Crissie Head finds absolute joy in numbers.
Recalling her decision to major in accounting at LSU, she says, “It was so easy and natural for me. I never gave it another thought.”
More than 25 years later, Head has parlayed exceptional skills and attention to detail to not just balance sheets, but to business development. She is one of only two women directors/shareholders in the New Orleans-based CPA firm of LaPorte Sehrt Romig Hand, and she is leading the company’s expansion into real estate work.
An exceptional student and graduate of Tara High School, Head’s good grades and ease with math and science invited the idea of medical school, a plan she ruled out after a summer of hospital volunteer work.
“That’s why volunteering is such a great idea,” says Head, whose mother always found time for community service despite working and raising two girls on her own. Head’s father died when she was 3 years old, and her mother never remarried.
The experience also planted a seed about the value of entrepreneurship and hard work. “Money was an issue sometimes, but I learned at an early age that I could work and buy things,” she recalls. Head baby-sat, worked at McDonald’s and even painted pots and sold them to neighbors.
Later, business appealed to her, and as an undergraduate she experimented with several accounting classes. Advisers told her it was the hardest curriculum within the business school and if she mastered it, other facets of the business world come easily. Head soared, and upon graduation in 1983 was offered several professional opportunities. She accepted one with Shell Norco, but it was the beginning of the state’s oil bust, and the company decreased its statewide force before she even started.
Head had studied at LSU under and worked with former State Auditor Dan Kyle, who recommended she apply for a job with Bernard, Robbins and Cavanaugh CPA, a large, local full-service firm. She rose rapidly, and by the second year was assigned to work with Wampold Companies, which remains one of her clients today.
The firm evolved to Robbins and Gautreau in 1985, with Head and partner John Gautreau working jointly to develop business in real estate accounting. Later, the firm morphed again as The Gautreau Group with Head as associate partner. She became Gautreau’s only equity partner in 2004.
Meanwhile, LSRH had its eye on Baton Rouge as an expansion site, but it wanted to team with an existing firm. Gautreau and Head negotiated a merger in 2007, and Head became tax director and equity shareholder.
Head feels strongly that while the majority of accounting partners nationwide are male, it is a field in which women are well suited and where, collectively, they have a bright future.
“Women have a natural ability for accounting,” she says. “Sixty percent of those coming out of schools are women. The profession is undergoing a big transition.”
Head has participated in forums concerning women in accounting through the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, one of a long list of organizations to which she has donated time. She currently is active with the Baton Rouge Rotary and is board treasurer of Alzheimer’s Services of Greater Baton Rouge, a tribute to her mother, who suffered from the disease and died two years ago.
But even after 26 years in the business, Head still finds accounting exciting. “It’s something new and different every day. I like a challenge, and I never get bored in this job.”
