Written by: Madeline McGovern
At the young age of 23, my brother Michael has made monumental strides towards achieving success throughout his career for years to follow. To say that Michael is dedicated, motivated and hardworking is a complete understatement. The commitment, and tireless attitude and resilience that my brother displays towards achieving his goals regardless of the many obstacles that he faces through the career is inspirational. I have been privileged to have the built-in role model that my younger brother and I have in him. My younger brother and I admire him, and aspire to reach the level of greatness that he is someday.
Michael is an auditor at one of the greatest accounting firms in the world. With the firms acceptance rate being only 3.7%, he has worked so hard to get where he is today. Michael attended Molloy University and was the “ last graduating class of Molloy College.” Michael received his degree in accounting with a minor in finance, and continued his educational career to achieve his master’s in finance . Michael is currently a first-year at his job, but operates in a critical sector to the company. When working for a company like this, it is very important to portray certain characteristics and when asked what the most important qualities that he posses in order to achieve success he stated that, “ work ethic, determination and yearning for growth”. This career is a career in which you learn so much each day, and you must be willing to take the feedback from the higher-ups in order to learn and develop the most that you can as a professional. Michael has learned so much throughout this first year of his career, and when asked what lesson that stands out the most from this year, he stated that it was “hard work and determination pays off”.
Michael grew up in Rockville Centre and attended South Side High School. Michael was an athlete his whole high school career, leading into playing Men’s Soccer at Molloy University. Many of the skills that were developed in the years playing soccer such as motivation, stamina, perseverance were all skills that follow him today in his career path.
When attending what was Molloy College at the time, Michael was a full-time student-athlete and worked part-time in addition throughout school. Along with being a full time student athlete, Michael was able to intern at the firm that he is currently working at, while also taking classes at night. It is very inspiring that he was able to be a full-time student-athlete with amazing grades while working and interning at the same time. The skills such as hard work, persistence, and work ethic were all developed during this time and follow him into his career today. Being able to juggle all of those responsibilities at once, prepared and shaped him into the hard worker that he is today.
The industry of accounting is a very unique one. With accounting, there are so many different routes that you can take utilizing the same degree. Accounting allows for different careers in audit, tax, administration, business development, IT, operations, and retail. You are able to go into whichever work environment that you pick which can be working for small, medium or large firm, you can go into public or private accounting. The industry has been adapting and changing to the world that we live in today. When asked what Michael thinks about the changes in technology he stated that “the changes in technology will only help accountants in the world today, not taking over the job itself but assisting in the ways in which the job can be done the most efficiently and effectively.” He stated that firms are “accepting and adapting with the way that technology operates, and the more advancements that occur are only helping the accuracy of the industry itself.” When asked about how auditors prioritize tasks, Michael explained that there are teams. These teams are based on each client, and there are multiple people on each team to revise and look over work at each level.
When asked why Michael picked the area of accounting that he did, he stated that “A larger firm in my opinion allows for the greatest opportunities to learn with the best resources to grow professionally.” He stated that “Everyone has different career goals and pick what area of the field that they wish to work in based on these goals”. Michael stated that he always loved audit and felt as if this would be the best fit for him at this point in time with his career. Although accounting courses are not the easiest Michael gave the advice that students should “Keep up the hard work and never give up when it comes to wanting to achieve your goals.”
I have been fortunate enough to witness the milestones that my brother has taken towards success and cheer him on along the way. The determination that Michael displays, is contagious. The amount of students that look up to my brother, and seek his advice for their own careers and have even become accounting majors in order to achieve similar goals is incredible. My younger brother and I are both going into accounting from the inspiration that we find from Michael. A true role model is self-made that embodies admirable traits, and that is my brother.
I would have never believed that I could be an accounting student. Accounting courses are extremely difficult, accounting firms are extremely competitive. If it wasn’t for Michael, giving my younger brother and I words of encouragement and constantly telling us that we are capable of achieving the same success we may have never attempted to be on this path. I am proud to say that this winter, I will be interning and working for the same accounting firm as Michael. With all of the congratulations and praise that I receive, I point to my brother who is the root and reason for our future careers, and for that, I am forever grateful.
