Jennifer de Leon is an Audit Senior with the multinational professional services firm EY (formerly Ernst & Young).In the video, she explains why she decided to become a certified public accountant (CPA), what exactly she does in her job and also gives tips to students wanting to get a job in accounting.
Before you watch
Before you watch, check some key accounting and business vocabulary that you will hear in the video.
Use one of the words below to complete each of the flashcard definitions.
balance sheet / GPA/ cubicle / collaborative / oversee / mergers / commute
While you watch
Watch the video to find out more about the work of a certified public accountant. Answer the questions that appear on the screen.
After you watch
Now that you have heard more about how to become a CPA and what a CPA does, let’s focus on some interesting language used in the video.
Part 1– Choose the correct ending for each sentence.
Part 2– Now match the expressions to their meanings.
Part 3– Complete the sentences by adding the missing prepositions in the gaps.
Use a dictionary to check the meaning of words you’re not sure about. Here’s a good online dictionary you can use: Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries.
Language tip
Jennifer uses some colloquial informal language to describe accountants:
dork – somebody who is unfashionable and isn’t very good socially with people
slacker – a person who doesn’t do enough work
nerdy – boring and lacking social skills
Here are examples of how the words can be used:
There is nothing particularly wrong with this kind of language, but you need, of course, to consider how people might react to it and think about the level of informality that is acceptable in the situation you are in.
As we can see from the example of Jennifer, who is a young business professional, in some cultures such as the USA, this kind of language is considered perfectly fine. In other, more formal business cultures, it may make a bad impression.
