Making It Balance

A career in audit opens up many new possibilities

Roadtrip Nation sent three future auditors on a 3-week trek to explore the exciting range of careers in audit and accounting (fueled by us here at Discover Audit!). On this career exploration road trip, Da’Rell, Sobia and Lailani met with leaders who began their careers in audit and accounting.

Filmed for the Roadtrip Nation public television series, this experience introduces a diverse group of young people—and TV audiences—to the wide range of paths in auditing and accounting while also working to dispel some of the common stereotypes tied to these careers.

 

Share Your Road

Through Discover Audit, the Center for Audit Quality is collaborating with the career experts at Roadtrip Nation to create a community where auditing and accounting professionals can share their stories with fellow and future team members to learn from—and grow with—each other.

Everyone has a story about how they got to where they are today — and every story holds lessons.

 

Meet the Roadtrippers

 

SOBIA
22
Atlanta, GA

“I think life is about doing things that make you really uncomfortable,” says Sobia Bhatti, a recent grad from Georgia Institute of Technology who’s ready to find her footing in the working world. It’s a bold mindset she didn’t always have. Originally from a small, quiet town in Georgia, when Sobia moved to bustling Atlanta to go to school, she learned quickly that clinging to your comfort zone only holds you back from growth—you’ve just got to throw yourself in the deep end and start adapting. Sobia’s spent all of college learning to get comfortable with change, but she’s still pretty terrified of what’s next in life: she’s about to start a position at a big accounting firm, and while her family worries that corporate culture is too challenging for her—or any woman minority—to succeed in, Sobia is ready to find mentors who can show her it’s possible.

DA’RELL
21
Houston, TX

Twenty-one-year-old Da’Rell knows he doesn’t look like the typical mold people envision when they think of an auditor or accountant. “As a black male accounting student at a historically black university, I am aware of the rarity I represent when I step out into the world,” he says. In Da’Rell’s eyes, though, his unique position isn’t a hurdle; it’s an opportunity. A chance to blaze the trail for those coming up, challenge perceptions, and create change. In that sense, Da’Rell’s goals in accounting aren’t just personal; they’re social. A big believer that education opens doors, he aspires to one day build a firm that focuses on educating black-owned businesses on financial topics. Impacting the greater good is a priority, but so is providing for his immediate family. As a father, Da’Rell wants to give his children the best life possible, and a career in the auditing profession offers the stability he’s looking for, while also allowing him to be part of something bigger than himself.

LEILANI
22
Huntington Beach, CA

For Leilani, auditing and accounting offer a sense of certainty she’s been missing in her life. A recent graduate from California State University, Long Beach, Leilani has worked hard in school and even landed work before graduating. But California is a long way from her family, who live in Guam, where she grew up. Moving across the world alone for college was always a given—her small island home holds a place in her heart, but it just didn’t have the opportunities she wanted for her future. So when she got to college, she threw herself into her studies to make sure her sacrifices were worth it. But now that she’s graduated, Leilani is tired of missing her family. With her entrepreneurial spirit guiding her, she’s looking to auditing to give her the business savvy to be able to open her own business someday so she can provide for her family and give her little sister the chance to live a better life without having to go through what she did.