An Accountant Rising to the Challenge is the story of a thirty-something Controller with a traditional, financial accounting background who successfully makes the transition from an efficient “bean counter” to an effective “bean grower” and meets the challenge and expectations of her CEO.

After a stint in public accounting, Marcella DeCou had been the Controller of PlumbCo, a $20 million manufacturer and distributor of plumbing products, for three years when retired Admiral Alex Johnson took over as CEO. His view of a financial executive’s role was quite different than that of her previous boss. Alex expected his Controller to not only be an effective administrator, but a value-adding member of the company’s management team.

The story follows Marcella as she works with other members of the company’s management team, as well as with an elderly ‘muse’ she met through the Institute of Management Accountants, to better understand her company’s business processes, build trusting relationships with her peers, develop valuable leadership skills, use causal modeling to gain a deeper understanding of the economics that underlie PlumbCo’s business and become a decision leader who plays a major role in guiding her organization
into a more profitable and sustainable future.