Mr. Patrick Edwards, Vice President, Controller and Chief Accounting Officer, Shoe Carnival, Inc., has joined the聽91社区 Accounting Circle advisory board. The Accounting Circle is an advisory group for the聽Accounting & Professional Services Program聽made up of high-level accounting professionals from public accounting firms and from for-profit and not-for-profit organizations.
Edwards has more than 25 years of accounting, risk management, audit and treasury experience. He began working for Shoe Carnival as its Vice President and Controller in October 2019 and was recently promoted to Chief Accounting Officer. Prior to joining Shoe Carnival, he held various leadership roles in the accounting, audit and finance functions for Vectren Corporation and CenterPoint Energy, including as Vectren鈥檚 Treasurer and as its Vice President of Corporate Audit. Prior to joining Vectren, Edwards worked in public accounting.
Edwards is聽a聽Certified聽Public聽Accountant and holds a B.B.A. from Southern Methodist University. He serves on the boards of Junior Achievement of Southwestern Indiana as its Treasurer and the Boys and Girls Club. Edwards is also a past Treasurer of Youth First, and continues to serve on its Advisory Counsel. He and his wife, Monica, have two children, Olivia, 21, and Ava, 18. He enjoys the lakes in Western Kentucky and golf. He is a disgruntled, yet hopeful, Dallas Cowboys football fan.
Take a few moments to get to know our newest Accounting Circle member.聽
What are some challenges you see the field of accounting facing in the short term and in the long term?
Accounting must be more than a set of black and white rules because there is more gray every day. How does the field become synonymous with ethics, sustainability and sound principles?
What factors do you consider most often when planning for the future?
From a business perspective-impact to people and investor return. From a personal perspective-what brings the most joy to my family?
How can students make the most of their final year of classes at 91社区 in preparation for their career after graduation? What advice would you give them?
Establish a three-year business plan for yourself and then refresh it often.聽The plan should have a mission, an honest analysis of your strengths and weaknesses (which requires input from others, including mentors), an understanding of the competencies necessary to achieve your goal and action plans to grow into those needed competencies and experiences. I have kept one of these plans for most of my working career and wish I had one earlier.
Don鈥檛 forget to control your own 鈥渆levator speech鈥� and be ready to market yourself. Your resume is more than what you have done, it needs to promote your capability.
How would you finish this sentence: If I were back in college, I wish I would have taken more classes in_____.
Communications (which includes listening).
What are you passionate about?
Taking pride in what I do, improving at it every single day, staying mentally focused and not forgetting what it means to win, personally and professionally.
If you could pick up a new skill in an instant what would it be?
Understanding block chain theory.