There’s stuff you’re qualified for and just things you learn

Back in the 1970s, a reformist Australian Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, bestowed one of the most generous gifts any government could give to an emerging generation - free university education. I was one of the beneficiaries.

Unburdened by an education debt, we gained an undergraduate degree which was then enough of a differentiator to get you into a job that paid a little bit more than others. In fact, a job was almost a right rather than the chook raffle it has become in the age of keyword-optimised resume writing.

Open access to tertiary education for a long time made doing an apprenticeship and mastering a trade a second-class career path. How things have transformed. Now a plumber is far more likely to achieve secure lifetime employment than someone with a law degree.

Whether university educated or not, entering the workplace is to start a journey of lifelong learning, most likely in fields that have nothing to do with academic or trade qualifications.

I never dreamt that an arts degree would see me in treasury roles on not-for-profit boards. My path was set to be the polar opposite of the mathematical pursuits of accounting, notwithstanding that some accountants have made a fortune and a degree of notoriety from practicing dark arts.

But business life took me to places where I built accounting knowledge, initially based on the necessity of running my own business, but latterly out of interest in accounting and financial reporting as tools in the armoury of communicating on business performance and outlook to satisfy and manage stakeholder expectations.

In fact, it is the belief that effective financial reporting is one of the most powerful drivers within a corporate communications portfolio makes for a more enlightened and effective approach to the treasurer’s role.

Too often, boards and executives take a begrudging view of publishing the quarterly or annual financial results rather than as something that can enhance the reputation of their organisation, improve governance, promote the pursuit of continual improvement and endorse their social licence.

Someone once said to me that my career path revealed no discernible plan. They were correct. But that is true of most of the best and most interesting careers that chart unexpected courses.

Photo by Bruno Martins on Unsplash