A New Challenge

I've given myself a new challenge.

For the past 18 years or so, I've been a bookkeeper.  I've never had any ambition whatsoever to become an accountant of any kind.  I was always content to just take care of the books in a meticulous way at whatever company I worked for.

Then Mr. Smith and I moved to Sydney.

I found finding a similar position quite challenging.  Where in the states, most small companies would employ a bookkeeper for every day tasks and bring in an accountant or team of accountants to take care of more detailed transactions quarterly and annually, they don't do that here.

I've been told that about 10 years ago, Sydney offered education as either an accountant or a chef (and perhaps one other profession that I can't recall at the moment) to neighboring countries.  At the time, I suppose Australia had a shortage of people in those professions.

Fast forward to today and there are thousands of accountants out there looking for work.  They are in the position of having to take work starting at a lower salary than they could perhaps earn outside of Australia due to all the competition for positions.  And why should a company just hire someone trained to do bookkeeping when they can get an accountant for the same price?

Well, I did find a job when I came to Sydney.  I was lucky enough to find one that I actually like and I really like the people that I work with.  It's a very diverse group!

But for some reason, it's started to bother me more that I'm the one with the least knowledge about all we are doing and I've been doing it longer than most of my team.  Stuff like reporting and what all that means.  What do you look at the balance sheet for?  Why would it be more beneficial to see the profit and loss statement?  What information is found on those reports?  How are things done differently in Australia to how I know them in America?

So I spoke with Mr. Smith about going to TAFE, and more specifically studying using OTEN.

As he is the most supportive man I know, he agreed without hesitation that if this was something I wanted to do, then I should do it.  No matter that in my opinion it costs a fortune.  Thankfully, we can write off the expense on our Australian taxes, but it's still quite an expense nonetheless.

Thus, at the ripe old age of 40, I'll soon be embarking on a journey that will *hopefully* end in my earning a diploma in Accounting.