccountingStruggle.com. I do videos on my YouTube, but I post them to my website and I'll write a little blurb about it. And I do that weekly new posts every Wednesday.

Maureen:
Yeah. Yeah. So I think what I find so different about what do is the it's just like wide open as far as opening yourself up, you know, the, the, the good and the bad and the you know, what, what people like to describe as the vulnerability. How did, has that just been natural for you? Or was that something that you were had to be intentional about to kind of reveal yourself?

Courtney:
It has been very natural. It wasn't like an intentional, like strategic, Oh, if I do this, people will be more interested. It was literally just me being like, this is my experience, and this is, this is who I'm called to speak to. So I know that there are a lot of people in the accounting space who make, you know, content that is kind of like, here's how to be the expert. Here's how to be number one, top performer. Here's how I passed all four sections of the CPA exam in two days, you know, there's all these people who do that. And I knew that that was not my calling. My calling is to speak to people who are like, I can't, I don't know if I can do this, or I'm really struggling with this. And I feel like I have a responsibility to be honest to those individuals.

Courtney:
If I only tell them my wins and how I'm succeeding, people who are not succeeding might feel like, well, there's no one who I can relate to. And so for me, I had to be vulnerable because that is that's my truth. And I don't, I don't feel like shame can really exist if you're owning it. And you're just coming right out and saying, Hey, listen, I failed the CPA exam. I mean, people who work with me already knew anyway, so it wasn't like I could put out this front and pretend like I'm the top person in accounting doing everything perfectly. Uit would be too easy to have been found out. So I felt like I just have to be honest and speak to the people who are struggling. And that's why I was intentional about calling it. The accounting struggle because I wanted people to know right from the jump, this is a place where we speak about our struggles with accounting. We are open about it. We're honest about it. And this is a safe space for that. And it's not like for us to complain, it's really just a place where people can come and express, Hey, how do you get past this? This is a difficulty that I'm experiencing. How can I grow past this?

Maureen:
The, the other thing that I noticed that you do. So, you know, as you described, you develop content and you'd push it out, but then I'll also see when someone from wherever post, Hey, I did it. I passed the exam. You are, you are like giving them a thumbs up. You know, you're liking that post. You're giving them the congratulations. And I think that is just so nice to see that. I don't know if you know these people or not, or how you've connected with them, but it seems like it's, I mean, the network is just endless.

Courtney:
You know, what I love about media is that you can be connected to so many people. And even if you've never met them and you don't know them, if you have been following someone's journey, you feel a connection to it. So I'm genuinely excited when I see people passing saying like, I finally did it, I passed, or I got a promotion, or I did this huge accomplishment. I feel a part of that win. So it's exciting for me. So that's why I'm like, yes. Oh my God. Especially when people show their scores on, on LinkedIn and they've gotten these crazy high scores on the CPA, I feel like I'd be crazy to pass this and not congratulate them and say, wow, you literally got a 96 on far. Like, how did you do that? That's incredible. So yeah, for me, I, I feel excited and I feel like it's kinda like a family, like with my YouTube channel. And my LinkedIn, my Instagram, I feel like the people that I'm connected with, even though we haven't met in person, I see kind of the same names and there's a lot of back and forth between us. And I feel like we kind of know each other, not personally, but from a social media place, it's almost like a little family. So it's, it's really, it's really good.

Maureen:
Yeah. So what I mean, this might be a silly question, knowing that you have, you know, YouTube videos and, and a blog, but if you had to summarize, you know, kind of, what is your encouragement to people that are just reaching out, you know, what is this message to keep them going?

Courtney:
My main message is just to keep going. You, you definitely can do it like you can, anything that you believe that you can do, you can do. And I feel like for me on my CPA journey, like I talk about this openly. I failed a few, several times before I passed and finished all of it. And for me, I just knew that I was going to pass that wasn't something that I was ever unsure about. There was no doubt of like, maybe I'm never going to complete this. I always knew that I would. And because I had that belief, I knew it was just a matter of time and that I just needed to keep going and not allow failure or defeat, like kind of stopped me. And that's my message to other people. Sometimes people feel like if they are not successful at something the first, second, or even the third time, then it's not for them. And that's, that's not true at all. So my message is really just to keep going and whatever it is you feel like you are able to accomplish. You absolutely can.

Maureen:
Well, what about passing that exam was important to you?

Courtney:
God so much? It became this thing. So for me, I didn't grow up wanting to be an accountant. I definitely never saw myself being in accounting. I kind of stumbled into accounting when I was in college and I really liked it. And I was like, this is important stuff. And from there I had made the decision, you know, I'm going to get my CPA. I'm going to go all the way with it. And for me, when I, when I start something and I decide that that's something that I'm going to do, I can't come back from it. I'm very stubborn. I'm a Taurus. I'm that type of person like I latch on. So for me, it was like, just this belief of like, I know I can do this, so I have to finish it. I have to complete this. And it will be a huge win. There are no accountants in my family. There are no CPAs. I'm the first generation graduate of college, even. So for me, it was like changing the trajectory of my family tree and just the potential that I had from getting my CPA. I just, I had to do it.

Maureen:
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So one of the things that you mentioned in your story is that you started in public accounting and then you moved to industry. That's another story we hear quite a bit from people. What what's that been like for you? What, what what's been your experience so far?

Courtney:
I mean, it's been, it's been so different. I, public accounting is very fast paced and a lot of work from a lot of different directions and it's very exciting, a lot of fun. A lot of social fun and things like that. And industry so far has been still steady paced. But it's focused on one topic at a time. So when I was in public accounting doing texts, I was doing all different types of work, different types of industries. Uand so I didn't feel like I could really,ufocus in and become like an expert at one thing. I kind of felt like I was all over the place a little bit. Umnd with industry, because I do investment accounting now, it's still a lot to learn, especially with it being an insurance company. And there's different, you know, there's a whole different reporting process for that as well.

Courtney:
It's still a lot more focused and I don't work in tax at all now. And so having to transition from attacks position into a position that is reporting, and there's a lot more documentation and professional skepticism, and that's been a very interesting journey. I'm enjoying every bit of it. I enjoyed my journey in public accounting. I'm enjoying my journey in industry, but it is so, so different. It's, it's like I've had to relearn how I kind of do my work and how I think about things and not necessarily taking things at face value in tax. If you say, you know, you've made these contributions, I'm just, you got to receive some kind of not gonna do too much investigative research on that. But with the position I'm in now, it just requires a lot more research and documentation, a lot more skepticism. So that's been a lot of the learning curve for me.

Maureen:
Yeah, yeah. In a, and we hear from some students that go into industry that they don't see the value of the CPA. So I'm glad that you you're out there encouraging people that regardless of public accounting or industry that, that CPA is still important.

Courtney:
I absolutely, yeah. I mean, everyone on my team, even in industry has their CPA. So it's not like CPAs are only for CPA firms. I believe that if you get your CPA, it's just the most, all encompassing, all encompassing certification in accounting. So if you're not a hundred percent sure where you're going to end up getting your CPA will help you to be able to make some different transitions going to different career fields. Whereas some of the other certifications are just more specific to a certain type of career. So I definitely still think it's a valuable thing. I just, I pushed back at that all the time when people are like, well, what's the point of the CPA? I'm like, no, it's it's so it's still so valuable.

Maureen:
You're like the brand ambassador. Right.

Courtney:
I know I am.

Maureen:
So just to touch a little bit as I mentioned, you joined our diversity equity and inclusion advisory group this fall, and I said, it's brand new. We were still kind of feeling our way through what the focus is and what our actions will be, but what, what, so far as your general impression and being involved in something like that?

Courtney:
What I've really felt just right from the beginning is that it's genuine. And the mission, it really is genuine. Like I know a lot of, especially in this time that we're in right now there are a lot of companies who are kind of putting out these obligate statements about diversity and inclusion. And with this council, it seems like we're really trying to make change and impact and get into the weeds and just like focus on what are the actual needs and what can we do? What role do we have? What responsibility do we have to impact change? And that's why I want to be involved because it doesn't feel cosmetic. It feels like we've really reached out to people who have experience in these in this realm. And we're really actually trying to make real change here.

Maureen:
Yeah. That, that, that group has just such a wide variety of types of people from the profession, different experiences. So I know that I really enjoyed just kind of that perspective taking. But for you as, as a young person in the profession, what, what is, what would you hope that, what change would you hope to see?

Courtney:
I would hope to see more diversity reflected within the accounting profession and all across the board. So not just in large corporations, but in mom and pop firms and industry, like in all of the spaces. I feel like when, I mean, I don't know if it's just because I went to VCU and VCU was pretty diverse, but the classrooms that I was in reflected every type of person, all different types of age range, I mean just every type of person. And then when I get into these firms, it looks completely different. So I would really love to see a space where people not only can get into their roles in accounting, but that where they can really truly thrive and grow and advance in their careers and feel encouraged and empowered to do that.

Maureen:
Right. Right. Well, I, I I appreciate your, your work on that, that council. I know that everyone will benefit from, from your perspective. So what's next for you and your social media or your leadership? What what's on the horizon for 2021?

Courtney:
Yeah, I'm very excited. So I actually just found out this week that my trademark went through for the accounting struggles. So it is now an official registered trademark. And so I'll be doing more with that, just branding. Of course, growing my accounting channel with putting more content out there, collaborating with other people in their accounting space to see what else we can offer that is going to go beyond just speaking from the accounting experience, but putting out tools and resources that will actually help people in their accounting journey. So that's something that I'm very excited for, of course, just continuing to grow my social media presence. I feel like it's not about popularity, but I mean, there's so many people who have no idea that the content that I create exists and there's a lot of people who could benefit from it. So I definitely want to continue to reach those individuals and just spread out in that space. And then I am, I definitely want to do more work one-on-one with accountants. I have one mentee right now,ubut I want to be able to offer more mentorship for, for them directly. And so, yeah, I mean, it's just a lot of exciting things that I'm doing that,u

Maureen:
Just to touch a little bit on the mentorship, that's something that we hear so much about that so needed, whether it's you know, in your, in your company or sometimes it's even better to be outside the company. What, what tips would you give for someone that is serving as a mentor or, or, and also someone that needs a mentor? How would you how should they go about that?

Courtney:
I think if you're serving as a mentor, you want to reflect back on all of the things that you feel like you could have benefited from, but you didn't have that insight. And those are the things that you want to be sure and share with your mentee. And then from a mentee perspective, I would say the things that they should be looking for in a mentor are one who is in a space where you're trying to be where you want to be. And it's definitely not one thing like you, you probably would need multiple mentors, multiple court coaches over the time of your, the span of your career. But I think things that you want to look for, people who are doing the thing that you're trying to do, or who are on their way to doing that so that they can give you that insight and those things to look for on your way up to that journey and someone who's genuine. You don't want, like, I feel like there are a lot of paid mentorship programs where it's just kind of like, we'll take as many people as possible, but if, you know, you require more one-on-one, help, then that's the type of coach you should go for, or the type of mentor you should go for.

Maureen:
Yeah. Yeah. I I've seen somewhere, there is an obvious chemistry and trust that seems to be very very impactful where others are, you know, Hey, that's a job that I'm interested in and, you know, it's, it's, it's more transactional almost of giving information, but when there's some shared understanding, it really goes a bit deeper. Yes. So have you benefited from some mentors?

Courtney:
Well, yeah, I mean, I have, I joined NABA when I was my first year. I want to say my first year as soon as I came on board, NABA is the National Association of Black Accountants. And even though I didn't have one particular mentor just being involved in NABA, I've been on committees. And just being able to work with people who have such expertise, who are so bright, who have done and accomplished so many things, it's like, it's hard to not be inspired and moved. The slogan for a NABA is lifting as we climb. So, I mean, people are always willing to PR to share resources, to,uto give advice. And so that's been really helpful just being a part of that community, but I also find people on social media who are doing incredible work, and I'm like, Oh my God, I want to be just like this person when I grow up, this is amazing. And so even though I may not know them or work with them directly, they share a lot of,ucontent online that so beneficial and so helpful. So there's several people that I've adopted in my mind as my mentors.

Maureen:
Right. Right. Well, what I like, what you're saying is that, you know, obviously you're involved in the S CPA, but then there's Napa and then there's these other groups. So it's not just a straight line. It's very you have a lot of communities, I guess. Definitely. I think that's a great message for our younger members who are trying to develop those communities. It's not maybe just one place.

Courtney:
Right. I think that I think that you should take all that your need is as far as getting help and B be willing to accept that you probably will need some help, especially when you're first starting out, even if you're someone who is performing well in your role, you want to be able to get to that next level. So I think multiple mentors is always a good idea.

Maureen:
Right, right. Right. Well, Courtney, you've given us a lot to think about a lot of things that we need to follow now, once we're done listening. But my, my last question for you would be what, what have you been doing for fun, especially in the quarantine time as there been any any special binges on TV or streaming or any things that you've been doing outside?

Courtney:
So I, well, I've been, I don't know if I would categorize this as fun. I've occupied a lot of my time with working out I went on a fitness journey at the beginning of the year, and this was before I knew that a pandemic was going to hit, I signed up to do this bikini competition because I'm crazy. And so it was supposed to be in March. So I was like, okay, I can deal with intense training from January until March, but it ended up getting delayed all the way until June. So, I mean, it was very, very intense training. And so, I mean, we went on and had the show and everything went fine, but I've continued on that journey. And I continued with just working out outside. There's some steps in church Hill that I loved working out on all throughout the summer I was out there. So just that's been kind of, I would definitely not say it was fun, but that was something that I was very focused on. Whereas it could have gone either way with quarantine and either probably gaining weight or losing weight. So I just, I chose to stay extremely focused because I felt like, well, there's not really anywhere I could go. I can't really go out to dinner. So I guess I'll go to the gym. So that was, that was what's kept me busy.

Maureen:
Well, my reaction was to let's see what the best sticky bun recipe is.

Courtney:
Yeah. I could have gotten in a lot of trouble. Had I not made that initial commitment at the beginning of the year, but I was like, well, I have to stick to this. So it's worked out. But yeah, I mean, I haven't, I'm working a lot. My, when I work, I work full time, you know, with my job. And then when I'm not working, I am doing stuff for the accounting struggle. I also help clients with bookkeeping on the side. So, I mean, I have a lot of time that is already occupied, so I don't really get a lot of time to binge a lot of slices of time in there. Not, not right now, but I think that that's, I would love to get back to binge watching stuff on Netflix. That's like one of my favorite pastimes. Oh, well, you know, winter is coming. So who knows?

New Speaker:
Well, Courtney, this has been really fun. It's been great to get to know you a little better. And thank you for everything that you're doing for the profession and for all the aspiring CPAs.