San Antonio CPA Society held its annual Career Night Sept 26 this falll. This is a report on the event from A & M San Antonio student Ed Richter. Thanks for submitting Ed.

Tuesday Oct 21, 2014

The San Antonio CPA Society Fall Accounting Careers Workshop was truly a positive experience and I would recommend this event to all serious Accounting students. Upon arrival, I noticed representatives from firms BKD, ATKG, Weaver, and Ridout Barrett available to answer questions. The majority of the firms were even accepting resumes and were eager to speak about the types of candidates they were seeking. Additionally, employers were discussing internship dates and deadlines and were even discussing their own personal internship experience. As the networking hour came to an end students helped themselves to small talk, beverages, and appetizers. The Emcee of the event Sandra Welch, Ph.D., CPA was kindly guiding everyone into the larger room to start the Q & A panel interview.

The panelists from this event spoke about their own individual career paths along with the challenges and success they have experienced along the way. This event is made to guide individuals in the right direction and I personally benefited from learning about each panelists journey in becoming a CPA. Additionally, if you strive to become a CPA learning from others with various backgrounds can give you a great starting point on formulating a solid game plan.  On the corporate side, Bethany Eggleston CPA spoke regarding her experience working for Tesoro Corporation. Her strategy for continuous learning within her organization was to invite strangers from other departments to coffee or lunch and to learn about their roles. She felt this was essential in order to fully comprehend the inner workings of such a large organization. Heath Grona, CPA, and Audit Manager at KPMG LLP was a manager in the Restaurant Industry for many years until he chose to pursue Accounting as a career. Mr. Grona along with the other panelists stressed very heavily that passing the CPA exam was critical for upward mobility within their organizations. The other two panelists were Hayley Cornelius, CPA, Tax Senior, ATKG and Jose Garcia, CPA, Financial Reporting Accountant for The University of Incarnate Word.

This evening provided everyone the chance to win various prizes. The first was a one year membership to SACPA at no cost. This gives everyone the ability to go to networking events and also you can view available positions and post your resume on their website. Furthermore, different prizes were raffled off by local CPA firms along with 2 full Becker CPA review courses at half-price. Lastly, if you are interested in Accounting this a must attend event. If you come prepared and ask the right questions you will learn what firms or corporations provide the best culture and environment for you. As a result, the conversations and information received from actively participating can be your biggest ally during the interview process. I walked away from this event with a deeper understanding of what it takes to become a CPA and it helped solidify my drive to become a future CPA.

Sincerely,

Edward Richter

Texas A & M University San Antonio Accounting Student

Oct 21, 2014