A Journey to Survival: Is passion enough?

“Many aspire to be a CPA, but few succeed in being one.”

They said that the Bachelor of Science in Accountancy (BSA) is believed to demand passion and commitment, but is it truly enough?

Certified Public Accountant Licensure Examination (CPALE) is considered one of the most challenging board exams in the Philippines. Many aspire to be a CPA, but few succeed in being one. This could be proven by the continuous decrease in the CPALE passing rate, wherein the October 2019 exam got the lowest rate of 14.32%. This predicament made lots of students think they might not get through until the end.

Many people believe that accounting offers different job opportunities in the future since every business needs an accountant. However, despite this positive reason, burnout is a prevalent stage that students go through almost every day due to academics — to reach their dreams.

With online classes and the number of workloads every day, many students still find it challenging to manage their time. This leaves them behind with lessons that result in trouble building a solid foundation of their knowledge regarding concepts. Most are sacrificing sleep to study and be able to catch up with the lessons. Nevertheless, even if you spend a week studying constantly, there is still no guarantee that you will pass the exam.

Students in the BSA program entered for a variety of reasons. Others chose it because it is connected to their hearts, while some took it for practical reasons. Even so, students deal with this challenging point of their lives in different ways. 

Hence, I ask myself, is passion the key to survival?

By continuing in the same program in my junior year, I understood that passion alone would not be sufficient. I have acquaintances from high school who are much more passionate than I am about enrolling in the accountancy program back then but still opted to shift to another program along the way because the pressure drains them physically, emotionally, and mentally. They were passionate, but we all react to circumstances differently. Furthermore, it is okay if there are times that we choose and prioritize the things that make us feel the most alive. After all, the program we take in college does not define our worth and we all have our own way of achieving success in our chosen fields.

We, future CPAs, are undoubtedly being sharpened nowadays. Nobody said that this journey to survival would be a smooth sailing one. Yet, the hard work, eagerness, and determination to reach the mountain’s peak must come together with our passion. 

One day, our passion will again reignite within us, and we will realize that all our sacrifices led us to be one step closer to the license — our dreams.