At the beginning of her career, Jackie Cardello joined the Washington, D.C.-based firm Langan & Associates because there were 10 women working under the leadership of CPA John Langan, and his progressive mindset when it came to flexible work arrangements quickly showed her why.
As long as the quality of client services remained high, Langan trusted his employees to decide how many hours they would put in a week and Cardello found it deeply inspirational. She said it was not always common to find people who wanted to be surrounded by female leaders, but she found in Langan someone who sought to "think outside the box" and create an environment that would encourage his staff's talent to blossom.
Nothing initially prepared her to enjoy working in this field. Even though her father was in the profession, Cardello always thought that accounting seemed pretty boring. As far as she was concerned, she wanted to go to law school and planned to major in psychology or English to achieve her goal. However, a guidance counselor warned her about the relative usefulness of such degrees in case of a career change, and Cardello was directed toward a business major.
Her accounting classes changed everything, and she decided to get a CPA license.
Cardello spent two years working for a property management company that didn't really challenge her and she still aspired to work in public accounting. After transitioning to Langan & Associate, Cardello then realized she wanted to work for an organization that was mission-driven and ended up joining GRF CPAs & Advisors, a Bethesda, Maryland-based Regional Leader, in 1997. The firm was formerly known as Gelman, Rosenberg & Freedman CPAs and rebranded in 2019.
Now the head of the firm — she was named managing partner and president in 2013 — Cardello said that her decades of experience taught her that being a great leader means being open to mistakes and failures because someone's career is bound to include decisions that didn't have the intended results. The important part is to use these "challenging, intimidating and overwhelming moments" to become a source of strength and encouragement for one's team.
"Being vulnerable is really important because if you want to inspire young leaders and draw more individuals into the profession, you need to be able to tell them the whole story," said Cardello. "Not just the success, but also the obstacles you had to overcome and the mistakes you've made, because we learn from them and we need to share those lessons."
She said the fear of vulnerability is a particular problem for women who work in a profession that's been very male dominated because they fear it will compromise their chance to reach leadership positions. While accounting is certainly not the only male-dominated profession, Cardello said the lack of flexibility in required work hours, driven by audit and tax deadlines, adds another challenge. Not so long ago, it was expected that an accountant would work 50 to 60 hours a week, and there was little room for caretakers in this traditional model.
But when Cardello had her first child, she had an epiphany and realized there might be "more to life than work." While on a path to becoming a manager, Cardello started working part-time to take care of her son. At that point, she resigned herself to the fact she couldn't be a partner because she didn't have the necessary arrangements, such as a nanny. But everything changed when her child got into preschool and Cardello decided to go back full-time.
"I talked to one of my partners, who was my mentor, and he told me to consider the partner position again," said Cardello. "And I did just that. I became a partner, but I was still expected to work a certain number of hours, and if I needed to take some time off to be home with a sick kid or take them to a doctor's appointment, I needed to make my schedule around that because there was just no flexibility."
When she first joined the profession, Cardello said there was a perception that if a person put their family first, they couldn't be a good partner, or at least could not become a top performer. As a result, many women gave up on their life goals, either because they didn't want to be associated with a stereotype or because they felt they couldn't have a family while being in a leadership position.
The COVID pandemic played a significant role in driving women out of the profession, Cardello explained, and far more women than men ended up leaving their jobs to stay at home with children who were going through virtual learning, or to take care of family members who were quarantined. She has been fighting sexist preconceptions since the beginning of her career. Despite this phenomenon, Cardello said she's seen several changes within the profession.
"I think there has been progress," she said. "When I started, there was that mentality even with female leaders at the time, who were advising women against taking time off or working part-time while having a family because it would stall their career. They would say, 'If you leave your career to stay at home for a couple of years, you'll never be able to get back in.' But fortunately, I blocked out that noise and didn't listen to it."
Supporting your values
Even when firms try to include underrepresented groups, Cardello said, they don't always include those they are trying to help in the conversation, which results in policies with little impact on their careers. For example, organizations sometimes believe that promoting a person of color or a woman to a position of leadership will naturally drive a more diverse workforce and show one's commitment to diversity, but Cardello said it's not true. Having leaders that people from diverse groups can relate to is a great initiative, but such a gesture can only do so much if it isn't accompanied by the necessary support.
She believes affinity groups do a much better job of understanding and sharing the experience of underrepresented professionals. GRF has an Employee Engagement Committee that partners are not allowed to attend. Run by a human resources director, the group collects feedback from employees to understand how to better support them in their role, and Cardello said anonymous surveys have been particularly popular among staff.
"Firms often fail to adequately address the problem of diversity and gender equity because they're not being intentional about creating and attracting talent," she said. "Those issues are more than saying, 'We're diverse and flexible,' because you also need to have the policies that support those values and implement them. You need to meet people where they are and work with them to create a work schedule and model that is suitable to them, which takes a lot of effort that not everyone is willing to put in."
But the profession is making progress in allowing accounting more to be accessible and equitable. With younger generations bringing new perspectives, work-life balance has become essential for talent retention.
For example, a female professional living in Pennsylvania had to commute to the firm's headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland, during the week, only to drive back home to care for her two young children. There was a lot of hesitation before making her a partner because many thought her lifestyle wouldn't match her responsibilities, but she proved everyone wrong and is now set to retire after a successful career.
"She was one of our top-performing partners and actually directed our audit department," said Cardello. "We gave it a try, we gave her all the necessary resources, and she has been thriving and been a fantastic role model for everyone, especially young women and caregivers who want to take the partner path with an alternative work model. Sometimes you just need to take a leap of faith."
Cardello said there are always going to be skeptics, but no matter their place in the firm or the team, leaders should be able to respectfully put opinions aside and encourage them to try nontraditional work models. Taking the initiative is particularly important in discovering and approaching influential trends in accounting, such as sustainability. At the moment, GRF is seeking to become a B Corporation — a certification that recognizes companies for their social and environmental performance.
Successful firms may feel safer sticking to models that worked for decades and distancing themselves from fields they don't know, especially when it requires appointing people to new positions and taking their time away from traditional tasks. However, Cardello said that opening oneself to high-profile concerns requires education, and the willingness to get out of one's comfort zone to have a dialogue.
"You need to ask people in your organization what they're passionate about, and what makes them excited to go to work," said Cardello. "It's not just serving the clients, it's developing and mentoring people coming into the profession. I'm passionate about making the profession attractive to individuals and helping them become leaders in the profession and develop their own career path, whatever that looks like."
As she keeps making plans for the firm — which she said would remain independent by not participating in mergers or acquisitions — Cardello attributes most of GRF's success to her team, whose small size — approximately 175 staff members — allows every member to actively contribute and "roll with the changes," as when the pandemic hit.
"Hopefully, I've set an example and paved the way for other individuals who want to have a career in accounting, who see that yes, you can be a caregiver, you can have a nontraditional work model, you can have interests outside of your job, and you can still be very successful," said Cardello. "We view ourselves as a family. We feel very inclusive and I'm really proud of that. It brings a lot of value to our firm."
At close range: Jackie Cardello
Where did you go to college? BS in Accounting, University of Maryland, College Park
Where did you grow up? Gittensburg, Maryland
Where did you begin your career in accounting? Langan & Associates
Where and when did you first make partner? In 2010 at GRF
What is something that people may not know about you? I've studied piano my entire life; I was trained in classical music but play anything.
What is your favorite music ? '80s music — Journey
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