From a young age, I have always loved numbers. The high school I attended specialised in maths, and I gravitated towards maths at university, so it was easy for me to be drawn to the accounting profession.
My career began in 2005 with KPMG in Budapest, Hungary, and has led me to live in six different cities. I also worked in Birmingham in the UK as part of my work experience after moving to the US, where I’ve worked in Norfolk, Virginia, Washington DC, New York and now Silicon Valley, California. I’ve had different clients and different challenges, but great colleagues everywhere! My latest move to California created an opportunity for me to become the head of ACCA’s Northern California chapter and to have the privilege to work with an amazing group of talented ACCAs across the San Francisco Bay Area.
Here I am 17 years later in California, over 6,000 miles away from Budapest where my career started
What I like about working in practice is the diversity of projects. No two days are the same and there’s a challenge that comes with that. I think the main benefit of staying with one firm is that whenever my career or personal life needed a change there was always another opportunity within KPMG to help me build my journey. So here I am 17 years later in California, over 6,000 miles away from Budapest where my career started.
A challenge for our clients is how audit committees and management are talking about climate-related disclosures in the US. I also enjoy helping them facing accounting complexities related to revenue recognition, or applying valuation models, whether related to business combinations or other subjects of the valuation.
I don’t think about my own personal success as being my biggest achievement. Being an auditor is team effort. I’ve worked with many talented individuals, and clients over the years, and together we’ve had many achievements, navigating complex accounting and auditing issues. Without these teams I would not have been able to reach my personal goals. When I reflect on my career, I think I truly grew during the most challenging assignments, from initial public offerings and first year audits to IFRS convergence projects and the auditing of acquisitions and divestitures.
My passion is education and creating opportunities in education for those who are less fortunate. If I had law-making powers, I would make regulatory changes to achieve that.
I still enjoy attending physical inventory counts for my clients, and seeing the actual physical product
Helping clients through their challenges is my favourite part of the job, whether those issues are accounting, auditing or regulatory. I also enjoy learning more about my clients’ businesses and operations. Some might be surprised by this, but I still enjoy attending physical inventory counts for my clients, meeting people in operations, and seeing the actual physical product.
If I weren’t an accountant, I’d be the guitar player of a famous rock band! Well, probably not, but it is fun to dream about. In my younger days, I was the lead guitarist in two bands, and music is still one of my passions.
In my spare time I enjoy getting involved in the community. I volunteer at events and fundraisers, and through my role on the board of Powering Potential, a not-for-profit organisation. I also really enjoy mentoring younger professionals, whether with ACCA, or through another organisation I am involved with for individuals living with disabilities.
