On My Way to Becoming a CA – CKE, Busy Season and Everything in Between

It has been a while since you have heard from me! Well guess what? There has been a lot going on in my life as an Associate at PwC! From writing the CKE to rolling-off my first client this busy season, I have had an amazing month thus far! Read on to hear about what the CKE, busy season and “everything in between” is like for an Associate like myself at PwC! 

The Core Knowledge Exam (CKE) – An exam where you cannot cram!

After seventeen long days and sleepless nights of worrying, stressing and wondering if I passed or not, myself and a thousand other New Associates and CKE writers finally found the answer to the essential question.

This past Friday, at 10am, the results were released online. From 9:00-9:30am, I was very anxious. From 9:30-9:50am, I was pacing back and forth in the client’s office as I could not think of anything besides the CKE results. From 9:50-9:59am, I am pretty sure I skipped a few dozen heartbeats. From 9:59:00-9:59:59 am, I was pressing “F5” frantically as if my life depended on it. At exactly 10:00am, I sprung up off my seat and hugged the other New Associate sitting next to me as we both passed the CKE! What a relief!

What does it take to pass the CKE? Hard work? Yes. Dedication? Yes. Confidence? Yes. Besides these three reasons, there is one other important factor behind passing the CKE. Support. Support from not only your parents, family and friends, but also from your firm. Thankfully, I had PwC supporting me all the way. From the intense and rewarding CKE preparation program to my co-workers’ support, PwC was there every step of the way. My inbox was flooded with Seniors, Managers, Senior Managers and Partners congratulating me! That is true support and I hope you get to experience it one day here at PwC if you have not already.

My First Busy Season as an Associate – Late night dinners and endless relationships

I am not going to lie or sugar coat it as I believe in keeping my blog posts honest. Busy season is challenging. There have been days where I worked for eleven hours and there have been other days where I have worked for eight. But you know what is amazing about the experience thus far? Busy season has only just begun, but I have probably learned more in the past month than in the last two years of university! All of the credit goes to an amazing team (both PwC and the client). From the Accounts Payable Supervisor of my first busy season client to the Senior Manager of the PwC audit team, I had a blast working for both sides.

Remember how I mentioned that I learned more this past month than in the last two years of university? It is not only knowledge of accounting and auditing that I picked up, but it was also knowledge of the client and about the people working at my first busy season client. My time at the client flew by even though I was working on average ten hours a day. The secret behind this was because of the relationships that I had built with the client over the past couple of weeks. This is what I love about my job. I not only get to be on amazing PwC audit teams as I move from one client to another, but I also get to build strong relationships with my clients and learn about their business practices and work life.

You know what the best part is? My clients are all diverse. They range from construction to energy to hospitals to NPOs and to a world renowned technology company. No two weeks this busy season will be the same for me! Bring it on!

“Everything in between” – Life besides Auditing

You are probably thinking right now, “this guy has no life outside of work since he is working so much.” Not at all! There has been so much going on besides auditing and studying for the CKE. Thanks to my flexible Seniors and a great work-life balance program at PwC, I have been taking part in various activities outside of my workplace that is keeping me on my toes. All these activities revolve around what I love doing most: representing PwC at various speaking engagements and inspiring/motivating students to pursue their dreams and ambitions in life.

I had the immense pleasure of returning back to McMaster University as the Keynote Speaker at DeGroote Accounting Association’s Alumni Night. I was honoured to share my experience thus far at PwC as an Associate and Recruitment Blogger to university students, past McMaster graduates and retired McMaster MBA professionals. I was also invited to Brock University’s conference titled “How to Get a Job in Accounting” where I was a panelist amongst other Big 4 accounting firm Partners and Managers. I had the wonderful opportunity to share my personal set of tips and tricks to help Brock students land a job at their dream accounting firm! But what I am excited most about is returning as a Judge at McMaster’s annual accounting case competition, Fast Pace to the Case 2012 as I was the co-chair for this competition in my senior year of university!

 

Even though recruiting season is nine months away, I would highly suggest you to apply to various accounting case competitions that are currently being held on various campuses across the GTA! Recruiters and representatives from accounting firms will always be present as judges at these case competitions. So take advantage of this opportunity to showcase your knowledge, presentation and interpersonal skills! For those of you attending McMaster’s accounting case competition on the 4^th of February, see you all there!

Now that you are up-to-date with my life, write a comment or two about what you have been up to below! I would love to hear what you have been up to, whether you too are an auditor like me or a student craving to land a job at a firm like PwC! If you fall in the latter category, keep up the hard work and understand that nothing comes easy.

Victor Klam once said, “even if you fall on your face, you’re still moving forward!”

 

Comments

[Muzna]

Congrats on the CKE, Fahad!!! I wish you all the success with attaining the CA designation :)

[Fahad]

Thank you very much Muzna! It is still a long ways to go but with everyones support and ecouragement, I have no doubt time will fly by and it will all work out!

I hope everything with you is going well!

Good luck and keep in touch!

[Misbah Chattah]

Hi fahad, I must say you are an energy pill for the new comers like me, who are just done with their studies and now striving hard to get into practical life....although I am not from your field (accounting) as I have done MSc management but I believe if you keep inspiring and giving us some good tips then all people like me will benefit a lot....Congrats for your achievements and hopefully you will guide in the future too....

[Sadaf Farooq]

Hey Fahad!

Congrats on passing the CKE!I wanted to leave a comment for you and thank you for your posts regarding the recruitment process. I was reading them as I was going through recruitment last year and they definitely helped me. I am an excited T1 at PwC and couldn't be happier with my decision.

Hope you are having a good busy season:)

[Fahad]

Hello Misbah and Sadaf!

It is great to hear positive feedback from people like you! I am so happy to hear that my tips/advice helps out and makes a difference. Please feel free to keep in touch with me and stay tuned to my blog posts! I will for sure continue writing as many inspiring/helping blog posts in the future!

I wish you both the very best of success in life!

(Sadaf, welcome to the family)!