Prepared to Advance in Auditing

Thinking back, Aldo Hernandez-Molina says math wasn’t always his strong point. Yet after overcoming early academic struggles to now being a graduate of our Certificate Program in Accounting, Aldo is finding career success as an auditing associate for KPMG in San Francisco.

His path began when needing to make up high school credits at local Contra Costa College (CCC) in order to graduate.

“Math was the subject I had convinced myself I was bad at,” Aldo muses, “but eventually I realized if I set my mind to it, I can do whatever I want. I went from having to retake Algebra 1 in high school three times, to getting a bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics from California State University, Chico.”

Born to and raised in the Bay Area by immigrant parents, and a first-generation college student, Aldo entered the workforce full time at a Bank of America in Pinole, Calif., with the idea that there was an opportunity to grow within the company.

Then a friend made a comment and a light went on once again. “I met a friend who told me his story about going back to school to pursue accounting as a second career,” Aldo says. “It inspired me and pushed me to pursue courses in the field.”

But after two years at the bank and no upward mobility in sight, Aldo recalls, “I couldn’t put my life and career on hold anymore. I had no growth during my time at the bank, so that’s when I decided to start the Certificate Program in Accounting.”

“The asynchronous studying helped me learn how to manage my time which is very applicable in my career as an audit professional.”

Aldo’s roster of courses included:

• Financial Accounting
• Managerial Accounting
• Intermediate Accounting I
• Intermediate Accounting II
• Accounting Ethics
• Advanced Accounting
• Income Taxes and Personal Financial Planning
• Presenting Quantitative Data Effectively

“The course that had the greatest impact on my career goals at the time was Accounting Ethics,” Aldo imparts.

“It was very enlightening to learn about the downsides of accounting and about the fraud triangle theory, which talks about incentive, opportunity and rationalization. Being an auditor, learning about professional skepticism is key to avoiding making errors erroneously.”

In addition to his courses, Aldo found our instructors to be proactive and engaging. “They were very well decorated and knowledgeable, many having decades of work experience in public accounting,” he says. “When I needed support, they were there for me. Several of my instructors had Big Four and instructional experience, which led me to explore the world of public accounting.”

While completing the certificate, Aldo worked full time as a billing specialist for Sideman & Bancroft LLP in San Francisco, where he applied skills developed in Intermediate Accounting I and cost accounting to cash receipts, trust accounting and billing.

“The ability to apply cost accounting concepts to our complex billing cycles allowed me to perform my tasks with greater clarity and precision,” he enthuses.

Opportunities for career growth continued to present themselves as Aldo made his way through the certificate. During his time at Bank of America, he had developed a professional relationship with one of the financial center managers who had transferred from a different branch. That network connection was the spark that led Aldo, in 2023, to discover which area of accounting really spoke to his skills.

“She had connected me with one of her colleagues who got into Novogradac after working at the bank,” he says. “She helped me gain insight into the world of audit accounting and introduced me to the recruiter at Novogradac for an internship.

“I went from studying accounting topics theoretically to finally applying my knowledge of accounting to my first audit busy season. I used my Intermediate Accounting I knowledge of debits/credits to create adjusting journal entries for my clients in low-income housing tax credits (LIHTC).”

“After starting the certificate at UC Berkeley Extension, I was able to tap into accounting topics like last-in, first-out (LIFO) and first-in, first-out (FIFO).”

^{—Aldo, on how course curriculum is immediately applicable}

Later that year, Aldo obtained an audit internship with KPMG, the company where he still works today. No longer an intern, he says the company’s internal CPE courses and his accounting certificate knowledge continue to inform his role as a full-time audit associate.

“My accounting certificate knowledge prepared me for the more complex tasks I am facing after my first full year of being an audit associate,” he affirms.

“My first year was about absorbing knowledge and preparing deliverables for my clients, but my second year is more about understanding what it is I’m doing, delegating tasks and asking important questions related to understanding the client’s business processes. I make important decisions that affect the audit timeline and apply concepts I learned from the more advanced accounting topics.”

Learning Shapes Healthy Work Habits

Initially, Aldo says he didn’t trust himself to learn in an asynchronous online environment. “But this certificate helped me overcome that way of thinking and curated a healthy and professional routine that I still apply to my career today.

“The asynchronous studying helped me learn how to manage my time, which is very applicable in my career as an audit professional,” he adds. “I’m satisfied with my decision to go back to school and choosing the Certificate Program in Accounting. It allowed me to work and study at my own pace and helped me earn my position in a company that values my worth.”

Now that Aldo is getting his footing in the field, he reflects on how it came to be and offers this simple advice to others in search of direction: “As long as you have an idea of what kind of position you want to have, the accounting certificate program is the way to go. It has a concentrated selection of courses and covers important accounting material and topics that are applicable anywhere. The certificate covers important topics in the CPA^® exams, which is very attractive to companies looking for accountants, especially CPAs.”