I was having a seven course lunch at the Marina Mandarin Hotel on 18 April 2009 courtesy of my $160 (including cost of Members’ Handbook CD-ROM containing FRS etc) annual subscription fee and noted that it was the largest gathering of Certified Public Accountants (CPA) in Singapore.

The 520 people there comprised of aspiring CPAs who are provisional members, non-practising CPAs who form the bulk of the profession and practicising CPAs who earn their living from audit related services and who can sign off audited financial statements by virtue of their experience and recognised expertise.

As I was chatting with fellow CPAs, I could not help but think back to how I ended up being a CPA and not a lawyer or a teacher.

Your route towards earning your means
When I was growing up, I would have never thought of being an accountant. There was no accountant in the family. We had plenty of teachers as both my parents were teachers and even my sister is a teacher but no accountants. So how did I end up in my career that spans 15 years in audit and audit-related roles?

A fork in the road
There are times in your life when you look back and you know, you just know that that split second decision you made changed the course of your life dramatically. For me, it was a conversation that I had with my brother prior to thinking about which course I wanted to apply for in university. I was fortunate to do well enough in my GCE ‘A’ Levels to qualify for university. The question was, which course?

You can choose a course based on what you are passionate about or what you think will bring in the most money. I took the practical route although in terms of interest and passion, I wanted to do Law.

But my conversation with my brother left me with the impression that Accountancy was a three year degree program and led to direct honours. In addition, it was relatively easy to get a job once you graduated with a Bachelor in Accountancy. Law was also attractive in that the legal profession still needed lawyers but it took four years and you had to clear the bar exam to be qualified as a advocate and solicitor.

Thus, my decision then led me to where I am now. A non-practising CPA who has experienced external, internal audit and IT audit and security.

The profession

The accounting profession is still attractive because audit, accounting and taxation are the key functions that most organisations have to manage for their success. It’s quite challenging to run a business or organisation without having qualified people performing work in these areas.

Currently, there is still a barrier to entry for accounting as you need at least 3 years experience to qualify to be a non-practicing CPA. However, you can obtain CPA status now in more ways by taking up a relevant accounting degree that is recognised by the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Singapore or take up ACCA and then follow-up with the post-qualifying experience. There are also mutual recognition programs with other accounting bodies e.g. CPA Australia.

Deciding on your path
I’ve encountered people who switched from engineering to accounting when they were in their late 20s / early 30s. The risk of doing that is to start at entry level again. I interviewed one candidate who moved from engineering field to accounting in his late 20s. He told me it was his interest but I didn’t really understand it as the interview was too short to go into more details behind his motivation.

Your career is likely to be your main income earning means when you first graduate from polytechnic or university or ITE/JC. Thus, it’s helpful to define clearly what you’re interested in so as to identify the relevant career where you will do well. Doing well in your career tends to translate into more or higher income but of course individual results differ. The more you earn, the more you can save and invest IF you can control your spending and not succumb to lifestyle inflation, i.e. your living expenses going up to match your income.

A career in accounting, audit or tax

If you’ve come to my post and are considering a career in accounting, audit or tax, you have to first be comfortable with numbers. You don’t have to fall in love with them but at least be comfortable. Being detailed is good when you are first starting out because entry level jobs in audit, accounting and tax typically involves preparing schedules containing figures and analysing or extracting and summarising figures that make sense to business management for decision making. As you gain in seniority and experience, you will tend to have more people management opportunities depending on the size of your organisation.

As in any career, besides your accounting, audit and tax skills, soft skills such as communication, public speaking, presentation and negotiation are useful to navigate the terrain of the corporate world.

Looking back, I would never have imagined the path I would take 15 years ago to become a CPA. The route has been fairly rewarding and I’ve learnt also to break out of the traditional mould of a CPA, i.e. to be someone fixated by figures and reports and doesn’t like to interact with people. That’s an anarchronism that doesn’t fit in now.

To be able to survive in the organisations and businesses is to be able to get along with people you like and with people you don’t. The emotional quotient part needs to be developed even as we continue to hone our intelligence quotient part dealing with the domain knowledge and professional accounting, audit and tax related knowledge.

How did you come into your own career or job?

Was it planned, fate or a combination of both?

Share with Panzer in the comments section.

Be well and prosper.

_{»crosslinked«}