Catherine Ide

Center for Audit Quality

Washington, D.C. USA

Career Roadmap

Catherine's work combines: Business, Education, and Upholding a Cause and Belief

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Sr. Managing Director Professional Practice

I lead initiatives centered on the practice and promotion of public company audit quality.

Bachelor's Degree: Accounting

Bachelor's Degree: Business/Commerce, General

Bachelor's Degree: East Asian Studies

Certification: Certified Public Accountant

My path in life has been direct

1.
Having a father in the business world influenced my career aspirations.
2.
I was lucky enough that my parents paid for my college education, so I wanted to show my appreciation by being gainfully employed upon graduation.
3.
To get a job right out of college, my choices in the business school were finance or accounting. I hated finance, so accounting it was. I got an internship with the Big 4, and got a full time job
4.
I had trouble passing the CPA exam, and my promotion to manager was delayed because of it.
5.
I wanted to do something different than client service. So I applied and got the opportunity to work in a Big 4 National Office.
6.
Instead of going back to client service, I wanted to move up the ranks as a National Office contributor, but this would not be the partner track, which was okay.

THE NOISE
Messages from Society in general:
CPAs at big accounting firms work all the time
How I responded:
If you take opportunities to listen, learn, and understand what your bosses want, this leads the way to a path of being effective and efficient. While at times, there is a lot of work to do, generally there also is flexibility and peaks and troughs of the necessary effort.

Experiences and challenges that shaped me

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During times of stress, I often don't take care of myself as I should, and during college and the earlier stages of my career, this resulted in several hospital stays.

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