When Lara Abrash took her first accounting class in middle school, studying the field made her feel the same way as hitting a good ball when she played sports. She describes it as a warm feeling that gave her energy, because learning about business through numbers gave her life an exciting direction, and Abrash decided to become an accountant pretty early on.
Abrash took on many high-profile Deloitte positions before becoming chair, and she believes it's her diversity of experiences that helped her prepare for the role. She said that, for Deloitte, remaining the largest accounting firm in the world is only possible by constantly sensing the market to, and, doing so herself has allowed her to successfully navigate multiple sides of the auditing field.
"As someone who consistently pushes others to think broadly and be more creative, [Lara's] leadership has been instrumental to our success as the sustained leader of audit quality, innovation and digitization of the audit, and growth for the business," said Dipti Gulati, CEO of Deloitte's Audit & Assurance business. "Lara's exceptional leadership has made an everlasting impact within our business and the broader profession."
Throughout her 30-year career, Abrash explored the auditing world in all its forms. She was notably appointed CEO of the Deloitte U.S. Audit & Assurance business in 2019, but also served as a member of the U.S. Audit & Assurance executive committee, as well as the national audit and assurance transformation leader. According to her, the most important trend for auditors to follow comes back to their ever-changing environment, as well as companies' ambition to remain appealing to customers today.
To be an effective auditor — or an effective accountant or tax advisor, for that matter — Abrash said professionals need to stay on top of emerging technologies and the disruption of business models to understand how the organization operates, what contributes to losses or profits, and how it compares with competitors. They also need to be proficient in company funding, which relies more and more on private equity and venture capital, but it doesn't mean auditors should be experts in everything — it's about getting the bigger picture.
"I often say to our practitioners that knowing when you see something and flagging it as such is as good as being the deepest expert on it," said Abrash. "In this environment, not everybody is going to know 100% about everything. I often talk about majors and minors, if you're going to be a good auditor, you have to at least have a minor, or understanding, when something is new and different. When companies talk about ESG, you may not need to know 100% what it is, but you need to know that they're developing a strategy and what its implications are, then you can bring in other experts to help you."
But what Abrash considers the most important factor going forward is talent. According to the recently released AICPA & CIMA integrated
One way for a leader to do so is by building a culture of excellence that stresses the importance of fulfilling accountants' responsibility to be professionally exemplary and to fulfill their obligations toward the capital markets. For accountants to feel like their work truly matters, Abrash said executives need to create an environment that promotes ethics, skepticism and judgment. Bringing those values to the firm will help employees understand what kind of work setting they're going to join.
"Culture isn't necessarily what you say but what you do, which allows a leader to set the tone, but also exemplify what culture means each and every day," said Abrash. "So leadership is really about setting up a culture that on its own could operate without the leader, and then hope it holds people accountable for living and thriving within the culture you've developed."
Becoming someone worth following
She considers a leader's curiosity and flexibility to be critically important to contributing to society, and looking for dissenting voices is an effective way to do so. Understanding different perspectives in an increasingly complex world means creating an environment that encourages dialogue, which is why Abrash values creating a high-performing team with diverse talent that highlights their skills and only focuses on the most critical issues as trusted advisors.
One key precursor of diversity of thought is diversity of backgrounds. For that purpose, Deloitte established MADE, a
"The most important thing with MADE is that it's focused on the biggest barriers, and we're investing in opportunities to overcome them, whether it's financial, operational, cultural — and we're trying to be relentless while doing it," said Abrash. "We're not just peanut buttering our efforts; we're actually looking at each discrete cohort, whether it's our Black or Latinx professionals, to truly identify what are barriers for success."
Deloitte has the most diverse workforce within the Big Four, with 42% of its 80,000 U.S. employees identifying their race as other than white. According to Abrash, the firm saw the report as an opportunity to make sure it wasn't a simple list of numbers, but an honest assessment of where they were in terms of diversity. Her team then observed encouraging trends for recruiting and advancement but when it came to retention rates, there seemed to be areas for improvement.
Removing this metric from the report would have been tempting, but her team chose to not only include it but to set up a plan over several years to change it. While firms may be hesitant to share numbers that do not put them in a positive light, she said that being transparent with the public demonstrates true accountability. In fact, a forthright environment is a vital step toward inclusion.
"Ultimately an inclusive culture is a work in constant progress because we need to learn, to educate each other, and to be allies to one another," said Abrash. "That's an area where there's the most humility, because getting 170,000 people to be open-minded and allow themselves to create an inclusive environment is incredibly challenging."
An exponential impact
Abrash said she started to understand the importance of leveraging her team when she became a manager at Deloitte's audit business. Being a manager is a role she said is critical for an accountant's development because it's generally the first time they're truly responsible for a team while not being a seasoned professional. Additionally, a manager needs to report to the partner and ensure clients have everything they need while managing the team's operations. That's when Abrash understood that every moment spent with her team had an exponential effect on their productivity.
As she moved up the ladder, Abrash's responsibilities moved from outcomes to inspiring people, setting up a vision, and creating an aligned path for employees to find success. As such, firm leaders need to build trust within their organization to become a figure worth following, which Abrash said involves creating genuine connections with employees through being authentic and modeling empathetic attributes. As they gain experience, good executives then learn to delegate and soon realize they don't need to check in on their team every minute of the day because they set up clear expectations.
"To operate, I use the word 'swing,' which is a word that they use for rowers putting their oars in the water and going at the same pace at the same time," said Abrash. "So, rather than spending an hour doing my own work, I realized that spending an hour to help the team improve would ultimately allow me to get better as well."
The room where it happens
Upon becoming Deloitte's chair, Abrash joined the very restricted circle of female leaders in the profession. She said the low representation of women in leadership is often explained because women have responsibilities beyond the workplace, Abrash warns companies not to believe they're all one of the same. Not every woman wants to have children or get married, but if they do, she believes they shouldn't have to choose between their family life and their career.
She said this natural ambition has often been a barrier to career advancement for women in the past, which is why accounting firms should find ways for female employees to be able to follow their path, especially when competency and performance remain unaffected. But Abrash believes that many struggle to accept alternative styles of leadership and fear that women are too emotionally vulnerable to handle the same business issues as their male peers. The number of women in leadership keeps growing regardless, and she said it could grow at a much faster rate.
By way of analogy, Abrash referred to "The Room Where It Happens," a song from the Broadway musical "Hamilton," which discusses the drive to be where history is made.
"If there's no opportunity for women to be in that room, it's going to be hard for them to be part of the outcome," said Abrash. "When I hear about bad behaviors, it's usually when women don't have an opportunity to even show themselves because things have been predetermined and predisposed. So creating opportunities for everybody, not just women, to be part of the conversation is really important."
However, firms do make mistakes even when they try to empower women — or want to look like they do. In their efforts to advance women as part of their strategies, Abrash said organizations sometimes put women who weren't ready in the foreground and, unsurprisingly, they ended up not being successful. In an environment where women carry a bigger stigma for failure and need to prove themselves twice as much to be trusted, Abrash said this kind of hasty gesture isn't helpful. Instead, boosting their confidence and surrounding them with advocates is the key to women's development.
Providing women with allies and supporters means empowering them to speak up in an environment that isn't necessarily receptive to what they can bring. Abrash said that women's "superpowers" are most likely to blossom in a work setting that values honest feedback and inclusion, and the best way to achieve that is through mentorship, which she said women do not always benefit from. Abrash, on the other hand, had the chance to be surrounded by men who shaped her as the leader she is today.
"I had a lot of great mentors who all happened to be men because there were just more of them, and if you want to be successful, you have to recognize the importance of role modeling," said Abrash. "Unfortunately, it's more difficult to have people to support and enable you if you are a minority, but striving to find someone above you who seems pivotal to the firm still is a great start for career advancement."
Former deputy CEO Greg Durant was among the professionals who left the deepest mark on Abrash's career, as he told her early on that he believed she could make partner, and even get a seat on Deloitte's board of directors. Abrash said Durant's confidence in her abilities drove her to build something with her own hands, and that feeling trusted encouraged her to be bolder in her professional ambitions. Words have the power to push people to become their best selves, and when Abrash was named CEO, her "wildest dream" suddenly came true.
That's why being in the room where it matters is even more important, especially in an organization as big as Deloitte, because confidence and mentorship can only do so much when someone isn't well-positioned enough to hear about advancement opportunities. To be considered for a role, Abrash recommends having powerful connections, people who can advocate for you and create the optimal setting for success, which is what Durant did for her early on in her career.
"I've had the privilege of knowing and mentoring Lara for over three decades now, and it doesn't take long to witness her commitment to the growth, betterment and development of the profession, her peers and herself," said Durant. "She is an outstanding leader who brings fresh ideas to the table and advocates for those who may not yet have a seat at those tables."
Abrash's proudest accomplishment, beyond serving as Deloitte chair and transforming the firm's audit business, has been to lead the organization and keep employees safe through the pandemic. She said it made her witness the strength of Deloitte's culture and how strong connections could keep an organization going even during uncertain times, which is why she plans to dedicate even more resources to creating a welcoming work environment.
Additionally, this difficult period made Abrash realize how constructive feedback could help employees become the best version of themselves, and she said that allowing oneself to be vulnerable and open to evolution was the only way for a firm to survive under pressure. As a result, she often tells her team, "They can't steal second if they keep their foot on first," which means they can't get to the next round if they're unwilling to risk confrontation and learn from their mistakes.
"The thing I have learned over time is learning how to assess my performance and be truly honest with myself," said Abrash. "There have been moments in my career where I should have sought out feedback earlier, but I wasn't sure if I was up to the task, and I didn't want to accept it. But it's important to evolve if you're not doing something well, and I would advise people to take risks and embrace failure, because if you're not failing, then you're not really taking a risk."
At a Glance: Lara Abrash
Where did you go to college? Bachelor's degree in economics at SUNY Albany in economics; MBA in accountancy from Baruch College.
Where did you grow up? Stony Brook, N.Y.
Where did you begin your career in accounting? Rogoff & Co.
Where and when did you first make partner? Deloitte, 2003.
What is something that people may not know about you? I play softball.
Who is someone you admire? My mom.
What is your favorite TV show? Anything on Bravo.
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