Six months after leaving Ernst & Young to start a boutique accounting practice with partner and career mentor Frank Cooper, Michelle Saunders last week found herself as the sole director of Cooper Partners, with Mr Cooper having been lured back into a big
Six months after leaving Ernst & Young to start a boutique accounting practice with partner and career mentor Frank Cooper, Michelle Saunders last week found herself as the sole director of Cooper Partners, with Mr Cooper having been lured back into a big accounting firm – PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Ms Saunders worked with Mr Cooper at the now defunct Arthur Andersen, and like most of that company’s employees, went to Ernst & Young when the firm collapsed, due to in part its association with the collapse of Enron, America’s biggest corporate scandal.
She established Cooper Partners with Mr Cooper during the time she was nominated for partner at Ernst & Young, stating a desire for more control of her own destiny, and more autonomy and freedom to enact the things she believed in.
“The firm was born out of the passion to provide superior pro-fessional support services,” Ms Saunders said. “We had a view of freeing ourselves of large-firm mentality and focusing on client accessibility, and I am committed to seeing that through.
“I can now fully empathise and be on par with clients about owning a business, and I will continue the original goal we set out with. We have the staff that understand those goals and make it possible.”
Cooper Partners will retain its name, and Ms Saunders said while the loss of Mr Cooper was unfortunate, she was excited about the future.
“Frank has been a mentor; he was there at Arthurs when I was first recruited and it is disappointing for the firm to lose someone with that amount of experience and talent, but I have a drive to see this through,” she told WA Business News.
“We have invested a lot of time in setting out our client services charter, and every person on the team is working towards those values, which is great.”
Ms Saunders described Arthur Andersen’s collapse as a “challenge”, but said there was not much fallout in the Perth market from the event.
Her biggest current challenge is to balance work life and family life, which she approaches by giving in to “organised chaos”, adding that support in achieving the balance is essential.
And while Ms Saunders said being a woman had not caused any hindrances in her career, as far as she could tell, she was mindful that professional services firms were moving to address the attrition pro-blems with female staff in recent years.
“Good resources are so hard to come across, and firms have recognised that they need to improve the retention of women by being more flexible and accommodating; the ones that work that out reap the rewards,” she said.
“It does require people to take a personal interest in the development of women. The whole culture and environment in which women are usually raised encourages them to be doers rather than self promoters.”
• Currently sole director of Cooper Partners, a tax specialist accounting practice, following departure of Frank Cooper to PWC.
• Excited about the future. Firm has a strong philosophy about being accessible to clients, which differentiates it from big firms.
