Secondary School Certificate Holder, Adefusi Becomes Chartered Accountant

Oluwaseun Praise Adefusi is a secondary school certificate holder who is now a Chartered Accountant. In this interview with ENIOLA OYEMOLADE, the 20-year-old speaks on how she achieved this feat, the challenges she faced, among others.

What made you think about accounting?

As a child, anytime people asked me, I would just say I want to be a banker. So when I got to secondary school, I just decided to go to commercial class since what I wanted was to be a banker but then, I did not have accounting in mind, it was economics I had in mind, but then it just happened. That was when I started ATS.

How did you get to know about ICAN?

There was this uncle that lived close to us then, Mr Ahmed Olalekan (ACA). He was my neighbour and a chartered accountant. Those times, he started taking me in account, he would give me questions to solve and he made a statement that he sees potentials in me. A particular day, he gave me a question from ATS 1 past question (Basic Accounting Processes and Systems) to solve and I got most of the questions. He noticed this and on that day, he took a breakdown of all the things I needed for the examination; the list of expenses and the documents I needed to get ready to start ICAN examination. My mum looked through it and said she doesn’t think she’s ready for it, based on the expenses and other factors so I could not start that year, which was 2016. However, he was still persistent and in 2017 when I got my certificate as a secondary school holder, I was ready to start. I went to him and he took me to Triumph Dynamic Professionals. I started in January 2018.

So, he made me know about the examination and how he believes that if I start, I would do very well. According to him, when he teaches people, he sees and knows if they would survive in the ICAN atmosphere based on the kind of attitude and character the person puts on. From my ATS 1 to this day, he still keeps tab on me and he is very happy and glad I didn’t disappoint him.

Did you find the commercial class challenging?

Yes I had some challenges with accounts, not because it was hard but because we didn’t have any teacher taking us. When I was in Senior Secondary School (SSS) 1, we had this very good account teacher but he got a job offer at a bank so he left our school to go take up the banking job. They did not get any teacher to replace him, so we were left with no account teacher for the whole academic session. It was during my SSS2 second term that a corps member came around and started teaching us the subject. After her one year service was over, we didn’t have any teacher again till around SSS3. So all through those period, I had issues with the subject because of the non-availability of teacher and I didn’t think to read it up on my own. My mum even wanted to change my school and was also talking about the fact that she would want me to switch from commercial class to art class.

They later brought a teacher and I remember she gave us a very simple assignment to do and we could not do it. She was surprised as to why SSS3 students were not able to do it and she reported us to the vice principal because she was really pissed.

This teacher was also the first person I heard ATS from then, because she was talking about the fact that her daughter was going to start the ATS examination and I was quite envious but I knew this thing was not what I could just get into, based on my level then in account as well as the finances.

So with the issue of the teacher, it was really hard for me to do what someone in my class would do then. I was even scared when I was expecting my West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) result that I had to start reading everything in the syllabus all over and made sure I completed it because I was scared of going to the examination hall without learning all these things.

What made you attend a public school and not a private one?

I would say the financial constraints then. It was easier going to a public school instead of a private one and getting stopped in-between terms.

How easy were these examinations to study?

I wouldn’t say it was difficult or easy. It was just the mindset I had. When I was starting ATS 1, there were lots of discouragement from people. I remember when I was in ATS 1 and I decided I was not going to write the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) again and I would just use my ATS 3 result for direct entry into the university, one of my classmates told me it was a bad idea because people write the examination many times and fail and even went ahead to mention some names and how many times they wrote each examination.

So, I believe it is just the kind of information and mindset you have. The discouragement and dreadful talks I got from people made me read a whole lot.

Did you know you were going to achieve all these things?

No. Though I used to hear about the prize winners, I didn’t know what it entailed. I didn’t even know it was level by level, I thought it was just after ATS 3 people win. However, I wanted to be that person somewhere deep down, but I had this limit on myself that maybe I could not do it.

How do your parents feel about this?

They are very happy; my mum is so elated and on top of the world.

Do you think your circle of friends influenced your winning in a way?

I wouldn’t really say yes, because I don’t really have many friends. But there’s someone I look up to, a mentor, Oladiran Tobi. In my ATS 1, I read about him in the newspaper, he was the best graduating student during his time and he became a chartered accountant while he was in school. So, his story was the push I got in ATS 1. I remember pasting his interview on my wall and anytime I get discouraged, I would look at it. I would say I drew strength from that.

Are there any other certifications you wish to pursue now that you are a chartered accountant?

Being a chartered accountant is the peak in Nigeria. So the ones I want to pursue now are not in Nigeria. There is the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) for UK, there is Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), also if you plan on going into finance. For now though, I don’t see myself going into finance yet because I love taxation. For the next six months, I don’t think I want to write these examinations yet because I would be resuming by January in Obafemi Awolowo University to study accounting. I want to focus on school a bit. From what I heard, direct entry is a little bit tricky because I would be taking classes from 100 level and 200 level, so I want to stay focused.

So it’s strictly accounting for you?

With ICAN, there are a lot of possibilities out there, so it depends on what I want to venture into when I’m done with school. There is auditing, accounting, finance, forensic accounting, forensic auditing and taxation. For now, there is the love for taxation. Along the way, it could change.

Taxation deals with taxing systems and taxing laws. They are the ones in charge of deducting taxes and they also give consultation services to companies about their tax liabilities and others.

Asides accounting, what else do you love?

I write poems, short stories, novels; I have like two completed ones and five I have not completed but I’ve not published any. I don’t intend to go into writing. It’s just a leisure time activity.

Tell us your most memorable moment(s)

They are all ICAN-related. I am a school certificate holder that is now qualified as a chartered accountant at 20 years. I am a perennial prize winner.

At ATS 1, I won the overall third best in the country in March 2018 and best student in one of the courses which is Basic Accounting Processes and Systems. In September 2018 when I wrote ATS 2, I emerged the overall third best. I wrote the ATS 3 in March 2019. I was inducted in June 2019 as an AAT (Associate Accounting Technician) member.

In November 2019, I started the main professional examination where there are three levels, the foundation level, skills level and professional level. Because I am an AAT, I was exempted from foundation level so I wrote skills level and passed the four papers at a go. The professional level was postponed in March because of COVID-19, so I wrote the five examinations under the professional level in September and passed. I also emerged as the best female qualifying candidate. I also won the second best overall in the examination.

These are my memorable moments.

When you see some of your mates who are in the university now, do you wish you had gone that path too instead of writing ICAN first?

No. Because I believe we all have our time and season. When I see them, I just feel that is their own path and this is my own path I’m taking and I feel like this is actually the best instead of getting into school and then starting ICAN.

(Source: Tribune)