Career Living in 'The Present':

¶ … Career Living in 'The Present': Reflections on my life and career as a management accountant In pursuing a career path in life, one must find meaning in it, both professionally and personally. Professionally, an individual's career must be meaningful not only in financial or monetary terms, but must also be intellectually stimulating and psychologically healthy to his/her well-being. On the other side of the coin, one's chosen profession must also be relevant to the personal life of the individual.

That is, his/her work must be relevant to the person's life outside of work, and that s/he must skillfully create a balance in maintaining his/her image as a professional while at the same time, not sacrificing his/her personal identity distinct from his/her work identity. This delicate balance between work and non-work (i.e., personal) identities are especially critical among individuals whose work takes up most of his/her time.

Working people talk about aspiring for and/or achieving the 'work-life balance,' wherein one's professional life must not dominate his/her personal life, and vice versa. While this may be considered an important goal for working individuals, more crucial for me is to be able to pursue my desired career path by achieving both professional and personal fulfillment -- not necessarily aspiring for and achieving work-life balance, but learning to make these two elements contribute to my development as an individual, holistically.

This paper discusses life's meaning from both work and personal life perspectives. Using learnings from the book, "The Present" by Spencer Johnson, career facts and information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), and first-hand information from an interview with a professional, who has chosen the career path I intend to pursue, as an Accountant specializing in Business Management.

This paper posits that insights from Johnson's book and the personal interview from Ms Dale, as well as supporting details about Management Accounting, are triangulated to develop the thesis that meaningful life begins by enjoying 'the present,' and that immersion in the present with the help of lessons from the past ensures that the individual will experience a life just as or more meaningful than the present.

The first phase of the triangulation process is to integrate facts about Management Accounting with insights generated from "The Present" and the personal interview with Ms Dale, who is a management accountant. From data generated from the BLS, the bureau reported that accountants as a profession in the country is projected to have a "strong growth," that is, there will be a continued demand for accountants in the period 2006-2016.

Moreover, increased enrolment in accounting courses further made this projection a positive one, as more graduates of accounting can be expected in this period as well. This means that the country will have enough 'supply' of accountants at the time demand will be greater (in the future). Interestingly, this increase in demand for accountants will also correspond to an increase in projected median annual earnings for the profession.

While the highest earnings belong to accountants who are involved in "tax preparation, bookkeeping, and payroll services," (at $57,000 per annum), management accountants -- that is, accountants involved in "management of companies and enterprises" -- placed as the second most highest per annum salary among accounting categories, at $55,000 per annum (U.S. BLS, 2007). This positive outlook to management accounting is supported by Ms Dale, who believed that accounting is one of the professions that is recognized as financially rewarding and intellectually stimulating, across societies and cultures all over the world.

She likened the profession as a high-low job, where working conditions are usually located at the extreme ends of the 'working spectrum.' There would be periods where the workload is at a lull, but, come tax payment season, this workload would 'exponentially' increase, and accountants are required to jumpstart almost instantly to work. This high-low nature of the work is enough to make life stressful and could lead to burn out if the individual is not able to handle this stress effectively, according to Ms Dale.

Indeed, Johnson in his book, "The Present," supported this reality at work (in fact, at any kind of job, for that matter). However, while this is the reality of work for most people, the author encouraged.