"Sometimes I go home in the evening and I think, ‘You know, what did I do today?’ And usually when I come up with a list of five or six things, they’re things that might well deal with five or six different countries, five or six completely different issues – some related to acquisitions, some related to hyperinflation and functional currencies, some related to personnel. . . . I then think, ‘Wow, what kind of a job would encompass those six things as part of the same job?’" The simple and surprising answer is "CPA" to these rhetorical questions asked by Lali Watt, CPA, Manager of Acquisitions and International Accounting at the FMC Corporation in Chicago.

Indeed, no moss grows under the feet of globetrotting Lali Watt as she manages a key department in a corporation with operations in more than 25 countries. FMC is one of the world’s leading producers of chemicals and machinery for industry and agriculture. While this position may not sound like a job for a CPA, it’s a job that cannot be done successfully by a professional other than a CPA.

"I use CPA skills all the time in ways slightly different from what one might think. For instance, I don’t close the books, but I do analyze financial statements; I don’t create balance sheets, but do counsel people around the world on the requirements of U.S. GAAP principles. While I have to understand the numbers, it’s applying them to real-business situations that brings added value to the organization."

In fact, her work focuses on accumulating, digesting, categorizing and explaining massive amounts of information, filling in the gaps with educated guesses. She also spends a significant amount of time bridging procedural and cultural differences among accounting operations across many national borders worldwide. She needs to understand both the accounting and cultural norms of many different nations and peoples in order to find some common ground to turn apples and oranges into an agreeable hybrid that meets the company’s requirements as well as the principles of U.S. GAAP. In turn, she also needs to translate technical compliance concepts as well as complex economic dynamics into business terminology that means something to management that they can use in their work of tending to the bottom line.

Putting her career path in the context of the current marketplace, she maintains that corporations are searching for CPAs who think differently, those who can bring added value to the organization. Understanding numbers is certainly not enough; rather, combining finely honed accounting skills with a keen knowledge of how the world works is critical to success in the new global marketplace.

Summing up her outlook on the CPA’s role in industry, Watt says, "you have to be a team member first, and to that team you bring the skills you have as a CPA. Moreover, you need to see yourself as a businessperson first or you’ll be left out of the decision-making process.

As did many CPAs, Watt began her career as an auditor, serving for six years at Deloitte Haskins & Sells (now Deloitte & Touche), before moving to FMC in 1987.