Steely focus, hard work paying off for 2 accountancy students
PETALING JAYA: “When you feel you have hit the wall, that’s when your personal transformation begins.”
Two successful Bumiputera students say that this thought is helping them make their way from family hardship growing up, to success in their chosen field, by way of incredible amounts of hard work.
They both come from B40 or lower-income bracket families and had to endure the lack of many comforts from an early age, but they always promised themselves they would strive to provide a better life for their families, and the only way to ensure that would happen was to become successful themselves.
Nurul Fatin Nabihah Hamdan, 25 from Terengganu remembers growing up without many of the simple things her friends took for granted such as plentiful food and comfortable clothes.
Her father, an odd job worker, worked hard to provide for his family and she will always be grateful to him for that.
But being the eldest of four, she always felt it was her responsibility to provide the best for her siblings and her mother, Noriah Ahmad. She dreamed of taking them to dine in luxury hotels and living the high life – even if only once in a while.
“We mostly ate simple food at home, and we helped our mum do the housework. We supported each other to do our best and make do with the basic necessities we had,” she told FMT.
But she knew she would have to work hard and be disciplined if she wanted to fulfil her dreams for her family.
She worked hard and did well at school. After her SPM, she studied accounting at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Shah Alam where she also learned to speak English.
“I loved both subjects,” she said, adding that she forced herself to speak English every chance she could and also took up debating and entered essay writing competitions to improve her English.
After passing all her exam papers in one sitting, she was offered a job as an accountant.
“It was tempting but to go higher in life, to earn the most money, I knew I needed a professional qualification,” she said.
That’s when she decided to register for the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).
Part of her study routine has been to go to sleep at 9pm and wake up at 4am. “That’s when I do a lot of revision and tackle past year questions.”
Like for so many students, studying during MCO has been challenging.
“Classes were held online, so I had to remain disciplined and have daily short-term goals to finish the topics I needed. It’s tough but that’s when opportunities come knocking too,” she said.
With more time on her hands, she put everything she had into her studies, with the result that she was awarded first place in Malaysia and seventh in the world for the Strategic Business Reporting paper.
“My push factor to do well has always been my family. I was determined to do well and provide the best I could for my mother,” she said. “I want to take her to New Zealand for a holiday and give her a nice home to live in.”
Those dreams are now well on the way to coming true.
Coming from a family that usually had barely enough money to cover their monthly expenses, Siti Naziah Mohamad Nazid, 21, from Taiping said she first fell in love with budgeting while watching her father skilfully dividing his meagre earnings, ensuring there was enough to pay bills, save a little, and maybe sometimes even splurge a little on a family outing.
Her fascination with accounting was crucial to her gaining her first insights into managing money.
“When I was in Form 2, I realised—yeah, I love numbers! And I love budgeting!” she told FMT.
In Form 4, she took accounting as an elective paper and scored an A+ not only in accounting but also Additional Mathematics and seven other papers.
But her success did not come easily. She had sacrificed her leisure time to study and score high marks, all in her quest to give a better life to her family.
She obtained first place for ACCA in Malaysia, and ninth in the world for the Audit and Assurance paper.
Her father, who was the sole family breadwinner, died in 2018. Her biggest dream now is to take her mother to Mecca for Haj once the Covid-19 travel ban is lifted.
“With my ACCA qualifications, I hope to get a good job and buy my mother a nice house. She deserves that for all the sacrifices she made for me and my younger brother.”
Her dreams are within reach now, thanks to her single-minded hard work.
Her advice to other students who may be struggling is that life can be tough but “don’t ever quit”, as there’s always light at the end of the tunnel.
For Nurul Fatin Nabihah Hamdan and Siti Naziah Mohamad Nazid, their dedication is adding up to success and a bright future.
Their secret is no secret really. It’s a simple equation.
Continuous focus plus consistent hard work will equal success.
Both these student champions studied under a programme run by Malaysia Professional Accountancy Centre (MyPAC) which organises sponsors for Bumiputera students with good SPM grades who are likely to excel in accountancy.
CEO Zaitun Mohd Hassan told FMT that since their inception in 2015 they have so far helped almost 1,000 Bumiputera students from the B40 group to excel in accounting.
“It is very important to focus on this group and to give them an opportunity to excel,” she said.
“This is their only real chance to get out of poverty.” - FMT
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