Age No Barrier in Chasing Dream

Valerie Poss has been working as a self-taught accountant since 1987 and decided that the year she turned 60, would be the year she gained a formal qualification.

Valerie, originally from California, was working for a race car team when she saw the accountant taking the books with her to work from home. She then taught herself accounting with information provided to her by the accountant and decided it would be a great career which would enable her to work from home while raising a family.

She says she was always fascinated with numbers so accounting was the ideal career for her.

“I’m a numbers person, so it sort of came easy to me.”

Valerie moved to New Zealand and continued to work for herself.

When she was approaching 60, she decided that now was the time to get a formal accounting qualification, prompting her to enrol in the Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology Bachelor of Applied Management (Accounting stand).

“I wanted to prove that 60 isn’t old, so I decided that the year I turn 60, was the year I get my degree.”

She found studying very different to when she was in school but says she thoroughly enjoyed the challenge.

“It was a completely new way of learning. It wasn’t easy and took a lot of planning to keep all the balls in the air, but I did it.”

As part of the Bachelor of Applied Management ākonga can undertake a research paper. Valerie chose to look into why accountants choose to work for themselves instead of staying with a larger firm.

She says it is a lot harder in New Zealand for people to go out on their own and work for themselves, but wanted to focus on those who did for her research paper.

She interviewed a range of New Zealand-based accountants between the ages of 35 and 60 and titled her research paper, Extroverted Introverts: A Qualitative Study of Personality Traits of Public Practice Accountants in New Zealand.

Valerie’s tutor Darlyn Chutuape presented her with the prospect of presenting her work at the 18th Global Business Conference. The annual conference is organised by the Association of Training Institutions for Foreign Trade in Asia and the Pacific (ATIFTAP).

The conference is held in Manila, but Darlyn and Valerie joined online. Research presenters were a combination of undergraduate students, master's graduates, and university professors sharing their research outputs. Industry experts were also present, who were able to examine the presentations and offer helpful feedback. 

Valerie says she had never done anything like this previously but felt hugely supported by Darlyn. The presentation was a success and Valerie and Darlyn were awarded the Best Presentation in their group.

“It was my story, so I did feel at ease talking to it.”

The whole experience has sparked an interest in further research.

“I do think there’s more we could do with this and look at cross-cultural impacts. There’s no other research like it in New Zealand.”

Valerie finished her Bachelor of Applied Management (Accounting) last year and says she feels lucky to have studied at Toi Ohomai.

“I really appreciate the support of Toi Ohomai. It’s been a fantastic experience.”