From Intern to Chief Accountant in 18 Months
Only 26-years-old, Pavel Vagero is the chief accountant of one of Belarus’ most promising enterprises. A few years ago, he signed on for a summer accounting internship at East European Parts (EEP), which supplies top retail brands, to fulfill a university requirement. At that time, EEP was growing rapidly and had a shortage of workers. The intern soon began shouldering more and more responsibilities. It quickly become apparent to him that management had, as he put it, “very little familiarity” with solid accounting practices.
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Pavel Vagero, 26, is chief accountant of one of Belarus’ most promising
enterprises
Photo Credit: Lina Kozina |
“As the company grew, it became increasingly important to draft clear, reliable financial reports,” recalls Vagero. “I had a lot to learn, and I wasn’t sure if I could do it. But even with all my mistakes, the company supported me.” For Pavel, Certified Accounting Practitioner (CAP) training came as a godsend: he took part in CAP’s training, testing and certification program, which USAID’s BIZPRO project was conducting in Belarus.
By that time, the 110-employee limited liability company had developed a thriving joint venture with a Dutch firm. Expansion brought a number of challenges that could have overwhelmed the company: its workforce had tripled and foreign reporting and internal auditing processes became vastly more complex. In addition, there was the more mundane, but nonetheless complicated issue of the growing enterprise’s tax liabilities. Pavel stepped up to the challenge again and began to apply the international best practices he had learned at university. The CAP program allowed him to integrate theory into practice, and gave him a chance to discuss problems with experts and fellow classmates. The program “changed the way I saw accounting,” he says, and “made it relevant not only for standard accounting needs, but for financial analysis as well. It became a problem-solving tool.”
Pavel has currently undertaken the second stage in the Certified International Professional Accountant (CIPA) process. Once he receives his accreditation, he’ll be one of a few such accountants in Belarus. “I now feel a lot more confident,” he says. “My supervisors take my recommendations and comments seriously. I’m going to continue to deepen my knowledge of management and financial accounting, and find ways to apply it.”
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