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Elaine Leggett

Technical Mangaer
AICPA (that's us)
Durham, NC

 

In 8th grade, Elaine Leggett decided she should become a CPA, but for the wrong reason.

Elaine loved math and assumed that CPAs worked with numbers all day. “I did not know until my junior year of college that accountants are extremely analytical and that it’s more important to score better on the verbal section of the SAT than the math section to be a successful accountant,” Elaine says. “Luckily, I blindly made the perfect career choice.”

As a CPA, Elaine has held a variety of different jobs. She’s worked in a small office that operated like a small firm, in a mid-sized local firm doing consulting and as an accounting recruiter.

Now she’s with the American Institute of CPAs, where she spends a lot of her day working with forensic accountants. “In today's market place, the public is seeing this area as the 'hottest' job to have. And rightfully so,” Elaine says. Forensic accountants work on “large corporate breakups, murder cases, as FBI agents fighting organized crime and high profile divorce cases, just to name a few.”

Even though Elaine’s choice to become a CPA was because she bought into the stereotype, she knows now that CPAs can do almost anything they want. “Being a CPA will open any door you choose, even doors you cannot imaging while you are in school,” she says. “CPAs can drive the direction of their career down any path they choose, work in any industry, any size business. Accounting is a profession that is in demand and is not going away.”

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