OTC Executive Director discusses membership, collaboration

In this OSCPA exclusive interview, we sit down with OTC Executive Director Doug Linehan, CPA, to discuss his career path and organizational collaboration.

Read the video transcription below.

Being a CPA it teaches you, I think, what comes with it is a level of discipline. And that tremendously helps an individual throughout a career. If you're going to get an accounting degree, I'm a big believer in obtaining your CPA.

But I also think because being a CPA and the opportunities that has afforded me, as far as different experiences, whether it be working in private equity, working for a Fortune 500 company, working for a software company, etc., I believe, it has made me more well-rounded – to be able to look at a situation and say, "Hey, this is the direction we need to go." It's not all about debits and credits. It's about: How do you lead an organization?

OSCPA Membership

I have the ability to access, through the OSCPA, so many different resources and so many different people to assist me in my role at the Oklahoma Tax Commission. It's almost like a built-in community where I can bounce ideas off of, obtain counsel from people. And I've already reached out to a number of people who are in the OSCPA, who can counsel me on how to navigate that legislative side of the job that I've never experienced before.

On Collaboration

I think from an Oklahoma Tax Commission and OSCPA perspective, we need to collaborate. That's the first key. And I've already been involved in situations where we are collaborating, but I think, first and foremost: Let's make sure we're communicating. Because the OSCPA will see things that maybe the Oklahoma Tax Commission doesn't see and vice versa. And as long as we can continue to keep that communication pipeline open to where we're talking about, "What are you seeing on your side? What are your frustrations?" Because there is a tremendous amount of change.

The Right People

I always say that I don't worry about having the right answers. I worry about asking the right questions. And as long as we're gonna ask the right questions, we have the right people in a room to ask the questions, we'll find the right answer. I've discovered in my career there are a number of people who just default to being what I just say victims. "I can't change this. Well, it's always been this way." No, let's make it better. Let's dive in.

Figure out what's going well and the stuff that's not going well, let's make it better together. Because it's going to benefit everybody, any and all information that we can get out to help simplify processes for CPAs, customers, etc. – everybody wins.