This is the third installment in a series of Alumni Q&A’s that give students insight into the potential outcomes of the majors offered through the university’s Bachelor of Business Administration degree. I interviewed a recent UFV grad who is now in their respective field, discussing studies and their leap into the job market, and what sort of things they experienced. This week I spoke with Matt Stam, a CPA at Langbroek, Louwerse & Thiessen LLP, an accounting firm in Chilliwack. Matt graduated from UFV with a Bachelor of Business Administration with a major in accounting in 2014.
What pushed you toward the field of accounting?
Mainly, just took the courses and I was good at it. I also got a job in accounting before anywhere else. I stuck with it and it worked.
Why do you think you were good at accounting?
It takes a certain mentality, more of a logic and problem-solving type. Those are the skills you need to do well, and those are the things I do well.
Tell me about your experience with finding a job after graduation.
I actually got my current job while I was finishing up half-way through my third year at UFV. I started as a seasonal worker, and got hired on full-time after that. The job market for accountants is pretty good. Lots of firms are hiring, especially local firms in Abbotsford and Chilliwack, there are always opportunities there. I think with the local firms, UFV credentials are respected. They know that the students are good quality, with a good hands-on training, and can usually step into the job comfortably and quickly.
How do you balance the pursuit of the CPA (Chartered Professional Accountant) designation with working?
The UFV degree in accounting sets you up so you can start the CPA essentially the September after you graduate. The CPA program is structured in a way that assumes you are going to be working full-time when you are in the program. I think you actually have to work a minimum of 32 hours a week just to be in the program. It is mostly based on online stuff that you can do during evenings and weekends, with few weekend workshops, so it works well if all you want to be doing is school and work for a few years.
After you became an accountant, what are some things you expected and didn’t expect when it came to the job?
I was kind of naive going into my job I think. Not only had I never worked as an accountant before, but I also never had my own accountant before. So you kind of expect that it’s numbers primarily, and you just go and do your work and everybody leaves you alone. I’m not going to say I was looking forward to that, but I was expecting it. What I didn’t anticipate was the amount of people skills you need to have, the amount of interaction you have to do with clients and staff members, and how you deal with the day-to-day interactions. You end up dealing with a lot of the other degrees. For example, working with clients and customer service, which is kind of like marketing to some extent. You also do some human resources related things, and end up wearing many hats, especially with a medium-sized firm with lots of small to medium businesses. You end up being a business advisor to a lot of clients as well, where they ask you questions that are not necessarily accounting related because you are knowledgeable about business and have a business degree. In that way, you can actually help them with other aspects of their companies as well.
Why should a student pursue accounting?
I think accounting is underrated and seen as the boring or uninteresting job. But it’s one where there are constantly new things to push the limits of your capabilities. You will get so much better as you are able to add more value to organizations and clients. There is no person in accounting, whether they have been doing it for two years or 20 years, who has reached the pinnacle of everything they can do. You’re always improving and pushing yourself, and I like that appeal of constant improvement.
