(taken from the May/June 2006 issue of On Balance magazine)

Taking the helm
By Amy Gaeth

Most college graduates pursue a typical career path in which they obtain practical experience before moving on to greater challenges. Linda Dicks took a road less traveled. 

Dicks was one of three women to receive a bachelor’s degree in economics from Ripon College in 1974, when the major was not typically considered for women. Before she went on to receive her master’s degree in accounting from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Dicks was the office manager for her father’s truck repair business and also for a manufacturer of milking equipment.

Dicks first joined the staff of the state Legislative Audit Bureau in Madison. From there, she went on to the University of Wisconsin and had a three-year assignment in the UW Athletic Department. Six years ago, she was named assistant dean of administration at UW-Madison’s School of Human Ecology.

From chaos to calm
The School of Human Ecology, a small school at UW-Madison, has research, education, creative endeavor and outreach programs. The Preschool Laboratory is part of the school’s education and research program. It uses teaching practice and research to provide high-quality early learning and child care programs for young children.

The school was in crisis when Dicks assumed her post in January 2000. Chancellor David Ward had appointed Robin Douthitt as interim dean in the summer of 1999. One of Douthitt’s first assignments was to review the preschool rate structure because parents had expressed concern to the chancellor about a possible significant rate increase. The business office was in chaos, bills weren’t being paid, and staff members were overwhelmed.

Dicks was asked to serve on an ad hoc committee to look at the fiscal state of the preschool. When Douthitt conducted a search for an assistant dean of administration, she asked Dicks to apply. Dicks applied but another candidate was hired.

On the first day the new assistant dean began his post, another crisis surfaced. Douthitt received an anonymous phone call alleging that the person she had just hired was suspected of dealing in child pornography. After an extensive investigation of the allegations by university officials proved the allegations had merit, campus law enforcement confronted him at work with the evidence they had collected. He confessed his involvement to them and the Dean, and was immediately removed from his position. He later pleaded no contest and was convicted of the charges.

Douthitt approached Dicks once again and asked her to consider taking the position. “The school was in dire straits, not to mention the emotional trauma that the staff had experienced,” said Dicks. “The staff was working in a challenging environment emotionally, financially and physically.”

“I told my boss that I had to help the school through this crisis and I wasn’t sure they could wait while I gave the customary two weeks’ notice,” she said.

Now Dicks looks back on her accomplishments with pride. She was part of a three-member management team that turned the organization around. A more transparent budget process is one significant change, said Dicks: “Our faculty and staff have a better understanding of the budget, what supports it and how it’s spent.”

Budgetary pressures related to the state’s recent fiscal crises continue to present a challenge. “We’re struggling, but we manage better when everyone understands what we can and can’t do within the budget,” Dicks added.

Early in her tenure, Dicks created a formal technology support program for faculty and staff. The school now has a director of academic technology.

Empowering staff to achieve their professional and personal goals is Dicks’ forté. She is a member of the dean’s management team and is responsible for budget preparation, budget management and financial reporting for the school, oversight and management of the UW Preschool Laboratory, oversight of the school’s facilities, and supervision of the school’s business office activities.

Dicks’ career on campus started soon after she earned her master’s degree. At the Legislative Audit Bureau, one of the more visible assignments she had was supervising aspects of an audit of the UW Athletic Department in 1988.

The audit report, released in early 1989, revealed serious financial problems. “They had a huge deficit and very poor business practices,” Dicks said. “Many people likened the operation to a mom-and-pop grocery store working out of a shoe box.”

Several months later, after the audit report was released, the university created an administrative position to oversee the budget process and financial reporting of self-supporting operations, including athletics. As the director of auxiliary operations analysis conducted his search, Dicks said, he called Dicks’ supervisor and suggested that she apply.

Dicks was hired as assistant director and administrative officer in 1989. Later that fall, Chancellor Donna Shalala fired the athletic director and the UW football coach, Don Morton. Dicks spent the next three years working more closely with athletics than anticipated. “I met a lot of people while I was working at the athletic department,” she said. “One of those people was Robin Douthitt.”

Mission for WICPA
During her professional ascent, Dicks has seen the accounting profession go through many changes, including increased regulation and audit complexity, and an improvement in the public’s perception of accountants. She plans to use this knowledge to further the progress of the WICPA.

“The WICPA is on solid ground,” Dicks explained. “We’re currently in an environment where there are not a lot of hot-button issues and our members are generally satisfied with what the organization is doing, particularly coming off of our Centennial Anniversary, which was deemed a very successful year.”

“Part of my role will be to serve as a ‘caretaker’ to maintain the organization’s level of excellence,” she added.

Dicks said her goal is to oversee the recruitment and successful transition of a new executive director when LeRoy Schmidt, CPA retires in fall 2006. “Our primary goal is to ensure a smooth transition,” Dicks said. “We want this to be as transparent to the members as possible.”

“We’ve grown tremendously as an organization under LeRoy’s leadership,” she added. “He has forged a good relationship with members and has kept a pulse on the profession. We’re looking for someone with a similar disposition.”

History of service
Dicks was encouraged to get involved in the WICPA by Tom Mickelson, CPA, who served as president in 2001-2002. “I didn’t want my job to be my only exposure to the profession,” she said. “I wanted to meet other CPAs and get actively involved in the WICPA.”

Dicks moved through the ranks of WICPA volunteer leadership, holding chapter officer posts and becoming involved in ad-hoc committees. She served a two-year term as vice president on the WICPA Board of Directors and a member of the Executive Committee. She was then appointed as a member of the Chapter Dues Allocation Task Force and as chairperson of the 21^st Century Task Force, an ad hoc committee formed to examine the organization and the viability of the chapter structure. The task force recommended that the Board disband the chapter structure in fall 1999.  

Dicks has received three WICPA awards to date: the 2000 WICPA Achievement Award, 1996 WICPA Chapter Involvement Award and 1990 Southern Chapter Active Service Award.

She took a brief hiatus from her WICPA involvement when she became assistant dean. “My boss is very supportive of my involvement in the WICPA. I knew when the time was right she would support my decision to serve as president,” Dicks said.

Dicks predicts a bright future for the profession: “There will always be a need for accountants. We need to remind CEOs and other business leaders to realize the value of having a CPA on staff. We need to remind our constituencies and the public what it is that we do, why we do it and why it’s important.”

 

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