I never expected that I will be a certified accountant. For once, everyone thought that I will be a priest. I thought I had the "calling." I even tried it out and took the series of exams at the seminary. I passed the written exams, then the orals but I failed the last, wherein I stayed at the seminary for three days and two nights and get the feel of how to live in isolation from the outside world. I don’t know what I did inside that I failed, but maybe the fathers just thought that priesthood is not for me.
I attended a regular highschool, still thinking that I will be a priest. Then, graduation came. Everyone was expecting that I’ll pursue my "calling." But to their surprise, I told them that I don’t feel like being celibate for the rest of my life. I wanted to have my own family. Besides, there are other ways to glorify God.
So, the "calling" has fled. New ideas came to my mind, new dreams I wanted to puruse. At the onset, I wanted to be an Engineer or an Architect or an Interior Designer or a Fine Arts graduate or an Educator. But, Accountancy never crossed my mind. Even I, was surprised that I entered such course. I was elated when I endured a dozen of major accounting subjects after eight painstaking semesters! To top that all, I even passed the Board Exams! I don’t know if that was just pure luck or really the Hands of God that made it all possible. But, I was really proud and thankful.
I then joined one of the country’s largest accounting and consultancy firm — PricewaterhouseCoopers. But I am not your ordinary auditor, I never tested the balances, I never performed substantive testing, I never got the chance to use my calculator again for the voluminous computations, I never really applied the GAAP’s and the GAAS’s, I never practiced what I learned from college. That is because, I became part of the firm’s IT Audit Group.
The first six months of my stay was very trying. I wanted to pass my resignation letter before I even got my regularization. But I told myself, maybe I’m still adjusting, maybe I am not yet used to testing controls in a computerized environment for a financial services company, since college was more on numbers, more on manufacturing…. Blah blah blah… in other words, I stayed.
I celebrated my first anniversary in the firm… Yey! I survived! At that point, I was at the crossroads again… I needed to decide whether to stay or not. I stayed, but I don’t know if my reason was reasonable. I stayed because I wanted to experience how it feels to receive my profit share. Profit share is the excess of the firms’ earnings distributed to all employees of the firm, after the partner’s shares are already satisfied.
Somehow, receiving my PS (short for profit share) boosted my morale. But that was not very long. My performance, I think, dwindled. I was not the same Christian who gave quality outputs. I wanted to resign December of that year. But a news came to my knowledge. My manager informed me that I will be one of the candidates for promotion as senior associate. Wow!!! Talk about luck!!! I don’t know if this is part of His Grand Design, or is it just me not reading the right signs. I bet you already know what happened. Yes, I stayed.
I was promoted last July. More pay = More responsibility + more work. But I never complained. I enjoyed my new role. But again, the enthusiasm never lasted long. My performance is starting to deteriorate (I think). I am pressured, I am stressed. In fact, my scalp is already flaking and I look 10 years older than my real age!!! Hwwaaa!!!
I don’t know what will happen next. I don’t know if there’s still something that will make me stay. For now, entries in my book of life is already entered, but for sure, adjustments will be made later on to reflect complete and accurate results of the accounting of my life.
