Age: 28
Occupation: Cost Accountant
Company: Honeywell Process Solution
Length at position: 2 years and 3 months.
Hours worked per week: 40 hours.
Salary(Potential): $40,000 - 70,000 a year
Inspiration: I liked math when I was in school. I realize I couldn’t get a job with just a math degree, thus I went into accounting. While I was in UBC, the faculty started the accounting co-op program and I was accepted into it. This 12-month work experience helped me in deciding my career path in accounting, particularly in the corporate side instead of auditing or taxation.
Why do it?: Again, I like math and I’m sensitive to numbers so it’s good be in accounting. Currently, as a cost accountant I’m able to do different projects that comes to me everyday, which provides variety and that makes my work interesting.
Challenges: When I started at the Cost Accountant position, I had to learn our Enterprise Resource Planning system quickly so that I know how to look for data before I can do any analysis. The learning curve was very steep in the first few months.

EDUCATION:

Degree(s) and Schools: Bachelor of Commerce-Accounting Co-op, UBC, CMA Strategic Leadership Program
Advice: Those who are interested in accounting should go to info sessions or networking events organized by different accounting societies (CA, CMA, CGA) and talk to different people at the events as they can tell you exactly what they do and their experiences. The CMA career website helped me get my first job after graduation and my current job. CMA not only taught me accounting, but also trained me to become a business man, giving me the skill set to further my career. Furthermore, completing it gave me more bargaining power in the job market.

LIFESTYLE:

Favourite recreational activity: Amateur actor in community theatres.
Upcoming vacation plans:  I would like to go to New York and watch a few Broadway shows.
In five years, I see myself : Professionally, I hope to get out of the month end cycle and focus more on different business analysis projects. Personally, I would like to retire early and become a full-time actor. Getting married may not be a bad thing either.