Most accountants I have met in my career have walked the conventional route. They typically studied Principles of Accounts or were from the Science Stream of Junior Colleges or studied accountancy diploma from the local polytechnics. I have so far only met a few who had an A-Level humanities background where I studied Literature and Geography.
Even when I went through the then School of Accountancy and Business (now renamed Nanyang Business School) in Nanyang Technological University, I only met very few fellow humanities folks. Even from my humanities class in Junior College, only one or two others studied finance or accountancy. Most of them went on to read Law, Economics or Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE) at local or overseas universities.
After almost three decades of corporate working life, I realized that the unconventional path was mostly an asset to my career rather than a hindrance and it has made my life so much the richer for it.
One of benefits of having had an unconventional path towards an audit career was that I was strong in areas where the average accounting trained person was not. That was in written expression. My own spoken communication slowly improved through exposure at work and toastmasters which will be a topic for another time.
However, my written expression was relatively strong because doing literature required the writing of essays upon essays on prose, plays and poetry. Practical criticism (PC), which was a topic covered back then when I was in JC helped me to write analysis because in PC, you had to critique the piece of literature you choose: — be it Shakespearean plays, Victorian novels or poetry from those eras. This turned out to be a particularly useful skill as in internal audit, writing reports were the key deliverables that was actually observable by your bosses, auditees and stakeholders.
It also turned out helpful because the study of literature and literary works is at its core, the study of the human condition. About people and their drives, motivations and desires and how the intersection of the characters and interplay of what they want versus what they have is what made some of the most compelling stories (plots) in the literary fiction I read.
My tutors then in JC also endowed me with advice that I have since also imparted to my child. That is to read widely and to be curious about the world. Reading widely or building up bits of at times “useless” knowledge about every little thing comes in handy in many situations. When doing networking, being able to comment intelligently on a topic of interest to the other party helps in ice-breaking and getting to know others.
During my time growing up, most of my peers read books only for the sake of passing examinations and tests. There were some classmates who also read widely but they were the minority like myself. Having a broad based understanding of a little bit of most things also helps one to connect the dots. That became very useful in the middle of my career when I started carrying out investigations arising from whistleblowing or internal audit findings.
In order to establish wrong doing or what went wrong, one needs to know what are the norms and typical behavior and actions of what is appropriate before one can detect the irregularity.
Having taken a relatively unconventional path into my career as an accounting-trained with humanities background internal auditor who has also pivoted to IT security, charity governance as well as investments and compliance, these experiences serve me well now that I sit on three non-profit entities as a board member.
What was your own unconventional route or advice you have taken or received that helped or hindered you in your own career or business journey?
I would love to hear from each and every one of your unique perspectives as well.
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