Today, we often hear people taking “the road less travelled,” navigating non-traditional career paths. Youths are advised to hold on to their dreams and pursue them.
However, not everyone has the freedom to make a career of his “dream.” Constraints often stand in the way of our passions. When it is tough even to make ends meet, there is little room for dreaming and risk-taking. Mr Gooi Chi Yih, 38, is one of those who had his career path marked out by his parents, who were likely informed by the pragmatic mindset prevalent in society at that time. Although he was personally more interested in technology and robotics, Mr Gooi eventually enrolled into an accountancy course in university under his parents’ insistence. “Since we were not a wealthy family, my father identified being a doctor, lawyer and accountant as the three professions where one will have a better chance of succeeding based on their own merit,” he explained. (It is no surprise then that Mr Gooi’s elder brother is a doctor and his sister, a partner in a law firm.) In fact, his parents were so determined that they even forked out large sums for him to pursue an accountancy degree in Australia.
While he did not resist his parents’ wishes, Mr Gooi also did not become a victim of circumstances. With an open mind and due diligence, he not only did well in his studies but also developed a growing interest in his work. Working as an auditor gave Mr Gooi many opportunities to learn about different industries, and the opportunities and challenges each one faced. These insights made him see the fuller picture of what his profession really meant—no longer was he just dealing with numbers and mundane audit procedures, but his ‘daily tasks’ were in fact very crucial to many other businesses. “While many of my peers found audit boring, I [was able to] looked beyond the numbers,” he said.
These “interesting experiences,” as he regarded them then, turned out to be very practical advice for Mr Gooi, who has since moved on to set up his own accounting firm.
“Now that I am running my own firm, I can apply what I have learned during my audit assignments in those companies to build up my own business,” he said.
Throughout his past 14 years in the audit and accounting profession, Mr Gooi was also able to use his skills to benefit the community, such as by serving as auditor in Ying Fo Hui Kun’s supervisory committee. Capitalising on his professional expertise, Mr Gooi made significant changes to the financial reporting procedures of the association. For instance, he helped ensure that the reporting and accounting protocol was aligned with accounting standards and that financial reports were submitted in time.
Mr Gooi felt his contributions were important, particularly due to the “public character” of the association. “Because they are run on a volunteer basis, hiring qualified financial expertise may impose great expenses on these associations. However, there is also a need to tighten corporate governance and reduce potentials for misappropriations,” he explained.
(Interviewed and written by Kelly Ng)
