Professor Flaiz-Windham is employed in the KPMG Orange County Advisory Practice. She spent 10 years in the Audit practice and then transferred into Advisory where she currently practices in the Technology Risk Management specialty group. She also spent 3 years with Beckman Coulter as a Director of External Reporting. She has substantial experience in Financial Statement reporting including such topics as Revenue Recognition and Transaction Valuation, Leasing and Sale Leasebacks, Stock Compensation, Consolidations, Foreign Currency Translation/Transactions, Pension Accounting and Initial and Secondary public offerings. As a current KPMG Advisory professional, her primary focus is on evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal controls including IT controls developed to help ensure the accurate reporting of financial statement information. She teaches the MPAc summer intensive Intermediate Accounting I and II and in the Spring she teaches MPAc 230 Career and Professional Development II.
I knew I wanted to be a business school professor when… My interest in teaching began shortly after I started working at KPMG LLP. Each of the “Big 4” accounting firms have national training programs. The trainings are developed and conducted by firm personnel at varying levels. Trainers involved in the firms’ national programs do so on a rotation basis while remaining fully engaged in client service delivery. I initially began teaching the intern training as I was closely involved in recruiting, and subsequently progressed to teaching Managers and Senior Associates. While involved in the formal and day-to-day informal training of my colleagues, I often learned as much from the them as they did from me. This reciprocal nature of the learning process is what engaged me, and it was a natural progression for me to seek opportunities to elevate this exchange of knowledge at the business school level.
If I weren’t a business school professor… If I weren’t a business school PROFSSOR, I would choose to instead be the “PROFESSOR” of baseball in the person of Kyle Hendricks, the CUBS baseball pitching ace. Kyle’s nickname is the “The Professor” and is a local Newport Beach, CA native. I played softball through college at Northwestern, and thus, my ongoing love of the sport! 😊
What do you enjoy most about teaching business students? I embrace the reciprocal nature of the teaching process. I am constantly challenged and amazed by the aptitude and desire for continuous learning demonstrated by our students at the Paul Merage School of Business. This diversity in methodology stimulates the learning process, enhances analytical and problem-solving abilities resulting in a comprehensive, multi-talented student who has the flexibility to take-on and succeed in many different career paths.
What is most challenging? Balancing the demands of working at KPMG while designing and delivering a quality curriculum that both challenges and engages our Paul Merage students.
Using just one word, describe your favorite type of student: Passionate
Using just one word, describe your least favorite type of student: Disruptive
What industry trends are you noticing and how can students prepare? In both the accounting profession and at my clients, the use of Data and Analytics is expanding. Technology and Data and Analytics are being used to direct focus to key or material components of financial statements and transactions for testing or to help identify key behaviors and characteristics to target customers and monetize the amounts of data gathered and stored. Individuals emerging from graduate programs with a background in technology and the skill sets to organize and manipulate data sets will be highly valued in the marketplace. Students should take advantage of as many opportunities as they can to improve Microsoft Excel skills, obtain basic programming knowledge and PRACTICE these skills in coursework, clubs and special projects prior to graduation. The Paul Merage School of Business provides excellent opportunities to advance your knowledge in these areas and I encourage you all to seek out them!
In your opinion, companies and organizations today need to do a better job at doing what? Companies ARE recognizing the value of our diverse workforce and the competing demands of work and life balance. The challenge many companies are facing is how to provide this environment, similar to the “Googles” of the workplace, such that key talent is vying to work for their company. Many companies are working to achieve the “flexibility” to cater to the diverse workforce – all with differing versions of what makes a company a great place to work. Following the proven success of the “work-from-home” environment during the recent pandemic, many companies are moving to a “hybrid” model of the work environment. It will be interesting to see the landscape that emerges in the next few months!
What advice do you have for incoming students? As many of you are seeking to enter a fast-paced industry known for heavy workloads and long hours during busy season, it is CRITICAL that you are establishing “outlets” from work NOW! Its important to have outside activities that help you “disconnect” from the work environment and switch gears to something that you enjoy. It is common for new associates to be so immersed in performing and achieving recognition that the need for downtime is ignored. This is the fastest path to burn-out in the Big 4 industry. Many of you are already balancing work and school activities, so it is key to develop these “outlets” NOW so it becomes a routine to allocate time to these activities. Another fantastic way to develop work relationships and network is to become actively involved in FIRM sponsored community activities. Personally, one of the many firm activities I have participated in, is the annual Multiple Sclerosis Bike ride from Irvine to San Diego (over 2 days). I joined as a beginner biking enthusiast and have been riding for over 15 years. I meet folks from all of our KPMG practices and also the clients, friend and family that join the ride on our team as well as other teams. These are fabulous FUN networking opportunities and they exist in plentiful array at all the firms. If there IS NOT an organization or club at the FIRM/Company you join, I encourage you to START one and gain two benefits – doing something you enjoy (an OUTLET) and networking effortlessly while doing so!!
Fun fact or hobby: Outdoor activities have always been my “downtime or outlet” from the heavy workload common in the Big 4. I enjoy running , skiing and biking. I work as a high school cross country coach at Woodbridge High School where I combine a running outlet with introducing many new athletes, in this no-cut sport, to the life-long activity of running!
I have run 9 marathons including 4 Boston Marathons. Participants in the Boston Marathon are “rewarded” with an -after-party at Fenway park. As a runner, I was given the rare experience to be on the field, walk along the “Green Monster” and stand at home plate to snap the below picture with the Red Sox World Series trophies! Running got this baseball fan the experience of a lifetime!! 😊
From the time our boys were old enough to put on skis, we have always made “skiing” an annual family tradition. KPMG Switzerland “used to” host an annual worldwide KPMG ski tournament that got us a trip to Davos and the French Alps and we have skied in Canada, Mammoth (CA), UT and Colorado. We find it a grand tradition that has kept our boys enjoying dedicated family time (even after they switched to the “dark-side going from skiing to snowboarding)!
