Determination, Perseverance and Focus
Before I went to college, I initially chose BS Accountancy to be my course. But I faced a hurdle during my second year in college, in which I failed to pass the retention program. The retention program was the test that would decide whether a student will still be able continue in the BS Accountancy program or would be forced to shift to the BS Management Accounting program. I was disappointed when I knew that I did not pass the exam and the retention exam. I was about to change my course, thinking I was not fit to be an accountant. But instead, I took the obstacle as an opportunity to grow and did not let it drag me down. During my first year as a Management Accounting student, I was inspired to do well in my academics and become a Certified Management Accountant primarily because of one of my professors who taught me to think about the logic behind all the formulas and the reason behind such. I have found what I’ve been looking for. He also introduced the CMA exam to me. I never knew that there was a bigger world for accountants where I can grab other licenses aside from the CPA, and the best part was the CMA was a global certification. Due to limited resources, I had to choose between taking the Bridging program and taking the CMA exam. My eagerness to become globally competitive was my driving factor to take up the CMA. I believe that having a globally recognized certification together with all I have gone through college will prepare me well enough for the real world.
But just like any other journey, there were hindrances I had to overcome. At first most students were unsure to take it due to common reasons such as the time and the fee that we all had to invest. Although I was also uncertain at first since I wanted to work right after graduation and had difficulty managing my time, what kept me going was my dream to become a globally competent professional. I consulted several people with regards to my decision on whether to work while reviewing for the CMA exam. One of the people I talked to at that time was the approved course provider of the CMA Program in the Philippines, the Insights Team. They told me that working while reviewing for the CMA exam would be a tough journey, based on the passing rate for working professionals in the previous testing windows. With that, I took an internship which was less tiring as compared to working full time. I was blessed from the very start because I had family and friend who supported my plans, so all that was left for me to do was my devotion and perseverance to pass the examination.
It was a tough journey. I had to manage my time very well between my internship and the review classes for CMA exam, and the old topics I had to read again, and the various topics that we needed to study by heart. I was about to give up but when I gave it a second thought, there were a lot of benefits I could gain from enrolling for CMA course while taking up my internship. All topics that I learned and discovered in the CMA review helped me in my internship since I was assigned to assess risks and controls in the company I worked for and at that time, I was studying internal controls, which was one of the topics in Part 1 of the exam. I did not have the advantage to study full time, but my edge was being able to apply the things I have studied in the real world. This helped me pass the CMA exam since most of the questions I have encountered were situational; you will be able to answer and appreciate them if you had the experience.
Determination, perseverance and focusing on your end goals, which for me was to become globally competent, are keys to passing the exam. Good luck!
About the Author:
Adrian Sarfraz O. Uttoh is a graduate of Bachelor of Science in Management Accounting Batch 2017 from the University of Santo Tomas. He passed both parts of the CMA exam last September/October 2017 testing window. He is currently completing work experience required in one of the top auditing firms recognized globally, doing Internal Audit and IT Audit procedures.
