Asking a child what they want to be when they grow up can garner fantastic responses; princess, dragon slayer, robo-cop...but, not from this level-headed Bermudian. Mekisha Hill said she was focused on becoming an accountant from a "very young age".

Ms Hill, who works for PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC), where she is now a senior associate, said the road to becoming a CPA, has been long, but said she does not regret any of the "tears and trials".

Although stressing that she is "just starting out" in her career, Ms Hill said she did not waiver in reaching her goal. She said the drive to keep going came with this reasoning: "I knew it was possible, as others had done it."

Ms Hill said she has also been driven to succeed by being a mother. Her daughter, Chalae, seven, is a student at Warwick Academy. "Chalae was an incentive to get through it. And there were tears, times I wanted to quit, but I got through it," she said.

Ms Hill said she also had the support of family, who always assumed that she could do it.

A graduate of Warwick Academy and Bermuda College, Ms Hill went on to study at Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, where she graduated with a bachelor degree in commerce (major in accounting), in 1998. The CPA exam, which Ms Hill sat in November, 2000 and May, 2001 in Atlanta, involved four areas: tax, audit, law and finance. Ms Hill was also required to have several years of experience with an accounting firm - and September marked her third year being with PWC, full-time.

Although achieving three of the four areas at the November exam, Ms Hill had to re-sit the taxation exam, in May, as she achieved a 70 percent - with 75 percent being the minimum requirement to pass. She received word this August that she had been successful in achieving the CPA certification.

Speaking of her work at PWC, Ms Hill said she was able to gain valuable work and mentoring experience, even before finishing University. "I worked at PWC during the summer - when I was home from University. And I started there, full-time, in September 1998, after graduating from Acadia," Ms Hill said.

PWC also backed Ms Hill as she worked towards her CPA certification, and covered the cost of books, travel and time off for exams and a seven-week refresher course, in Atlanta, last year, after which she sat the CPA exam. Ms Hill said she also got moral support through the firm, both from the already certified accountants, and others, like her, who were working towards certification.

Speaking of the work she does as an accountant, Ms Hill said that she currently works in the audit department - and primarily with insurance companies.

Speaking of her work, in auditing, Ms Hill said she looks at the client's "books" which would have been prepared by the accountant, and investigates the company's financials, including looking at assets, levels of revenue and expenditure and the bank statements. Now, Ms Hill would like to see more Bermudians follow her in to the field, and she has gone out - with other PWC representatives - to schools to talk to students. She said PWC is very active in encouraging Bermudians, and beyond visiting Island schools, the firm has students come in to see what the day to day work of an accountant entails. But, Ms Hill advised young Bermudians who are interested in going in to the field, to prepare early. "You really need to have a game plan from about 15, to get ready for a career at 25," she said. Ms Hill said students need to work hard, get good grades and get exposure to the field through local firms or accountants.

Ms Hill concluded there is a real need for Bermudians to go in to the field, and she said that of roughly 900 accountants working on the Island, 600 of those are expatriates.

Ms Hill added that becoming an accounting opens up a multitude of career opportunities, in a wide range of fields.

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