‘No other options’ to unlimited opportunity

When Scott Adams (BSAc ‘86, MAcc ‘87) arrived at the University of Florida Warrington College of Business in the early 1980s, it was exactly by choice. 

As a high school senior in Connecticut, he was preparing to make his choice to attend a small college up north and play football when tragedy struck. Adams’ father lost his job, forcing the family into a difficult financial position. His parents made the decision to move to Sarasota, Florida. With the move, they delivered news that would change the trajectory of Adams’ life: “Son, it’s the University of Florida – that’s your only option – and no football.” 

Despite his broad shoulders and 6’3” frame, he was not UF football material. Adams wasn’t thrilled with the decision, but the $711 tuition cost per semester was what his family could afford. 

“Not having a choice sometimes leads to interesting outcomes,” he said. 

Finding his Fisher fit

At first, he rebelled, shirking his responsibilities in the classroom. As a pre-med student taking biology and chemistry classes, his grades slipped. After receiving his grade on one particularly grueling organic chemistry lab, Adams recalls walking from the Hub to the Reitz Union “like a zombie,” followed by a moment of clarity. 

“I don’t even like this,” he thought of his selected major. Like many young students, he realized he was on the wrong path. 

That changed after seeing the success his fraternity brothers were having at the then-Big 8 accounting firms. They were landing jobs that were earning them what felt like a fortune, starting out around $25,000 a year. Curious about accounting, he enrolled in some classes. 

It clicked immediately. 

Accounting felt like a combination of art and science, where judgement met structure, he described. Adams found his niche in auditing, realizing that he could make a real difference in capital markets and business growth by learning from the inside how companies work and strengthening trust in business deals. With his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Fisher School of Accounting, Adams opened the door to what would become a 35+ year career in the private and public sectors. 

Beyond the back office

After weighing several offers from different firms, Adams joined PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in Tampa.

“I wanted to do everything, try anything, take on the most complex clients,” he recalled. 

His proactive strategy worked, and he was promoted to manager four years into his career with the firm. From there, Adams’ career can be described as anything but boring – the antithesis of the stereotypical view of accounting. 

Eager to see the world, Adams applied for an international tour of duty with PwC’s office in Milan, Italy and was accepted into a role serving inbound clients. While the accounting work came easy, conducting business in another country and language proved to be a worthwhile challenge. 

“Learning the language and conducting business in Italian was hard, [but] it paid dividends,” he said. “Understanding idioms and nuances in the local language made me a better auditor.”

About two years into his time in Milan, Adams was asked by the lead partner on PwC’s IBM account to join the team in New York. Excited to continue expanding his experience, Adams accepted, and followed that role with several other opportunities in Connecticut and Boston before ultimately landing in the Washington, D.C. area in 2013. 

The series of moves all proved great choices that helped Adams build many successful relationships. Working at the center of complex, high-stakes transactions, Adams not only played a role in the landmark Legend/IBM Personal Systems transaction that led to Lenovo as we know it today, he also was part of a small team responsible for a $1 billion market and transformed an underserved Fortune 500 client into one of the firm’s top non-audit relationships and alliance partners worldwide. Toward the end of his PwC career, he served as the lead partner for one of PwC’s oldest clients, controlled by the wealthiest family in Canada. 

The currency of trust

Even with a variety of engaging projects, it was the people that kept Adams excited about his daily work. 

“In the end, it all comes back to the people,” he said. “Lifelong relationships with folks who will drop what they are doing when you need something – and knowing that you are making a difference for others when they need you. That culture doesn’t die when you retire – it lives on.”

Like the relationships built in his office, those he built with clients were dependent on one key ingredient – trust. 

“I’ve witnessed time after time that influential people hang on to the people who they trust the most,” he said. “And like the capital markets, trust seems to take the stairs up and the elevator down.”

Even when projects got hard and Adams faced mounting pressure to deliver specific outcomes, he leaned into trusting himself and doing what he knew was right. 

As a young partner, Adams had a client CEO whose company was in financial trouble and needed to refinance their debt just before he signed the audit opinion. Before doing so, Adams was insistent on reviewing missing documentation before issuing the audit opinion. While it was an unpopular decision, it ultimately protected his firm when the client later filed Chapter 7 and liquidated. 

“Integrity never goes out of style,” Adams said. “Unpopular decisions that are the right decisions sometimes take time to get over, because people won’t be happy, but they usually age well.” 

His advice for young professionals facing similar pressure is straightforward – pause. In most situations, you have time to think and consult others. Adams sees seeking input as strength, not weakness.

“It’s never too late to do the right thing,” he advised. 

From private sector to public service

After more than 35 years, Adams retired from PwC, though he wasn’t quite ready to fully be done with his career. Serendipitously, an unexpected call from a national search firm came in, asking if he would consider a role as the Comptroller for the Commonwealth of Virginia under then-Governor Glenn Youngkin. 

“My knee-jerk reaction was, ‘Are you sure you have the right number?’” he said. “The only state government experience I’d had was renewing my driver’s license at the DMV!”

Despite the vastly different role than what he was used to, Adams accepted, and applied his private-sector experience into public service. In just a couple of years, Adams and his team developed a 10-year information system strategy, introduced radical transparency into reporting and strengthened risk management practices. 

In addition to his role as Comptroller, Adams also served on multiple boards, including the Commonwealth Treasury Board, which manages more than $45 billion in taxpayer funds. While the pace of change differed from his experience with PwC, the core skills of accountability, trust and disciplined execution translated seamlessly. 

“It was one of the most fulfilling opportunities I’ve ever had,” he said after stepping away from the role with a change in administration, grateful for the opportunity to serve the people of his home state. 

No short cuts, just hard work

Today, Adams is embracing retired life by enjoying his time with friends and family, exploring how he can continue sharing his expertise on corporate boards, and serving on a couple of not-for-profit boards, including one helping military veterans become character-based coaches for youth sports programs. On the weekends, you might find him hiking, golfing, or spending time at his Siesta Beach condo in Sarasota, a dream he had as a young lifeguard on the same beach.

In the fall, Adams likes to take a quiet walk on the University of Florida’s campus early on game day to soak up all the memories quietly before the campus comes to life. He never stopped loving Gainesville. A school that was forced upon him has become part of his soul, like it has for so many in the Gator Nation, regardless of how or why they arrived there. He believes that Gainesville was among his greatest blessings.

With his years of broad experience, Adams can confidently tell aspiring accountants and CPAs that the possibilities for a career in the profession are vast, and are available to the people who try different things. 

“The CPA license still means something to me after all these years, and many influential business leaders and investors started out as CPAs,” he said. “Explore the wealth of opportunities that the CPA designation will bring you outside of your comfort zone.”

Even as the industry changes with the influence of AI and new technologies, Adams still sees success for those in the accounting industry, but they have to grab onto change by the horns, or better yet, the gator tail. 

“Success requires a sense of urgency and doubling down on your commitment to learning more if you’re going to keep pace,” he advised. “There really are no shortcuts — just hard work pointed in the right direction.”