Accounting
The business behind the game: accounting careers in the wide world of sports
The wide world of sports is a growing sector for accounting students considering a future career path. The intersection of sports and accounting offers accounting professionals a unique and dynamic environment. This article delves into the diverse opportunities within accounting careers in the sports industry, highlighting the roles, responsibilities, requisite skills and profiles of industry professionals such as Kip Elliot from the Minnesota Twins and Beth West from James Moore & Co.
The sports industry’s projected future expansion, over
Accountants’ roles and responsibilities in the sports industry are much like any other, with opportunities internally at sports-related businesses and externally through consulting and compliance services offered by public accounting and consulting firms. Whether through working directly for a sports enterprise or indirectly as a consultant with an accounting firm, accountants play a critical role in the financial management of sports enterprises by analyzing revenue streams, expenses and investment opportunities to optimize financial outcomes for teams, sporting events, or athletes. They utilize financial analysis techniques to assess the performance and profitability of
A unique aspect of sports businesses is how sports businesses exchange talent (players) on transfer markets. The opposite side involves contract management and sports agency. Negotiating contracts and managing the financial aspects of player agreements requires accountants who work closely with legal teams and other sports management professionals to structure contracts and calculate salaries, bonuses and incentives while
Tax planning and compliance are also essential functions for sports entities. Sports businesses often operate across the country and are complex with service, entertainment and retail operations. Accountants develop critical tax planning strategies, prepare tax returns, and ensure compliance with tax laws to manage risks and maximize profits. Accountants are also pivotal in preparing budgets and forecasts for efficient resource allocation. Furthermore, the seasonal nature of the sports industry exacerbates the
Important skills
Accountants entering the sports world need many of the skills required for working with other industries, including a strong understanding of accounting principles and the ability to perform financial analyses and forecasting. Thus, accountants working outside the sports world can feel confident that the skills they learn in school or other accounting jobs will help prepare them for a sports accountant career. They should also be able to interpret financial and operational data, identify trends and interpret results. Like all areas of accounting, attention to detail is a must. Details are essential when dealing with contracts and compliance matters where legal teams are also engaged. Moreover, effective communication is essential when presenting financial information, negotiating contracts or working with stakeholders. Accountants must be able to connect the dots, concisely associate financial results, economic conditions, and business strategy and articulate to individuals with a limited understanding of accounting and finance to help them make informed decisions.
Although most accounting skills are transferable to the sports industry, understanding sports economics would be helpful, so electing educational options targeted at sports could help students adapt to the industry more quickly. Some universities have sports management degrees or minors, and others offer elective courses in sports economics that teach students the economics behind professional sports leagues, player pay, sports financing and more. Adding some sports-specific knowledge to the accounting degree would be helpful to aspiring sports accountants.
Minnesota Twins
Kip Elliott serves as the executive vice president for the Minnesota Twins, a Major League Baseball team based in Minneapolis. Elliott graduated with a degree in accounting in 1989 and became a CPA. He started his career with the public accounting firm of Coopers & Lybrand and worked there from 1989-92. After joining the Twins in 1992, he became controller in 1995, CFO in 1999, senior vice president in 2006, executive vice president in 2012, and was named to his current position in 2016. Elliott is responsible for finance, procurement, technology, ballpark operations, financial reporting and financial relationships with
Elliott credits his accounting education, a CPA background and his time in public accounting for the skills necessary to become a CFO at a professional sports franchise. He stated that it’s essential to understand core accounting and how it affects business. He said the Twins’ business operations are divided into departments by function (e.g., ticket sales, ballpark operations, finance, etc.). The activities of these departments vary, but none of them, Elliott said, are more complex than the engagements he encountered in public accounting. He said the diversity of situations he got to work on as a public accountant is paramount to his ability to problem-solve and make decisions. Elliott highlighted the value of a background in accounting by stating that of the 30-plus CFOs he is in contact with, over 80% are or were CPAs. He recommends accounting students should start in public accounting. “Working for a public accounting firm teaches you so much, and you often work with clients who would be happy to hire you,” he stated. That, in short, is how he got his position with the Twins and made his transition into sports.
What does he enjoy most about his career in the sports business? “The cliché answer (and sincere answer) is the people,” Elliott responded. “I’ve had the good fortune to work with a variety of tremendous individuals who share a passion for the business of sports, in particular, a passion for Major League Baseball. The many personal relationships that I’ve been fortunate enough to have built are what makes the job fulfilling. At the end of the day, it’s a pretty cool product to be a part of. All of us at the Twins are lucky to work in an industry that provides entertainment and social engagement for a myriad of people to experience. The variety of each day continues to make it fun to go to work. Truly, no two days are the same. I get to use my cumulative experience from college to public accounting and my 30-plus years at the Twins to hopefully make the Twins a better organization. There aren’t many places better to go to for a job than a baseball park.”
Sports accountant
Beth West has enjoyed a diverse career as a sports accountant. She has worked in internal accounting operations for a university athletic department and is now a trusted advisor to athletic departments nationwide. West enjoys “combining a personal passion for athletics with accounting and business concepts to result in gratifying work. I enjoy that an educational background in accounting can lead to so many varying career paths, including being able to help organizations in the business arena of sports.”
Like Kip Elliot, she started her career in public accounting. West graduated with a Master of Accounting degree in 2011 after a standout Division I women’s volleyball career. After graduation, she worked in the assurance practice with the CPA firm Ernst & Young. When an opportunity opened for an assistant athletic director for business at her alma mater, West merged her passions for accounting and sports. She eventually rose to senior associate athletic director for business, overseeing the university athletic department’s business and financial operations, including financial management and budgeting, financial reporting, various accounting and human resource processes, and more. West supported the university’s athletic endeavors while ensuring long-term financial sustainability.
Her career has gone full circle. She now works as a senior accountant for James Moore & Co., a CPA firm in Gainesville, Florida, that consults with collegiate athletic departments and helps them with their financial operations and compliance. She specializes in helping collegiate athletic departments with agreed-upon procedures over their NCAA financial reports. West leverages her previous experience as the senior associate athletic director for Business. Regardless of the position, she said flexibility, purpose and communication are the three most important skills for working in a sports accounting role. “You may wear a variety of hats within a sports organization, and it is important to remain flexible with the ability to adapt and learn,” she said. West has been able to adapt, learn and leverage her experiences into a great career in both accounting and sports. She recommends that individuals interested in finding job opportunities in the sports world browse
Accounting careers in sports offer a unique opportunity for accountants to blend financial management and passion for athletics, with professionals like Kip Elliot and Beth West exemplifying the diverse opportunities within this field. As the sports industry continues to evolve and grow, the demand for skilled accounting professionals remains high. Aspiring accountants can carve out rewarding careers in this exciting and dynamic sector with the right mix of skills, expertise and dedication.
The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board is proposing to tailor some of its standards to align with recent additions to the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants’ International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants when it comes to using the work of an external expert.
The
- ISA 620, Using the Work of an Auditor’s Expert;
- ISRE 2400 (Revised), Engagements to Review Historical Financial Statements;
- ISAE 3000 (Revised), Assurance Engagements Other than Audits or Reviews of Historical Financial Information;
- ISRS 4400 (Revised), Agreed-upon Procedures Engagements.
The IAASB is asking for comments via a digital response template that can be found on the
In December 2023, the IESBA approved an exposure draft for proposed revisions to the IESBA’s Code of Ethics related to using the work of an external expert. The proposals included three new sections to the Code of Ethics, including provisions for professional accountants in public practice; professional accountants in business and sustainability assurance practitioners. The IESBA approved the provisions on using the work of an external expert at its December 2024 meeting, establishing an ethical framework to guide accountants and sustainability assurance practitioners in evaluating whether an external expert has the necessary competence, capabilities and objectivity to use their work, as well as provisions on applying the Ethics Code’s conceptual framework when using the work of an outside expert.
President Donald Trump’s tariffs would effectively cause a tax increase for low-income families that is more than three times higher than what wealthier Americans would pay, according to an
The report from the progressive think tank outlined the outcomes for Americans of all backgrounds if the tariffs currently in effect remain in place next year. Those making $28,600 or less would have to spend 6.2% more of their income due to higher prices, while the richest Americans with income of at least $914,900 are expected to spend 1.7% more. Middle-income families making between $55,100 and $94,100 would pay 5% more of their earnings.
Trump has
Economists have warned that costs from tariff increases would ultimately be passed on to U.S. consumers. And while prices will rise for everyone, lower-income families are expected to lose a larger portion of their budgets because they tend to spend more of their earnings on goods, including food and other necessities, compared to wealthier individuals.
Food prices could rise by 2.6% in the short run due to tariffs, according to an
The Yale Budget Lab projected that the tariffs would result in a loss of $4,700 a year on average for American households.
Artificial intelligence is just getting started in the accounting world, but it is already helping firms like technology specialist
Schellman CEO Avani Desai said there have definitely been some shifts in headcount at the Top 100 Firm, though she stressed it was nothing dramatic, as it mostly reflects natural attrition combined with being more selective with hiring. She said the firm has already made an internal decision to not reduce headcount in force, as that just indicates they didn’t hire properly the first time.
“It hasn’t been about reducing roles but evolving how we do work, so there wasn’t one specific date where we ‘started’ the reduction. It’s been more case by case. We’ve held back on refilling certain roles when we saw opportunities to streamline, especially with the use of new technologies like AI,” she said.
One area where the firm has found such opportunities has been in the testing of certain cybersecurity controls, particularly within the SOC framework. The firm examined all the controls it tests on the service side and asked which ones require human judgment or deep expertise. The answer was a lot of them. But for the ones that don’t, AI algorithms have been able to significantly lighten the load.
“[If] we don’t refill a role, it’s because the need actually has changed, or the process has improved so significantly [that] the workload is lighter or shared across the smarter system. So that’s what’s happening,” said Desai.
Outside of client services like SOC control testing and reporting, the firm has found efficiencies in administrative functions as well as certain internal operational processes. On the latter point, Desai noted that Schellman’s engineers, including the chief information officer, have been using AI to help develop code, which means they’re not relying as much on outside expertise on the internal service delivery side of things. There are still people in the development process, but their roles are changing: They’re writing less code, and doing more reviewing of code before it gets pushed into production, saving time and creating efficiencies.
“The best way for me to say this is, to us, this has been intentional. We paused hiring in a few areas where we saw overlaps, where technology was really working,” said Desai.
However, even in an age awash with AI, Schellman acknowledges there are certain jobs that need a human, at least for now. For example, the firm does assessments for the FedRAMP program, which is needed for cloud service providers to contract with certain government agencies. These assessments, even in the most stable of times, can be long and complex engagements, to say nothing of the less predictable nature of the current government. As such, it does not make as much sense to reduce human staff in this area.
“The way it is right now for us to do FedRAMP engagements, it’s a very manual process. There’s a lot of back and forth between us and a third party, the government, and we don’t see a lot of overall application or technology help… We’re in the federal space and you can imagine, [with] what’s going on right now, there’s a big changing market condition for clients and their pricing pressure,” said Desai.
As Schellman reduces staff levels in some places, it is increasing them in others. Desai said the firm is actively hiring in certain areas. In particular, it’s adding staff in technical cybersecurity (e.g., penetration testers), the aforementioned FedRAMP engagements, AI assessment (in line with recently becoming an ISO 42001 certification body) and in some client-facing roles like marketing and sales.
“So, to me, this isn’t about doing more with less … It’s about doing more of the right things with the right people,” said Desai.
While these moves have resulted in savings, she said that was never really the point, so whatever the firm has saved from staffing efficiencies it has reinvested in its tech stack to build its service line further. When asked for an example, she said the firm would like to focus more on penetration testing by building a SaaS tool for it. While Schellman has a proof of concept developed, she noted it would take a lot of money and time to deploy a full solution — both of which the firm now has more of because of its efficiency moves.
“What is the ‘why’ behind these decisions? The ‘why’ for us isn’t what I think you traditionally see, which is ‘We need to get profitability high. We need to have less people do more things.’ That’s not what it is like,” said Desai. “I want to be able to focus on quality. And the only way I think I can focus on quality is if my people are not focusing on things that don’t matter … I feel like I’m in a much better place because the smart people that I’ve hired are working on the riskiest and most complicated things.”
Many Americans are worried about running out of money in retirement
IAASB tweaks standards on working with outside experts
Tariffs will hit low-income Americans harder than richest, report says
New 2023 K-1 instructions stir the CAMT pot for partnerships and corporations
The Essential Practice of Bank and Credit Card Statement Reconciliation
Are American progressives making themselves sad?
-
Economics1 week agoDonald Trump’s approval rating is dropping
-
Personal Finance1 week agoHere’s why retirees shouldn’t fully ditch stocks
-
Economics1 week agoChina targets U.S. services and other areas after decrying ‘meaningless’ tariff hikes on goods
-
Blog Post6 days agoDocumenting Bookkeeping Processes and Procedures
-
Personal Finance1 week agoIRS’ free tax filing program is at risk amid Trump scrutiny
-
Economics1 week agoCan Progressives learn to make progress again?
-
Economics6 days agoDonald Trump wants a certain kind of immigrant: the uber-rich
-
Economics7 days agoTrump’s approval rating on economy at lowest of presidential career