Career Path of an Accounting Operations Manager at a Liability Insurance Provider

I was a non-traditional student when I went to college for my undergraduate degree. Prior to that, I worked in retail and discovered I had a knack for accounting, and I really loved working with Microsoft Excel.

I worked as a corporate admin at a large retailer and managed an independent cell phone store. I had to teach myself the skills needed to track and calculate inventory, payroll, commissions, and expenses, all using Excel.

At the time, I didn't realize it, but I was building our company's financial statements. I did this out of common sense so we could track what we were making, pay our bills, and see what was going on.

This led me to explore accounting as a career. I took night classes at DBC and loved it. We decided to move to Missouri, and I attended Missouri Southern State for my undergraduate degree.

While in school in my mid-thirties, I wanted to take advantage of opportunities. I signed up as the public relations officer for the accounting club, which was huge. I attended many events and met many working professionals.

It was great experience learning how to network and get my name out there. The accounting club boosted my confidence when I returned to California.

I also worked with the Volunteer Income Tax Program, for which I received college credit. I worked closely with professors and the head of the business school, which provided another networking opportunity.

From that program, I received two letters of recommendation. I also served the community by helping people with their income tax needs for free, providing them with solid advice. It was very rewarding.

After moving back to California, I had to start over. I was in my mid-thirties competing with recent college graduates. My experience at school helped me stand out, and I was hired as a staff accountant at a tech company.

I worked there for almost five years, building the foundation of my corporate accounting experience. I was one of the first 20 employees. The company quickly grew to about 60 people within a few months, and then over 150 employees by the time I left.

The company eventually moved to Chicago, and everything changed. During my time there, I was promoted to accounting supervisor and then to director of finance. Later, my title changed to assistant controller, focusing on corporate accounting while still managing a team.

All my work experience there was specific to that company. When I left, I didn't feel confident enough for a higher-level management role. I decided to gain more technical experience and stepped into a senior accountant role at a medical device manufacturer.

I worked there for two years, but the company was sold and dismantled. I transferred to a food manufacturer as a senior accountant. This was a very large, global company, a big difference from the smaller tech company.

I learned a lot about technical accounting and high-level audit procedures. As a public company, we had to adhere to strict deadlines for closing and reporting. This added significant experience to my foundation.

Unfortunately, this company was also sold. When I was at the food manufacturer, I was promoted to accounting manager. I continued doing general ledger accounting and worked on ad hoc projects with other departments, while also managing a small team.

I carried that experience over to my current role as an accounting operations manager for an insurance provider. They use a combination of GAAP and statutory accounting, which is a completely different world.

The concepts are quite different, but also fairly similar, so it was easy to pick up, although it took time to get the detailed knowledge needed. It's all about adding more experience and knowledge to be able to apply it and continue growing.