Doreen Griffith is managing partner at the Honolulu office of tax and business consultant Grant Thornton. She is one of the first women to be named managing partner of a major accounting firm in Hawai'i, and is also the youngest woman managing partner within Grant Thornton.

Q. What challenges does a slowing economy present to your firm?

A. For our firm, we definitely want to make certain that we understand what's going on in the economy because we want to be a business adviser to our clients ... making certain that we not just hear what's going on in Hawai'i, but what's going on in the Mainland.

Our office is one that is seeing growth. As of June 20, we will be moving offices and going into more office space. We have a lot of commitment to being in Hawai'i and with that we're increasing our office space by 50 percent. We are in the hiring mode and we are always looking for good audit and tax staff. We also are very active on the campuses as well, the University of Hawai'i being one that provides really wonderful students for us.

Q. What is Grant Thornton's position in Hawai'i?

A. Grant Thornton, while it's an international accounting firm, having an office here of 50-plus people, puts us in the top six, I believe. When you look at what Grant Thornton's niche is, it's the middle market, which really plays well in the Hawai'i business community.

Q. Do you target smaller businesses?

A. Our target market is small, publicly traded and larger privately held companies, whether that is venture-backed companies or family-owned companies. We also do a lot of work in not-for-profit organizations as well, which is a completely separate niche that Grant Thornton nationally pays attention to, but also locally as well. The not-for-profit community is seeing lots of changes recently.

Q. Is it unusual to have many nonprofits as clients?

A. Some of the national firms have gone a little bit away from not-for-profit organizations. We really do look at not-for-profits. They're a very active member of any business community. When you look at Hawai'i, we have thousands of not-for-profit organizations, all the way from charities to social clubs to labor unions. With all the changes in the not-for-profit community, definitely they want to make certain that their audit needs are taken care of, and also their tax needs because not-for-profits can have tax issues as well.

Q. As busy as you are, do you still have the opportunity to work directly with clients?

A. While I am honored to be in charge of the local office and I do the administrative functions and I also try to be the face of the local office, my passion is serving my clients. I have a lot of client service. I also am on the college campuses. The students want to see a partner, they want to see what they can be like when they advance in their career.

My clients are the ones that have made the office what it is today and I really enjoy helping them solve their problems and helping save tax dollars because tax is my passion. I really want to make certain that I know them not just on a professional level, but a social level and a personal level too.

Q. When did you join Grant Thornton?

A. I first joined Grant Thornton almost six years ago. I came from a competing national accounting firm and joined as a senior tax manager. Since that time I've made tax partner and now I'm the managing partner of the local office.

Q. Is that considered a quick rise?

A. From a senior manager position, because I joined with experience, making partner may not have been that quick of a rise. But definitely from making partner and being in charge of the local office, I've been given some wonderful opportunities and it's a great office to be the managing partner of. They're the reason why I'm here.

Q. Did you always want to be an accountant?

A. The year I graduated from high school my mother graduated from college. She went back to school with a husband and three kids going through school and studied with wonderful grades. When she got out of college, she went to work for an accounting firm and that was my first taste of accounting and I really liked it. So I went to college, studied hard and my mother gave me the encouragement to pass the CPA exam quickly and I started out in public accounting and have not looked back.

Q. You also belong to some volunteer organizations?

A. I sit on the board of two wonderful charitable organizations: The YWCA, which is for eliminating racism and empowering women, two great mission statements that you can have. I also sit on the board of the Ronald McDonald House Charities, which helps families in need. I also am very active in my church, Halawa Heights Baptist Church.

Q. Is it difficult to juggle all of that?

A. We talk very frequently at Grant Thornton about career-life balance. We really are striving to be that best place to work and be the employer of choice. As the managing partner, I have to live that as much as the rest of the people in my office. Yes, it's sometimes very hard to juggle it, but I make certain to leave when I need to leave. I may work very hard Monday through Friday, but my weekends, for the most part, are for family and I really enjoy getting to goof off with my husband and my Chihuahua.

Q. You are one of the first women to be named managing partner of a major accounting firm in Hawai'i and also the youngest female managing partner within Grant Thornton. Is it a difficult profession for women?

A. People talk about the glass ceiling and in public accounting we're very aware of how many women partners we have in the firms. I will tell you that today, of the national accounting firms in town, there are three women managing partners. I'm very happy to see that.

Fifty-five percent of all college students are women, so what you're starting to see is more and more women in accounting and we very much focus on making certain that the work environments are conducive to both men and women. You're seeing more and more in leadership of firms, having women as active as the men, so in Hawai'i you're seeing three managing partners being women and that's also happening more and more on the Mainland as well.

Grant Thornton has a program called Women at Grant Thornton. It is to attract, retain and advance client-serving women and we want to make sure that we're on the cutting edge and thinking out of the box on how to make certain that we keep as many of our women as we can.

Q. Do you have a long-term plan for yourself at Grant Thornton?

A. When I started my career, I'm not certain that when I looked at my managing partner, who at that time was a man, that I said I want to be sitting in his seat one day. But now that I'm sitting here, my first goal is to really enjoy it. We are moving offices, so from a short-term standpoint making certain that we're serving our clients during that time is very important. From a long-term goal, professionally, I am also looking at how we grow Grant Thornton and how we 50-plus people can keep the culture that we have.