Women in Accounting Wednesday - Amy Kristen Moore

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I don't think there is 'only one mold' for the women we feature in our 'Women in Accounting' Wednesday series. There are a lot of women who don't own their own firms with multiple employees, or even have their own 'small practice'.  There are a lot of women who work for accounting firms, but there are even more who do the accounting and bookkeeping for other types of small businesses.

Similarly, there are not just women who have been 'doing this' for 20-years (or longer). In fact there are some that have been 'doing this' for less than 5 years.  To illustrate my point, this week's feature is a young lady (only 24) who in so many ways is far different than the women we have featured up until now. But as you will see, she is also someone who is, in so many ways, just the same when it comes to what is truly important.

Amy Kristen Moore told Insightful Accountant, "I work for a construction company, (well really, two of them). My accounting position includes data entry, bookkeeping, and many other functions, so I really hold many different titles.

I spend a lot of time working on the banking side of accounting; such as reconciling bank accounts, keeping the taxes current and making sure all the insurance is correct and up to date. I end up a lot of times doing a lot of billing and receiving of payments, so my understanding of the coding aspect of accounting is a great benefit to me there.

I am well versed in QuickBooks Online as well as the desktop version, and I use both daily in working for the two different companies. They are great tools to keep me organized and make sure that everything I need is right where I need it."

Amy Kristen just seems to formal, and even though I here she goes by 'Kristen', I've decided that I will call her 'AK' for short. So in starting off our interview, AK let us know that she "loves her job(s)..." (and now the bomb shell which you might have guessed)... "I am only 24, but I chose my career path early. My mother is an accountant for a sister construction company so we often run into each other, which is awesome!"

AK went on to describe some of the things that make her work situation 'different' at least from the other women we have written about in this series, "My situation can be a little crazy as I am working for two construction companies. I LOVE the QuickBooks online app on my phone so that I can keep track of things on the go if I need to leave the office.

One boss lives in Savannah, GA, a little over 4 hours away, so we need to be able to both see and use the app simultaneously, and this one is great. It is almost identical to the QuickBooks online you would use on your computer so it’s a great tool to have. I am often going to job sites to check on things or I’m on the move so having that app on my phone and on my boss’ allows us both a little bit of freedom to move around while still being able to accomplish our everyday tasks."

Just between us, that sounds almost like a quote that Intuit will want to add to some advertising.  You know a kind of 'on the go with QBO' logo.

As you probably have guessed by now (by her age alone), AK is single, as she puts it, "I live a jampacked life even though I am yet to wed or have children!"  Obviously that means that her home and family life are a lot different than almost all the other women we have featured in this series thusfar. Still the same, AK is just as motivated in her life as our women with husbands and children, she told IA that, "Right now, my motivation is in meeting the demands of my work life and education. I am eager to learn more… to become a better accountant and a master of QuickBooks, or any operating system.

My family life, well that's a totally different story. I have a huge family, with older brothers and cousins, and I love to spend time with my parents and grandparents; but as a career-oriented individual, I find myself often rescheduling. Yet my family is ultimately my motivation to become a great accountant, to be successful and have my family and friends (and at some point a future spouse/children) be proud of me and to look up to me, just as I look up to my mother."

In asking AK to select those two 'key words' we have been requesting from all of our series participants she chose first,

  • "Stressful! – My job is stressful to me because I am ultimately in charge of the funds of someone else. What if I mess up or make a mistake? No one wants to let anyone down, and that’s one of my biggest fears in my work life. Home can be stressful too because I’m still young. Making life decisions and getting settled into being an adult is never easy for anyone and to have a full-time career as well can get hectic."

But at the exact same time, AK shared her second 'key word',

  • "Accomplished - This one easily ties into my home life and my career. I love being in my chosen career path and learning new things every day. To be able to get my schooling done and find a job almost immediately in my field of study was amazing and definitely made me feel very accomplished. Being an accountant also allowed me financial freedom to choose where I wanted to live, buy a new car, and all the other “milestone” things that young adults get to accomplish. I am grateful to have found this job that is excellent for me in both a work sense and a home one."

AK sounds really dedicated, especially when a lot of us think that a 24-year-old is just starting to 'find their way' in life.  But it seems to me that AK has learned something about 'balancing work, self, family and friends', that many others have told us took them a great deal of time to learn. AK told us, "I often find myself feeling the need to come in to the office early, or stay late, because as most accountants know, it feels as if my work is never done.

One of the most important “life-hacks” I’ve learned is that if I work as focused and efficiently as possible, when it is time to head home for the day, I find a stopping point where everything pressing was taken care of first, and then the rest will be waiting for me the next day.

It’s hard sometimes, but with that decision, I have more time to spend with my friends and family and it makes the balance of work/life much easier."

While some of our 'Women in Accounting' have the leisure of working at home, or in a nearby office, AK found that her 'great job' came at a price, that being a long commute, yet even in this hardship she has developed a routine to adapt to the extra duty of the long drive. She told us, "I commute far everyday (over an hour!) so another life-hack I’ve learned is to brew my coffee right before I leave, and when I am waiting on the coffee to brew, I check my emails from my phone. That way, I know what I am walking into when I do get into the office and if there is something pressing that someone is waiting on me to answer, I can go ahead and be drafting my answer (in my head) to their question during the drive."

I am so glad to hear that she is not trying to text (or email) while driving down the freeway.

In summarizing, AK shared with us some of how she, as part of the millennial, thinks about her profession and work. To some of our readers it maybe a surprising view. 

"Accounting is such an interesting field, and many in my generation feel it is “all math” and 'too hard' or 'too boring.' I think that being a millennial accountant has MANY upsides. It is a lot of math, but it’s not all math, and it is not too hard!

Just like many finance majors will tell you, the accounting classes you take in college can be difficult, but that’s just the information you need to move forward. The class is not just like the career and I feel that this is what deters a lot of students from majoring in accounting and choosing that for their career path.

It has been a great decision for me. I learned so much about both desktop and online QuickBooks, not to mention real-life applicable lessons concerning taxes, banking, and contracts. Working for a construction company has given me an even greater ability to grow my knowledge, because to be an accountant and bill for the correct items, I had to learn a lot of construction (that I can guarantee I would have never learned otherwise HAH!) It keeps me on my toes.

So, really, being a millennial woman in accounting is an empowering, interesting, stressful and FUN career to have." 

While I have had lots of people tell me things like, 'these millennials just want to show up to work and collect a paycheck without doing anything, or maybe not even show up but supposedly just work from home', that obviously is NOT the work ethic that AK is demonstrating. 

Long drives, 2 jobs, hard work, arriving early, working late, and learning new things, that all sounds like the perfect recipe for the up-n-coming Firm-of-the-Future Accountant, especially when you throw in the 'commercial quality' plug for QuickBooks Online on your mobile device.

I'm just wondering where 'AK' was when I was looking for an 'intern' a few years ago! Still the same, I want to thank AK (and her friend 'Mollie') for submitting this week's 'Women in Accounting Wednesday' feature. 

By the way, whether you are a millennial, or you have been working since before 'dirt was made' (like me), and you are a women in the accounting, bookkeeping or professional consulting field, we would like to tell your story as part of our 'Women in Accounting' Wednesday byline.  If you would like to participate, simply submit a 'Count Me In' comment to this article, or any Women in Accounting Wednesday article.  Your email will not be posted and I will reach out to you with details about how you can participate.

I look forward to hearing from you because I'm absolutely certain our readers would love to get to know 'the real you'.