Being Accountable: How CohnReznick Gives Back to the Community

This article is sponsored by CohnReznick, which is hiring on WayUp now.

“If you do your best to serve faithfully your community, your clients, and your associates, success will most surely follow.” — Julius Cohn, founder, CohnReznick.

For some of you recent grads, we know trying to spot the differences between the big accounting firms can sometimes feel like the most excruciatingly boring game of Where’s Waldo—just swap the classic red-and-white stripes for a sea of indistinguishable black and grey suits or green-and-white Excel sheets.

For CohnReznick, one of the companies hiring for internships and entry level positions on WayUp, its people-focused spirit defines their culture. At the professional level, it means that the firm encourages its employees to find creative, dynamic solutions to problems that don’t always come right from the textbook. And at the personal level, that dynamic spirit translates into some of the most important work the company does—at the public service and community level—through programs like CARES, Pay it Forward, and Golf Invitational.

CARES: Making accounting acronyms mean something.

Like any good accounting firm well-supplied with acronyms, CohnReznick’s CARES stands for Community, Education, Responsibility, Education and Service. Formed by the company’s National Social Impact Committee in 2013, CARES acts as a direct call to action to motivate its employees to embrace the dedication to service and find ways to give back to their communities however they can.

Now in its 10th year is the company’s ‘Pay It Forward’ movement, which is loosely based on the premise of a movie that came out in 2000. Basically, before he was terrorizing the Washington elite as Frank Underwood, Kevin Spacey played a social studies teacher who tasked his students with forwarding every good deed they receive to someone else, creating a continuing chain of good will that ends up changing the world (it’s hard to imagine, especially after the end of Season 3 of House of Cards, but you’ll have to trust us).

CohnReznick’s take on it is similar—each December, the company provides a little something extra to employees’ paychecks, encouraging them to “Pay it Forward” to the organizations that have been positive, contributing influences in their life. A creative take on the traditional means of encouraging giving, Pay it Forward helped the company receive honors for its “Impressive Good Works” by the Commerce and Industry Association of New Jersey.

Your Golf Game That Keeps on Giving

Over the past twenty five years, CohnReznick has led a charitable charge through its annual Charity Golf Invitational, which provides charities with donations from benefactors across the community. Last June, the firm donated $150,000 to the Special Operations Warrior Fund (SOWF) and the Joe Torre Safe at Home Foundation, coming from the CARES program as well as the CohnReznick Foundation.

If you’re looking for more than just a job, but for something that helps the people who need it the most, then check out the internship and entry-level opportunities at CohnReznick! It’s a wonderful place with even more wonderful people, and the perfect place to kickstart your accounting career!