Ryan Spencer
Partner
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
NJ USA
Milestones
My road in life has been direct.
Focus in high school.
High school offered accounting courses—I liked it.
College - lucky to have a plan to focus on accounting.
Rejected to business school in college for early admission.
Lucky enough to be accepted in normal admission.
Graduate.
Passed CPA exam with Honors (take that business school that previously rejected me!!).
Started work at PWC, moving three times (so far) to follow career opportunities!
Keep following my journey
Education
High School
Merced High School, Merced CA
Merced High School, Merced CA
Bachelor
University of Washington, Seattle, WA
University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Career
Partner
I audit the financial statements of companies; most notably, companies that are public in the United States.
Career Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Technology
Business
Helping People
Day to Day
I start by collaborating with my team on the critical issues for the day. I then have the time where I independently work on reviewing financial statements of my firm’s clients.
Advice for Getting Started
Here's the first step for high school students
To talk to professionals to understand the different “fields” of accounting to understand if it would interest you. Many people dismiss accounting at first because they believe it is “narrow” and is solely tax. There really are three potential paths in accounting: Auditing (public accounting firm or corporate internal auditor), Private Company accounting (accounting / finance within a company), or Tax (public accounting firm or within a company). Figure out what might be best for you!
Recommended Education
My career is related to what I studied. I'd recommend the path I took:
Bachelor
Hurdles
The Noise I Shed
From Society in General:
"Accounting is boring. You shouldn’t do that—you’ll just crunch numbers. "
