Ratish’Pillai‘
Goal‘Statement‘
University’of’St.‘Thomas‘
Cameron’School’of’Business‘
Master’of’Science‘in’Accounting‘
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I!first!grew!to!appreciate!the!accounting!profession!when!I!was!in!middle!school.!That!sounds!
cliché,!but!back!then!I!didn’t!know!that!the!profession!was!even!called!“accounting”!or!what!it!
entailed,!or!even!that!it!had!anything!to!do!with!numbers,!laws!and!specific!practices.!I!just!
knew!one!thing!was!on!my!mind!“This!seems!pretty!cool.”!
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First!and!foremost!I!was!attracted!to!the!essence!of!the!field.!My!father!has!been!a!CPA!most!of!
my!life,!he’s!worked!for!the!IRS,!big!accounting!firms,!and!in!the!healthcare!industry.!When!I!was!
very!young!he!started!a!side!business!filing!people’s!annual!tax!returns.!What!started!as!
something!to!make!side!income!to!help!our!family!soon!grew!beyond!what!he!could!have!
imagined.!When!I!was!in!middle!school!he!took!a!huge!risk!in!leaving!his!mid–level!management!
job!to!open!up!his!own!accounting!firm.!When!he!first!opened!up!shop!is!when!I!noticed!what!
he!was!to!his!clients,!more!than!just!a!CPA,!he!was!a!confidante.!I!grew!up!in!a!close–knit!South–
Asian!immigrant!community!in!North!Texas,!where!many!families!had!few!people!to!turn!to!for!
advice!about!their!taxes!and!general!accounting!and!finance!needs.!I!saw!that!people!trusted!my!
father!greatly.!Because!he!himself!was!an!immigrant,!and!had!gone!through!similar!experiences!
as!most!of!these!people,!he!knew!their!needs.!Like!many!South–Asian!immigrants!he!has!worked!
a!minimum!wage!job,!he’s!gone!back!to!school!for!a!degree!after!coming!here!from!India,!he’s!
worked!for!big!companies!and!he’s!owned!a!business.!People!knew!they!could!rely!on!him!for!