O Accounting, My Old Nemesis…

You see during my university days; I was not the most serious student… far from it even. In fact, I was committed to doing the absolute bare minimum to progress through each stage of my degree, because I had a terrible attitude towards work at the time. But even though all I wanted to do was play video games, I was able to pass all my subjects at the first time of asking by virtue of my basic intelligence. All except… accounting.

Accounting to me has always felt like a foreign language that I never had an interest in understanding. It has never seemed straightforward, and I have always looked at it as a subject I would rather just leave alone. The embarrassment I felt from having to re-sit a course in university caused me to have a strong disdain for accounting. Yet here I am, doing my MBA, and the subject here is called Corporate Financial Accounting. Ironic. Now, I must swallow my pride and learn to like Accounting. Understand it. Think about who, what, when, where, why and how it does what it does. I must learn to be an Accountant, at least on a most basic level. My heart shatters… or perhaps I am being a bit dramatic. Who knows?

I must commend my two accounting lecturers so far for articulating the subject in an engaging manner. However, a good friend of mine once told me that Accounting is easy when you are discussing theory and referring to the terminologies of it all. But once the practice starts and you are asked the prepare the very things that look so innocent in theory, that is when it becomes a different ball game. I have made it my personal mission to ensure such a moment does not catch me by surprise. Until then, I will take comfort in the fact that at least this time, there is an active interest (borne out of my desire to do well in this MBA program) in understanding the subject of accounting and all its associated concepts and assumptions.

The first thing I want to do is learn how to read a financial statement. If I can pick up an income statement or balance sheet for example, and I am able to truly wrap my head around what I am seeing, I think that would be a massive step forward for me personally. I also want to understand the elements of a financial statement and how they interact with each other. I work for a company that reconciles its business model with its cost structure on a regular basis. So, I believe I can improve the quality of my contribution to the business by having a perspective that is empowered by a knowledge and appreciation of Corporate Financial Accounting. Judging by my first few weeks learning Corporate Financial Accounting, I want to believe I am capable of so much more than just understanding it on the most basic level if I can just apply myself and getting into the flow of how the theory ties into the practice.

Perhaps Accounting and I can be friends after all.

#MMBA5