What do submarine oxygen levels have to do with solving the accounting talent shortage? More than you might think. For Navy veteran Mark Steinhoff, the precision required to manage life-support systems hundreds of feet underwater created the perfect foundation for his accounting career.
On a recent episode of the Earmark Podcast, Steinhoff shared how his military experience, where a single error could be catastrophic, prepared him for a profession where accuracy is essential.
The Surprising Parallels Between Military Service and Accounting
At first glance, maintaining life support systems on a nuclear submarine and balancing financial statements seem worlds apart. Yet for Mark Steinhoff, the transition felt surprisingly natural.
“The military is very structured. You’ve got that typical hierarchy, chain of command, everything’s procedural compliance. You’ve got to follow the rules,” Steinhoff explains. “And accounting is very similar. There’s a lot of rules, processes, guidelines, and regulatory compliance.”
Steinhoff served as a machinist mate auxiliary on the USS Alabama (the submarine featured in the movie Crimson Tide). His job required extraordinary precision. As he describes, “Everything you touch on the boat, if you want to take a bolt off, you have to document it. There are procedures you have to follow.” This rigorous documentation mirrors accounting’s fundamental requirement to record and verify every transaction.
The military’s verification systems also parallel accounting’s internal controls. Steinhoff points to the “two-party check” system used on submarines. “If one person wanted to go do work, they would go through independent verification, and then the other person would independently do it.” This approach is remarkably similar to the separation of duties in accounting, where different people handle different parts of a transaction to reduce errors and fraud.
The stakes in both environments are high. On a submarine, “There’s no option for mistakes.” A failed oxygen system means disaster for the entire crew. While accounting errors might not immediately threaten lives, they can certainly threaten livelihoods, affecting businesses, jobs, and investments.
Using Military Benefits to Get an Accounting Education
For veterans considering accounting careers, education is the bridge between military experience and professional opportunity. Steinhoff’s path shows how military benefits can make high-quality accounting education affordable, even at prestigious private universities.
Steinhoff left the Navy in June 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic began. With uncertain civilian job prospects, he decided to use his GI Bill benefits for college.
“They pay you a little stipend to pay your rent and get you through college. They pay for your books, and they pay for your tuition,” Steinhoff explains. However, many veterans don’t realize they can maximize these benefits through programs like the Yellow Ribbon Act, which allowed him to attend Texas Christian University (TCU), a private school with an annual tuition of about $50,000.
“Most of the time the GI Bill pays for public schools, but with the Yellow Ribbon, the school makes a deal with the VA to split the difference,” he explains. “The school covers 50% and the VA covers 50%.”
Steinhoff treated college as a “full-time job,” completing a double major in finance and accounting in three years. Now, he’s using additional state-level benefits to pursue an MBA at the University of Texas at Dallas.
“Texas has a program called the Hazelwood Act, which gives you another 36 months of tuition-free education at a public school,” he notes. This combination of federal and state benefits provides a clear pathway to meet the 150 credit hours required for CPA licensure.
Creating Value in Accounting Through Military Experience
While education provides the technical foundation, it’s in the workplace where veterans like Steinhoff discover their military background creates unique advantages in accounting roles.
“In a small company, maybe there aren’t processes or procedures in place,” Steinhoff notes. “Coming from that military environment, I could write a procedure, train people, and create those processes.” This skill is particularly valuable in growing companies where accounting systems may not have kept pace with business expansion.
Steinhoff’s current role at a water utility company shows how military expertise finds unexpected applications in accounting. “They liked me a lot because there are not many accountants who have worked on water systems,” he explains. “From a submarine, that was my whole life. I could tell you how a pump works, I could tell you how the valves work.” This combination of technical operational knowledge with accounting skills enables him to understand the organization’s financial and physical infrastructure.
The military’s emphasis on translating complex technical information into actionable intelligence also serves veterans well, as accounting evolves beyond compliance toward business advisory roles. “Accountants are expected to take data and translate it,” Steinhoff observes. “Veterans fit this role because business owners want someone who can take numbers and translate them into easy-to-understand language.”
For veterans considering this career path, Steinhoff acknowledges the transition requires courage. “It’s a leap of faith. When you’re getting out of the military, it’s a big challenge because it’s this whole different world.” But he emphasizes that the responsibility given to service members far exceeds what most civilians experience at similar ages.
“The military gives 18-year-olds more responsibility than any other jobs. They put me on a submarine working on things where other lives are at risk,” he notes. “If you could do that, you could do this.”
A Win-Win Solution for Veterans and the Profession
The accounting profession faces a talent shortage and needs more analytical, tech-savvy professionals who can translate financial data into strategic insights. Meanwhile, thousands of disciplined, detail-oriented veterans transition to civilian life annually, bringing with them the exact qualities the profession desperately needs.
Mark Steinhoff’s journey from maintaining submarine life support systems to managing accounting operations for a water utility shows the natural connection between military service and accounting work. The procedural rigor required to keep sailors alive underwater is the perfect foundation for the exacting standards of accounting.
For veterans thinking about their next career, accounting offers a structured environment with clear advancement paths that will feel familiar after military service. With education benefits through the GI Bill and state programs like the Texas Hazelwood Act, the required accounting education is affordable without accumulating significant debt.
For accounting firms and businesses struggling to fill positions, veterans are an untapped resource, bringing maturity, discipline, and transferable skills. Their experience with high-pressure situations, procedure development, and translating complex information aligns perfectly with accounting’s evolution toward more strategic business advisory roles.
The accounting profession isn’t just about numbers; it’s about creating systems that provide reliable information for critical decisions. Veterans spend years operating in environments where systems thinking and procedural discipline aren’t just professional requirements but matters of survival.
Listen to the full Earmark podcast episode to hear Steinhoff’s complete story and gain more insights on transitioning from military service to accounting. His journey offers a blueprint for how the accounting profession might find its next generation of leaders from those who’ve already proven their ability to perform when the stakes couldn’t be higher.