专业知识推动会计校友名列前茅

Calculating the variables that lead to a satisfying and successful career is not always a simple equation. 最初对 medicine, Susan Koss, ACC ’94, changed direction after working in a hospital during high school. 同时探索对工程的兴趣, a calculus class helped her decide that career path didn’t add up. She discovered the right answer for her in an intermediate accounting class her sophomore year at 十大菠菜台子.

 这是有道理的. I liked balancing my checkbook to the penny each month,” she says. “我喜欢把数字算对.”

That tenacity to explore, adopt and trust her instincts has guided her career since. She’s now top in her field as managing director and partner at O’Keefe, 布卢姆菲尔德山, Michigan based consulting firm that provides financial and strategic advisory services. 

Koss uses her accounting and CPA skills daily. She’s also an expert in business valuation and forensic accounting services, providing expert testimony in court and in preparing complex financial analyses used in business turnarounds. 那就是专业知识 克雷恩的底特律生意 to honor her as one of its Notable Women in Finance in 2018. 

“This industry really didn’t exist when I was a student at 十大菠菜台子, so it wasn’t a career I could have imagined,科斯说.

It’s one in which she excels, says Patrick O’Keefe, Managing Partner of O’Keefe.

“Sue projects confidence and her pleasant nurturing demeanor has assisted in growing the young professionals at our firm,他说.  “She has established herself as a leader among her peers.” 

加强她的资历

Koss is one of a small group of women in Michigan with her skillset. 这在法庭上很明显, where few women in the state qualify as an expert in economic damages related to business disputes and personal claims. 科斯不仅是注册会计师，而且 the National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts (NACVA) named her a certified valuation analyst (CVA), and she was awarded the Accredited in Business Valuation (ABV) and the Certified in Financial Forensics (CFF) designation by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).

These are special skills she sought after working in international accounting at DaimlerChrysler Corp. (now “FCA”) and as divisional controller at a software company undergoing a merger, a valuable foundation for a career at O’Keefe. 

The finance and valuation industry evolved significantly since she joined O’Keefe in 2001. “I’d go to conferences with 100 people and only three were women including me,” she says. 根据美国劳工统计局的数据, the number of female accountants grew 21 percent between 1983 and 2012.

扩大网络

Her experience and those statistics spoke volumes. They motivated her to get actively involved in the industry. Koss is a past chair and past recording secretary of the Michigan Chapter of International Women’s Insolvency and Restructuring Confederation (IWIRC). She is an active member of 十大菠菜台子’s Accounting and Finance Advisory Board. She is also a member of the Michigan Association of Certified Public Accountants (MACPA).

She learned the importance of professional development and industry involvement as an OU accounting student, where she was involved in Beta Alpha Psi and OASIS. “在欧, the faculty members instilled in us the idea of joining professional groups to network and reminded us to stay in contact with people who could serve as mentors,科斯说. “All the things I was able to do (as a student) gave me the basis for my career and what I’ve accomplished.”

作为顾问委员会成员, Koss stays connected to the University as well as to her faculty mentors, 如 Professor of Accounting Joseph Callaghan, Ph.D.她和她一样对估值感兴趣. 

(苏珊的)管理风格, personality and collaborative skills make her stand out professionally,卡拉汉说. Today’s accounting students can learn a lot from Koss’ career, Callaghan adds. “努力工作，合作，回馈社会. 做这些事，你就会成功吗.”