After our morning class, we had the privilege to visit Ernst and Young, one of the Big Four accounting firm. After taking economic courses in high school, I started gaining interest in accounting and have heard of this particular firm so I was thrilled to visit and speak with accountants in such a personal way. I’ve always been told and seen in TV shows that accounting is typically mundane, repetitive, and overall boring. Today, however, I realized that Ernst and Young is very determined in an open and inclusive culture that focuses primarily on the people. Not just to their clients, but working environment was very loving and positive. Every speaker emphasized that people there were the reason they stay and love their jobs. I felt right away, when I stepped inside the conference room with a very open view of the three rivers, how positive and passionate the workers were and nothing felt dull.
I believe the tax senior accountant told us that she has clients from big-name companies such as Kraft to start up companies. This demonstrated to me that EY values entrepreneurs and supports new ideas. This was also reassured by another speaker, who spoke to us about auditing, stated that no matter how small or big the company, they will take care of them every step of the way and the procedure will not change due to the size. I thought that was very crucial and interesting that a firm as big as EY would consider taking start-ups as a client because of the risks of survival they have since they are fresh into the economy.
For me, I don’t see myself being an entrepreneur just yet because I do not have any idea of what business I could start. However, when I do have or come up with that one or more ideas, I think I would try to start my own business and take the risk. Therefore, I do, in a way, empathize with entrepreneurs because I like to try new things and take risks. All though, I don’t have the dying desire to launch a start-up just yet, but in our class, Management in Complex Environments, we are assigned to make a product, pitch it to the class and staff present/compete with the rest of the class. Because we are coming up with our own ideas by considering needs of the society, I can empathize with entrepreneurs since I have to use the business skills (PESTLE, mega trends, etc) to evaluate the strength of my ideas amongst the others.
By visiting EY, I was introduced a completely new perspective of accounting firms. The one thing I will never forget is what the consulting speaker said, “it is more important to love the people you work with than the job.” I will always keep this in mind as I go along my undiscovered career path.
