Careers insights

I, like most HR professionals, have a natural interest in human behaviour and observing awkward conversations is like an ice-cream on a hot summer day - amusing but doesn’t usually last very long. I am often asked by friends, family and sometimes even by strangers, how to go about asking for an increase.

Time management. What do you think of when you hear the phrase?

“A chartered accountant is not working just to add and subtract these numbers between 0 to 9, but he should feel that he is playing an important role in building the economic infrastructure of this nation” – Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi.

Trainees from RSM are often given the opportunity of going on secondment to number of countries around the world. Since I started working at RSM we have had employees travel to various cities in the USA, the UK and Australia.

After the first two weeks of induction training, heading to my first audit, I felt as if I had been thrown into the deep end.   This year was about adjusting to the audit environment and learning new skills, and by the end of that first year everything didn’t seem as overwhelming as it did at first.

RSM South Africa provides international secondment opportunities to trainees. The qualifying candidates stand to benefit from the opportunity to work abroad for 3 to 4 months, with exposure to a different auditing methodology, while exploring a different country. This was one of the many reasons why RSM South Africa was my employer of choice.

At RSM, trainee accountants are trained to interact with clients in a professional, ethical and timely manner while ensuring the client is receiving a high level of professional service.

The road to qualifying as a Chartered Accountant is not as easy as it may seem. To the public who are not in the accounting profession, they may ask themselves: “How hard can it be?” It only entails a three-year B Com degree, an honours (CTA) year, three years of training on the job and two board exams all completed over roughly a seven-year period.

“We are what we repeatedly do therefore excellence is not an act but a habit” – Aristotle

The journey from an aspiring business professional at varsity to an Audit Manager in public practice has probably been the most daunting and taxing period of my life to date. In the 4 years and 3 months between receiving my degree and being promoted to Manager, there were numerous struggles, set-backs and obstacles.