Priority

I tendered my resignation letter last Friday. Finally, I made it!

I tried to do it last Thursday but I failed to do so as my Partner left the office without pausing to a halt. The same thing happened on last Friday as well but I handed in my resignation letter to my Principal, K.T.J..

My Principal is a serious guy. He looks so fierce when he doesn't smile. However, I talked to him before and I know that he is not the kind of person as what we judge from his appearance. He smiled when he received my resignation notice. He followed by asking me "Why? Cannot stand the pressure?" I smiled and replied "No, my difficult time had over. I only felt pressure when I held two files in Tambun." 

"Then why you want to resign?" he asked. "I think it's time to change a new environment," I answered. He asked me whether I had a job on hand already but actually I didn't want to tell him that I want to involve in different line. On the other hand, I didn't intend to lie him as I really respected him a lot.

I told him that I would switch to another field, that was sales. When he knew that I had completed my ACCA, he was so shocked that I decided to leave, instead of working there for three years in order to get my ACCA membership. I told him that I wanted to try something new when I was still young. He told me the other story. He said I should have set getting ACCA membership as my priority since I was just twenty-three. I can easily switch to other lines after getting the membership. 

He followed by telling me that by the time he got his ACCA membership, he was already thirties. In fact, I was far better than most of my colleagues, who were still struggling for their papers. Furthermore, my English was better than most of my colleagues as well. He tried his best to convince me to stay. He even induced me by telling me that after three years time, I might be promoted to SA2 or even SA1. "Imagine, how much you can learn in three years time," he said.

I challenged him by asking him how far could I be in audit line. He told me how far could I be was depending on myself. I could be a partner in 20 years time or I could be a director. He further revealed that at least half of the Board members were accountants and the rest were engineers, from sales department, marketing department and etc..

I further asked him what were the requirements to be a Partner. He answered, "Perform. As a Partner, you have to know many things. When issues arise, you have to solve them. If you want to be promoted faster, you should go to Kuala Lumpur. In Penang regional office, you won't get that chance. Besides, since the business in Penang is relatively smaller, we can't afford to have too many partners. Frankly speaking, I could have earned more if I decided to work in K.L.. But I share the same goal with my wife, who is also in Audit line. Our priority is our family. Hence, we stay here. Last time, I was from PwC. " He stressed again, "What is your priority? Of course, you'll have different goal or priority at different stage but I guess, your priority is to get the ACCA membership."

He told me that I should stay at Audit in order to know more people since I was going to do sales. I had the opportunity to do so in Audit but not otherwise. People won't let someone entering their company or factory if he/she isn't their auditor. He shared his friend's story with me, who was accountant once, then joint sales, the so-called financial planner. He supported his friend due to the right timing. He force himself to commit a long term saving plans that time. 

He hoped I could change my mind. He wanted me to think again during the weekends and give him a call on Monday before helping me to send my resignation letter to the Partner.

Before that, I tried to fight for my colleagues' benefits as well. I told him, "Yes, no doubts that they're struggling for their papers. I always teach them some exam skills whenever they ask me. However, given their workload, it's almost impossible for them find their time to study. I always see some of them working during the weekends." "Yes, I know this but they still have to find their time to study," he replied. "Why can't our firm hire more people since our workload is so heavy?" I challenged again. 

"Yes, we're hiring people now but the applicants are not up to the standard," he answered, "actually you're good and you shouldn't go anywhere before getting your membership. Don't you feel that it's a waste?" I didn't challenge him anymore as I respected him and he wouldn't understand what I thought. 

I don't want to waste this opportunity to leave. I want to try something when my commitment is still low. Imagine, in three years time, how much commitment will I have? Can I leave that time? Why don't I try it now? If I'm successful, then the membership is nothing to me. On the other hand, if I fail, then my ACCA certificate won't expire. I still can fight for my membership. 

Ergo, my priority now is to try something new when my commitment is still low, otherwise I definitely will blame myself or even others in the future. If I'm destined to fail, at least, I tried before.



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