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If you’re looking for a profession that’s all about people, community and service to others… may we suggest accounting? That’s right, accounting. Gilmore Jasion Mahler, the largest public accounting firm in Northwest Ohio, recently launched a high school initiative to help area young people better understand what the accounting profession is all about.

The firm is taking professionals into area high schools for presentations on trends and opportunities in the field. The program is in conjunction with an initiative from the Ohio Society of Certified Public Accountants (OSCPA), aimed at educating high school students about the abundant opportunities and highly competitive salaries in the accounting industry right now.

“I have talked with accounting students who sometimes have five to six offers for full-time employment upon their college graduation,” says GJM Recruiting Manager Carrie Giannetti. She’s overseen recruiting for GJM for about five years, but has been recruiting in the accounting industry for two decades. “Most skilled accountants who present themselves well will have no problem finding a job, whether it be their first job out of college or making a change with some experience under their belt.”

Recent numbers from the Robert Half Salary Guide for Accounting & Finance show that salaries in public accounting continue to increase, with 2017 compensation (entry level to 3 years’ experience) ranging from about $50,000 to $90,000 a year, depending upon the size and geographic location of the accounting firm. The study shows that professional certifications and graduate work can further increase compensation by about 15%.

Giannetti is coordinating GJM’s high school initiative. She says competitive salaries certainly are a factor for young people in considering a career, but so are opportunities for professional development, company culture and other factors. A key focus of the GJM presentation is to help students understand that accounting may be a real option for them as a potential career... and what they think accounting is… may not be the reality at all.  

“What I find is that a lot of people have a misperception of what accountants actually do,” she says.  “Most people think of money, taxes, and sitting at a desk all day when they think of a career in accounting when in all actuality, people are our business. There are also many more aspects to accounting other than taxes, such as auditing, IT, and consulting and many accountants are barely in the office. Rather, they’re working out at the client site, establishing networks within our community, and helping others which can be very fun, social, and rewarding.”

The GJM high school presentations kicked off in the fall of 2017 with visits to Perrysburg, Bowling Green, and St. Francis De Sales High Schools. The firm plans more scheduled visits toward the end of the school year in May, 2018. GJM staff members helping with the presentations so far include Alex Spieker, Matt Cavanagh, Nick Jackson, Matt Hoverman and Krista Huff. Matt Cavanagh, a graduate of Bowling Green High School, even had an opportunity to visit his old locker the day of the presentation. Krista Huff helped with the Perrysburg High School presentation and is also part of GJM’s recruiting team, which engages quite a bit with college level accounting students at The University of Toledo and Bowling Green State University.

“I think it’s a great idea to educate high school students about accounting because I know at that age I didn’t know anything about the career or the opportunities it can offer,” she says. “Getting in early and introducing them to the industry is really a win-win for everyone. They can better prepare for their future and we can get even more excited and interested candidates in the future.”  

GJM also hopes the sessions will help address a lack of diversity in the industry, exposing students to a career path they may not have considered and one that can serve them well.

“No matter what type of business or industry you might want to pursue, whether you want to be an entrepreneur or work in management or supply chain, accounting will always be the most valuable subject to learn in order to be successful,” adds Krista. “Many people get discouraged by accounting because they think it’s difficult and heavily math-based and that is very much a misconception. Accounting is definitely difficult, but the opportunities and success that can come out an accounting degree and career are certainly worth it.”

Established in 1996, Gilmore Jasion Mahler, LTD (GJM) is the largest public accounting firm in Northwest Ohio, with offices in Maumee and Findlay. Locally owned, GJM offers cloud-based accounting services and provides comprehensive services including assurance, business advisory, tax, risk advisory and healthcare management. The Firm’s professionals specialize in industries including construction & real estate, healthcare, manufacturing & distribution and utilities. Learn more about GJM opportunities at GJMLTD.com/careers.

“GJM Pistol Team?  What’s that, exactly?”

Exactly what it sounds like!

Let me introduce to you this year’s co-captains of the Gilmore Jasion Mahler Pistol Team: Stacie Heitmeyer, defending champion Hannah Nowak, and yours truly.

We always strive to make GJM a fun place to work – people do their best work when they’re happy at the office. One way we do that is with a pretty unique offering: we are the only accounting firm in Northwest Ohio (or anywhere?) that sponsors an official firm Pistol Team.

A little history

In 2012, a handful of us who enjoy some target shooting in our spare time looked around at the various softball, bowling, kickball, and other team building fun outings, and thought “what a great idea if we did a pistol team.”  Cleland’s Outdoor World runs winter and fall pistol leagues every year, and the format of the league makes for a lot of fun. In addition to traditional bullseye targets, the league uses some variants like Bingo cards, word scrambles, etc., and some truly silly stuff like saltines, candy Valentine hearts, and once even an apple on top of a mannequin’s head. Results on the little candy hearts are usually pretty mixed but most of us do a good job on the saltines.

The league format also allows for substitutes – so we would bring five different shooters every week to get as many people involved as possible. This doesn’t always produce great team scores but it does give us a chance to involve folks from all the departments, so auditors and tax associates and consultants and administrative folks all get to play together outside the office. This builds some comradery among the departments and allows some friendships to form among people who otherwise might not have occasion to work together often.

We started challenging ourselves as to how many different shooters we could involve each year. The 2017 team fielded 26 different associates and interns at least one time, many of them first-timer shooters.  We all find teaching newcomers how to shoot fun and rewarding – its outreach for a sport we all love and who doesn’t love learning new stuff?!

We also get the sweet uniform shirts you see above, which is a fun souvenir of the experience, and draws lots of attention out on the streets or on campus. We’re a different kind of accounting firm, both for our clients and for our associates and interns. I love answering the question at the top – “Pistol Team?” – because it’s one more way to show we are outside the box.

But we’re accountants, so we have to compete

If you’re not keeping score, there’s almost no point in playing, right? So we do track and award both team and individual awards. The team award is the coveted Grand Interdepartmental Pistol Championship™.  Turns out that historically, the audit department is fairly awesome at this and has won three trophies in the six years we’ve fielded a team. Our healthcare group has won two and our tax team has won once.

Maybe 2018 will be the year tax gets back in the winner’s circle, where they haven’t been since 2014. Tax’s own Hannah “Shooter” Nowak has won two of the last three Individual Pistol Champion trophies, including last year when she won the championship on the final shot of the night, by plinking a peppermint lifesaver one-handed from 50 feet away, which will be a story re-told and probably embellished for a thousand years.  Also the annual Most Valuable Intern award will be up for grabs – our overwhelming two-time winner Jess Knepper has joined the firm full-time and is no longer eligible for intern awards!

Look for updates throughout the 2018 season, pull for your favorite to win one of the coveted awards, and maybe you’ll see us on some bubblegum cards come springtime. Happy winter meantime!

J Kenneth Saggese contributed this blog. Ken is a partner in the Audit Department of Gilmore Jasion Mahler. With the Firm since 2006, Ken is a member of GJM’s Construction and Real Estate Specialist Group. His area of expertise is affordable housing.

Work. Life. Balance? You could call it the curse of the working mom: trying to figure out a way to strike a balance between taking care of your family and having a successful, fulfilling professional life. There’s just not enough time in the day.

What if you could have the best of both worlds… the time to be there for your children and the time to succeed in your career?

That’s the reality for Gilmore Jasion Mahler CPA and mother of three Jaimi Arn. That’s because her employer, public accounting firm Gilmore Jasion Mahler in Maumee, has made some policy changes in recent years to make it easier for employees to achieve a work-life balance.

And, Jaimi’s personal life is all about family: Husband Aaron and 8-year-old Addisson, 5-year-old Jayden and 3-year-old Jackson. It’s about school activities, daycare runs, getting dinner on the table, bath time, bedtime. It’s about having good “mom” time.

With the Firm for 17 years, Jaimi is a manager in the Tax Department. She’s busy throughout the year working with clients, but says from the start of the calendar year leading up to the April 15^th deadline is her busiest time of the year. Yes, there are still many long days during tax season, but GJM staff members have options, thanks to a Flexible Work Arrangement (FWA) policy. The policy allows those who work at least 25 hours per week to adapt their work hours to fit in with their busy lives.

Jaimi says the FWA policy is perfect for her. She says she works about thirty hours a week (of course, more hours during tax season). The policy allows her to fit her work schedule in around her mommy duties. Sometimes that means reviewing tax returns from home, once the kids are in bed.

“It works very well,” says Jaimi. “It takes a few years to get everyone on board, knowing your schedule, knowing, for example, that I leave at 4:45 versus 5 pm. It’s all about flexibility. It’s just a balance between everyone, trying to make it work.”

She says flexible work arrangements weren’t an option early in her career. GJM’s Human Resources Manager Jeanne O’Riordon says adoption of the FWA policy is a great example of how the Firm stays aware of industry staffing trends, and what their people need to succeed and to be happy.

“I think there was a time in the accounting profession when young women thought if they started a family, they couldn’t stay on with a firm because of the demanding hours, especially during tax season,” says O’Riordon.  “Those times are gone, at least at GJM. We have many mothers on our team who have made it work, thanks to the FWA policy.”

Jaimi says two of her pregnancies came right during her busiest time of the year at work. Jayden and Jackson have January and February birthdays, which meant her maternity leave for each of the boys was during tax season.

“I certainly didn’t plan it that way,” she says. “There was sort of a running joke with some of my clients. I told them I’m done with tax season pregnancies. Honestly, clients were very cooperative and the Firm was very supportive.”

Jaimi credits Firm leadership and the GJM culture for the successful FWA policy. She says she has a manageable level of activity in her life, and that’s no small statement for a working mother of three.

Learn more about careers at GJM including current opportunities on the GJM careers page.

Established in 1996, Gilmore Jasion Mahler, LTD (GJM) is the largest public accounting firm in Northwest Ohio, with offices in Maumee and Findlay. Locally owned, GJM offers comprehensive financial services including assurance, business advisory, tax, risk advisory and healthcare management. The Firm’s professionals specialize in industries including construction & real estate, healthcare, manufacturing & distribution and utilities.

Wait wait wait…you’re telling me, as an accountant, I can come to the office in jeans? Yes! That is exactly what GJM has rolled out- a “Dress-For-Your-Day” policy, effective this month. As a millennial in the workforce, especially considering our industry, this came as a big shocker. What an awesome concept; my firm trusts me to dress myself.  An excerpt from our new policy states, ““We…believe that we can trust our people to use professional judgement in deciding how to dress for their day.” Now obviously this policy has different implications depending on your role in the firm and where you spend a majority of your time, but the added flexibility is yet another confirmation that GJM is committed to their people and takes into consideration the evolution of the modern-day workforce.

Here’s what our employees have to say about the change:

“It makes us more approachable.”

“Getting dressed is easier in the morning, and it’s nice to put that excess focus on my productivity.”

“While our dress policy has become more lenient, our work has not; it’s just fun to see everyone expressing themselves at work.”

“We’re professionals, and we’re still going to work professionally, so it doesn’t make much difference to me.”

Just when I thought GJM could not be a better place to work, they strike again! Reasons why I believe the new dress policy is an overall win? We’re adaptive. The firm takes note of social changes in the industry and stays on top by perpetually evolving. Second- as I referenced earlier, I’m a millennial. Flexibility, work/life harmony, socially conscious environments, (I could go on and on) are all concepts that my peers and I value; the option for casual attire goes hand-in-hand with overall flexibility. A full-time hire that started this week literally just said, “I’m ecstatic.” when asked about the change.

Considering the efforts GJM has put forth thus far into being the best place to work, I cannot wait to experience how we continue to progress.

Lauren Webber is a Senior Associate with Gilmore Jasion Mahler.

We are always focused on helping the best and brightest young people to grow their career in the accounting industry. Now we don't have to just tell them about Gilmore Jasion Mahler, we can show them. Have a look at our recently produced recruiting video. We think it captures "who we are." Interested in becoming part of our team? We invite you to start the conversation and explore GJM careers.