Ana is a Chartered Accountant with over 6 years corporate and commerce experience. A graduate from The University of Western Australia with a Double Degree in Commerce and Music (Majoring in Accounting & Finance, Music Performance and a Business Law minor), Ana now specialises in the Employment Taxes area, with expertise knowledge in fringe benefits tax, payroll tax, superannuation, employee share schemes, employment law, individual, expatriate taxes and data analytics. Ana has worked with some of the world’s largest oil & gas, mining and health insurance companies in her career to date. Recently she joined Japan's largest oil & gas company to further her career and interests in this field of work.
Love problem solving
I have always loved problem solving and working with people. I was fortunate in high school to have an accounting teacher who inspired me to study accounting by making it interesting and fun.
In my field of study, I am faced with daily challenges including changes in legislation, dealing with various stakeholders and tight deadline turnaround timeframes. I am constantly having to think on my feet and having to understand new challenges. I interact with juniors all the way up to Partner's and Executives on a day to day basis, so I get a lot of exposure to different issues within various positions. I can say I really enjoy what I do, and that no day is the same.
Facing challenges
Like most people the biggest challenge I am facing is the COVID-19 implications on the business world. There has been a lot of changes both legislatively but also in the work place and so it can be very difficult to try and tackle these changes when work load turn around periods are high but you are having to grasp new legislation, changes in the workplace and juggling work absences due to people being unwell. In our teams at work we have an informal work roster on days we go into the office so we aren't over exposed to COVID-19 but we also try to share the workload and have weekly team catch ups to make sure no one is overloaded or underloaded with work.
The importance of mentors
My most important professional mentors were my direct Counsellors when I worked at EY. Both of them taught me how to critically think in a business perspective, how to tackle various scenarios in the workplace and the importance of not just understanding the legislation but being able to relay it in lay-man's term so that anyone can understand it. I will never forget my time at EY as I learnt so much from everyone, but in particular my two Counsellors.
My UWA experience
Student societies/clubs were the most important aspect of my development at uni. The amount of connections I made at uni was invaluable to my career today. I never would have expected that I would be working with engineers, IT specialists, data scientists, lawyers etc in my career in tax and yet I do this on a daily basis. I was part of several uni clubs including ECOMS, MSS, UWA Basketball and Beach Volleyball teams. Not only did I have a great experience at uni and meet some of my best friends to date, making these connections has helped me career wise.
The more people you know and can connect with the more versed you will be in different industries and occupations which will further your career. You can never know when a connection will come in handy for your future career or the company that you work for.
A UWA degree opens doors
My degrees at UWA have helped me gain entry to top firms in Australia and globally. They have also assisted me in being eligible to do my Chartered Accountancy Post Graduate Study. If it wasn't for my degree in Commerce from UWA, I would have never been able to work for a number one accounting firm worldwide, nor Japan's largest Oil & Gas company where I work today. Additionally, my second degree from UWA, Music, whilst completely different to commerce has helped me develop a different way of critical thinking which I now use in my day to day job (as it is diverse). It has also helped differentiate me from other candidates at job interviews which gave me an advantage (as it is an interesting talking point).
What advice would you give a student on Day 1 at UWA?
Join as many uni clubs/societies/attend as many events as you can (that you are interested in), to meet as many people as possible. Don't fall into the trap of never going into uni for classes or social events. It is so important to make connections, not just in your chosen field of study but also to spread your network out. You never know when that person who did engineering or law might come in handy in the industry you work in.
