What I Wish I Knew Climbing from Accounts Payable to CFO

Filed under: Work & Career

Attention

I started my career in accounts payable, filing invoices and hoping nobody noticed I had bigger plans. Today I’m the CFO of a school district, second in command to the Superintendent, with a state license that says I know what I’m doing. Nobody handed me that. I earned it one boring spreadsheet at a time, mostly while wondering if I was even allowed to want more.

If you’re staring down a career pivot, a return to work after raising a family, or just a quiet feeling that you’re capable of more than your current role lets you show, this one’s for you.

Why the Climb From Accounts Payable Surprised Me

Here’s what surprised me most about the climb: it was never about being the smartest person in the room. It was about being willing to learn the unglamorous stuff first, the systems, the spreadsheets, the parts nobody wants to own. Every “boring” skill I picked up early became leverage later. The accounting software I learned reluctantly in my twenties is the same software I now use to make million-dollar decisions.

A few things I wish someone had told me back then:

It’s okay to start at the bottom. Starting in AP wasn’t a setback. It was an education nobody else on my team had. Skip the fundamentals and you’ll usually hit a ceiling the fundamentals would’ve prevented.

Confidence is built, not born. I didn’t feel ready for any promotion I ever took. Not one. I said yes anyway and figured out the rest on the job. If you’re not a little scared, is it even fun?

The “boring” skills compound. Whatever detail-heavy part of your job you’re tempted to coast through, don’t. That’s usually where the real leverage is hiding. Do the boring part now, and it pays you back later, with interest.

Desire

If any of this is landing, here are the two things that actually shifted something for me. Not another “believe in yourself” platitude. Real tools.

The first is a mindset shift, and I got mine from a book: The Confidence Code by Katty Kay and Claire Shipman. It’s the clearest explanation I’ve read for why capable women, especially those of us further along in our careers, talk ourselves out of rooms we’ve already earned a seat in. I wish I’d read it fifteen years earlier.

The second is a systems shift. Atomic Habits by James Clear isn’t a career book on the surface, but it’s the reason I was able to actually build new skills instead of just admiring people who had them. Career growth isn’t one big leap. It’s small, boring, repeated behaviors that compound the same way interest does.

Both are launching my new Work & Career book club, a running list of the books that shaped how I think about money, leadership, and reinvention, updated monthly. If you’ve ever wanted a smart friend to hand you the “read this next” list, that’s what I’m building here.

Action

Grab a copy of this month’s picks below. If you’re sitting on a “someday” career goal, let this be the nudge: start where you are, even if where you are feels unglamorous. It compounds.

Shop this month’s Work & Career book club picks →

FAQ

How do you move up in accounting or finance without a fancy pedigree?
Start by mastering the parts of the job nobody else wants: the systems, the reconciliations, the software. Those unglamorous skills are what actually separate people who advance from people who stall out.

Do you need an MBA to become a CFO?
Not always, but it helps, especially in government and school finance, where many states require a specific license (mine is a Business Administrator license) on top of the degree. Check your state’s requirements early so you’re not backtracking later.

Is it normal to feel like a fraud when you get promoted?
Extremely normal. I never felt fully ready for a promotion I took. Confidence tends to show up after you say yes, not before.

Read next: 5 Money Lessons I Learned as a CFO That Apply to Real Life