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I am the Director of Financial Services for the Superior Court of California in Orange County.

I have had numerous titles with Orange County agencies and the Superior Court of California, but my title was last changed about ten years ago. I have retained my seniority and benefits throughout my 32-year career.

I manage all the major financial activities for the court, including General Accounting, Accounts Receivable (which details money people owe the court), Accounts Payable (which details money the court owes to people), Payroll, and Trust Fund Administration (which details money that has been deposited in a trustee capacity and which must be used in the terms of the trust.)

I am a CPA, although I currently have inactive status.

I work for the government, but we serve the public.

It is a fairly traditional workplace. We support courtrooms, and the courtrooms are only in business and the judges are only working during a certain period of time each day. So the administrative staff that supports those operations is also there only during a certain period of time each day. We work a typical 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. shift, which is archaic today, when most of the world works more flexible hours.

My staff works directly with litigants and parties, bail bondsmen, clerks, and individual attorneys who deposit money for civil cases where they are required to put deposits down. There are mandatory deposits that someone has to put down while the outcome of the case is pending that my staff has to deal with. They work with various attorneys. Primarily, the core of my staff does not work directly with the public, but just with other court employees. For instance, there is Accounts Payable, where employees purchase supplies for the court working with outside vendors and we deal with paying the vendors. Accounts Receivable includes all the collections that are coming in from the court, including traffic tickets, various fees, and fines. We also deal with civil deposits, filing fees and costs that are associated with filing a lawsuit. We collect millions of dollars a month.

Yes. I have managers under me, so I am in second level management. I spend a lot of time directing them and helping them prioritize. I help them to make sure that they are working with their staff to make sure that they are accomplishing those priorities.

Yes, I enjoyed that aspect of it. It was not as chaotic of a day. You probably have a certain amount of work you are responsible for, and you come in the morning knowing what you have to accomplish for the day. Whereas with my current job, you could come in today, have ten things on your to-do list and not touch one of them because your priorities change by the minute. At the lower level, your priorities are steadier, and you do not have the day-to-day changing.

I am a numbers person. I enjoy numbers and accounting; it was something I always excelled at, so it was a natural attraction.

No one, really. It was not like I had someone that I knew in that field. If anyone encouraged me most, it would have been one of my high school teachers. I took an accounting class in high school and did well. However, accounting was not my major at first. I started off in another major and quickly jumped to accounting because it was something that I did better at than what I had originally intended to major in. After my first semester of college, I changed majors because I felt that I had a future in accounting.

I have an AA (Associate in Arts) degree in accounting from Mount San Antonio Community College in California. Later on, I went to California State University, Fullerton and graduated with a BA (Bachelors of Arts) in Business Administration with an Accounting Concentration. I have taken subsequent classes since then, but I do not have a Masters in accounting.

The minimum is a four-year college degree (such as a BA) but it does not have to be in accounting.

Going all the way back, I worked as a cashier at Kmart. After obtaining my A.A. degree, I began working for the County of Orange, Social Services Agency in an entry-level clerical accounting position, specifically Account Clerk II. I was promoted to Eligibility Worker and Eligibility Supervisor with Social Services, while attending college in the evening. Upon graduation from California State University, Fullerton, I began working for the County's Auditor-Controller's Office as an Accountant/Auditor II. In that capacity, I primarily performed internal audits of various County departments. After becoming a Certified Public Accountant, I was promoted to Staff Analyst and Senior Staff Analyst for the County's General Services Agency and the Integrated Waste Management Department. I was later transferred to the Superior Court, where I have held the positions of Finance Officer, Finance Manager, and eventually Financial Services Director.

I liked the number crunching and the steadiness of the day in lower level accounting. However, I have probably been in management so long that I am used to the dynamics of the days constantly changing. Although, there are days when you are pulling you hair out and thinking, "I would just love one of those days where I came in and all I had to do was make sure the numbers balance."

If you really like accounting, it is actually exciting. Accounting is like doing a jigsaw puzzle and having to fit all of the pieces; accounting can be a lot like the passion that you have in trying to create this picture at the end of the day. It seems like gathering data and adding numbers would be boring, but if you enjoy that kind of thing, then it can be rewarding, because you can see the end result and make a recommendation for something you are trying to accomplish. It is fun and challenging. If accounting is your thing, then you will enjoy this kind of job. You either love accounting or you are bored stiff. I think people who like numbers generally like that kind of work.

I attend a lot of meetings. I basically provide high-level oversight and direction. My typical day involves connecting with the accounting managers and analysts who report to me, addressing the needs of the various Court operations, coordinating system development efforts, and troubleshooting financial problems as they arise. Much of my day is spent in meetings and conferences, as well as disseminating information and responding to inquiries via e-mail. Recently, I spent a great deal of time in the development of a new system where all the counties are going to be combined. We are looking at how this is going to change business and how we can do things better and smarter.

I probably put in at least ten-hour days, five days a week, and probably another five or so hours on the weekend. I set those hours. The work is never done, though. You just work on all of your top priorities instead of trying to accomplish every task. I am a typical workaholic baby boomer. Even if I finished all the work I was supposed to do in one day, I would still find something else to do.

Yes. I do not have very many days that are identical. There is not really a routine aspect to my job. Every day, there is a new problem that creeps up that you could not or did not anticipate and that you have to react to. I do a lot of troubleshooting and hopping around. Every day has different things, and you have to be very adaptive and go with the moment.

If a payroll problem isn't corrected, it could lead to people not getting paid. A lot of it has to do with our system implementations, like maybe converting material from one system to another. But something may occur that corrupts a portion of the data, or the system may not work in the way that it was anticipated to work, so we have to develop a way to work around it until the defect is corrected. There is always something. It could be related to judicial support, because we have several different kinds of judges with different needs. It could be something related to a payment that we thought might have been processed. Because we go through another county organization to get our checks processed, we may inadvertently miss payments, and will have a break in service if we do not pay the money right away.

Yes. I am a logical and analytical person. I like precision, and I do not like being off by even a penny. It is one of those occupational hazards where close enough is not really close enough. I enjoy that. I do not do a lot of number crunching anymore myself, because I have staff that does that, but I still do some.

The entry-level position for a career in accounting is an Accountant/Auditor, which has a salary range of approximately $43,000-$70,000 per year. The next major level is supervision, Senior Accountant/Auditor, which has a salary range of approximately $62,000-$78,000 annually. The accounting managerial level, Financial Services Manager or Analyst, like what I do, has a salary range of approximately $70,000-$115,000.

My current job has probably most affected my family life by causing me to be home less often. I put in a lot of long hours, but that is more a personality trait than the job requirement. It has given me a good income, and I have benefited from it.

No, never.

I am going to retire at age 55, in about two-and-a-half years.

I just came back from vacation. I took off the last week of December and the first week of January. I went down to the San Diego area for a week, and spent the other week at home. I get five weeks off a year, and I always take off five weeks. I work long hours but I am very good at taking my vacation time. For me, it is critical, because I really need a battery recharge by that time. My husband and I usually go places instead of staying home. In the past year, we have also been to Tahoe. My husband is in a bowling tournament every year, so we always go wherever the tournament is for about a week. This year it is in Albuquerque, so we are going to go there and visit places around there. We have not been outside of the United States, other than to Canada, in a long, long time.

The most satisfying aspect is that I work with a really great group of people who accomplish a lot of great things. In some cases, we accomplish what seems like the impossible. The most frustrating aspect is that we have a very dynamic group of responsibilities, so not having consistent priorities can sometimes be frustrating. Resources are always very limited, and it requires creativity and focus to meet the strategic goals of an organization like ours. Financial management is often called upon to support many competing priorities, which can be very challenging at times. But accounting is also invigorating, as there is truly never a dull moment.

Our biggest problem recently has probably been staffing. Our salary scale was out of skew, so at that point, we were not competitive enough to staff clerical level accounting. We had tremendous vacancies. We solved it by raising our pay scale. We waited until our contract had expired and then renegotiated the new contract with our human resources to get the salaries raised. That was probably the biggest issue we have had to deal with recently. At one point in time fairly recently, our clerical accounting had about 75 percent vacancies, so we had one person doing the job of four people.

The economy of Orange County at that point in time was very good, so there was a small unemployment rate and the candidates had a lot of options. The type of accounting that we do is a little more conservative. We have 8-5 shifts, and we do not have the flexible hours that the private sectors have. We were not competitive in the flexible lifestyle that young people who are entering the workforce look for. The accounting vacancies we had were mostly for people starting in accounting and just entering the workforce.

As with every aspect of life in the 21st century, technology is the major trend affecting my profession. A great deal of my time is spent developing and implementing new computer systems. An accountant entering the field today must possess not only a thorough knowledge of accounting theory and practices, but must be able to combine it with a strong understanding of computer technology. When I started, there was a great deal more paper work. We did not have computers on our desk when I started, obviously. Knowledge of Excel or similar software applications is no longer enough to be successful in the field of accounting. Now, everybody within the organization has to understand data and be able to utilize statistical information to make decisions.

I do not feel that I have given up anything. I enjoy my work, so it is not really a sacrifice. I think that it has been a total win-win.

My job is very stable.

I do not believe so. Maybe small businesses do not need accountants anymore, but the need for accountants has expanded into so many other areas that I think the need for accountants has actually grown. Large organizations are not relying solely on software programs; they need accountants to help support them.

I recommend those entering the accounting profession to take advantage of opportunities to work in many different industries, so they can be exposed to the full spectrum of accounting activity. Definitely give government accounting a chance, as it can offer many challenges and opportunities for career development and personal growth. Once you find an industry that you are passionate about, use your accounting knowledge to branch out into other areas of your organization. Accounting is a thread that runs through almost all important business decisions, so share your expertise with other sections of your organization. Do not limit yourself to just the accounting field. All levels of management are enriched when there are strong financial minds among its ranks.

Stressful. It was challenging. I was working full-time and going to school at night. Once I finished my degree, I took a CPA review course. I studied at night and on the weekends. I ended up passing the exam.

There were four parts: one was business law, one was auditing, and the rest were theory segments. At the time, the test was two and a half days long. (The exam currently entails sections on auditing and attestation, financial accounting and reporting, regulation, and business environment and concepts.)

In addition to the obvious (strong accounting theory, technical skills, communication, etc.), I look for someone who is able to demonstrate creativity and innovation within the confines of a structured discipline like accounting. Although there are many guidelines and procedures that must be followed in our profession, the ability to find a new way of accomplishing an old task can result in considerable time and money savings. We are constantly trying to re-invent our work processes to become more efficient and effective, and creative vision is invaluable in accomplishing that goal.

No, I think you acquire most of the qualities. Certainly you do not have to be detail-oriented to be a good accountant, you just have to learn to organize your work in such a way that you are double-checking or triple-checking as opposed to someone who has a detail oriented personality. It is just your work process.

A student can intern or get a small, part-time job in accounting. The student can also take some course work in accounting. Chances are if you like the coursework, you will like accounting in the real world. See if that is something you are attracted to.

I wish I knew how important technology was going to become, because I would have focused more on it. Technology is really a core part of the accounting business world now. If you are going to be an accounting major now, you almost need to be a computer minor. I really wish I knew how important computers were going to be, and I would have done a better job in keeping my skills up to date in that area.