Community Connections

I’m interviewing Mona Elkhayal, an accountant who is working in North Vancouver. I’m interested in that type of field as a choice for my career (accounting, finance), so I decided to interview an accountant so I know more information about the job. This interview helped me learn more about being an accountant and this connects to my passion/ interests because I am thinking of choosing a career in the finance, accounting, or business area for my future.

Interview Questions:

1. Why are you passionate about your job? 

My job connects to my personality, I like working alone. This job is basically me, my papers, and my computer. I like it because, I get to work alone without any disruptions, I do problem solving, I work with numbers, and finsh other daily tasks. I like the people in the job that I have, they are very nice, and it’s a great environment.

2. What obstacles have you faced to get you where you are today?

I’m very lucky, after I finished the course that I was taking in accounting, my teacher liked me and she knew I was one of the good students, so she was helping me to find a job. She was giving me options to find a job, one of the options were the job that I had today. In general, there weren’t much obstacles that I had faced to get where I am today.

3. What advice would you pass on to someone interested in what you are doing?

Work really hard, get good grades, and apply for a good university. When you are in high school (grade 12), start looking for a good university that offers a great program for accounting. In academics, you have to be good at math, working with numbers, and to have high grades. Lastly, something really important is also time management. 

4. Would you be open to further contact from Riverside students and if so, how can someone contact you?

No, thank you.

5. Can you tell me about your current job?

I am very good at accounting, and I make sure I do the taxes correctly. I alos do problem solving. If there is anybody from the customers and suppliers that are having a problem or have a question, I make sure I find the answers to their questions. I call and make sure that my payments are within the budget, (nothing is over the budget). I also monitor the budget and I run checks every 2 weeks.

6. What is your definition of hard work in your job?

The definition of hard work at my job is getting everything done on time. This is very important, there are time limits and there are deadlines, so being very accurate and timely as well as doing your work perfectly is essential and a great defintion of hard work.