Latest News
“After finishing my 30th tax season, I was joking with some colleagues about how back in the day the fax machine was cutting edge,” she said. “When we could stop putting things in the mail and instead use the fax, that was a big thrill. What a dream, how far things have come.”
Quick thinking, embracing tech essential to long career
Written on Aug 3, 2023
By Jessica Salerno-Shumaker, OSCPA senior content manager
Over the course of Julie Koschik’s more than 25-year accounting career, she said the pace of business change has never been faster.
“After finishing my 30th tax season, I was joking with some colleagues about how back in the day the fax machine was cutting edge,” she said. “When we could stop putting things in the mail and instead use the fax, that was a big thrill. What a dream, how far things have come.” Koschik, CPA, was recently promoted to director of business Services at Dyke Yaxley LLC, and said over the years the biggest changes she’s seen to her role have been brought on by the globalization of the economy.
“The ability for small business to sell their products across state lines and to other countries has just exploded the scope of what we need to learn about,” she said.
As the pace of business has increased, so has the need for professionals to keep up. Koschik said she learned to think on her feet early on, a skill that has become necessary with the fast pace of technology. Instead of being intimidated by new technology, she said she focuses on learning to use it to her advantage, while also prioritizing client service.
She said she’s leaned into more coaching over the years, as well. She found a coach through LinkedIn who is also a CPA, so she understands the finer details of the job and they’re able to work together to take a holistic approach to career development.
“It helps you build your confidence and be a better decision-maker,” she said. “It’s been good practice.”
Her recent promotion has been one of her proudest career accomplishments, Koschik said, as she’s been tasked to lead a team with supervisors and partners in other countries.
“We’re going to keep growing our firm,” she said. “And that's really been a lot of fun. Because it's teaching a new group of entrepreneurs about doing business in the US and the tax structure in the US. And so in a lot of ways, it's taken me back to my early years of when I was working with smaller businesses, and now I'm just getting to deal with people that are new to the country.”