You know the old adage about “all work and no play”, but for a lot of accountant moms, all work can often become an identity. When this happens, the lines become blurred between being an accountant versus being a mom, and can create real problems when trying to have a career as well as a family. While the struggle with work/life balance is not unique to the accounting profession, it is a huge struggle, especially for accountant moms who are working on average. in one capacity or another, 18 hour...
Jun 06, 2021•21 min
Rachel Schmidt has been with ADP for over 3 years and during that time has earned the designations of President’s Club Performer as well as Accountant Specialist. As a hard-earned ADP Accountant specialist, Rachel strictly partners with accountants and the CPA community, making sure they, and their clients, get the highest level of support at ADP. From hiring to retiring, and everything in between, ADP provides a host of services that even seasoned CPA’s might be surprised to discover. Rachel ha...
May 30, 2021•31 min
This line is too long, traffic is out of hand, my daughter spends too much money, my mother-in-law needs to get out of our personal business, and the IRS keeps making it more difficult for accountants to do their job. Does any of this sound familiar? I’m sure you could come up with a whole lot more to complain about, especially as an accountant and a mom. As far as daily professional and personal challenges go, you’re dealing with more than the average person. While we all complain about various...
May 23, 2021•23 min
As a woman and a mother in a profession like accounting, it can be challenging to own your feelings and not make them a problem. With a limited number of women in leadership roles and the messaging that women often get about not being “too emotional”, it can seem like the formula for success is to sweep your feelings under the rug. The unfortunate thing about the assumption that feelings have no place in business, or that having feelings or emotions make you “weak”, is that it’s incredibly short...
May 16, 2021•25 min
This week I had the pleasure of interviewing business and strategist coach for CPA's, Geraldine Carter. Geraldine is the founder of She Thinks Big Coaching, where she helps CPAs get out of the accounting rut. Her clients routinely double their margins in 6 months or less while working fewer hours. Geraldine holds a BS in Engineering from Cornell University, is the co-founder and CFO of a company where her cashflow forecasting models resulted in millions of dollars for climate change efforts. In ...
May 09, 2021•43 min
If you are like so many of the accountant moms I talk to, you might be at the point of exhaustion, wishing there was a better way to have the career you desire, to support your family financially, to be there for your children, but also to not be so frustrated, stressed and overwhelmed so much of the time. Unfortunately, as accountants we often get the message to just “suck it up” and keep pressing on. I also know that so many of you are at a crossroads, where you are so overwhelmed and stressed...
May 02, 2021•24 min
When you hear the word “minimalism”, what comes to mind? Do you see a bare, sterile environment that seems boring? Do you envision Tibetan monks with just a cot to sleep on and one pair of sandals to wear on their feet? Do you think of people who don’t make a lot of money and who need to be frugal by necessity? For accountants the idea of minimalism is especially challenging because we tend to place importance and value on everything we touch. As a profession, we’re told to keep things like the ...
Apr 25, 2021•30 min
When it comes to delegating, especially for working moms, it can seem like a great idea, but can often be challenging when faced with actually doing it. While it would be amazing to be Supermom and be able to do it all, you’re actually not doing yourself any favors, both personally or professionally, by not addressing the idea of delegating more. Whether you could use more time, experience less stress, or improve your work/life balance, it’s probably time to readdress the topic of delegating if ...
Apr 18, 2021•27 min
Every female CPA has a story and every entrepreneur has one as well. This week I had the pleasure of interviewing Twyla Verhelst, CPA. Twyla is the head of Freshbooks Account Channel and the leader of the Accounting Professionals program with Freshbooks. She was recognized as one of the Top 50 Women in Accounting. Twyla is known for leading the charge when it comes to advocacy, change and community. She is an experienced CPA and a tech entrepreneur with a passion for helping women build their co...
Apr 11, 2021•41 min
Do you fall into the Dominant, Inspiring, Supportive or Cautious category per the DISC personality assessment? Do you know if you’re an ISTJ or an INFJ in the Myers-Briggs assessment? Or are you considered a Blue in the Color Personality Test? When it comes to personality assessments, a lot of people seem to look for ways to understand themselves and others better, by taking a personality or strengths finder-type test, hoping to understand the motivations, thoughts, feelings and actions that lea...
Apr 04, 2021•23 min
As a working mom, you’ve also probably got a lot of other things in your personal life that are requiring extra attention like the health, safety and well-being of you and your family as well as your children’s educational needs and much more. What was once a struggle to achieve some semblance of balance, might feel like a complete impossibility with everything you have on your plate. The interesting thing is that somewhere along the evolution of women in the workplace there was this underlying ...
Mar 28, 2021•24 min
As we are all living in uncertain times, it can be challenging, especially as a mom, to deal with all the things that are known and unknown right now. When someone asks you, “How are you doing? Is everything okay?”, it can often feel like you’re a dam about to burst with things that are weighing on you and challenges you’re having to deal with. As a smart, capable woman it can be difficult to deal with the roller coaster of ups and downs that come with being an accountant and a mom. You’re not j...
Mar 21, 2021•27 min
Every CPA has a story - we all have a journey we’ve taken to get us to where we are. Every entrepreneur also has a story and journey as well. This week I had the pleasure of interviewing Nicole Kehl, CPA. Nicole is a mom of two from Kentucky and became CPA MOMS fourth founding franchisee, having previously struggled with building her own practice and having the support and training she needed. Listen in as Nicole shares how she started out in the United States Marine Corp, worked in private acco...
Mar 14, 2021•36 min
If there’s one topic that accountant moms want to discuss more than any other, it’s how to have a more balanced life. They intellectually understand that there are just 24 hours in a day in order to get work done and take care of their family, but emotionally they’re overwhelmed with the weight they feel on their shoulders to balance it all. The interesting thing is that it’s actually more challenging for accountants to have a balanced life because of one important, very common trait that most a...
Mar 07, 2021•25 min
As we flip our calendars over each month after the start of the new year, a lot of accountant moms might be experiencing a wave of stress and anxiety, especially those in public accounting. Once January is over, we all know that tax season is just waiting to pounce on us like a lion waiting in the brush. On the one hand, as a modern working woman living in the time of technology, you fortunately have the incredible ability to use that technology to help you in so many ways, especially in the wor...
Feb 28, 2021•22 min
While being an accountant comes with its own set of unique challenges, being an accountant AND a mom can be a very difficult balancing act, both physically, mentally and emotionally. There are so many expectations placed on you professionally, often making your energy and patience dwindle considerably when you are home with your family. When you’ve been spending so much mental energy at work, it can be tough to come home and deal with the demands of raising children while also creating a home en...
Feb 21, 2021•24 min
This week I had the pleasure of interviewing Alexandra Ferman and Allison Adams-Jones. For both of my guests, being a woman of color in accounting has been a challenge, both culturally and professionally. Alexandra lives in California (born and raised), she is working on passing the CPA exam to obtain her license and is hoping to be licensed by the end of this year. Alexandra worked in public accounting for about 6 years and recently transitioned to private a few months ago. She has three childr...
Feb 14, 2021•49 min
Whether you are an accounting employee or an accounting entrepreneur, it’s nice to be considered the person that other people can count on. When others know that you can be relied on to do great work in a timely fashion, that definitely helps you get noticed, whether you are looking to move up in your company or you are looking for client referrals. Unfortunately, saying yes to every request might make you the “go to” person, but it can also make you incredibly stressed, overwhelmed and burned o...
Feb 07, 2021•21 min
Have you ever set a goal and then gotten a burst of energy or been so excited about taking on some new challenge that you set another goal, and another? Before you know it, you’re feeling overwhelmed, your free time is non-existent and you realize that you haven’t actually gotten much headway on anything; or that you’re still paying for a subscription for that meditation app that you haven’t used in 2 months and that you haven’t actually sat on the stationary bike in weeks. This is what usually ...
Jan 31, 2021•21 min
You already know that being an accountant is tough, and being an accountant and a mom is tougher, but being an accountant and single mom should seriously come with its own awards ceremony! As a single working mom, you probably feel like you’re running a marathon every single day, while only being trained to walk a 5k at best. If you’re like most single working moms, you’ve probably experienced loneliness, fear about supporting your family, and not being sure whether you can do all this on your o...
Jan 24, 2021•21 min
It doesn’t matter whether you are in public or private accounting, we all have busy seasons throughout the course of the year. In private accounting you probably struggle with quarterly deadlines and in public accounting you’re most likely faced with busy times like tax season; times where there is more work to get done than at other times during the year. Now obviously stress is not unique to the accounting profession, but when you add the demands of an accounting career to the demands of being...
Jan 17, 2021•23 min
A few months ago in episode #79 of The CPA MOMS Podcast, I had the pleasure of interviewing Heather Satterley, CPA, a second generation CPA mompreneur. In addition to not giving up on her dream to become a CPA, Heather was named one of the Top 50 Women in Accounting 2019 by Practice Ignition. She has a 100% virtual consulting company as well as a YouTube channel called the “Appy Hour”. She and her co-host have free webinars, discussing various technology apps and programs available for accountan...
Jan 10, 2021•34 min
This fun episode of The CPA MOMS Podcast shares the highlights from the most popular and thought provoking episodes over the past two plus years. The whole premise for this podcast is to show you that you can have the thriving accounting career as well as the happy family you desire, by learning some of the tools that I, the podcast host, Dawn Goldberg, CPA, have learned along the way in my 30+ year career in public accounting. I just knew that what I was learning in my own personal studies wasn...
Jan 03, 2021•23 min
At some point in everyone’s life and career, you’re going to make a mistake. Whether it’s choosing the wrong size when buying pants for your son, entering the wrong date on a check in Quickbooks which completely throws off the opening Trial Balance, or putting cinnamon instead of cumin into that taco dish (been there, done that), as accountants and moms we are no stranger to making mistakes. It happens to everyone, even the most conscientious and organized working moms. Just by virtue of the fac...
Dec 27, 2020•22 min
Whether you are an accounting employee or entrepreneur, there’s no avoiding the fact that interviews are a necessary part of the hiring, advancement, and growth of your career and business. While most accountants would rather discuss numbers than themselves, when it comes to interviews, it can be challenging to know what to say, what to do, and how to maneuver during these often awkward social interactions. Whether you are the interviewer or interviewee, you are still being sized up by someone e...
Dec 20, 2020•23 min
From the tragedy of losing both of her parents in a car crash a few years ago, Sallome Hralima she has devoted her time to give back to society some of the very valuable life lessons she learned in order to prevent unnecessary hardship for families who don't have their estate plans complete. She isn’t an accountant or an attorney, but has taken her experience and used it to help others. Sallome facilitates and encourages dialogue among family members about the subject of estate and end of life p...
Dec 13, 2020•44 min
As the year comes to a close and year end planning is on the minds of all accountants, it’s more important than ever to get a handle on procrastination so that deadlines aren’t missed, and so that you’ll also be able to enjoy the holiday season with your family. There’s nothing worse than having to work frantically the last few weeks in December because you’ve procrastinated for so long that everything has piled up into an insurmountable mountain of overwhelm. The problem though when it comes to...
Dec 06, 2020•23 min
It doesn’t matter whether you are in public or private accounting, or how long you’ve been an accountant, having a professional development plan is key if you want to have a successful accounting career with a deeper level of satisfaction. Let’s face it, even though being an accounting professional has taken a lot of hard work on your part up until this point, now is not the time to drop the ball. While it may be cliche, it’s also very true - your future is really what you make of it. Taking cha...
Nov 29, 2020•23 min
The holidays are quickly approaching, and although 2020 may not be quite as “normal” as it’s been in the past, there are always going to be family gatherings, company or client parties, or other holiday and social events to varying degrees. Unfortunately, whether it’s getting together in person or virtually, so many women experience social anxiety no matter what time of year, or how many people are in attendance. Unfortunately, so many of us will spend time in social settings, both personally an...
Nov 22, 2020•22 min
Connie Benjamin is the #1 International Best Selling Author of the book “Women With Fire”, international speaker, and podcast host of My Fire Within Radio. After nearly losing her marriage and almost giving up the entrepreneurial journey, she and her husband Andy began a quest to live their mission without losing their family. They developed the My Fire Within System that helped them to fall in love again, replace their day job income, and love being stay at home parents with their three daughte...
Nov 15, 2020•45 min
