Third in our ongoing series of profiles of professional accountants
By Laura Roberts and J. K. Radomski
IFRS EXPERT: Shikha Gandhi
CA – Senior Manager
Deloitte
ABOUT ME: I graduated with a Master of Accounting degree from the University of Waterloo in 2004. I enjoyed my time there. The city has a good vibe and is very entrepreneurial, and I could not have gotten a better education elsewhere. The program focused a lot on real life cases that emphasized the technical and strategic aspects of accounting. They also offered a number of other interesting classes such as psychology, communication and speech writing that ultimately make you a better professional.
The program offers a number of co-op opportunities as well. I started my internship with Deloitte as a second-year student. While I received a week of training to help work on audits during the very busy January to March audit season, everything else was very hands-on and they were great at nurturing my professional growth by answering all of my questions.
I started my full-time career with Deloitte in October 2004, just after graduation.
HOW I DO IT: My career began in the firm’s technology and telecommunications group where I continued the auditing work I was introduced to during my co-op. I then accepted a six-month secondment to Deloitte’s offices in Australia where I worked on wineries and shipping companies; industries I would not have had exposure to in Ontario. I also taught an introduction to business in North America course for a semester at the University of Waterloo when I returned home.
Today, I work for the firm’s Global IFRS practice where we help public companies comply with IFRS by transitioning their Canadian GAAP financial statements to this new standard. These International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are currently being used in over 100 countries, and some 4,500 public companies in Canada are making the switch to improve and standardize accounting practices worldwide. As such, all balance sheets need to comply with these accounting rules by December 31, 2011, so this a very important transition period.
I’ve been assigned with writing position papers (essays on accounting policies that are up to 50 pages long) for our clients so their auditors can make sure the accounting policies they are choosing comply with IFRS. Each paper looks at how financial statements are currently compiled, and talks about what will be different under IFRS, as this switch will change how some of those numbers are reported.
MY ADVICE: The only person who can take your career places is you. Take the initiative and ask for the opportunity to work on something challenging or different.
No one is going to give it to you. You have to ask and the worst thing that someone can tell you is that you are not ready yet. But if you take your career where you want it to go, you just might find yourself with new responsibilities or experiencing a six-month work term in Australia like I did.
