Professional Progress (Essay Sample)

Essay I: Professional Progress
To many people, professional development and progress is determined by fate. However to me, my professional progress is a matter of choice and well thought out decisions on where I want to be and what I need to do to get there. Growing, I aspired to be an accountant and his desire meant that I had to work extra to ensure I could be accepted in a prestigious university to pursuing a course related to accounting and financial management. I was eventually admitted to Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas. Harding University is private liberal arts Christian University, well known for producing all round graduates who have great values and ethics. At the university, my goal was to attain good scores to ensure I have a better chance in securing employment at the end of my studies. I pursued a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and Accounting, accounting manger and attained a grade of 3.81. During my studies, I strived to be an all-round student by participating in co-curricular activities. For instance, I volunteered at "Fish and Candidate" event held at the University in 2011. In addition, I also took time to gain technical skills in new areas especially in popular computer programs that are important in handling day-to-day documentation as well as in handling accounting and financial management problems.
Immediately after my undergraduate studies in business administration and accounting, I was employed as Staff Accountant at Olivet International, Inc locates in Mira Loma, California. At this organization, I was responsible for making monthly count reconciliations of corporate accounts as well as in assisting monthly closing up process. In addition, I was also responsible for compilation and analysis of crucial financial information for preparation of monthly and invoice annual accounts. Further, I prepared weekly reports of invoice totals, aging totals, cash receipts as well as invoice adjustments. I was also given a supervisory role to supervise part time employees to ensure top productivity at the organization. Working for this organization, I gained valuable experience which contributed to my professional accountancy practice. The supervisory role gave me good experience and skills in leadership due to the responsibility it came with. In addition, working for an international company with a large client base and a wide range of services gave a good exposure and experience in handling complex tasks with strict deadlines and high quality expectations. These experiences were eye opening as I transferred my class knowledge and skills into real world situations and facing real world organizational accountancy needs. As an accountant, I grew a lot professionally and I am now more responsible and more prepared to face even greater challenges in accounting practices. Still at the early stages of my career, I believe that experience is of paramount importance for my future career success and as such I am not keen on shifting from one workplace to another as many graduates do early in their careers. For this reason, I worked for Olivet International, Inc for two years before I could shift to another organization for a higher position. This is part of my decision towards my ultimate goal of being an exemplary and all-round professional in my field of expertise.
In 2013, I secured a better position as a Finance Accountant at Newegg.com, a position I hold to date. With an annual revenue of more than USD$2.5 Billion, the company is one of the world’s leading online retailers and was an obvious choice for me when I was offered the job. Working for this company has professionally developed me due to the experience of working in a new kind of business. My roles include performing extensive analysis of vendor incentive funding accounts and profitability data. In addition, I oversee vendor incentive funding account reconciliations and also manage monthly accounts closure process. To ensure that every transaction is above board, I examine, monitor and review vendor issues and payment statuses as well as coordinating with vendor account managers in solving any discrepancies that arise. I am also the project ma...