A CPA skillset can take you far beyond the accounting profession
With a CPA designation comes an established professional network that can help spread the word about your new business as well as provide advice as you’re getting it off the ground (Getty Images/FatCamera)
A CPA designation doesn’t always need to take you on a direct route to accounting, the skills acquired can help shape any professional path you choose.
From food and beverage entrepreneurs to career strategists to Pilate’s instructors, CPAs are choosing unique vocations and crediting their accounting knowledge to their success.
Here are five attributes fostered as a CPA that can help you thrive beyond the profession, while keeping that designation under your belt.
1. FINANCIAL PROWESS
Knowing the ins and outs of financial statements, tax strategies, financing, and audit and assurance are a no-brainer advantage when starting or joining a business venture.
For CPA John MacLellan, co-founder of Cove Kombucha, these skills paired perfectly with his brother’s marketing and design skills when launching their health beverage business.
MacLellan had worked as an auditor for Grant Thornton and EY for five years before uniting with his brother in 2017, when he took on accounting, sales and operations in the businesses’ early days.
“Having that experience allowed me to easily create the necessary models from balance sheets to cash flow and income statements that investors want to see,” he says.
MacLellan also believes entrepreneurs with accounting backgrounds have skillsets and experience that differentiates them from the crowd.
“You’re applying key learnings from those early days,” he says. “Then you see how much knowledge you have over somebody with a [non-CPA] background.”
2. ANALYTICAL THINKING
Along with that financial knowledge, comes valuable critical analysis.
Toronto-based pilates instructor and CPA Jennifer Wan says her early experience as an auditor at PwC now helps her assess the needs and abilities of students.
“In audit, we’re trying to uncover what’s going on in the business, which takes vast critical analysis,” says Wan. “As an instructor, the risk assessment I do is not as formal, but there is a process during which I identify risks and have the professional judgment that’s relatable back to the client’s experience.”
MacLellan says his auditing experience allows him the insight and analysis into where Cove Kombucha was, is and will be down the line. CPAs are behind-the scenes storytellers that shape the trajectory of a business from varying perspectives, he says.
“When you’ve seen the ins and outs of a large company, it allows you to create a vision for how big your own company might get and how you would organize the backend in terms of accounting and the operations,” he says. “Having all that understanding as an auditor, allowed me to think big picture about our growth.”
3. NETWORKING SAVVY
A CPA’s network can help get new career endeavours off the ground.
“The accounting industry allowed me to build my network, which has provided me [with] opportunities to develop different skills sets,” says Wan.
Leveraging this can lead to business partnerships, professional mentorship, exploring new areas of an industry or firm, or word-of-mouth referrals, she explains.
“This is a huge advantage to anybody getting their CPA designation. There are a lot of great CPAs out there and programs that allow you to discover what else you can do with your CPA designation.”
Before settling on Pilates, Wan pursued various opportunities beyond audit, which led her to working in different facets of the industry—including financial planning, talent recruitment and CFE training—while further developing her professional network.
“The CPA designation allowed me to transition into every job I went for,” she says. “I was able to apply my technical knowledge, but also all of the pervasive skills that I learned in becoming a CPA.”
4. RESILIENCE AND CONFIDENCE
CPA Linda Raynier, career strategist and coach—who began her accounting career at EY in audit and moved on to recruiting before starting her own business—attributes resilience to her achievements in the accounting industry and, now, as a business owner. It’s a quality she says she developed when obtaining her CPA designation.
“The CPA designation process taught me resilience and the stamina to move forward with uncertainty, while keeping your eye on the prize,” she says. “That’s what gave me the strength to start my own business. I still use that to my advantage.”
With resilience and experience comes confidence, adds Wan, because you have the knowledge to drive a business forward and propel you into new endeavours.
“That skillset is so valuable for any job,” she says. “It has given me the confidence to hit the ground running.”
5. TRUSTWORTHINESS
If there are two qualities globally identifiable with a CPA, trust and credibility likely top the list.
For MacLellan, these attributes helped Cove Kombucha secure funding and partnerships that catapulted product distribution from local farmer’s markets to cross-country grocery stores. They are now also set for expansion into the U.S.
“My [CPA designation] provided an automatic level of trust when we spoke to investors, that I’d be able to take care of the finances of the business,” says MacLellan
This is the reason that Raynier keeps her CPA designation.
“It gives me credibility. I’m seen as coming from a professional world and I’m able to support my clients in that way,” she says.
GET BUSINESS SAVVY
Nurture business success with CPA Canada’s entrepreneur sessions and workshops, focusing on financial survival, tax strategies and avoiding common mistakes. These financial literacy resources are also geared to small businesses to help manage finances during uncertain times.
If you’re looking to become a CPA, start with these resources to uncover the various pathways to certification, what they entail and the competencies required.
Also, learn about CPAs are doing unique things professionally. Here’s one who became a Hollywood screenwriter and another who is mayor of a town in Quebec.