Scholarship Essay Entry – Landon S.

When people find out I want to become an accountant, fourteen questions naturally arise. Firstly, they get a blank or confused look on their face and say, “Well, then maybe you can answer this question: What disease did cured ham actually have?” Secondly…actually I’ll skip to the eleventh because it’s my favourite: “When did you decide to become an accountant?” they ask. That’s a good question, and I suppose the answer varies for everyone. For me, it happened when I realised that I really didn’t have the charisma to succeed as a morgue worker. Of course, the prospect of having a loophole named after me is invigorating (for example, last tax season, the government allowed Ex-lax to be deducted as a “moving expense”).
 
All joking aside, I don’t think most accountants are boring people, even if they do get excited about boring things. And though many people think of accountants as sitting behind a desk all day with a calculator, I truly believe that being an accountant will allow me to make a positive difference in my community. After all, I believe that’s where change should start--in our own communities--and as we create positive change in our individual communities, we really do begin to “change the world.” But it has to start somewhere. I mean, wouldn’t we have all been happier if they had figured out to put wheels on luggage bags BEFORE they put man on the moon?
 
I think there is a lot of truth in the proverb which says that charity sees the need, and not the cause. There are a lot of people in the world who have all kinds of needs which, for a variety of reasons, they can’t meet by themselves. Among these people are those struggling with money issues. As an accountant, I feel that I will be in a prime position to help others in my community who are underprivileged financially because I will have a stable and successful career which will afford me the opportunity to provide first for my family, and still have plenty to spare to help others.
 
I plan to one day open my own accounting firm, and this would allow me to achieve visibility in the community, which would in turn allow me to help those less fortunate. One of my goals in this area is to promote education by establishing education funds for financially disadvantaged children in my community. In addition to helping the disadvantaged, I look forward to working closely with small businesses and individuals in the community, and using my skills as an accountant to help them optimally manage their finances.