Guys, I’m back! Wow. It’s been quite the year. I almost don’t know where to begin.

Basically, I have had the ambition to become a CPA since I was 17. That was over 8 years ago! And I have taken many, many steps throughout those years to get where I am today, but I did it. Doesn’t it feel good to go for your dreams? I thought it might be fun to go through this journey chronologically.

2005

I’m in 5th grade and learning fractions, my teacher asks me to come to the front of the classroom to help explain the subject to the class, and I love it. It’s funny how life works. One of the most important things adults can do for a child is help them realize their strengths, and my 5th grade teacher did that for me! I have loved math ever since.

2013

I was getting one-hundred percent on high school math tests (trig, pre-calc, stats) and knew I needed to go into a field that involved numbers (I always knew that). I took an accounting course that my high school offered and my teacher Mrs. Cook whom I love to this day advised this would be a great career choice for me, and I never looked back.

2014

After graduating high school, I started my college career at BYU. Here, I got my first Finance job and then my first Accounting job. I also did a study abroad for International Business and joined the Women in Business Club. After a couple of years in Provo, I felt I just wasn’t in the right place and was ready for something new. I took a year off of school and went to nanny in San Francisco.

2017

Knowing BYU wasn’t the place for me, but knowing Accounting was my dream, I transferred to Utah State University and took the entrance test to the Accounting program, and I got in. That Summer, I interned with a Big 4 Accounting Firm in San Jose, California and got a job offer for after graduation. My dream!

2018

After a year and a half at USU with the best professors EVER, I graduated with honors with a Bachelor in Accounting. That Spring, I interned with a local public accounting firm as an Auditor. I realized that I missed Utah, and transferred my full-time job offer with the Big 4 firm to Salt Lake City (there was only one spot available that had opened up the day before I called. (It was meant for me!)

2019

Not wanting to spend more than I had to on a Master’s degree, I went to grad school at Boise State University and graduated in December. During that year, I was working full time as a Staff Accountant at a great company with some of my favorite coworkers ever. I got a studio apartment in downtown SLC and started studying for the CPA. I passed my first exam in December.

2020

I started my full-time career with the Big 4 Accounting firm in SLC. Did training in LA, worked a couple weeks of busy season, and started working from home as the pandemic struck the world. Continuing to study, but busy season is no joke! I left downtown and moved in with some friends, said “no” to a lot of social events, and passed 2 more CPA exams.

2021

The very first thing I did in January before my next busy season started was pass my last CPA exam!! And I truly could not wait to get back to some of the other things in life that I had to put off like friends, traveling, and lots of other hobbies.

I can not be happier to officially close this chapter of having to study 24/7. Here goes living life as a CPA!

Eliza