The Circle: Where We Belong

by Kelly Nelson, CPA

graphics: © iStock/Who_I_am, © iStock/Fireofheart, Kelly Nelson, Adapted by WSCPA

Long before I was chair of the WSCPA, before I was even a CPA, before I had built a career serving ultra-high-net-worth individuals and their families, and before I really knew where that career might take me, I was a student trying to figure out how I was going to pay for college to finish my accounting degree.

The WSCPA was already there.

I received a scholarship from the Washington CPA Foundation that made it possible for me to complete my education. At the time, it was financial assistance I desperately needed. Looking back, I see it as something much bigger: one of the first investments the profession made in me.

I remember that part of the scholarship process included an interview with the chair of the WSCPA Board, who happened to be a partner in a national public accounting firm.

I certainly couldn’t have imagined then that decades later I would become chair of the same organization. Or that, in another unexpected full-circle moment, I would return to that public accounting firm, the firm where the foundation of my professional career was built.

There are a lot of circles in that story.

But when I think about what the circle really represents to me, it isn’t a series of career milestones. It’s the people, relationships and community that have surrounded those milestones and the trust at the center of it all.

Trust is the core of our profession.

Clients trust us with far more than numbers. They trust us with businesses they’ve spent lifetimes building, families they want to protect, difficult decisions and plans for the future. Organizations and financial markets depend upon our judgment and integrity. And within our profession, we trust one another—to share knowledge, challenge thinking, develop the next generation, and uphold the standards represented by those three letters after our names.

That feels particularly important right now because our profession is changing on many fronts.

Technology and AI are transforming how we work. Firms are merging and becoming part of larger organizations. Private equity and other non-CPA investors are entering the profession. New business and ownership models are emerging. People are moving between firms, industry and new kinds of roles. Career paths that once seemed relatively predictable are becoming much less linear.

Those changes bring opportunities as well as questions. But they also reinforce something I believe deeply:

We need a professional community that travels with us.

A community that isn’t defined by who employs us, what title we hold, our organization’s business model or where we happen to be in our career.

That IS the WSCPA.

When I look back, the Society has been part of my professional journey from the very beginning. It was there as a student, before I had earned the CPA designation. It remained part of my life as my career grew and changed. It gave me opportunities to learn, lead, advocate, serve and build relationships with people across our profession.

Employers changed. Titles changed. Responsibilities changed. The profession itself changed.

The community remained.

And in a period of significant change, I think that kind of continuity becomes even more meaningful.

Every CPA should have a professional community where they truly belong. A place where a student can imagine a future. Where a new CPA can find someone willing to answer a question. Where an experienced professional can call upon peers who understand the challenges they are facing. Where competitors can become collaborators around issues that matter to our profession and the public. And where someone navigating change knows there is still a place where they belong.

That is your WSCPA.

Today, we have another way to bring that community together through the WSCPA Circle, our online community hub. The name feels particularly meaningful to me because a circle isn’t defined by a platform.

The Circle gives our community a place to continue the conversations and connections that have always been at the heart of the WSCPA. The platform gives our community another place to find one another.  

Ask a question. Share an experience. Find a mentor. Be a mentor. Connect with someone whose professional journey looks nothing like yours. Or simply stay connected to a profession that extends far beyond the walls of your organization.

My own circle began when this community invested in a student who needed help finishing her education. Along the way, it grew to include mentors, colleagues, clients, team members, fellow CPAs, and friends. Today, I have the extraordinary privilege of leading the community that helped me begin that journey.

But becoming chair isn’t the completion of my circle.

It gives me the opportunity to keep widening it.

And that’s what I’d ask each of you to consider: What are you doing with your circle?

Who invested in you? Who do you turn to when you need perspective? Whose career have you helped shape? Who isn’t in your circle today who should be? And whose journey might be different because your paths intersected?

This is my circle. But this is our community. (See Figure above.)

During my time as chair, I hope my circle intersects with many of yours. I want to hear what you’re experiencing, what our profession needs from us and how the WSCPA can continue to be the community that travels with you throughout your career.

Because firms will change. Technology will change. Business models will change. Our careers will change.

But at the center of our profession will always be people, relationships, and trust.

Let’s keep widening the circle. 

WSCPA Circle

The conversations have started. Log-in with your WSCPA credentials today at wscpa.org/circle