Loretta Doon, CPA

Q&A:

What advice would you give to female college students about the opportunities for women in the accounting profession?
Accounting is a profession that provides a golden key to unlock many doors leading to fantastic opportunities. If you like to do puzzles and solve things, you will love accounting!

What would you suggest to accounting firms that are interested in retaining and advancing more qualified female staff?
Be flexible.

Why did you choose to work in – and stay in – the accounting field?
Accounting is not only about math, it is about analysis, problem solving, and communication of concepts.

What are you currently reading?
Re-reading Future Shock and reading The Red Queen.

What changes do you foresee in the accounting profession of the near future (3-5 years)?
Companies and consumers will request sustainability standards which will be more and more utilized in addition to GAAP.

How do you see yourself participating in shaping the future of the accounting profession?
Increasing the pipeline of young professionals into the profession through CPA licensure and development of continuing professional education for the future.

Describe one person who has been an important mentor to you and how that person helped shape the direction or focus of your professional life.
My first manager at EY. His name was Bob Powers and he was one of the most energetic and intelligent persons that I have ever met and worked with. Bob passed away last year from MLS. I had been visiting him for over a year during his illness and saw him the day before he died right before one of my trips back to Hawaii. He taught me how to have an “auditor’s eye”… as sense of curiosity and professional skepticism … and to uphold all the values that the CPA profession stands for. He made me a great auditor. He was relentless in his education of all his staff which made us all better accountants.
I still miss him and think of him often.

Please share a personal rule or principle that you follow.
Make it happen.

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See the other recipients of the 2016 Most Powerful Women in Accounting award.