Sartorial Dilemma

Last weekend, we hosted a graduation party for my youngest, who in September, will quickly transform her mom and dad into the proverbial empty nesters when she leaves to ply her considerable academic talents at one of the New York’s top state universities.

During the five-hour soiree in which attendees literally inhaled more than 12 full catering trays of hot and cold food along with 10 magnums of wine, untold cases of beer and nearly a hundred bottled waters, one young woman – an accounting major at one of the mid-Atlantic colleges – pulled me aside asked me something no one had before in my dozen years of involvement with the accounting profession.

As background, she begins in October with one of the Big Four firms in the auditing department and is currently studying for the CPA exam – which in my opinion is stressful and time-consuming enough to ruin anyone’s summer.

She basically wanted to know how she should dress for work and what was acceptable in an accounting firm.

And no, she was not kidding. And from what I’m hearing, it’s a question that doesn’t get asked or, for that matter, addressed with nearly the frequency that it should.

For many, save for perhaps an internship, this is their first experience with corporate life. A pair of True Religion jeans and a designer T-shirt or a skirt with a spiking hemline would probably not go over well with a senior audit or tax manager – particularly in large firms like one of the Big Four.

I told her that accounting by nature is conservative, although to be sure it has relaxed somewhat since the button-down days of previous generations. Boomers have one idea about a dress code, while Millennials certainly have another. I surmised that the employee handbook probably included a chapter or two on what was expected in terms of work clothing.

For the first week I advised her to err on the side of caution and tone it down, all the while monitoring how the firm’s veteran female staffers dressed as that would give her a fair barometer of the acceptable dress code climate.

Years ago, I read the best seller “Dress for Success” and although I don’t own a suit from Savile Row or a dress short from Eton, I can proudly claim I’ve never been sent home from a job.

And I’ve NEVER worn a short sleeve dress shirt with a tie.

In my mind, that’s a dress code breach so blatant, it’s probably deserving of a warning from HR.