George Willie's path to accounting began in Jamaica and continued through Brooklyn to Howard University. In an interview published by Bert Smith & Co., he recalled meeting Bert W. Smith Jr. at Howard and finding inspiration in Smith's career as an early Black certified public accountant. Willie described earning his CPA, working in academia and then returning to public accounting.
His education followed that route. He earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in accounting at Howard University and a Master of Business Administration in finance from American University. He is a licensed certified public accountant in the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Bert Smith & Co. was founded by Bert W. Smith Jr., whom the BDO Alliance describes as one of the first African Americans licensed as a CPA in the District of Columbia. Willie joined the firm and rose to managing partner, building a practice of more than forty years in public accounting with an emphasis on audits of healthcare, government and not-for-profit organizations. Along the way, he taught as an assistant professor of accounting at Howard University.
His service to the profession includes a seat on the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants' board of directors, where a 2005 Journal of Accountancy profile described his work, and service as chair of the institute's Minority Initiatives Committee. A professional biography also records his former membership on the AICPA's Board of Examiners, the body behind the CPA examination, and his former chairmanship of the institute's Private Companies Practice Section Executive Committee.
The institute marked that service in a lasting way. In 2020, the AICPA launched the George Willie Student Scholarship, created in his honor to support ethnic minority accounting students pursuing the CPA license. The inaugural program provided a scholarship and an internship to five students; by the next year it offered up to $10,000 and an internship to ten.
Willie joined IFAC's Small and Medium Practices Committee in January 2015, nominated by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. In his published interview, he connects professional competence with opportunities for younger Black accountants, arguing that inclusion requires access, retention and opportunities to advance.
His work has drawn recognition from both countries he calls home. The University of the West Indies awarded him an honorary degree, describing him as an international auditor and philanthropist whose career spans more than forty years. At Howard, the Center for Accounting Education runs a George S. Willie Lecture Series that continued with an event in October 2025.
