What I Know For Sure...On Being an Accountant



I've always professed that being an accountant was never my idea in the first place. I've got a long love-hate relationship with accounting. And to tell the truth, it really would not have been my career choice. It was my mother's.

But somehow fate seems determined to prove me wrong. I had a real knack at mathematics and debits and credits...and my destiny seemed sealed.

Fast forward to a few years later, I finished my accounting degree and was working in the accounting field. And although it had been a profitable union between accounting and me, I still insisted that it wasn't my passion.

Another few years, when the subject of further studies came up, I decided to pursue management accounting. Not totally convinced that it was what I wanted, but acknowledged that if I do eventually get certified, it would impact a lot in terms of my career and salary.

Well, I am proud to announce that a few weeks ago, I am confirmed to have received my Canadian CPA accreditation.

I've reached the top. Or rather, my top, my mountain of mountains, my leap and bound. It really has been an extremely long road.

I dedicate this achievement to my mom, who always believed I could do it, who knew this was the best for me even if I couldn't see it then. I was really good at understanding accounting concepts. I used to say that it was because my mom was an accountant as if accounting was some kind of genetic disease that could be passed down to generations.  I never really thought that there was likely a better reason why I did so well at it. It might have been a secret passion that was so secret, even to me.

Maybe because I was such a rebellious daughter then that I always equated becoming an accountant by heart would truly turn me out to be my mother's daughter after all.

I don't now. I've realised that accounting had become one of a few real connections I had with my mother.

Somehow I don't quite believe myself nowadays when I say that accounting was just an alternative career for me, something I did for my mother. After all, I've worked so hard to get to the top. If I didn't really want it badly enough, what the hell am I doing here?

Accounting has become more than a profession and a passion. It's become a way of life. My life.