My Priceless Opportunity

While I’m native to a central African country, I’m currently pursuing my MBA in accounting and finance in the USA.  After my undergraduate studies in central Africa, I became a member of the distinguished Association of Certified Chartered Accountants AACA (the UK’s CPA equivalent).  Since then, I have worked over 5 years at several CPA firms.

Growing up, my father always wanted me to be a medical doctor, he believed it was the path to success. To achieve that, I focused my middle school studies towards science courses. Although I did well on all subjects science related (such as biology, chemistry, and physics), shortly after I realized I did not have the passion to become a doctor – my call instead was in crunching numbers.  It took some effort, but eventually I was able to convince my parents and to follow my dream of becoming an Accountant.  I have since then, had their full support and turned my dream into a reality! Not only has my career as an Accountant been a great achievement for my family and I, joining a CPA firm like CJBS, has been one of the best choices I have made.  It has given me the opportunity to continue to grow by learning new skills every day, be it technical or soft skills, as well as find happiness and joy in achieving and living my dream!

Over the last 12 months, I have been part of the CJBS family as a staff accountant. I can say that through this experience, my personal and professional development has increased tremendously due to various opportunities I have experienced thus far. In addition to the smooth induction period and learning new programs, CJBS stood out in their desire to give each member more responsibility and support. To achieve that, we have gone through countless hours of training, seminars, and most importantly, in my opinion, one-to-one discussions with managers and partners. The open door policy at CJBS is just so incredible; there is always someone to help no matter the situation and time. He/she won’t just give you a short answer to your question and problem, but will instead make sure that you know and understand the principle behind that regulation. As a result, I leave every discussion feeling more empowered and eager to come back and secure some new knowledge.

Early in 2020, the world was hit by a terrible pandemic (COVID-19) that forced everyone to shelter at home for quite a long period of time to reduce as much as possible the spread of the virus and help flatten the curve of infection. Working from home now became the “new norm”, and this required more discipline to deliver an excellent service to our clients at CJBS. Moving from face-to-face meetings we now had to rely on technology with video chat like Zoom and Microsoft Teams.

As we approach the end of this unprecedented moment in our history, I have grown in many aspects of my life, whether it was from the priceless opportunity to appreciate and spend more time with a loved one, or in developing professionally. Together, we experienced greater teamwork and developed greater professional relationships because we knew we were in this together, and through this, it helped us maintain our goal of being an excellent resource for our clients!

Stay safe and sane!

Merveille Tiani