Wiss is the go-to accounting and growth partner for more than five thousand private companies.
Its solutions range from tax, audit, and law firm services to comprehensive business advisory
including staffing, mergers, acquisitions, and personal finance consulting. The company’s
expertise brings businesses and their owners closer to meeting their organizational goals.
An Ambitious Leader Advancing Talent Development
Amanda Dominguez is the Chief Operating Officer of Wiss & Company LLP, at the same time,
she is a wife, mother of two beautiful girls, and also the daughter of two Portuguese immigrants
who’ve shaped her into what she is today, including her pursuit of a meaningful career that she has worked hard to cultivate over the years. Amanda feels fortunate to find a special place at Wiss & Company, LLP. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Seton Hall University and later pursued her master’s in taxation from Fairleigh Dickinson University. She has spent close to a decade in client service as a practicing tax accountant, specializing in corporate and international tax. The most fulfilling aspects of her role were related to her team, from training and development to help recruit the next generation of talent. Amanda feels lucky to have received this opportunity at Wiss that helped her pivot into her existing career, initially focusing on talent development and then HR. Over the years, her role expanded as she developed with the organization, and today she serves as the firm’s COO. Under her role, she helps execute the firm’s strategy through the practice areas and operations and directly oversees people operations, marketing, IT, and administration.
Learning the Art of ‘Beginning Again’
Amanda shares that one of the most impactful experiences that shaped her journey was finding herself in a decade-long career that was no longer fulfilling to her. It was a scary place to be at after investing so much time and energy – only to discover that it wasn’t what she wanted to do. Adding to this, she illustrates digging deep and reflecting on what she wanted her next chapter to be. She had to challenge everything about how her career should progress. “I learned that our career doesn’t have to be linear! You can always begin again. It’s important to believe in yourself, take some risks and then seek mentorship and support along the way,” she articulates.
‘Human-First’ Approach at the Heart of Leadership
According to Amanda, every employee has basic foundational needs: to feel a sense of belonging,
to feel heard, valued and appreciated. She believes that leaders should focus on being human first
– make time to get to know their teammates and understand what their goals and needs are. She
also opines that a leader should genuinely care about their success and take responsibility when
they’ve made a mistake or don’t have all the answers. Relationships with teammates should be
symbiotic – opportunities to learn and grow with each other. Amanda claims that every leader
should be open to learning. talking further about leadership, she mentions, “I lead a team that I genuinely look forward to spending time with each day – we are always having fun together and
uncovering new ways to do things. Their success is my success! ….and having some fun is key”!
Modern Disruptive Technologies Complement Work Transformation
Amanda claims that emerging technologies have been instrumental in propelling the profession
forward by helping everyone completely transform the way people work! She also believes that
technology has allowed streamlining and automation of so many laborious aspects of the job,
especially in a world with such talent constraints. This has created space and helped pave the way for increased focus on consultative and advisory work, which the clients are in need of. According to Amanda, leaders today must be comfortable shifting beyond just the financial statement or the tax return and become familiar with the capabilities of these technologies and how they can work with them to impact their organizations and the clients they serve.
Additionally, she desires to see an acceleration of leaders and organizations in the industry, who are committed to improving diversity and inclusion which is critical to help navigate the new ways of work that are upon everybody.
Shift Towards a More Output-Focused Approach
In Amanda’s opinion, the accounting profession is at an inflection point and faced with many
opportunities for transformation, including a steady decline in students pursuing accounting
majors, fewer candidates pursuing their CPA license, client demands evolving and outpacing the
ability to hire talent, and such others. She asserts that firms should continue to challenge the status quo and find a better way forward – a way that is less input-focused and more output-focused so that the next generation can be re-engaged and shown what a great profession they have.
Amanda expresses that operationally, emerging technologies will continue to disrupt the world as
it does and people will definitely see an increased focus on automation and process, along with a need for more diverse hiring to meet the evolving client needs.
Encouraging Women Leaders to Build Their Own Destiny
Based on her experiences, Amanda advises, “Remember that your journey does not have to be
linear. Your career/life is not a destination, but rather an evolving story that you are the author of. It doesn’t have to look like everyone else’s. I would encourage emerging female leaders to stay curious, commit to continuous learning, and challenge the things they’ve been told have ‘always been done a certain way.’ Be unapologetic in who you are and pave your own way forward!”
Quote: “Remember that your journey does not have to be linear. Your career/life is not a destination, but rather an evolving story that you are the author of. It doesn’t have to look like everyone else’s.”
– Amanda Dominguez, Chief Operating Officer, Wiss & Company LLP.
Management: Amanda Dominguez, Chief Operating Officer, Wiss & Company LLP
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