NYSSCPA president aims for greater diversity in accounting

Rumbi Bwerinofa-Petrozzello, president of the New York State Society of CPAs, is hoping to make accounting a more diverse profession, as the first woman of color to hold the position in the NYSSCPA’s nearly 125-year history.

She is senior director of consulting at Seramount, a data-driven strategic professional services firm that is dedicated to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace.

“I really recognize the value of firsts,” she said Wednesday during an online meeting of the Accountants Club of America. “I always think about those who came before me, my mentors and my sponsors.”

She pointed out that 2021 is the centennial of the first Black CPA in the United States, John Wesley Crowell, Jr. “It’s important to think about how we change and transform our cultures, not just by recognizing all of these things, but the histories that we share or just knowing that we have these unconscious biases and finding these strategies to address these biases,” she said. “This is where life becomes a little more complex. Diversity is in many ways the easiest step because companies can hire all they like, and that’s great because you can see reports at the end of the year to see how great your hires are. But inclusion and equity then becomes how we retain and advance our talent. This is where we really must focus our energy because we need to recognize that all these dimensions of diversity that are represented, they all face unique challenges.”

She cited the AICPA 2019 Trends Report, which includes statistics on the demographics of the accounting profession. “The AICPA trends report found that 10% of those in accounting and finance roles are Asian or Pacific Islander,” she said. “However, when we look at the partnership, only 4% of partners are Asian or Pacific Islander. We might have to dig into advancement and retention to see why the numbers at the senior level are much lower. We see similar imbalances with women. There are 42% of people in accounting and finance roles who are women. However, only 23% are at the partnership level. If we look at women and Asian and Pacific Islanders, I would bet a lot of money to say that the numbers look different for different reasons.”

She sees mentorship as a key factor in helping her make the transition in her own career early on from banking to accounting. “When I went into accounting, I’d been working for a year or two, and I had to start at the beginning and study accounting and get a degree in accounting,” said Bwerinofa-Petrozzello. “I was working at Deloitte and it was hard. When you talk about mentors and sponsors and allies, I went to visit the partner once every one or two weeks. I was like, ‘I can’t do this. I’m done. I’m going to quit. What is this? I’m going back to the bank.’ He would ask me what I needed and how he could help. He said the first few months are terrible but it’s going to get better. If it wasn’t for that, and that community, I don’t think I would have gotten to this point.”

Still, she had to deal with other partners who were less accommodating. “This was at an office that was not always as enlightened,” she said. “There would be things people would say or the concept that I did not always know my place as a woman. I remember there was a partner who was older, closer to retirement, and apparently he used to insist that women wear pantyhose on assignments with him. I remember calling my mother, saying ‘I don’t know. I might get fired, but I’m not going to wear pantyhose. I just want you to know this is what’s happening.” And I think because I had a sponsor in a space who could perhaps speak up for me and say that I could do a good job even if I wasn’t wearing pantyhose.”

She tries to be a mentor for younger accountants now. “This is something that I do and that I encourage people to do if you’re in spaces where you can,” said Bwerinofa-Petrozzello. “I try to mentor, but I also try to be a sponsor and be that voice in the room speaking up for those who are not in the room to make sure that they get into those spaces and see the value in all of those things. I know that without that, I wouldn’t be president. I could have all the qualities and all the values and so forth, but if nobody is seeing how good I am, I’m not going to get here.”

Mentorship and sponsorship are important for getting a seat at the table. “We need to know where we have power, where we can share, where we can be a sponsor, a mentor to help these things,” said Bwerinofa-Petrozzello. “It’s not just women who have needed help. We all have needed somebody to open the door and get us into those spaces of power. I think if we all recognize that and we pay it forward, this is how it works.”

Accountants Club of America second vice president Jacques Boubli asked her what advice she would give a young person of color who is considering a career in accounting.

“Talk to as many people as possible,” said Bwerinofa-Petrozzello. “What I have seen is often, it may be the fact that they have family that are CPAs, white people who take the CPA Exam and fail are more likely to take it again than people of color. If they’re anything like me, I thought I was smart and accounting almost broke me. If I hadn’t been told that it could happen, I might be a CFP right now. I might have given up on this whole accounting gig. I think it’s important for all of us to share just the challenges of what we do and also I try to share the many, many things that CPAs can do. I’m not a tax expert, but we live in a world of finance. We’re finance professionals. We’ll always be needed.”

Accountants Club of America president Peter Frank also sees the essential role of accountants. “The concept of diversity, equity and inclusion is where we need to think about how we can all take part in that in our world,” he said. “I think of myself as a CPA, as an accountant. When I was going to networking groups, they would say you need to perfect your elevator pitch. What do you say when you only have 10 seconds to say something. I would say I hope people can sleep at night because I put out fires that occur in their life. We developed as accountants the skill sets that allow us to put out fires, in addition to the planning and all of the good work that we can do when we have the time to solve problems.”

Bwerinofa-Petrozzello sees the value in the state CPA society she is now leading. “Every time I go to a New York State Society of CPAs event, I meet somebody new,” she said. “It’s somebody interesting, somebody who helps me grow. I’ve been on committees and people come up with great things, and some of them are CPAs and some of them are not CPAs, and they do fantastic things, so let’s just be open and grow.”