July 24, 2025

Students Challenge Accounting's Traditional Career Path | ARC

49 minutes

Emerging professionals and a Gen X CFO explore mentorship, curiosity, and why success no longer wears a suit and tie.

Accounting ARC
With Arpan Grewal and Chayton Farlee
Center for Accounting Transformation

When you think of accounting, do you picture spreadsheets and number crunchers locked in back offices? Think again.

In a special student-led edition of the Accounting ARC podcast, high school senior and Center for Accounting Transformation intern Arpan Grewal joins college accounting student Chayton Farlee and seasoned professional Nealy Wheat, CAE, SPHR, for an energetic and thoughtful conversation about the changing face of accounting—and what it means to succeed today.

MORE Accounting ARC: True Grit: Recognizing Struggles That Shape Our Successes | More Admins, Fewer Students, No Plan | What Career Advice Gets Wrong for Gen Z - And How to Fix It |Your Identity is Not a Liability | What Happens in Vegas… Gets Reported on a Tax Return | Burnout, Be Gone: Accounting Needs a Boundary Breakthrough | The Ultimate Business Hack You’re Probably Ignoring | Resilience, Real Talk, and the Road to Mental Wellness | Blockchain Could Still Reshape Accounting | What Gen Z Wants from Business | Firm Differentiation Depends Upon Client Service

Wheat, who serves as chief financial and administrative officer of the American Society for Nondestructive Testing (ASNT), shares hard-won career wisdom and personal stories to inspire the next generation. But this isn’t your typical “how I made it” narrative. Instead, listeners are treated to an open dialogue about failure, growth, curiosity, and the power of building your network early.

“Success is not a straight line,” Wheat says. “It’s a lattice of opportunities, setbacks, and mentors.”

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