Adding Up

Greta Smith is a manager in PwC US Consulting Solutions. Her job is much more than numbers. She works with IT and creates relationships with clients and coworkers to lead companies through big changes.

Smith met with students at a Your Hot Job career event. Here’s what she had to say.

I work at a Big Four accounting firm, one of the largest in the world. My degree is in accounting. The school I went to, Texas A&M, offered a five-year program. I got a master’s degree in information systems by spending another year there. An accounting degree can open doors to exciting career opportunities.  It can make you a hot commodity in business.

I think people have a misconception about accountants, that they solely crunch numbers. And that’s just not true. Working at PwC has allowed me to have at least four different careers in the eight years I’ve been working here. I started out doing audits, which means I had to understand the technology our firm uses in assessing and providing feedback to our clients. I also worked in environmental, social, and corporate governance, helping to understand the positive impact PwC is having in our world. As part of the firm’s recruiting efforts, I spoke to college students about opportunities at PwC,  and fostering diversity within the firm. That work gave my job more purpose.

Now I work in Consulting Solutions at PwC, advising clients, helping them think through problems big and small. I mainly work with clients who are going through mergers and acquisitions, as well as divestitures. What’s a divestiture? Think of it as marrying companies together, and then divorcing companies. My team and I go in from an information technology (IT) perspective. We look at the client's IT environment—the IT organization, the applications they’re using, the infrastructure, from beginning to end—and how that’s likely going to look when the two companies either come together or when they separate.

One reason I’ve stayed at PwC so long is the people. I’m a social butterfly. This firm is about building relationships with clients, and with the people we work with every single day. If that’s the strength you have, or it’s something you want to explore, I think this can be a great place to come and work.

This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.