Opening new doors and career pathways
For Chun Siang, a seasoned forensic accountant, what drew him to the CPA Program from CPA Australia was a module called Digital Finance. He first encountered CPA Australia, a professional global accounting body, while visiting career fairs as a university student, all the way back in 2013. "It was about the future of the corporate world, as I understood it," he says, "where emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning are deployed for a multitude of functions." Sensing that it was an opportunity to enhance his skillsets as an accountant, and to also build more credibility and trust among his clients, Chun Siang took the leap and enrolled in the CPA Program in late 2020. His efforts would eventually pay off, as the CPA qualification would open him up to new opportunities for a promotion at work as well as new client business opportunities. "CA and CPA are common qualifications, and most countries have their own local programmes, but there are only a few globally recognised ones, including the one from CPA Australia," he explained. "This was an important qualification to get because I wanted to climb the career ladder and to also stand out from the crowd in a professional sense." Easier said than done, of course. It wasn't easy for Chun Siang to juggle full-time work and studying for the CPA Program. Gunning for the qualification meant that he had to make a few sacrifices and more diligently set aside his time accordingly. "I had to sacrifice most of my weekends in order to set time aside to concentrate and prepare for my exams," he said. "My wife was very supportive of my study plan and we would have to reduced the frequency of our travel plan to cater for my exam." He spent most of his time diving into materials, which included video lectures, study guides, and digital textbooks provided by CPA Australia. Thanks to the extensive amount of resources readily available to him at all times, Chun Siang eventually graduated with high distinctions, and attributes his career growth with attaining this qualification. "The CPA Program helps you to demonstrate a high level of competency in terms of technical expertise, which is very useful for advancing your career in finance," he said.
It was the same story for Coco, an investment analyst, who had been seeking opportunities to expand her professional knowledge in the industry. Having started out with a genuine interest in personal finance and investing, she soon developed a natural affinity for analysing company performance after embarking on an employee share purchase scheme. Following this, she started to veer towards wealth management, and enrolled in the CPA Program in hopes of working towards a career switch.
Coco's determination knew no bounds. She would set aside two hours every morning to study and found what she learnt to be very practical and relevant to her line of work and interests. She spent three years hard at work, and eventually attained her new professional CPA qualification in 2018. “I really enjoyed the study structure of the CPA Program,” she said. “I had the flexibility to choose electives I was genuinely interested in, and ultimately went for financial risk management and advanced taxation.”
On why she was so eager to complete the Program, Coco said, "It was important for me to get the CPA qualification on my resume because it's an evidence that I have solid accounting skills. Accounting is the backbone of the financial market. Having the CPA qualification also greatly helped my job search in Singapore, since I had very little connections here, and I was new to the wealth management industry."
Becoming a member of CPA Australia, thankfully, resolved some of Coco's problems with establishing a professional network of contacts and industry peers.
“There were webinars and in-person events for members of CPA Australia that I really benefited from,” Coco said. “I met lots of people and got the opportunity to build up my network through CPA Australia, and it ultimately helped in my move to Singapore after I attained the qualification. I do think I was rather lucky, since the career switch was so smooth even though I switched both industries and the place that I live in.”
