An Accountant's Journey - Ankur Chawla

Do you want to become an accountant? Today on the My Career Shop Podcast, I am joined by Ankur Chawla, an Accountant who worked with multiple accounting firms and upon obtaining over a decade of experience, built his own firm. Ankur has a diverse practice with experience in the audit, tax, compliance and advisory fields. In this episode, we will discuss his journey from a high school student to building a successful accounting practice, life at a firm, how to become an accountant in the province of Ontario, the life of an accountant during different phases of the profession, the amount of stress and work life balance in the accounting profession, the type of characteristics you need to succeed as an Accountant, pros and cons about the profession and much more.

Guest Information
Ankur Chawla
AC & Partners
https://www.acandpartners.ca

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction
• 1:25 Ankur's Journey
• 3:55 Steps to becoming a CPA in Ontario
• 9:44 Prerequisites to sit for CPA exams
• 10:00 Different exams, tips & skills needed for exams
• 17:26 Exams to pass to become a CPA as of 2023
• 21:14 30 months of experience required (Traditional route vs Experience Verification route)
• 22:58 Summary of steps to become a CPA in Ontario
• 26:50 Why some people fail the exams
• 29:37 Life after getting accounting license
• 32:43 Different areas of practice within public Accounting
• 34:04 What does a junior Accountant do in the audit field
• 35:34 What is an audit?
• 41:01 Amount of hours an Accountant works
• 43:43 Work life balance (Pt 1)
• 46:03 What does a Tax Accountant do?
• 50:50 What is a billable hour?
• 56:12 Work life balance (Pt 2)
• 58:22 What does compliance and advisory work entail?
• 59:55 Is the life of an Accountant stressful?
• 1:02:28 Skills needed to succeed
• 1:07:43 Individuals with these characteristics struggle
• 1:09:38 Is the job redundant?
• 1:15:01 Things Ankur dislikes about the profession
• 1:18:33 AC & Partners
• 1:19:20 Operating a firm vs being a partner at a firm
• 1:22:50 How much does an Accountant earn?
• 1:25:41 How long does it take to become a partner?
• 1:29:28 How much debt do you incur to become an Accountant?
• 1:30:47 Accounting roles outside of public Accounting