Why we need to celebrate the work of financial reporting professionals

“Bad news sells papers” - or so the saying goes.

I’ve always been troubled by this expression not because media outlets shouldn’t cover news when there’s a problem or when things go wrong - that’s incredibly important. Rather, I think as a society we don’t spend enough time recognizing when things go as they should. It’s often our reaction to focus on things when they don’t go well, but why shouldn’t we recognize the positive impact when they work?

I can say without a doubt that in auditing and financial reporting, it’s especially important to celebrate what is working -- Because not recognizing the hard work, discipline, and courage that it takes to deliver success in our profession hurts our ability to attract and retain top talent. More importantly, we must call out the successes in our profession because the nature of what we do is often “behind the scenes.”

Why the financial reporting profession is so important

I strongly believe that the financial reporting profession is a noble and important one: Quality financial reporting provides a foundation for millions of people who invest their money to consider as they save for a home, for their kids’ education, and for retirement.

This fact has stuck with me throughout my career and has helped me understand why what we do is so important. It helped me make sense of the late nights, the detailed cross-checking and validation, the studying and application of technical accounting and auditing rules, the hard discussions with clients, and why my mentors in the profession cared so much about what we do. It helped me understand that when “it” happens correctly, we should celebrate it so those doing the work and those contemplating a future in the profession see the real purpose and impact of the job.

Celebrating the work of financial reporting professionals

In my role as PwC’s US Chairman and Senior Partner, I have the privilege of meeting with the numerous management teams, audit committees and teams, and investors. And based on these interactions and my experiences, I am confident in our financial reporting system and, at the same time, I understand that there’s always room for continued improvement and vigilance in carrying out our role in that system.

That being said, it’s time that we recognize and celebrate the quality work and the “little things” that people in our profession do each and every day that often go unnoticed.

So let me take this opportunity to highlight some things that people in our profession have done recently that have inspired me:

• I have seen the senior financial management of a client react swiftly when a weakness in the talent at an important subsidiary was in need of an upgrade.
• I have seen a client’s audit committee invest significant time to understand its cyber risk and the potential impact on its financial statements and internal controls. I witnessed this committee meet in lengthy sessions with management, venture capitalists specializing in cyber security companies, third party advisers, and defense specialists - all in the name of better understanding their potential cyber risks and how they could better protect their investors.
• I was with an audit partner when she shared her view with a client that the scope of an original investigation into a potential illegal act should be expanded beyond what the client’s management had expected and budgeted.
• I was with another audit partner when he informed a client’s management team that their controller was under-equipped to handle his responsibilities both in function and management, and told the management team that the issue needed to be addressed decisively.

Building trust in our capital markets

Each of these actions may seem small but they’re actually extremely important. In fact, it’s these types of everyday actions that make our financial reporting system work. What’s more impressive is that people take these types of actions every day without the broader business community or public ever knowing that they occurred.

But it’s because our system is built on confidence, integrity, and predictability - and not showmanship - that highly skilled and dedicated individuals tirelessly and quietly do their jobs, which in turn helps our capital markets function and grow.

People often say that “success can breed arrogance” and I’ve personally witnessed examples of this throughout my career. That’s why we can’t take the success of our financial reporting system for granted.  We have to continue to do the work that we do to maintain and build trust in our financial reporting system.

So to all of you involved in financial reporting - thank you. Thank you for what you do, doing it quietly and, perhaps most of all, doing it so well.