The increasing demand of the services of the Professional Accountant or what has become known as a Business Leader with the less number of Chartered Accountants availability has made the profession a lucrative and honoured one which has lately inspired young graduates and even mature students to pursue a career in the field.
However, the journey of becoming a Business Leader and successfully being gainfully employed in one of the big firms in the world hasn’t been easy and will continue to be challenging. This is partly because of the fact that, about ninety – eight percent of the individuals pursuing the professional qualification course especially in Ghana are employees, family people, key players in various institutions such as churches or other endeavours.
As an Educator, I have come across people from all walks of life who have the dream, aspiration, desire or whatsoever you want to call it to become Chartered Accountants and work in big companies, take home better salaries and help their families to live better life and improve their Standard of living. But almost always, greater percentage of these people don’t really understand what they have decided to do. They don’t have an idea how an individual can “survive in this jungle”. Why I’m I saying all these? Because, you can truly see in their eyes that yes, they want to become Business Leaders but after listening to them, considering their attitudes or behaviour patterns, there’s only one thing that I can say, “They don’t know or understand what they are saying”.
There were people I had to speak with and hold several discussions with just to help them to bring them into the Perfect Psychology (state of being) of what this journey actually is about and how they can become successful and achieve their dream. Today, I am always full of joy when I see them because, they now understand the journey and what they must do CONSCIOUSLY and DELIBERATELY to become who they have always desired to be.
SO WHY THIS ARTICLE?
That’s a brilliant question to ask. The reason I wrote this article is to share the same secrets that I have used to help numerous individuals from all walks of life in private with the rising Chartered Accountants across the globe (I mean people like you) so that you become aware of what is really at stake and what must be done to achieve that aspiration.
I am going to tell you right in your face what nobody has told you, challenge you to become CONSCIOUS of yourself and your environment and then tell you exactly what you have to do to become a Business Leader as soon as legitimately possible.
SO, WHAT MUST I DO TO BECOME A BUSINESS LEADER?
The key word here is MUST. It means what you have to consciously and deliberately do if you want to become a Chartered Accountant. It implies, there’s no alternative, second guess or excuses. Once you decide you want to become a Business Leader, then there’s no option of looking back, you have to do whatever humanly and legitimately possible to make it HAPPEN!!!!
There are a lot of ideas I could share with you but let me tell you the FIVE best advises I have received from my Mentors which I have used personally over the years and also used to help others.
- Decide You want to be THE BEST:
This is where it all starts. When you decided to become a Chartered Accountant by either studying the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants – United Kingdom (ACCA – UK) or Institute of Chartered Accountants – Ghana (ICA – GH), what did you tell yourself? Did you say things like “Oh, I also want to become a Chartered Accountant”, “Charley, becoming a Business Leader is the key” or did you tell yourself things like “Hey, I want to become one of the BEST Business Leaders in the world” or “I want to become the one of top three Consultants in this country”. Listen carefully, you cannot become a Chartered Accountant without deciding from day one that you want to become the best Chartered Accountant. To make the journey easy and not waste resources (money, time and energy), you have to consciously condition yourself that you to become one of the best if not the best in this industry. That is the mindset that can get you started on the right path. Desire you want to be outstanding, spectacular, work with the Big 4 Accountancy Firms (KPMG, Deloitte and Touche, PwC & Ernest and Young), the multinational companies across the globe or run your own Accountancy Firm or business. This is the fundamental Mindset that will get you started and get you moving through all the changing scenes.
- Determine THE PRICE you have to pay:
This is what most people are not willing to hear and do. Becoming a Business Leader has a huge price which everyone must pay. This is not the financial cost alone. This is the SACRIFICES that must be made by YOURSELF on this journey. You cannot behave anyhow, do thing anyhow, or think anyhow you will if you have to become a Chartered Accountant. When you decide to become THE BEST, then you have to ask yourself, “WHAT MUST I DO TO BECOME THE BEST?” This require a lot thinking which about nine – six percent of people in the world don’t do. Because, thinking is a difficult thing which requires discipline when you want to become successful. I hope you will take the time and become a conscious thinker.
So, what are some the sacrifices?
- Cutting your sleep
- Cutting some social gathering
- Reducing time spent on Social media networks
- Reducing or postponing some expenditure or personal satisfaction or self – gratification
- Avoid drugs (Alcohol, smoking or excessive intake of energy drinks)
These are some the things that you will have to sacrifice to enable to make the journey interesting and most importantly avoid wasting resources.
- Determined WHAT YOU NEED to Become the best:
What do you actually need to become a Chartered Accountant? This also a very important aspect of the journey. A lot of the challenges and frustrations encountered by a lot of students comes from this point. This is usually the tangible resources and valuably intangible assets that is required by each person to achieve their aspiration.
- Funding: This is very important because the cost of becoming a Chartered Accountant is expensive and you need to have a Financial Plan of how you intend to finance your education. What is your budget for this journey? Sometimes this may mean you have to cut – down on some personal expenditures and/or postpone some spending.
- Best Tuition Centre or Lecturers: Where you study and who teaches you are also very important to the journey of becoming a Business Leader. You have to be taught by Professionals with track record because this will help you to easily comprehend the various subjects, get guidelines in every examination sitting and make the journey an interesting one.
- Study Materials: In as much as financing and Tuition Centre plays a key role on the journey, the study materials you buy, use and study with are equal important. These may include Study Texts, Question Banks, Lecture videos, Mock Examination Books and other study materials.
In my opinion, these are the key things you need to become a Business Leader. However, there could others depending on your situation.
- Study Approach/Alternatives:
The journey of becoming a Chartered Accountant has in recent years gone through different faces. With the introduction of Technology and Internet, people have become Business Leaders across the world from the comfort of their home or go to the Tuition Centre weekly. As you determine how you want to study, one of the things to decide is to determine whether you want to study online or on – campus.
Let me share with you some pros and cons of each of these:
- Studying Online: This option is available to the “Busy bees” or individuals living in towns or located in areas where there are no approved Tuition Centres. Studying Online is more expensive than studying On – campus but also more flexible because, you can study anytime, anywhere, anyhow with access to lecture videos, books, Lecturers, among other privileges.
- Studying On – Campus: This is the transitional alternatives that almost ninety – eight percent (98%) of students choose. It is mostly less expensive than studying online but very stressful with the distance between work or home to the Tuition Centre, the traffic involve, the impossibility of deciding when to go for lectures as in the case of studying online.
- Combination of the Two: This is the best option in my opinion as an Educator. This is because, you have the options of going for lectures at the same time, you have access to lecture videos that you can watch over and over again to help you well understand the various subjects. There are only a few Tuition Centres across the globe that provide these two options at the same time. Here in Ghana, one of such Tuition Centres is Premium Education Hub.
The decision you make in relation this particular point has a great effect or if you want consequences on you pass rate. As such, I recommend you think about this carefully before making any decision.
- Learning Psychology:
My friend, the journey of becoming a Chartered Accountant is not luxurious, it’s fancy, it’s not easy. Let me be really frank with you here, it’s very challenging. But why is that so? It is because, you are engaged or involved in a lot of things at the same time. You may be working, have a family, children, looking at your parents, running your business or doing other personal things. Along with all these, you want to upgrade yourself and become a Business Leader; this means you have to work each day of your life managing the most important ASSET you have as a human being called your MIND.
Your MIND is the greatest asset you have as an individual. Until you learn to Consciously Manage You Mind, discipline yourself and stay focus, you will give up on this journey and never become a Chartered Accountant.
I have heard and met people (and you know you also have) who took ten (10) to become Business Leaders, others took three (5) years while some others took between three to five years to become Chartered Accountants.
On the other hand, I have meet people who also have failed some subjects over four times and felt like giving up on their dreams but still encouraged themselves and became Chartered Accountants through all the changing scenes.
This is the big question, WHAT KEPT THESE PEOPLE GOING?
The answer is simple; THEY HAD A LASER – BEAM FOCUS!!!! They have decided to become successful and nothing will ever stop them. Whether they fail five times or whether they cannot attend lectures, they still kept moving until finally they achieved their desire.
That’s what I call MIND MANAGEMENT. It is being focused on something that you are ready to do everything legitimately possible to enable you achieve.
WHY PEOPLE FAIL PROFESSIONAL EXAMINATION
- Preparation- Self – management, Self – discipline & Challenges.
- Mindset- “pass mark is 50%…with little effort, I can pass….”.
- Complacency- because you have the mindset of 50% pass mark in your mind, you even don’t dare to challenge yourself studying or even in the Examination hall to answer all the questions. Self – satisfaction!!!
- Psychology: how you see Professional Examination, how to manage your EMOTIONS, FEELING, CHALLENGES & THE EXAMINATION. – when you feel overwhelmed with life, your family, work schedules and others, then you aren’t in the right framework of mind to study and pass the exams.
- Learning / Studying style: What is your STYLE? What works for you? How do you absorb, remember, and retain information? This is KEY if you are going to become a Chartered Accountant.