Yes, I went from Olympian to Accountant

I competed in 2021 Olympics as the #1 nationally ranked badminton player alongside the likes of Kevin Durant and Katie Ledecky. A couple months later, I was crunching numbers and reviewing financial records at a large public accounting firm. You might be thinking that I am crazy, but this is what I’ve strived to achieve in the past few years. And as many sacrifices as it took along the way, I am here to tell you I thoroughly enjoyed and embraced the whole process.

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Now if you think I meticulously planned out my life to get where I am today, you’re wrong. I knew badminton wasn’t going to create a long term profession after the Olympics, so finding something I enjoyed doing as my career was important. That’s when I was introduced to accounting and eventually the CPA exam.

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My first encounter with the CPA was as a freshman in college. I was drawn towards accounting because it taught me about the most essential parts of how a business operates from a numbers perspective. I love to say– no accounting, no business. It’s a shame accounting doesn’t get the reputation it deserves, because it’s more than just looking at spreadsheets and balancing out debits/credits with T-accounts. And as repetitive as the work may seem, having a CPA license lays the foundation for many careers in business, especially entrepreneurial ones.

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So, after college I started studying for my CPA, while pursuing an Olympic appearance. I was crazy enough to study countless hours per day, while training, competing, and eventually working full time. Yeah, it was hard, but by faith, it all worked itself into place. I’ve become one of the most unprecedented polar opposites one could ever imagine – an Olympian and a CPA.

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Do not be intimidated by the vocabulary. Basic accounting concepts used in the business world cover revenues, expenses, assets and liabilities. These elements are tracked and recorded in documents including balance sheets, income statements, and cash flow statements. Introduction to accounting frequently identifies assets, liabilities, and capital as the field's three fundamental concepts.

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• Assets describe an individual or company's holdings of financial value. Athletes and Assets features Athletes with tangible business value to present (the assets).
• Liabilities are debts and unpaid expenses. Don’t be a liability and neglect your unpaid expenses.
• Capital describes the money the entity has on hand. You want a lot of Capital. I think that goes without saying.

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Accounting doesn’t have to be boring. Neither does pursuing a CPA have to be burdensome. As challenging as it may seem, be audit you can be and make everyday account…

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-Timothy