Career Assignment --CAREER PORTFOLIO REPORT

I.

Mission, Goal Setting, Information Gathering, and Self-Assessment

My personal career mission is to pass CPA exam, and gain experience from the public accounting

field and industry, use my knowledge and enthusiasm to help others.

II.
Statement of Career Goals
1. After obtaining my bachelor degree in accounting, my first step is to pass CPA examination. My
objective is to find a job in an accounting firm where I can learn a lots of new skills. I want to be a
tax accountant. This career requires hard work, and patience. I must start an entry level accountant
and prove myself.
2. In the medium term, I will be able to advance from junior accountant to senior accountant up to
manager status. An important characteristic of a tax account is to be perseverance. In this phase of
my career, I want to build a strong base of knowledge and experience. Achieving my medium term
goals will prepare me for my long term career aspirations.
3. In my long term, Id like to works as a leader of tax department in a large, well known corporation.
I will use an impressive combination of knowledge, skill and experience to lead team to work on
project as needed. Meanwhile, I will head up new financial activities and solve the different kinds
of problems for the department and company.
III. My Greatest Strength/My Greatest Weakness
My greatest strength are detail orientation and organization. I pay great attention to details and I
am very good at meeting deadline because I work in a very organized way. It is important to stay
organized so you do not miss or lose information and it also increases your efficiency. For
instance, when I worked as office assistant in China, I made the working schedule and update the
information in system every day. Meanwhile, I planed my tasks ahead of time. These skills help
me to prioritize tasks and finish them before deadline.
My greatest weakness is fear of public speaking, I am always feel nervous and less confidence
when I speak in public. I tried my best to show that I was confident in front of my audience. I use
different ways to lose speech anxiety, such as do more practices and having knowledge about the
information being presented. After several experiences, I found these ways helped me to be more
confidence in public speaking.
IV. Academic Performance Memo
My Academic performance goals for reaching success include graduating from Towson University
with a degree in Accounting, and obtain an accounting position in a good organization. My

academic performance lines up with my goals of graduating and get a job offer when I graduate.
My GPA of 3.79 is higher than the Towson University average of 3.3.Compared to other peers, I
am performing better in academic. From the Fall 2014 semester, to the Summer 2015 semester,
there has been growth in my academic performance. Fall 2014, it was my first semester in Towson
University, I ended that semester with GPA of 3.75, next I ended Spring 2015 with GPA of 3.73,
there is a tiny decrease in GPA from the semester before, but I took one more class than fall 2014,
so actually my performance didnt change. For Summer 2015 semester, I earned with GPA of 4.00,
there is 7.3% increase from the Spring 2015. The reasons for my success are my organize skills,
determination, and hard working.
V. Job Search Readiness Memo
My second job readiness inventory readiness grade sheet shows I am preparing well on job
seeking. From first job readiness sheet with grade of 41 advance to second job readiness sheet with
grade of 90. There is 119.5% increase from the first one. This signature improvement shows I am
doing much better for my job readiness performance. Compared to first one without any
knowledge and experience on job interview, my second job readiness has great improvement on
this factor. The reason for my readiness performance is I am seeking an internship position during
this semester. I am doing lots of work on job seeking. For example, my resume was edit by
experts several time, I prepared well on common interview questions and do many research of
background about company. However, I didnt get any offer after two interview, I still gain
experiences from these two company.
VI. Career Interview
Mr. Fahad Naroo CPA, CMA, who I interviewed for this report, runs a small firm with four other
accountants. During the interview, Mr.Naroo had some interesting answers about his daily work
and how much he enjoys being an accountant.
1.

Working hard and keeping enthusiastic are important

To be a CPA, it requires a lot of hard work and determination to pass the CPA exam. Although it is
stressful for Mr Naroo and his team work more than 60 hours per week during tax season. He still
keeps enthusiastic in his job and let clients are satisfied with his working. Meanwhile, as an
accountant, he is constantly reminded of his responsibilities toward his clients but also toward his
CPA license.

2.

Leadership skills are strongest to succeed in this career

Mr. Naroo runs a small firm with four other accountants, he keeps himself in good check regularly
and make sure everyone is working towards and getting tasks done. If someone makes an error in
paperwork, Mr. Naroo has to be ready to come up with an immediate solution, as a team leader. In
normal situations, everyone works individually and everyone works individually and each member
of the firm has their own list of tasks to perform. As soon as tax season is about to start, all the
members become one team and Mr. Naroo is their leader.
3.

Writing and oral presentation skills are important for an accountant.

Since Mr. Naroos firm is extremely small, there is not much importance given to presentations.
During the year, the number of presentations is quite low and so much emphasis is not given. It is
important, however, to have good writing skills to communicate with clients. It is essential for one
to know how to write good memos and reports, and be able to give powerful presentations, as
when these skills are used, it is mainly used for executive level briefings or meetings.

4. Problem solving skill is key point for interpersonal skills

Mr.Naroo enjoy solving different problems for his clients. During the tax season, Mr. Naroos
services are sometimes extended to late night appointments for clients who cant make it in during
The day, due to some genuine reasons. His clients appreciate for his help, it is also help him to
build great relation between his clients and him.
4.

Written communication is necessary for an accountant

Writing skill is very important for an accountant who prepares legal documents and has to
communicate with clients directly. If the specialization is auditing, then a lot of audit reports have
to be written with precision and clarity. In small firms, like Mr. Naroos, most of filing work is
done through software which is then printed and given to clients for their own record. Mr. Naroo
said about 10 to 15 percent of his workday is spent in writing or developing a document.

5.

They provide different services

Mr. Naroos firm provides a variety of services, which including auditing, tax, and finical
consulting. Most of their clients are small business owners. They also provide services to
individuals, who are about 20 percent of their clients.
6.

Necessary training for an accounting

Mr. Naroos earned his bachelor degree from University of Maryland Baltimore County. After his
graduating, he passed CPA exam and gained lots of training and working experience from large

company. For example, his writing skill are improved after writing many reports and memos in
larger firm.
7.

Satisfying and unsatisfying aspects of the career

Mr. Naroos enthusiasm towards accounting was such a positive feeling for me. He like to deal
with different clients and solve difficult issue for them. However, He also stressed about time
constraints when workload is immense. During the tax season, it feels like his entire team and him
live in the office and just go home to freshen up. Its very hard to balance his family and work in
this situation.

8.

Keeping professional when face ethical challenges

Mr. Naroo makes sure he does not forget his business ethics when dealing with clients. There are
some people who are willing to pay more to play with the numbers in order to get more benefits
from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). There are a lot of small businesses that offer Mr. Naroo
gifts, which he politely refuses to accept, to show better numbers on their IRS forms, so they avoid
paying taxes to the IRS. Mr. Naroos strict advice is to never forget my responsibility towards my
career and my license, as offers made by clients can sometimes be too good to refuse.
9.

Getting a CPA requires lots of work

Getting a CPA is serious commitment and a lot of hard work. It is only possible to pass the CPA
exam if one is determined to be an accountant and loves the subject. Mr. Naroo says if I put in all
the extra work required in the beginning, I can enjoy the fruits of my labor in the years to come.

VII. WRITE AN ACTION PLAN

1.

Improving writing skills

Writing is an important skills for business student. Good writing skills are a key asset for your
career. I want to improve my writing skills especially by avoiding errors in lower order concerns,
which could make a document look extremely unprofessional. Although I had very good
researched information and logically thinking, the message was conveyed in a very clear manner
and all assignment-specific questions were answered.
As a non-native speaker of English, I am always make mistake on grammar. Grammatical errors
make me look bad and hurts my effectiveness as a writer. The good way to eliminate the
grammatical errors is understanding the five most common grammatical errors such as lack of
subject, misplaced modifiers and comma splice. When you know which errors to look for, it's
easier to act as your own editor. Meanwhile, I will choose to use proper MLA or APA citation

format on research paper which will make my paper more credible and professional. In order to
improve my write skills, I should take more time to write as well as I can, proofread and edit my
work thoroughly, and ensure that the piece flows logically from one point to the next. The way I
will evaluate my plan by giving my paper to my friend or writing center to proof. If they give me
2.

positive feedback, my writing is improved.

Develop social skills
Social skill is key component in soft skill for college students. I found it I am an awkward person
at social events because I am shy. I know it will be impact my social life and my career. Improving
social skills can open doors to new friendships and new career opportunities. I would like spend as
much time as I can practicing my social skills.
The first step for developing this skill is read books about social skills. There are many books on
the market such as How to Win Friends and Influence People that can help me learn specific
social skills. I will read this book during the following winter break. After reading books, I need to
practice them through conversations and social events. I will behave like a more social creature,
even if I dont feel like it. I will try my best to take with new people even I am feeling nervous
about it. The small tip for me to improve social skill is using non-verbal communication. I will pay
more attention to body language, gestures, voice projection, and eye contact. Try to choose right

word, and appear relaxed to social event.

3. Improve Interview Skills
The interview skill is the most important skill for job seeking, because the recruiter will make a
decision based on very short time communication. I found that I am not yet get an offer owing to
my lack of interview skill.
In order to improve my interview skills, I will prepared 20 commonly asked job interview
questions and write down all of answers. These questions demonstrate my sincere interest in the
opportunity and that I have prepared for the interview. If I prepared well on these common
questions, it will eliminate my nervous during interview. Meanwhile, I will watch some video
about interview skill for YouTube.
Additionally, I will spend more time on checking company background. Collecting more
information as possible as I can via company website and Yahoo, it will help me to know how
company performance is and what company culture is. Moreover, Signing up a mock interview on
career center is a good way to improve your interview skills. From this practice, the specialists
from career center or employee will give me professional advises.
The way I will evaluate the plan is whether I get an offer in next semester. If I get an offer from
employee, it demonstrate my interview skill is improved.

VIII. Three Internship list

1.Deloitte & Touche LLP
The first company I would like to intern at is Deloitte & Touche LLP. Deloitte is one of the leading
accounting firm in the World, Interning at Deloitte would help me to acquire lots of useful
experience in the field. Deloitte internship programs including Discovery Internship, Internal
Services Internship, Client Service Internship, and Global Internship. The Client Service Internship
open to Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors. This internship lasts eight to ten weeks during the
summer or typically lasts up to a semester during the school year. Interns would join one of their
business functions (Advisory, Audit, Consulting, Tax), and work with client service teams on
business problems. The duties and responsibilities of the intern is very similar to full time
employee which provide powerful business solutions to some of the worlds most well-known and
respected companies, including more than 75 percent of the Fortune 100. The successful internship
is may result in full-time offer.
2.Grant Thornton
Beside Deloitte & Touche LLP, another firm that could provide me with excellent internship
opportunity is Grant Thornton. As one of famous public firms, Grant Thornton is growing rapidly
during these several years. One of the successful Strategies is that the company builds a healthy,
high-performance culture where people feel valued, respected and encouraged to contribute all
their unique abilities. Two months ago, I got an interview opportunity with tax internship position
by Grant Thornton. From entry level accounts to Partners, all of them are impressive to me. They
shows great enthusiasm to job seekers. Although I didnt get an offer finally, I am still gain some
amazing experience and very interested to work in Grant Thornton. The company provides
Internships in the Audit, Tax and Advisory practices to students. The duties and responsibilities of
the intern is providing technical knowledge, business judgment, consistency and an unwavering
commitment to clients.
3.Charchalis & Company, P.A.
Beside these two of leading accounting firms, some small size accounting firms such as Charchalis
& Company, P.A. also provide internship position to Towson students. Charchalis & Company,
P.A. is a multi-dimensional regional accounting firm serving the Baltimore and Washington area.
They specializes in providing comprehensive tax, accounting and consulting services for
individuals, professionals and small to medium size businesses. For the accounting internship
position, the duties and responsibilities focus on four areas: first, Data Input, Financial Statement
preparation utilizing QuickBooks software. Second, Individual and Corporate income tax input

utilizing Proseries tax software. Third, quarterly payroll report preparation. Fourth, Client
communication. The internship position not only would provide me a perfect opportunity to
enhance my knowledge about accounting but also to improve my communication skill with Client.
IX.Three events
Event 1: Towson University Society of Accountancy (TUSA)
TUSA is one of Towson University accounting club. It helps accounting students develop and hone
business skills for transitions into the workforce. Two representatives are from Howard County
Public School System speak in this event on November, 8 th. They are focus on Auditing Filed and
shared some work experience in Public School System. In order to introduce Auditing in detail,
they gave us some scenarios about school funding, and explain each scenario with guideline. This
event helps me to understand the some knowledge about Auditing. Based on this experience, I
think I can prepared better in Auditing class in next semesters.
Event 2: National Association of Black Accountants (NABA)
NABA is another accounting club at Towson University. It bring together accountants, finance and
business related professionals and students who have similar interests and ideals. On October 19 th,
Mr. Ayo Abraham who come from Ayo Abraham & Associates Certified Public Accountants LLC
speaking in this event. Mr. Abrabam came to the United States from Africa after him graduating
from a college in his home country. During this event, Mr. Abranbam tell his story about how does
his American Dream come true. He let me know how he worked hard and study hard in United
States. Additionally, he also share his experience about CPA exam and gave some tips and
guideline about CPA exam. Mr. Abranbam is a successful accountant, his story encourages me
because I have very similar background with him. I want to learn from Mr. Abranbam and to be a
successful accountant as him.
Event 3: Employee mock interview at career center
I participated in employee mock interview which host by career center on October, 16 th. My
employee interviewer Ms. Katrina Szymanski who from New Day USA. As same as real work
interview, I dressed business casual and wore black pumps. The length of employee mock
interview is 30 minutes. During this interview, Ms. Szymanski shared some informations about her
company, then she asked me some common questions such as where do you see yourself in five
years. Due to I prepared these questions ahead, I did well in that interview. After finish interview,
Ms. Szymanski gave me positive feedback and explain the reason to me. From this event, I gain
some interview experience which will help me to get a job.