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After college, Faith Thomas (she/her) didn’t want to commute from her home in Sonoma County to one of the big four accounting firms in the city. She wanted to live and work near her family. She chose one of the largest local firms, Moss Adams, and remained with the firm for nearly four years.

"Coming out of college, you don’t necessarily know if public accounting will be for you. I saw the culture of the firm and the opportunities for career development and went with Moss Adams."

When she was pregnant in 2017, her experience at the firm began to change. She left Moss Adams and went to another local firm.

"I was trying to balance coming back to the firm while having an infant. I felt very vulnerable, so I went to another competitor with strong female leadership. At the end of the year, many people left and that affected our workload. When COVID-19 hit, everything hit the fan."

The pandemic created what Faith refers to as two years of busy season at her new firm. Burnout led her to take a year away from accounting as she considered a career change. When she decided to remain in the accounting industry, she sought a larger firm with resources to manage her bandwidth.

"Busy season is pretty much a requirement in the industry, but at least at Moss Adams I wasn’t burning the candle at both ends. I remembered the positives from my experience, which included the support from my team."

Faith maintained in-person meet-ups with one of her Moss Adams colleagues and he encouraged her to return. One of Faith’s colleagues from her other firm also joined Moss Adams, and she and Faith started at the firm the same month.

“It felt really good to be back. When I returned, someone said to me, ‘You came home.’ It actually felt like that for me. We spend so much time with the people we work with, especially during busy season, and to see people were happy to have me back was really positive and exciting.”

Since returning to Moss Adams as a tax manager, Faith has observed many improvements at the firm that have addressed the concerns that once led her to leave.

“Like most professions, COVID-19 really impacted the way our firm rises to the occasion for work/life balance. I’ve also seen more women in leadership—two women who were senior managers in my first years at the firm are now partners. I can really tell that the firm is making conscious changes for flexibility and female leadership. Finally, a lot of firms claim partners have an open-door policy, but I actually see it at Moss Adams. I appreciate that we work with our leaders.”

We’re Better Together

In 2022, rehires—or people who left Moss Adams and eventually joined the firm again—accounted for nearly 9% of our overall hires. We’re thankful for our rehires who’ve returned, and we truly appreciate those of you who’ve been with the firm throughout the years.

Welcome home, Faith!

Go Beyond the Desk

At Moss Adams, we believe in the power of possible to empower our clients and people to pursue success however they define it. Explore stories about our professionals, including their personal achievements, at our Beyond the Desk page.