“I will pursue a course which I know I will be having lots of job opportunities after graduation” – and that is where it all started.
Bachelor of Science in Accountancy – I decided this course to take up. I was not influenced by my parents, relatives or even my peers. Maybe it was a good act to take the course through my own will. At least, I had no one to blame with all the struggles I’d gone through – I kept on taking the challenges as it was all the consequences of my own decision. Things got more complicated as I joined different school organizations, such as the Junior Philippine Institute of Accountants (JPIA) and the Supreme Student Council (SSC) of our Pamantasan. Balancing my academics and extra-curricular activities served as a challenge. Yet, I must say that it made my college life more meaningful.
Five years were spent just to prepare for that title, Certified Public Accountant (CPA). The process of the preparation was painful – to get higher scores, to meet the expected grades and to remain in the Accountancy Program. The pressure is in every corner of my perspective. I even came to the point of almost giving up – maybe it would be fine not to graduate with that degree, maybe it would be fine not to be a CPA and maybe working abroad would be a better idea. But then, I am thankful as I had my support group, my family and friends, who believe in me. Why would I doubt on myself if I have these people?
As the board exam went closer, I became more religious. Aside from countless prayers, I even believed in blessed lucky charms available along Quiapo Church, which I used to boost my confidence as I took my review at the Review School of Accountancy (ReSA). I asked for His signs through those lucky charms that if I pass all the quizzes and exams in ReSA, it will serve as an indication of passing the actual board examination. At first, the quizzes and the First Pre-board exam went well and so the signs were also clear that I will become a CPA. Not until the last few weeks before the actual board exam, where I got low scores in most of the quizzes and the answer sheet for my Final Pre-board examination in Practical Accounting 2 was not read by the machine. Thus, I technically failed in the Final Pre-board. My calculator also malfunctioned two days before the actual board exam. Maybe, just maybe, it’s the reversal of all the good signs I had. It felt like God was giving me the signs that maybe it was not yet time for me, as He dimmed the lights of hope that I had before.
Yet, I sill took the board exam.
After few weeks of waiting, the results came out and it showed… “2380 LAPADA, ISRAEL RECAMADAS”… I passed the October 2017 Licensure Examination for CPAs! And the signs became more clear, that “God will turn off some lights, if he is about to throw a big surprise.”
Before, I want to be a CPA as it will fulfill me as an Accountancy student. Eventually, my perspective changed. For me, becoming a CPA is a way of saying “thank you” to my parents, a way giving them victory and a way of appreciating their unconditional love and support. Telling my parents that their only child is now a CPA is fulfilling. I saw their eyes before how proud they were when I graduated high school with honor, when I qualified for a scholarship program and when I graduated in college. But that moment, it was different. Their smiles gave me ease and comfort to slowly rid the pain of the process in getting my “CPA dream” to become a reality. In the end, the battle was all worth it. From this, I realized that the road to becoming a CPA is not a mere destination found at the end of every accountancy student’s avenue, rather it is a journey that one should bravely travel in spite of being taken by only few.
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About the Author
- Israel is a Certified Public Accountant. He launched his career as a CPA in R.G. Manabat & Co. (KPMG in the Philippines) as an external auditor. As an Accountancy student, he led student organizations in Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Valenzuela as the President of Junior Philippine Institute of Accountants-PLV Chapter in 2015-2016. He was also the Chairperson of Supreme Student Council-PLV Ways and Means in that academic year.
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