Professional Development Report

Through out my life I have always had a flare for numbers and the desire to work in a field that I
was passionate about. Coming into college I was unsure about the career path I wanted to
embark upon. However, after taking some accounting and business classes I knew that study
Accounting was definitely going to be the start of my career.
In order to prepare myself for my future career, I interviewed Mr. Andrew Schiff, to help me get
a clearer understanding of working as an Accountant based on his 25 years of work experience in
the field. Currently, Mr. Schiff, is an Audit and Cost Accounting Professor in Towson University,
he worked as an Auditor for about 15 years in his career and also owns his a private accountingconsulting firm in Towson, Maryland. During our interview, I asked him several questions,
which ranged from his reason for choosing to be an Accountant, to the importance of written and
oral communication in the field. His concrete responses cleared my misconceptions I had about
entering the field and motivated me to work hard and pursue the career of my dreams.

The Interview Confirmed that Accounting is still my Number One Career Choice
After interviewing with Mr. Schiff, I asked him several questions, which cleared my doubts
about the Accounting Field and also confirmed my thoughts on the career path I have chosen.
Through the interview, I learnt a lot about the daily routines that I would come across in my
working as an entry-level Accountant coming out of college. He confirmed by belief that
accounting work could be very monotonous, however, if I work hard, follow instructions and
execute all tasks assigned in a timely manner, I would be guaranteed a life time job security as
well as an increase in salary based on my level of experience and job performance.

Written Communication and Teamwork are Important Skills I should possess

Mr. Schiff, who has worked as an Auditor confirmed that it is very important for ever Accountant
to master the art of writing as I will be assigned to write many formal reports on my audit
findings at the end of the accounting period. These formal reports must provide a detailed
explanation of my audit findings to my Managers who analyze the information I present and
these supervisors forward them to the executive Board of Directors of the company. Mr. Schiff
sad if the reports are write are not clear or inconsistent it could send the wrong message to the
potential investors and would definitely affect my job security in a negative way.
Also, as an entry level Accountant he emphasized on the importance of learning to work with
teams and building solid professional relationships. This is because most accounting companies
prefer new employees to work with their current employees on several tasks; because it helps
them learn more about the organization faster thus, serves as a means of on the job training to the
new employees. Also, he added that most entry level jobs require a higher level of team work
and this reduces a the individual rises up to take up managerial positions because the company
believes every employee has been trained to work with teams, hence when they are

promoted the company believes the have developed the necessary skills needed to efficiently

manage their subordinates.

Skills and Knowledge from this Class are Relevant to the Job
All the knowledge and skills I have learned in course match up perfectly with the skills I need to
be an accountant. I have learned how to think critically and analytically, develop well-researched
papers, present my findings more confidently and most importantly work with a team to report
present our group findings. I feel that developing these skills this semester have made me more
confident and prepared to pursue my career in Accounting. I believe these basics skills will help
set me apart from the myriad of Accountants in the world and I am eager to improve upon them
even more as work towards taking up more internship opportunities to learn more practical
experience about my career.

Written Communication Essential to Accounting Work

In the accounting world the most popular form of communication within all levels of
management in my organization is the use of emails. Mr. Schiff explained that in his 25 years of
experience working as an Accountant, he communicated via emails frequently as compared to
making presentations. He received over 20 emails a day from his supervisors and subordinates
regarding all aspects of work with included delegating of tasks and reviewing completed tasks.

Message and Organization Highly Important in E-mails

Mr. Schiff emphasized the importance of communicating properly when sending an email and
proof reading an email thoroughly before it is sent out because once it is sent, it cannot be
corrected. As Accountants, we deal with a high level of confidential financial information, as
such it is very important to be careful in all our calculations and reports we write because the
least blunder could cause a great financial loss to the company and this could lead to termination
in your job. When asked to rank the following criteria, Mr. Schiff responded with the list
provided below.
1.
2.
3.
4.

Message
Organization
Style
Design

As learnt in class, he described mangers to be people with very busy schedules and have little
time to read through all the emails or reports they receive. He went ahead and said most
managers prefer the deductive style of writing due to their lack of time to read through lengthy
emails or reports. He concluded by saying all messages sent should be concise, straightforward
and error free this ensures the proper flow of communication amongst all levels in the
organization.

Oral Presentation Skill Is Important In Accounting

Mr. Schiff confirmed that even though he rarely made presentations, it is relevant to have good
presentation skills as you could be randomly assigned to give a presentation based on your audit
findings. The table below outlines the qualities of a good or bad presenter according to Mr.
Schiff.
Table 1 Qualities of A Good Presentation Vs. Bad Presentation
Good Presenter
Presenter connects with audience and
tries to establish a bond with them
Well Organized
Responsive to audience needs and
questions
Does not read from slides or note cards
Demonstrates high level of enthusiasm
and knowledge in topic

Bad Presenter
Presenter does not connect with
audience and does not establish a bond
with them
Not well organized
Not responsive to audience needs and
questions
Reads from slides and note cards
Demonstrates low level of enthusiasm
and knowledge in topic

My Overall Strengths and Weaknesses in my Communication Skills

After taking this Business Cornerstone class I have learned of important skills that would help
me advance in my career. Most importantly I have summarized these skills using the MODS
model, which is basically message, organization, design and style structure, which was practiced
throughout the semester. The MODS are a vital key to passing information to my audience.
For message, it is important that I always present straightforward answers to the assignments
questions, target the specific audience, provide credibility to my information and give a standalone introduction and closing.
For organization I have learnt to structure my information using the deductive structure in
presenting my information to my audience to enable my audience understands my information
faster. Telling my audience whats important does this, a skill I would definitely need in my
career. Being aware of this structure, I am now confident in my professional communication
skills.

For design and style I learned to arrange information to make it readable to the audience. I can
do this using different design options such as the use of graphs, tables, and appropriate font sizes.
I also need to design my presentation using quality slides and high-resolution images. This is
because as an Accountant I would be assigned to present with both numeric and alphabetic
information

I am on the Right Path to becoming an Accountant

At the end off the interview, I can confidently conclude that everything I learned in Business
Cornerstone class is a very good preparation towards becoming a well-rounded Accountant.
Overall, I must say I have become more confident in my presentation skills as I have been able to
overcome my fear of making presentations. In addition I have been able to build upon
developing my writing skills, teamwork and leadership skills. I feel that this personal
improvement in all these skills have made me ready to take up my career to the next level after I
graduate college.