Principal, King, King & Associates PA,
Baltimore
I’ve been in this profession basically since
I was 16 years old, along with
all four of my brothers and sisters, in the
footsteps of our late father, Benjamin L. King. At
some point all of us have worked in the family firm.
My two sisters, Pamela King Smith and Kara
King-Bess, and I currently own and manage the firm.
My father never told us we had to study
accounting, but he did provide
the opportunity—with an incentive. He would dangle
the car keys. At age 16 if you wanted to get your
driver’s license, he’d say, OK, fine, and I’ll help
you get a car. But you’re going to pay for it, and
here’s a way to do it: Come down to my office after
school and on Saturdays and holidays, and you start
working.
He was a pioneer, also, becoming in 1957 the
first black CPA in Maryland and
the 38th in the country. In 1972, he founded the
Baltimore chapter of the National Association of
Black Accountants. I remember participating in some
of the local chapter activities while in college at
the University of Baltimore in the mid-’70s. Today,
I chair NABA’s Division of Firms.
Because of my early introduction to the
business world, I really wasn’t
interested in being a history major or an engineer
in college, where I arrived already knowing how to
prepare financial statements and do tax returns.
After college, I moved into corporate accounting for
the next 15 or 16 years. For several years I worked
for a food service management company, then spent
four years in New York in the executive office of
Touche Ross. We were the accounting department for
the accounting firm. Then I worked, also in New
York, for an insurance brokerage firm that owned
insurance companies as well. I came back to
Baltimore in the early 1990s and rejoined the family
firm.
When NABA was founded in 1969,
there were fewer than 150 black CPAs
in the United States. Today, the number is still
statistically dismal, approximately 1% to 2%. There
are many factors contributing to these statistics,
and these issues are of concern to NABA. There’s a
strong effort to bring the students in, keep them in
and see them through the whole process. The 150-hour
rule may discourage some, or they may prefer to try
for higher-paying jobs in IT or finance. At Howard
University in Washington, D.C., accounting professor
Frank Ross and the Center for Accounting Education,
of which I’m on the board of advisers, also are
addressing this issue.
My father similarly sought to create a
legacy as a longtime adjunct
professor at Morgan State University here in
Baltimore. A lot of people across the nation
recognize the influence he had on their education as
well as having assisted probably dozens of minority
CPAs who could trace their success directly to him.
I try to do the same thing with the
accounting students involved
with NABA, as well as entrepreneurs who have a
sincere desire to learn more about their accounting
and business functions. I participate as an
instructor in some of the Baltimore city small
business development resource centers, where I
present seminars two or three times a month on
accounting for nonaccountants. To relax, I play
tennis. I’m a huge fan and very passionate about the
game. I play competitively and just for fun. I also
love listening to jazz.
Facilitating the entry of minority youth
into the profession begins at the
high school level. My sister Kara speaks often at
high schools for the Maryland Association of CPAs.
The times that I have done it I think have been very
informative for the kids, whose idea of what an
accountant is may be limited to filling out tax
returns. I tell them to think of a CPA as a
businessman’s doctor.
My advice to the rising stars in our
profession is to persevere.
Expect to be challenged by your
peers and superiors, and if you are not being
challenged, ask for it. Seek out the difficult
assignments and move out of your comfort zones. Make
yourself noticeable and stand out from the crowd. |