I was introduced to accounting my senior year in high school and I decided to become an accountant my first year of college. They asked me to declare a major and as I looked down the list (in alphabetical order) accountant was at the top so I chose it.
I first realized what a CPA was and knew that I wanted to become one after being introduced to NABA as a student.
I never wanted to become an accountant. In a sense, the profession chose me. I started out as a general business major, but I didn't feel adequately challenged by the educational curriculum. The demand for more out of my education led me to inquire about the most challenging major in the university's business program; and, voila, an accountant was born!
I knew I wanted to become a CPA when I became a CPA. Again, the profession chose me. When I graduated (with a B.S in accounting), a friend encouraged me to study for the exam. After taking and passing my first exam, all that I knew at that point was that I wanted to pass the exam. The want to become a CPA didn't reach my internal radar until I passed all four exams.
I was aware of accounting during my high school days when my little sister took an accounting class but that was the extent of my understanding. I would not see accounting again until my sophomore year at Rice when I had to take an accounting class as part of my business minor (and even then I chalked it up as a necessary evil in the pursuit of my education. It was hard and I think I passed with a B-).
I kinda fell into the accounting profession after my internship with my current employer (during my internship I actually worked in the corporate budgeting department). There was a position in our financial reporting department that became available and I was interested because it was finance-related (or so I thought). And as an economics major, at the time I thought it would be a good-fit. That was in 2013 and I've been there ever since!
I was recruited for a position at a CPA firm in 1995 while I was still an accounting student; it was something I actually liked, so I kept accounting as a career going forward.
I knew what a CPA was when I took my first accounting course in 1994, I knew I wanted to be a licensed accountant in 2010.
I first learned about accounting during my first year in college. I had not heard of accounting or accountants before that time. I was in the business school at Temple University and one of the first required courses was accounting. I immediately liked it because to me it was similar to solving a puzzle.
During my time at Temple, I started to hear about "CPAs" so I actually thought that was what you were supposed to get after taking 4 years of accounting in school. Since I liked my first accounting course, I decided to major in accounting. All of the talk from professors was about CPAs and working for the Big Eight.
I knew I wanted to be an accountant in high school after taking the bookkeeping class. I knew what an accountant was because my parents went to an African American CPA in a small town in Louisiana to get their taxes done. I always admired him and his office ever since I was a little girl. My aunt also married an accountant in 1977 and his twin brother was a CPA at Arthur Anderson in the 1990's.
I knew in college that was wanted to be a CPA because that was the highest point for an accountant, therefore it was a natural progression.
Accounting 101 was one of the required core courses when I switched my major from Computer Science to Business Management in my freshman year. Accounting balanced; there was always a right answer. I liked the certainty of it. Of course, it doesn't always work out like that in real life, but it was enough in textbook practice to get me hooked!
I knew I'd become a CPA in junior year when I had 11 job offers to work at different accounting firms. An accounting professor of mine told me, you'll rarely find an unemployed CPA. They're always in demand. She was right!
