Jane Scaccetti, BBA ’77, is the 2023 recipient of the Fox School Department of Accounting Lifetime Achievement Award.
When accomplished businesswoman Jane Scaccetti, BBA ‘77, first enrolled at Temple University, you could say she had a fluid plan.
“I wanted to be a marine biologist and sail the seas with Jacques Cousteau,” she recalls, adding that her best friend was also on board. “We were going to be biology majors. Then we got to our chemistry class, looked at each other and said, ‘OK, so that’s not going to work.’”
But what did eventually work well for Scaccetti was her decision to earn her accounting degree at the Fox School of Business.
Now, this successful alumna—who not only co-founded a successful accounting firm but has impacted many lives through leadership roles with a range of nonprofit organizations—is adding another distinction.
Scaccetti is the 2023 recipient of the Fox School Department of Accounting Lifetime Achievement Award. She will join other honorees at the 2023 Accounting Achievement Awards celebration, hosted by the Department of Accounting on May 2.
“These awards recognize our distinguished and accomplished alumni,” says Elizabeth Gordon, chair of the Department of Accounting. “Jane epitomizes our Lifetime Achievement Award as someone who has positively impacted the profession and the community in a significant way and is truly deserving of this award.”
Dedication and service
For those who have not met Scaccetti, her list of accomplishments would seem almost unattainable in one lifetime. In addition to her bachelor’s degree from Temple, Scaccetti holds a master’s degree in taxation from Villanova Law School.
A trailblazer in the accounting profession, she started her career at Laventhol & Horwath and became the first woman tax partner at an international firm in Philadelphia.
Her passion and dedication to clients led Scaccetti to co-found Drucker & Scaccetti, where she served as the firm’s longtime CEO. In July 2022, the business merged with Armanino, one of the largest accounting and consulting firms in the nation. Scaccetti now serves as ambassador for the organization.
With leadership roles on nearly a dozen nonprofit boards over the course of her career, Scaccetti currently sits on the boards of some of the region’s innovative nonprofit organizations including The Philadelphia Foundation, Philadelphia Center City District Foundation and The Women’s Nonprofit Leadership Initiative.
She is a trustee at Temple University where she serves on various committees including the Executive Committee and the Nominating and Governance Committee. She is the current chair of the Academic Affairs, Student Success and Diversity Committee, and has been recently appointed to a special committee of trustees organized to respond to urgent matters facing the university.
In addition, Scaccetti has also served as a longtime board member for Temple University Health System, where in the past she has held leadership roles including board chair and finance committee chair.
Not always a smooth path
So how does a person go from visions of sailing the open seas to closing out quarterly reports?
“After one year at Temple, I ran out of money, but not because of spending,” she says. “I ran out of money because I was a first-generation kid going to college and I was one of three girls. My parents didn’t have a college fund for us. That wasn’t even on their radar; they were trying to make sure we were eating.”
She increased the hours she was working at then-retailer Strawbridge & Clothier, planning to save enough money to return to Temple the following year.
“The biggest fear I had was that I wouldn’t go back, not because I wouldn’t have the money, but because something would happen in my life and I would not have the same desire,” Scaccetti says. “I literally every day would wake up and say, ‘I’m going back. I’m going back.’ I knew I needed to make sure that that spark stayed alive in me.”
She went all in at her job, accumulating those hours among spreadsheets, examining sales forecasts, analyzing profits and losses, all while absorbing the expertise around her.
“There were times when I thought, ‘I don’t even know what this means,’” she recalls. “But I was working in a business office and saw what accounting was about. I thought, ‘I’m good at math. I’m going to do this.’”
Hoping her intuition was right, Scaccetti reached out to her best friend who was still attending Temple and encouraged her to take an accounting course.
“She took a course and said to me, ‘Jane, we’re going to like this,” she says.
The following school year, Scaccetti returned to Temple’s campus. Her major? Accounting.
Leaning into her experience
Making an impact in the community came onto Scaccetti’s radar during her time at Laventhol & Horwath.
“I remember someone saying to me, ‘You know, Jane, you could volunteer your time and that’s valuable. But when you can volunteer a combination of your intelligence and your training, think about how you could really help the community,’” she says. “I’ve always looked for an opportunity where I could take my training and take my experiences and my passions and put them together to do something good.”
One of her first introductions into the world of board governance came through her early years with Temple University Health System.
“I can’t tell you how many mistakes I made, like asking a question during an open session that should have been asked in an executive session,” she says, recalling some of the looks sent her way from those more familiar with the proceedings. “But as I started to learn, I understood the value that a board brings to an institution and saw that this was something that could speak to my skill base, something I could make a difference doing.”
As her accounting career grew, so did her desire to apply her expertise in ways that extended beyond her workplace.
“I love what I do with Temple University, with the Center City District Foundation and the other organizations,” she says. “It’s about community involvement, keeping our parks a place where people want to come and gather, where businesses want to build and where people want to live. Those things matter to me.”
Taking it all in
When asked about being given a lifetime achievement award, Scaccetti looks as if she’s just heard a needle scratch across a record.
“Is it time for that?” she laughs. “OK, maybe. There is certainly more time behind me than ahead of me, so I guess I’ll acknowledge that.”
She continues, reflecting on a life that has rewarded her in ways that can’t be tracked on an Excel spreadsheet.
“It took a lot of hard work, a lot of luck and a lot of allies to get here,” she says.
Here is a good place to be. For now, Scaccetti is happy with how her plan worked out. She will continue doing the work she loves, sharing her expertise and talent to overcome challenges and make a positive impact.
“The goal every day is to be better,” she says. “I can’t always tell you what better looks like, but I do know that every day you move forward to be better than the day before.”