Greg Daugherty

About

Greg Daugherty grew up in Sandusky, Ohio. He always had an interest in both math and history, and ever since sixth grade, grew interested in becoming an attorney. By high school, he was thinking that he would pursue a career in business law. He decided to major in accounting and economics to prepare him for that kind of career, and the accounting degree was especially important because he felt that if law didn’t work out, accounting would be an excellent career to fall back on. When he visited Miami and learned that Miami’s accounting program was among the best in the nation—on top of experiencing the beauty of campus and everyone’s friendliness—attending Miami was a no-brainer.

As it turned out, accounting was a valuable degree to have for both law school and the practice of law. Law schools value a diversity of undergrad majors from their incoming classes. Greg was one of only two people in his class (of just under 200) at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law to have an undergraduate accounting degree. Greg also saw that some of the financial accounting concepts would come up during contracts and securities law classes. The tax accounting class provided a leg up in the tax class.

Today, Greg’s practice consists of business succession planning, with a focus on employee ownership. He also advises on qualified retirement plan compliance and executive compensation plan design (including stock and other equity-based compensation plans). While most of this work involves preparing documents and analyzing statutes and regulatory guidance, accounting concepts still play a role. For one thing, interpreting statutes and regulations is a surprisingly similar process to interpreting accounting standards updates. Also, different types of plan designs or strategies could be reported differently on the company’s financial statements, with some being more favorable than others. It’s not that Greg has to know the accounting rules, but it helps Greg to know enough to advise clients to check with their accountants about how different plan designs could be treated differently in financial statements. 

What does all of that mean for students today? Greg offers the following advice:

"Even if you are not sure about wanting a career in a public accounting firm or even in accounting, the degree is still versatile. An accounting degree provides a great foundation for any career in business. You don’t realize it as a student because you see so many of your classmates in accounting classes, but few people actually have an accounting degree. That gives you credibility in your career, especially when you are younger. The analytical skills that you learn in accounting can be applied in areas you would never think of."