On December 8th, 2022 (Thursday), Mr. Frank YC Lin, Partner, Assurance practice, PWC Taiwan visited the accounting class of the IBBA program and had a meaningful lecture on the topic of “Auditor, Advisor and Executive Officer – Reimagine your accounting career”.
Mr. Frank has an experienced professional with a demonstrated history of working in the accounting industry. He is skilled in Internal Audit, Accounting, Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), Tax Accounting, International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), and Integrated Audit. With two decades in the accounting industry and more than 13 years working in PWC Taiwan in senior positions, Mr. Frank helped IBBA students understand about accounting and auditing field and gain new insight into accountant/ auditor jobs. Especially, he talked about his experience of working in international environments with a lot of diversity and the prospect of an accountant job in the new era with the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and new technologies.
To begin his lecture, Mr. Frank talked about his story since he was a bachelor student in Taiwan and how he decided to study in the UK and how his career in the accounting and auditing field started and developed. With inspiring stories, Mr. Frank motivates students to start writing their stories. He asked the question “What is your story? How would you start writing your story?”
In the main section, Mr. Frank presented the life of an accountant. He brought a lot of new insights with vivid examples during his career to demonstrate for his speech. Especially, Mr. Frank broke the stereotype of the accountant job. Being an accountant/auditor is not a tedious and routine job with working a lot of numbers or rugged rules. It is an interesting job with diverse tasks and full of challenges. He emphasized the role of motivation and determination on this journey. Students were impressed by his stories when working in different countries at different positions with various working styles. Mr. Frank also mentions the potential and attractive benefits of working in auditing firms apart from the requirements and qualifications. In his talk, he told stories about interns and practical experience that demonstrated the necessity of attitude and interpersonal skills in working.
Going beyond the conventional accounting-related issues, Mr. Frank shared about how to deal with and tackle culture shock issues in international working environments. He also discussed the role of diversity in accounting and auditing firms that explain the questions of why they want to hire employees in different countries with different backgrounds. Students were encouraged by Mr. Frank’s lecture to become an accountant/auditor in the future. In addition, he explained the recruitment strategies of big auditing corporations as well as PwC Taiwan where students can find a lot of opportunities and prospects for their career path.
Thanks to an informative, well-organized, and lively speech, students can imagine the actual life of an auditor, advisor, and executive Officer and realize the importance of knowledge equipped in the university for the journey ahead. Last but not least, Mr. Frank not only demonstrated his professional expertise, and international mindset but also is a friendly, witty, and motivating speaker.
(Written by NGUYEN TUAN DUONG)