by Riny Varghese

Why accounting? My family, friends, teachers, recruiters, almost everyone has asked me that question. To be honest, I’ve been asking myself the same question every day. Growing up, it never crossed my mind that I would be an accountant. So how did it all begin? This isn’t your typical afternoon soap opera…This is the story…

Decision to pick accounting

I graduated high school with a set goal that I would be a journalist. However, after realizing that it was not the career I could see myself doing for the rest of my life, I let go of this goal and decided to consider other options. I went to a community college in California, where I took so many random classes, none of which would lead me to a clear career path. I went through a period of confusion and frequently switched majors. I thought I was going to be an engineer, a computer scientist, a pharmacist, or an English teacher. I was in a state of panic, because I didn’t know what to do with my life. That’s when I decided to take the careers assessment test at my college’s counseling center, and voila–accounting was one of the most compatible careers for me. Coming from a family of engineers, I did not know anything about this field. I decided to take an accounting class and liked it. Close to the end of the semester, my accounting professor talked with me to ask if I was interested in majoring in the subject. I told him I was considering it, but he reassured me that it is a great field to get into and that he could see my potential to do well in the subject.

Transferring to the McCombs School of Business and the MPA program

I was very excited that I got into the No. 1 Accounting program in the nation. Unfortunately, my first semester in the program was far from a smooth ride. I was struggling to keep up with all my classes, and I felt that I was very unprepared for the rigor of courses in McCombs, not to mention the MPA program. It was the first time I received C’s on my exams.  I questioned my abilities, my motivation, my career path–why am I in accounting? I went through another period of confusion. I was about to switch majors again, when I realized that I was just trying to escape failure. I am not a quitter. I changed my perspective and learned to appreciate my classes, regardless of how hard they were. I realized that I’m in school to learn and not to get a 4.0. This perspective took so much pressure off my shoulders. I enjoyed accounting again, which is why I am happily blogging about it.

The Tax Track

So now that I’m firmly determined to do accounting, which accounting path should I pursue? Continue reading My Accounting Story: Not Your Typical Daytime Drama →

 For this week’s blog, I want to go back two months and share some unique experiences I had during the first few weeks into the MPA program. One of those things was definitely the “Open House” event, during which I had the opportunity to meet with partners and recruiters of three top-tier public accounting firms in New York. How? Well, this was an initiative spearheaded by the Director of the program, Jim Franklin, and the MPA recruiting office to assist students interested in working in cities outside of Austin. They organized “Open Houses” for key cities, both within and out of Texas. We had the freedom to choose the cities and companies that we were most interested in, from the list of participating firms. At this point, I think I may need to clarify this: it was our responsibility to pay for our traveling expenses. The cost of travel for a class of more than 100 would be too formidable for either the school or the companies to undertake at this point. Now I chose New York because my family eventually hopes to settle down there (That’s another plus of being part of this program – you actually have options as far as the cities you want to live in!). I met with two of the Big 4 and one of the top six public accounting firms. The experience was very informative, since I could ask questions specific to my location of preference. The recruiting process, specifically for New York, became clearer to me as well. But the best thing was being able to meet these folks without the pressure of having to interview with them. Because of that, the whole recruiting process became less intimidating.

The second event I really enjoyed was the recruiter panel session during orientation week. During this session, representatives from four sectors (government, consulting, Big 4 public accounting and regional public accounting) talked to us about the recruiting process. Continue reading An Insight into the MPA Recruiting Process →

Okay, so what have I been up to?  Well, Karthik wakes up at 6-ish every day, and so my husband Suresh and I now find that we change our sleeping habits so that they go (kinda) with his. That means going to bed at about 11 PM and waking up at 5 AM-ish.  I usually do school work before I head to class.

So that was how my Monday morning began. Nothing out of the ordinary. After class was over at 3:30 PM, though, my week took a turn. I flew to New York for an interview on Tuesday. Got back Tuesday night. Woke up 4 AM on Wednesday morning (had some stuff to turn in), had classes till 3:30 PM. Then flew out again (to Atlanta) for another interview. I got back last night, and passed out on the couch.

Boy, I am glad it’s the weekend. I am definitely going to spend the day with my family. And dinner is going to be a great homecooked meal–my husband really deserves it!