Public Accounting to Public Service.

• Position: Final entry

Shari Friedenrich is used to vote counts. She came out on top--twice--in her quest to be Orange County treasurer. And more recently at our Women's Leadership Forum, she was among our three Women to Watch Experienced Leader award winners, and earned our annual Trailblazer Award for being a model for other women who are considering entering politics. We took the opportunity to drill down with Freidenrich and learn more about her career that landed her on the award podium.

Tell us about your journey that lead to becoming a CPA.

My father was a CPA, but I never expected to follow in his footsteps growing up. However, in majoring in business at Washington State University, I found that 1 excelled in accounting and ended up getting an accounting degree with an emphasis in accounting. I was the Beta Alpha Psi president my senior year in college and was hired by Deloitte in its Seattle office right out of college. I passed the Uniform CPA Exam my senior year and obtained my experience for the CPA license while I was at Deloitte. I have maintained my license ever since then.

How and why did you decide to get into the political arena?

I never expected to go into public service, and even avoided municipal clients when I worked for Deloitte. However, after the treasurer caused the bankruptcy in Orange County, I realized that government needed strong financial professionals. Friends, including CaJCPA member and California legislator John Moorlach, CPA, encouraged me to apply to become Huntington Beach's treasurer, and I became the first CPA appointed and elected as the city's treasurer. After Orange County lost money again from investments in structured investment vehicles, I decided to run for Orange County treasurer and I was elected by a margin of almost 10 percent in November 2010.

Tell us about your extensive work with Orange County.

I have been the elected treasurer since 2011 working for taxpayers and, in seven years, have saved taxpayers more than $870 million. As a public servant, my goal is to bring common sense leadership to the treasurer position, implement best business practices to streamline operations, provide transparency of information 24/7 on our website and improve communications with taxpayers.

How about the challenges/changes in your accounting work with municipalities, specifically?

In my positions as treasurer, there are a lot of similarities with the private sector--billing, collecting and investing short-term operating...