Professor
Saint Louis University
St. Louis, MO
For some, job security isn’t enough. Ananth Seetharaman would prefer career security.
His CPA designation gives him all the things people love about this profession: the flexibility, the intellectual challenge, the life-long learning. But he’s also drawn to the idea that being a CPA means you can work from anywhere, for anyone, and make a comfortable living.
Security sounds like a funny priority for a guy who races around a motorcycle track on a hardcore race bike in his free time. But don’t worry: he does have another bike as well. That one’s even street legal.
Apparently Ananth just really likes to stimulate his brain – before circling the track at triple-digit speeds, he earned his Ph.D., his MBA and a Master’s of Taxation degree. Then he passed all four parts of the CPA exam. He also recently completed two full-time internships with two Big 4 accounting firms, which help keep his finger on the pulse of the business. These days he uses his impressive background and recent experience to teach students at Saint Louis University.
“I believe that the CPA credential coupled with my experience and background make me uniquely qualified to counsel students” he says.
To summarize, Ananth has a proposition that you might find insightful too: “If you like to be intellectually challenged, if you like to solve complex problems, if you like a fast paced service-oriented environment, if you believe in life-long learning, if you want to get paid well for the knowledge and skills you will learn and possess, and if you want career as opposed to job-security, then you just might want to become a CPA.”
Years practicing: 17
Best job: This one
Hobbies outside of work: Motorcycling, music
Words to live by: “If it's got to be done, then do it well.”