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Accounting Podcast

Women in Accounting Need Mentors Who See Their Potential Before They Do

Earmark Team · July 30, 2025 ·

“We see in others what we fail to see in ourselves.”

This simple but powerful insight came from a coffee conversation between two accounting colleagues. One was sharing her frustrations about advancing in a male-dominated leadership environment. The other pointed out strengths that were completely invisible to their owner: clear communication, authentic presence, and natural insight.

This conversation sparked a recent episode of the She Counts podcast, where hosts Questian Telka and Nancy McClelland dive into why mentorship is critical for women in accounting.

The Hidden Crisis in Accounting Leadership

The numbers tell a troubling story. Men and women enter the accounting profession at roughly equal rates: about 50/50. But women hold only 19% of partner positions in CPA firms nationwide. 

As Nancy points out, some major accounting firms are completely scrapping their diversity, equity, and inclusion programs (while others are doubling down on them). “Think about what the future of leadership in those companies is going to look like,” she says.

The reality is that this leadership gap isn’t about qualifications. When Questian worked at a Big Four firm early in her career, seeing a female chairperson of the board felt “unbelievable,” not because the woman wasn’t qualified, but because such representation was so rare.

Even more troubling are the explicit barriers that still exist. One colleague shared how she was promised a partner position when she joined a firm. After years of working toward that goal, the position went to a male colleague instead. When she had her first child, firm leadership told her she “wouldn’t want to be in a leadership role now anyway, because she was a mom.”

This kind of thinking—illegal as it is—shows the deeper assumptions that still limit women’s advancement.

Civil rights leader Marian Wright Edelman said it best: “You can’t be what you can’t see.” When leadership representation is so skewed, it creates a visibility problem. Women entering the profession may limit their own ambitions simply because they haven’t seen enough examples of women successfully reaching senior leadership roles.

The Science Behind Seeing Potential

The power of mentorship isn’t mysterious; it’s grounded in neuroscience that explains why outside perspective can literally change how we see ourselves.

As women, we’re often taught to fixate on our shortcomings rather than our strengths. “It is so common for us to focus on looking at our negatives,” Questian explains, “that we are often not paying enough attention to what our good traits are, and all of the positives that we bring to the table.”

Nancy admits she struggles with this, too. “If I’m naturally good at something, I don’t really take credit for it. I don’t think there’s anything impressive about this. It just is.”

This is where the science gets fascinating. Mirror neurons make it possible for us to learn something without doing it ourselves. When we watch someone teaching on stage or demonstrating a skill, “the audience can actually learn that thing as if they were doing it themselves,” Nancy explains.

In mentorship relationships, this means we can observe behaviors in our mentors and begin to see those possibilities for ourselves. When Nancy saw women like Claudia Hill speaking at accounting conferences, her immediate reaction was “me too. That’s a thing I’d like to do.”

When we receive positive feedback from someone we trust, our brains release dopamine. This reinforces the behavior that created the praise in the first place. “Getting a positive affirmation from it makes you much more inclined to continue to repeat it,” Questian says.

This creates a positive cycle where confidence builds on itself, leading to more confident behaviors that generate more positive responses.

This science helps explain Questian’s remarkable transformation. She went from someone who “could hardly get on a zoom call” to confidently delivering webinars and speaking at conferences. When Nancy pushed her to take a Theater of Public Speaking class, she wasn’t just suggesting skill-building; she was recommending a way to rewire her brain around public speaking anxiety.

Even today, Nancy provides the outside perspective that catches limiting thoughts before they take hold. When Questian says something like, “I’m going to submit this topic to Intuit Connect, but I’m sure they won’t take it,” Nancy immediately calls it out: “Is that your lizard-brain trying to protect you from rejection?”

Finding Your Mentors

Understanding the science is one thing. Actually building these relationships is another. The good news is that mentorship opportunities exist everywhere… if you know where to look.

But first, you need to get clear about what you actually need. As mentor Gaynor Meilke told Nancy, “How are you going to get to where you want to be if you don’t know what that is?”

Sometimes you need technical guidance. Sometimes confidence building. Sometimes a roadmap for advancement. Sometimes just someone who understands your challenges.

Questian never had a formal mentorship program. Instead, she’s found value in informal relationships with people who share similar values and communication styles.

Conferences are gold mines for mentorship connections. Both hosts trace pivotal moments to conference encounters. LinkedIn, Facebook groups, mastermind communities, and even your current workplace all offer potential mentor relationships.

The step that stops many people is actually asking for help. “You have to ask them,” Questian emphasizes. “What’s the worst they can say? No.”

Questian learned this when she persistently pursued Nancy as a mentor, even after initial hesitation. Sometimes the answer is no. But often, people who seem unreachable are willing to help if you show genuine interest.

Mentorship doesn’t depend on traditional hierarchies either. Nancy’s relationship with Melissa Miller Furgeson shows peer mentorship in action. “I feel so comfortable being able to go to her and say, I have no clue what I’m doing, and she’ll be like, here’s a Loom.”

Questian notes that mentors can even be younger than you. She considers Krista Marina Apardian from Theater of Public Speaking a mentor despite Apardian being younger, recognizing her as “an incredible speaker” with valuable expertise.

Different life phases need different types of mentorship. When Nancy needed encouragement to pursue tax preparation, Theresa Briggs saw potential Nancy couldn’t recognize. She gave Nancy a CCH Master Tax Guide with an inspirational inscription Nancy still treasures.

When Nancy needed business operation skills, Clare Karchmar taught her to “come to me with solutions, not problems.” This lesson fundamentally changed how Nancy approached professional challenges. Karchmar even gave Nancy a name badge that said “Hello, I’m: Shocked” to help break the habit of expressing surprise instead of focusing on solutions.

Recognizing Bad Mentorship

Not all mentorship relationships are helpful. Recognizing warning signs protects you from relationships that could harm your career.

Nancy shares a cautionary tale about approaching a leader for help with overwhelming work challenges. The leader’s solution was to make herbal tea and suggested yoga. “That would not have happened to a man.”

Warning signs include mentors who seem more interested in making themselves look good than developing you; those who take credit for your work; or anyone whose treatment feels patronizing.

Nancy advises, “If something happens that would never happen to a man… this is not your person.”

Being a Mentor Yourself

The mentorship relationship works both ways. Even as Nancy mentors Questian, she continues seeking mentorship for her own challenges.

“I am going to be turning 53 years old in a couple of days, and I am still in need of mentorship,” Nancy says. “We need to both have and be mentors at every stage of our lives.”

This eliminates the pressure to wait until you’re “qualified enough” to help others. Your current struggles and experiences are valuable to someone a few steps behind you in that area of life.

Some women hesitate to mentor because of imposter syndrome. “What do I have to offer?” is a common thought. But as Nancy points out, “Sometimes it’s your mistakes and your failures and your experiences that make you a more valuable mentor.”

When women support each other through mentorship, they create visibility that makes ambition feel achievable for the next generation. This gradually shifts from initially seeing a female leader as “unbelievable” to it eventually feeling normal.

Moving Forward

The accounting profession’s leadership gender gap at least partially stems from the absence of mentors who can see and nurture potential before women recognize it themselves.

As Marianne Williamson reminds us, “When you let your light shine, you unconsciously give others permission to do the same.”

Building mentorship relationships is about creating the visibility and support systems that will help other women recognize and develop their potential, too.

Listen to the full episode and join the conversation on the She Counts Podcast LinkedIn page. The hosts want to know how firms and businesses can build good mentorship cultures and what mentorship experiences have worked for you. Share your thoughts and experiences to help build a stronger community of women supporting women in accounting.

Whether you’re seeking mentorship or stepping up to mentor someone else, remember that these relationships have the power to transform the profession. The accounting industry’s future depends on women supporting women, and that future starts with the mentorship relationships we build today.

Hidden QuickBooks Updates in March 2025 That Will Change Your Accounting Workflow

Earmark Team · March 27, 2025 ·

Keeping up with the changes in QuickBooks can feel like a full-time job. Thankfully, Alicia Katz Pollock and Margie Remmers-Davis are here to help you out!

In this episode of The Unofficial QuickBooks Accountants Podcast, they dive into what they’ve discovered in March 2025. They cover everything from minor tweaks to major updates that will change the way accounting professionals use QuickBooks.

“What Margie and I do is we have a Google Doc that every time we notice something is different, we go ahead and take a screenshot and drop it in the doc,” explains Alicia. This method helps them keep an eye on both official updates and those cool experimental features that might disappear before you know it.

Let’s dive into the most notable QuickBooks changes they uncovered this month.

Menu Improvements 

Several interface enhancements make QuickBooks more user-friendly and efficient for daily tasks. One of the most notable improvements is the addition of a submenu for Reports in the left navigation bar.

“Every item that you hover over has a submenu that takes you to the tabs for that thing. For years, reports never had that dropdown,” Margie explained with obvious relief. “Thank heavens… hallelujah that they did this!”

The bookmarks feature has also been enhanced. Users can now edit bookmark names, which Alicia appreciates for fixing formatting issues: “When I bookmark the Reminders list, it always comes in in all caps, which triggers my OCD. I like being able to edit the bookmark and get it into regular case.” However, Margie expressed concern that custom bookmark names might create confusion during support situations.

For accountants working with clients considering Intuit Enterprise Suite, there’s now a quick link under the Accountant Tools briefcase labeled “Intuit Enterprise Suite referral.” This makes it easier to schedule meetings with Intuit sales representatives to evaluate if the suite is right for your clients.

Financial Tracking Enhancements

A much-missed feature has returned to fixed asset management. When creating a fixed asset, users can now check a box labeled “create a category to keep track of depreciation,” which automatically creates two subaccounts – one for the original value and one for depreciation.

“This lets you see the net book value for that one fixed asset on the chart of accounts,” Alicia explained. “For my small business owners who might just have a couple fixed assets, it’s really great.”

The split transactions interface has also received a significant upgrade. “It used to be a tiny little window. Now it fills up your screen,” noted Alicia. The redesigned interface allows users to split transactions between different chart of accounts categories and map to different product and service lines simultaneously.

For businesses using payroll, there’s a new section for employer tax expenses in the payroll settings. “Now you have the ability to create micro expense accounts for literally any one of your employer taxes,” Alicia shared. This feature is particularly valuable for larger companies that want detailed expense tracking without relying on external spreadsheets.

Perhaps most helpful is a new warning system in the banking feed that prevents duplicate revenue entries. When users attempt to categorize a deposit for a customer with open invoices, QuickBooks now displays a warning message: “This client has open invoices. If this deposit is for that invoice, record the payment and receive payment first.”

Payment Processing Innovations

GoPayment, QuickBooks’ mobile payment solution, now offers Tap to Pay for iPhone users. This eliminates the need for the $50 Bluetooth card reader previously required for accepting payments in the field.

“You can hold your phone in your hand, log into GoPayment, dial up an order, and then they can just tap their credit card or tap their phone to your phone,” Alicia explained. This feature is particularly valuable for businesses that take payments on the go.

For businesses concerned about merchant fees, there’s a clever workaround. “If you turn off your merchant services, your customer still can pay using merchant services, but they pay the fees,” Alicia explained. This option is found under the “Manage” and then “Payments” button on the right side of an invoice.

The Business Network is also enabling easier payment information sharing between QuickBooks users. “Find your business network settings and put in your ACH information. Then that will just make it easier on everybody and you’ll get paid faster,” suggested Alicia.

Important Account Limitations to Watch

Recent changes to the QuickBooks Checking deposit account agreement introduce several transaction limits that could impact business operations:

  • ATM withdrawals limited to 10 per day
  • Daily purchase and withdrawal limit of $10,000
  • Funding transaction limit of $5,000 per day
  • Limits on instant transfers: “Up to five instant transfer transactions per day and per week, and up to ten instant transfer transactions per month”
  • A new 3% foreign transaction fee

“I’m definitely checking in with them myself because I don’t know what this means for me,” Alicia noted, particularly concerned about the instant transfer limits. “Are they going to start charging me or are they going to just slow down everything after the first five for the week?”

For those concerned about these limitations, Alicia mentioned alternatives like Anchor (flat $5 per transaction) and Forwardly (free transfers), which Margie confirmed her company recently switched to with positive results.

QuickBooks Payroll is also changing how it handles tax payments. “They’re going to start withdrawing your taxes when you run your payroll. So you have to have your payroll and your taxes funding available in the checking account when you run payroll,” Alicia explained.

Glimpses of Future Developments

The hosts spotted several experimental features that briefly appeared before disappearing again, offering clues about future QuickBooks developments:

  1. A column labeled “approval status” temporarily appeared in transaction lists, even in QuickBooks Online Plus accounts (typically an Advanced feature).
  1. A dedicated column showing which rule applied to banking transactions briefly appeared in the banking feed.
  1. For a moment, some users could create profit and loss reports with columns for custom fields, possibly related to the upcoming migration away from legacy tags.

Alicia also revealed she’s beta testing a completely redesigned banking feed experience expected to launch later this year. “I’ve been beta testing it and I like it,” she shared, noting that the upgraded split transactions interface seems to be a precursor to this larger overhaul.

Staying Current with QuickBooks Changes

These ongoing improvements and experiments show how crucial it is to stay updated with the latest QuickBooks changes. This way, you can better serve your clients and avoid surprises when logging into their QuickBooks accounts.

If you want to hear more about these updates and what’s on the horizon for QuickBooks, check out the full episode of The Unofficial QuickBooks Accountants Podcast.


Alicia Katz Pollock’s Royalwise OWLS (On-Demand Web-based Learning Solutions) is the industry’s premier portal for top-notch QuickBooks Online training with CPE for accounting firms, bookkeepers, and small business owners. Visit Royalwise OWLS, where learning QBO is a HOOT!

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