Sharon Sabba Fierstein

This year, Ita M. Rahilly will become the 100th president of the NYSSCPA, and its eighth female president since the Society was founded over a century ago. Her installation will take place during a time of rapid change for both the profession and the business world as a whole, particularly when it comes to the growing role of female leaders in the workplace. To kick off the year of the 100th president, The Trusted Professional has been interviewing some of the past female Society presidents about their own experiences navigating what has historically been a male-dominated profession, how things have changed, and how they’ve stayed the same. In the January/February issue, we featured past Society presidents Marilyn A. Pendergast, who served from 1994 to 1995, and Jo Ann Golden, who served from 2002 to 2003. In the March/April issue, we featured Sharon Sabba Fierstein, who served from 2008 to 2009.  In the May/June issue, we will feature Margaret A. Wood, who served from 2010 to 2011, and Gail M. McIntyre (formerly Kinsella), who served from 2012 to 2013. Here's the Q&A with Sharon Sabba Fierstein.

Why did you choose accounting as your career?

I was a math-economics major at a liberal arts school, so my options were really open. I was considering some bank training programs, but eventually decided that accounting would give me a better foundation in business. I believed then, as I do now, that with an accounting background, you have many career opportunities available to you.

What was your first accounting job like?

I joined Deloitte Haskins & Sells in 1981, where I stayed for nine years. I was in the audit department, and we had about 75 people in my starting class. Of that 75, maybe one-third were female.

This was the early ’80s, and things were very different than they are today. For example, there was an unwritten rule that women were not going to be considered for management positions on audits in certain industries or certain types of clients. Fortunately, that is not the case today.

Furthermore, when I started, there was also a perception that women would only stay so long, that they would leave once they had children. While that may not have been the case, that perception influenced the careers of many women. 

Finally, there weren’t really a lot of female mentors back then—when I started in Deloitte’s New York City office, there was only one female partner in the audit department. Over the course of time, another was added in tax and then, finally, more throughout all the disciplines. I can’t remember the exact number of women by the time I left.

A lot of the discussion has been about gendered dynamics within firms. Did these dynamics play out with clients as well, and, if so, how?

I think the clients were actually more receptive in a lot of ways, at least mine were. I think, for me, they appreciated the personal touch I brought to the table—all those soft skills they talk about in business seminars. When I gave my first speech as NYSSCPA president, I talked about why people get involved in accounting, to which most people reply, ‘Oh, I was good at math.’ While that may be true, that’s not what makes someone successful. In addition to technical skills, soft skills can really make a difference—you need to talk to clients and bring people together to work as a team. I believe that’s what makes you successful.

You rose to the position you’re in because you were very good at your job. Sometimes, women in the business world can have difficulty getting recognition for their own skills and accomplishments. Was this a challenge that you faced, and, if so, how did you make sure you got the credit you deserved?

I think that came later. I left public accounting in 1990 and went into private, where, among other positions, I was CFO of a small mortgage banking company for 10 years. That company is where I first really learned to use all the skills that I had developed before, to really help manage a company as one of its senior management. At the same time, I stayed connected to the State Society because I really believed that it was a way I could learn to be a leader, to run a meeting, to get people to cooperate— all in a safer environment that was not my job. I could try out different types of approaches and different types of problem-solving skills in a place where my job wasn’t necessarily on the line. It was a great way to learn skills that I could then bring with me wherever I worked.

It’s interesting that you mention that. Could you talk a little more about the role that the NYSSCPA played in your career? Did networking with other women help you?

Marilyn [Pendergast] gave me my first chance at the State Society. I came onto the Board when she was president, and she asked me, as a brand-new Board member, to be on the Executive Committee. It was very interesting. On that Board, Marilyn was president, and there were two other women besides me. They had more experience than me, but we really helped each other. I didn’t experience that, for the most part, in my job, since there were no other women in senior positions at my company, so that was why it was so nice to have that experience at the State Society.

At my first Annual Meeting, I had lunch with these other two women by the pool, and one of them said, ‘Should we sit in the back?’ and I said, ‘No, let’s sit right in the front; we have nothing to hide!’  And Board member after Board member came up to us and commented, ‘Oh, are you ladies having lunch?’ We invited each one to join us, but no one wanted to intrude on our “ladies’ lunch.” If we had been three guys getting lunch together, no one would have given it a single thought. But three female Board members together—they must be planning something!

Generally speaking, where have there been the biggest changes for women in the accounting profession since you first started out?

I think, across the board, not just for women, the concept of having work-life balance—that you don’t always have to be in your office, and that you can work remotely—has been a big change. It’s encouraged people to recognize that having a family and working in a public accounting firm are not mutually exclusive concepts. If I’m the client and I call a partner with a question, they could be anywhere; they don’t have to be in the office; they could be with their family or in another part of the country or working from home. It’s irrelevant where they are—I just need to talk to them. We’ve also seen a lot more women who’ve been promoted to partner and even managing partner. It’s not unusual anymore, for women to be in senior positions in public accounting firms.

I really do think it’s a completely different world compared to when I started. I see it now from the other side, since I’m in a private company, where the senior audit team is all-female. We just focus on whether we receive good quality service, not on who’s providing it.

For students starting out in public accounting firms today, it’s now about 50-50 male to female, which means expectations are different. Firms have to be different; they can’t have the attitudes about women and work that existed when I started.