At high school, when I was trying to figure out what professional path I’d take in life, I assumed it might be something related to science, but it just wasn’t my cup of tea. Then, when all my friends and I went to university, they mostly went into engineering degrees, but I decided to go a completely different path and explore professional accounting.

At first, I wanted to learn about the career paths and opportunities. Through research and input from mentors, I learned that I could build a successful international role if I pursued a professional qualification and made the right career moves.

No two projects are the same and the nature of my work always requires me to push my boundaries

I am now a seasoned accounting advisory consultant in a Big Four firm in Australia. I assist my clients to solve various types of business issues around their finance functions and advise them on implementing technical accounting requirements.

The thing I like most about my job is that no two projects are the same and the nature of my work always requires me to push my boundaries. As a result, I have become a better professional with a skillset made more competitive upon the completion of every project. Instead of doing a repetitive job with a specified job description, I prefer to keep my brain working and further improve my ability to think out of the box.

I firmly believe that we can achieve anything if we honestly put in the effort

My biggest career influence is my mentor, who not only advised me to choose the right career path but also to build a successful career for myself. I learnt from him that we should value hard work over intelligence. Despite being exceptionally intelligent, I always saw him working really hard to achieve his career objectives.

During my ACCA studies, I stuck to this philosophy and managed to complete exams on time. Even friends whom I’d consider highly intelligent struggled to clear the exams, the main difference being a lack of hard work. I now apply this hard-working attitude to everything I do and I firmly believe that we can achieve anything if we honestly put in the effort.

I’ve come from being an average student in my schooldays to completing accounting qualifications and degrees, while working in multinational firms in multiple countries with some of the best minds in the world. I’m really proud of this and feel accomplished that as a result of my consistent hard work, I’ve managed to create a difference in my life and for my loved ones. However, this is certainly not the end and the sky is the limit.

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