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Bingchao Yang’s posts

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AICPA Leadership Workshop

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TWTCPA PAF-deny the world

On June 3rd, 2015, an email with the title “Congratulations!” landed in my inbox. I immediately associated this with the ones that ‘give away’ money, cars and degrees but I decided to take a look anyway. And I am glad I did. “You have been selected to attend the upcoming AICPA Accounting Scholars Leadership Workshop (ASLW),” it said.

I applied to attend ASLW workshop three months ago, via the ThisWaytoCPA.com portal. Interested applicants can apply to attend the workshop as well as apply for the AICPA scholarship. The application process for the scholarship requires an essay and two letters of recommendation. In addition, to apply for the workshop I was asked to email my favorite quote. Every year, a 100 minority students from 50 US states, majoring in accounting or related fields’ are selected to attend this three-day, all-expenses-paid workshop held in places like Baltimore and Portland. The purpose of the workshop is to better prepare minority students who want to pursue accounting professions and become a Certified Public Accountant (CPA).

There were several activities that I benefited the most from.  First and foremost among them was the case competitions. Working with people you have just met and presenting the final product in front of students and a panel of judges in a limited time period can be as daunting. But we did it. Our topic was related to academic fraud. It taught me valuable lessons in teamwork. Reconciling various ways of working and beliefs was tough but the skills developed are vital to professions like accounting where working with others is very important.

The DiSC personality assessment tool is my next most favorite activity. This personality assessment tool gave me valuable insights about myself. It enabled me to work better with other people.  I dare say that my mom does not know me as well as this test.  I realized from the results that my extra cautious nature can be viewed as a roadblock to group progress, and I should communicate my thoughts more clearly.

Etiquette is an important aspect of any profession. Thanks to the presentation on “Business Behavior and Etiquette”, by Jonna Martin (president of AdvanceMe Associates), I realized that I was eating my bread the wrong way!  The essence of etiquette while dinning is not to invent cumbersome rules but to make people sitting next to you comfortable.

I loved the networking sessions. From introductions to follow-ups, from in-person to online networking, I learned that networking is not about collecting business cards. It is more about being genuinely interested in learning other people’s stories and learning how you can be the best in our profession.  Networking isn’t a one way street. The workshop taught that it is essential to be valuable to those we want to network with.  While learning about them, we must be able to present our value as well.

I met the youngest CPA in the world, Belicia Cespedes, at the workshop. She obtained her CPA at age 17. Despite all her achievements, she is very humble and loves to share her experience related to CPA exam preparation.

I struggled to condense this life-changing experience into two sentences on my resume.  This workshop has helped me greatly and it gave me opportunities to network with professionals and understand various career paths in accounting.

I encourage all accounting minority students to apply for this workshop, because it has so much to offer!

Academics, Bingchao, Student Life

Discomfort with Mental Discomfort is a Liability

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try to confront discomfort

Nine out of ten times, I go to the writing center seeking help before turning in any writing assignments. “English is my second language” is no longer an excuse after five+ years (Yes, I learned some Texan slang, “How are ya’ll doing?” or “Hook’em Horns!”). But writing still makes me uncomfortable.

Paradoxically, when I saw the MPA blogger application opened, I jumped right in. This responsibility involves quite a bit of writing in addition to my class assignments (approximately 30 to 35 blogs per school year). Different from school work, the blog posts will have a broad audience. AND this is not just about me getting a good or bad grade, but my posts may leave a small impression on prospective students about the MPA program. Despite all that, I eagerly applied and was grateful that April, our Marketing Director, gave me this opportunity. So why did I do this? Besides wanting to share information and MPA experience with blog readers, I want to confront my mental discomfort with writing.

Cal Newport, who is an expert in learning techniques, once said in his book So Good They Cannot Ignore You, “Discomfort with mental discomfort is a liability.” Immersed in my accounting class, I immediately try to define liability in accounting terms: the future sacrifice. It makes perfect sense in this context. If you let your mental discomfort turn you away from improving yourself, then you will sacrifice opportunities to cultivate important skills, whether it is career-related or a more personal goal.

Choose something that is essential and challenging to you and work on it. Turn it into an asset (in accounting, the probable future benefit) of yours.

Some on-campus learning resources that may be helpful:

1) Writing appointments for graduate students: excellent tutors who are graduate students in Journalism, English, and Communication, among others.

2) Writing center for undergraduate students: similar to 1), but for undergrads.

3) Meet a learning specialist: Learning specialists assist students with study-related questions or concerns, including preparation for presentations, improving grade, dealing with exam stress, etc.

4) UT Sciences Toastmasters: “a club where people gather to gain experiences in public speaking and leadership in a fun and encouraging environment.” Highly recommend if you want to improve public speaking or communication in general.

Academics, Bingchao, Student Life

Healthy Horns Take Naps

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nap and book

What is the worst time of the day? The consensus is early afternoon. Why? Because most people feel drowsy, sluggish, and exhausted after lunch. While it makes biological sense, it makes no sense to Horns’ busy lifestyles. If you invest 30 minutes in napping instead of working inefficiently, you might save hours in productivity.

From my past three years of experience taking naps almost daily on campus, here is a list of my favorite spots rated on a combination of factors, such quietness, distance to the business school, availability, etc.

  1. Main tower 2nd floor- Life Science Library. With more than 12 genuine leather couches and quiet, high-ceiling open study space, you can nap comfortably.
  2. Union 2nd floor. This place is designed for taking naps. It is a blessing that Wifi in this small part of building does not work well, so no extra noise is generated.
  3. As the “living room” of UT, SAC has a lot going on and can get noisy and crowded sometimes. But it is still on my list, because it has so many comfortable chairs and couches.
  4. PCL 2nd floor (and scattered couches throughout the building). Great napping spot if you are short on time.

If you want to know more, University Health Services website provides a map of the most popular nap spots as voted on by UT students.

A few tips:

Bring a light cover or jacket. You may feel cold when taking a nap or even catch a cold because of the powerful AC systems in many of these places.

Secure your things. Nothing of mine has ever been stolen on campus, but it is good to be alert rather than sorry.

Bingchao, Recruiting

When a 4-Hour Flight Turned into 24

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You might have heard the phrase, “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade!” What I learned from my prolonged and exhausting trip last week while traveling for an AICPA workshop is my attempt at making a cup of tasty lemonade.

My original plan was to fly from Washington DC to Chicago to Austin. I would be arriving around 10 pm on Saturday and the next day I could study for a Monday exam. Everything was great.

But it did not go like that, at all. I ended up arriving in Austin at 10 pm on Sunday night and cramming at the last minute before the exam.

plane was delayed

What happened was the flight from Washington DC to Chicago was delayed, so I did not catch the flight from Chicago to Austin. The flight was rescheduled to 11 am on Sunday and I end up staying in Chicago for one night. Next day in front of the gate, I found out the rescheduled flight was cancelled. After calming myself down, I called and booked the earliest flight available, which was on Monday afternoon. When I asked the agent for a hotel voucher, she said there was none but she offered to fly me from Chicago to Nashville to Dallas to Austin, arriving at 10 pm on Sunday. Weighing costs and benefits, I went with the latter choice (already thinking like an accountant!).

Things I learned:

  1. If you are traveling for a job interview, keep the interviewers’ contact information handy (both in your phone and on paper), in case you need to inform them unexpected delays.
  2. Always be nice and calm when talking to agents (especially when you wear a longhorn shirt). Being mad at them does not mitigate the problem. First of all, delays and cancellation are not their fault. More importantly, your emotional arguments could distract them from finding the optimal solution for you.
  3. Be firm on your rights. Know your rights and the company’s obligations in unexpected flight delays or cancellations. Reading the company’s official website or 3rd party forums could be helpful.
  4.  Technical side: download the documents you want to review on the laptop when you have internet, in case you cannot find access at the airport. Also, buy a portable battery charger for your phone. Outlets can be hard to find and you might forget your phone in the charging station.

The bottom line: prepare for everything, expect nothing.