Ep. 37: Luke Harris - A Change in Accounting Studies

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Mitch: (00:05)


Welcome back to Count Me In. I'm your host Mitch Roshong and this
is IMA's podcast about all things affecting the accounting and
finance world. For today's episode, we're going to take a look at
the education that is impacted by our changing industry. As we
hear Adam talk with Luke Harris, associate at PWC as he explains
his recent accounting studies and the experiences he's found most
helpful in entering the profession. Let's listen to their
conversation now. 


 


Adam: (00:37)


So I understand you studied international accounting and
logistics globally. Can you tell us a little bit about where you
studied and what the most interesting aspects were of accounting
in each country? 


 


Luke: (00:47)


So I first studied internationally in France as part of a one
semester exchange program. I was based out of Rin just about two
hours by train outside of Paris. And this afforded an abundance
of opportunities both personally and academically. Knowing that
there were international standards that varied from the generally
accepted accounting principles, views in the United States. I was
really interesting to me going into it. But after taking a
variety of classes, I actually noticed how similar the two sets
of standards really are and how much they're converging with
recent standards updates. For instance, the revenue recognition
standards and the least standard, both of these making gap more
principles based to align with Ivers, which has historically been
more principles based. I noticed that with logistics. I believe
that my greatest aha moment was realizing no matter how small of
a business you going to be are if not directly connected to the
global network of trade. You are more than likely just only once
removed from multinational firm, whether upstream from a supplier
or downstream through or consumer of your product or service. And
that was really big for me, realizing that there's really no way
to avoid the global effects of currency fluctuation, cyber risks,
sustainability and economic and political environments, which of
course necessitates a many ways in which we can hedge those
risks, which I find really interesting. I later studied logistics
and Chile, which was remarkable physically speaking, just seeing
the port in Valparaiso, the only major port in the whole country
was incredible, but then learning the political and economic past
and the influence that the U S and other countries have had in
affecting their economic system was just amazing. 


 


Adam: (02:32)


So I've read you've done some research in cyber warfare. How have
you been able to connect your international business studies to
what you've learned about cybersecurity needs? 


 


Luke: (02:43)


Good question. My main takeaway from my research and studies is
that this is an area anyone working on any sort of network I
should feel competent with. And I mean anything. If you check
your emails, convinced an online ordering, utilize any cloud
computing, this is something you need to be familiar with. And
somehow we think as the cloud gets more pervasive, it gets safer,
right? As it gets larger, it gets safer as if there is a security
in numbers that somehow more users make it safer. But when you
think about it, that rationale is flawed. When I am using, say,
Amazon web services, whether directly or indirectly through my
school or work, I am opening myself up to a field of over 1
million users. And of course I'm relying on both the provider and
servicer for adequate separation controls. And, uh, let's say if
modern ground transportation, puts the country at our fingertips,
it's the online web and cloud computing that have put the world
at our fingertips. Now, the unfortunate side to this, the other
side of this is that it has put us in our organizations within
reach of bad cyber actors across the world, right? So that can be
really intimidating knowing that really any bad cyber actor from
around the world could potentially access my data if it's not
properly secured. Your complication with mini servicers can also
cause problems with cyber warfare specifically? I was shocked to
find the ability and motivation by many nation States, uh, to
disrupt multinational corporations. And if you look at the major
cyber attacks happening in the past few years, many perpetrators
were in nation States. But at the same time, it's almost as if
many MNCs have placed the concept into sort of a buzzword box and
not fully grasp the gravity of the issue at hand. Secondly, if
studying cybersecurity, I believe it is very important to not
limit your research to your country of business even if you don't
have international dealing because you again are more than likely
just once removed from an a multinational corporation and you do
have international exposure if you are on any sort of public
network. 


 


Adam: (04:52)


So how have your various volunteer activities benefited your
career. 


 


Luke (04:58)


As an individual, studying and working in accounting, I tend to
get very focused into one particular area of interest at a time
and I feel voluntarily volunteering and I think volunteering has
really helped me in this area and it's helped me realize my place
in the world as a human characteristic. We share with the over 7
billion of us on this planet. So even though I may be an
accountant or a student, and those roles come with particular
obligations of ethical behavior, technical competencies and
academic orientation. But more than that, I'm an individual
capable of having a positive impact on my society in a volunteer
capacity, developing mentor, mentee relationships or volunteering
with the nonprofits such as professional organizations, your
house of worship or your local food bank, or always you can
contribute to your community. Just find something you're
passionate about and get out there to help as you can. And I
think the natural byproduct of this behavior is realizing every
activity you engage in, whether in the workplace or without the
workplace impacts a variety of people, people you know, and
people you may have never met. Consequently, the more you feel
connected with those people is a crucial understanding to working
within organizations and on teams. And that really touches on a
second aspect of volunteering, which is developing empathy in the
traditional sense. When volunteering, you are serving a group of
people distinctly different than that, which would be
representative clients and you're doing a service without
monetary compensation. Inherently, this behavior opens up your
field of exposure to new people and their lived experiences
allowing you to understand new cultures and behaviors of people.
It really fosters a profound and pathic understanding a skill, no
doubt, beneficial to nurturing personal relationships, but also a
skill absolutely required in the world of business. We're
understanding of consumer's greatest need is paramount for
success. 


 


Adam: (06:50)


Just from personal experience, I've found that volunteering not
only, you know, helps me in all the ways that you've mentioned,
but also just on a personal level, you recognized how much value
was in the time that you give to whatever you're volunteering for
and you just in some ways just feel better as a person. 


 


Luke: (07:09)


Absolutely. Yeah, there kind of comes with that, like a
nonphysical, maybe psychosocial, I don't know, application.
Yeah. 


 


Adam: (07:20)