A new kind of leadership is emerging in accounting

Running an accounting firm that aligns with your values isn’t easy,  especially when you’re building something that doesn’t fit the traditional mold. Erin Pohan, the founder of Women in Accounting & Finance Visionaries & Entrepreneurs-Seattle, knows that journey firsthand. She’s helping women turn isolation into community, embrace tech without losing their human touch and build businesses that fit their lives—not the other way around. 

—Interview by Janet Berry-Johnson, edited by Bianca Prieto

You created WAVE-Seattle to support women in accounting and finance who want to grow with purpose. What are some challenges you see women face when trying to build a firm that aligns with their values?

A big challenge I see is loneliness. When you're building something different from the traditional model, it can feel isolating.  You need community and collaboration, not competition. That’s exactly why I created WAVE-Seattle: to give women space to connect authentically, find their "biz bestie" and realize they’re not alone in reimagining what an accounting firm can be. 

There’s also this constant battle between proving yourself and staying true to boundaries. Women who own their own firms are often navigating against traditional roles—maybe they’re the primary breadwinner or trying to build something that fits around their family’s needs while still working late hours—and there’s pressure to do it all perfectly. 

How can accounting professionals start to streamline their practices without losing the personal touch that clients value?

Become tech-forward! Actively seek ways to make your processes easier and partner with software companies to provide feedback that makes their products even better. Firms that embrace technology can answer client questions faster and with more clarity, which supports the human touch clients value. In the past, many firms simply handed over a black-and-white P&L each month, with little explanation of what the data actually meant. Now, we have tools that help us tell the story client data is painting—in a way that allows us to partner with clients rather than having a purely transactional relationship. 

For accountants who are great at the technical side but feel lost when it comes to growing a business, what steps do you recommend to gain confidence as a business owner? 

Figure out what your true pain points are and prioritize which ones need immediate attention (because we can't do everything at once). Is it getting client leads? Is your struggle pricing? Creating systems? Implementing technology? Finding and retaining top talent?

There are many fractional professionals who specialize in each of those pain points, as well as industry leaders who offer workshops to help you grow past them. But my favorite recommendation is attending accounting conferences. Conferences let you customize your agenda to address a variety of struggles while also connecting with other attendees who are often open to sharing how they’ve overcome similar challenges.

How is success different for women accounting entrepreneurs compared to the legacy firm model we’ve seen in the past?

For women entrepreneurs, and especially those building firms, success is about designing a business that fits your life, not the other way around. We’re not trying to get a seat at a table—we’re curating the entire experience ourselves.

It’s also about the impact we have, not just the revenue we generate. I measure success by whether I’m helping business owners truly understand their numbers, creating jobs that allow my team to thrive, and building a community that lifts other women up. That’s very different from the “more clients, more hours, more stress” mentality of traditional firms.

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The Net Gains is curated and written by Janet Berry-Johnson and edited by Bianca Prieto.