Testing the Limits

These days, accounting is considered an old profession. In comparison with the high salaries and commissions to be earned in the stock market, deciding to become a CPA might even require a leap of faith. Antonios Prassos is taking that leap, among others.

“You can always start your own accounting firm,” Prassos says. “You can’t start your own investment bank.”

Prassos, a junior in the BS/MS in accounting program at Long Island University’s Brooklyn campus, is not your typical student. Upon graduation in December 2002, he will have completed the soon-to-be-mandatory 150 hours of credit in just four and a half years.

Yet he is remarkably laid back: He described his 15-hour course load last spring as “relaxed.” (That 15-hour course load was in addition to the 20 hours of work-study each week required by his full academic scholarship and a part-time catering gig.) In April 2001, his grade point average was 3.71.

Prassos was inspired to become a CPA by watching his dad’s accountant.

“That’s where the money is,” Prassos says, although he wants more than the money. He emphasized that technology has streamlined many of the tasks his dad’s accountant performs manually, cutting down on the workload and making possible a life outside the office.

“I hope the profession is changing,” Prassos said. “I don’t want to be dull and boring. Using technology gives you more time, less stress.”

According to Prassos, technology has made most of what he has learned thus far in accounting classes irrelevant. Nevertheless, he is thankful that he has learned to do the basics by hand.

“There’s a difference between me in front of a computer and a friend in front of a computer,” he said. “We can both enter the same information and get the same results, but I’ll understand it.”

Work is not everything to Prassos, a self-described risk taker. Bungee jumping and skydiving are just two of his recent feats. He skydived from 14,000 feet—and had so much fun falling that he forgot to pull the cord. The instructor had to pull it for him.

Extracurricular activities include membership in the accounting society and HEPA, a Greek organization not affiliated with the university. Through HEPA, Prassos has participated in recreational activities and trips worldwide. He is a student member of both the New York State Society of CPAs and the American Institute of CPAs.

In addition, Prassos has volunteered with the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program for two years now. Through VITA, students help low-income taxpayers file their taxes. He said the volume at LIU Brooklyn this year was 70 taxpayers per day, with a staff of eight to assist them.

His favorite courses have been intermediate accounting (131 and 132) because of their real-world applicability. He said the majority of the material in those courses was common sense, but broadly useful. He does not plan to pursue another academic degree but “definitely” plans to earn the CPA.

Accountants are “well rounded,” Prassos says, because an accounting education provides the foundation for understanding many other fields.

In five years, Prassos expects to be working for some company or firm with little free time. He plans to stay in Beechhurst, Queens, where he can be near the city but have a house with a yard.

With less than a year and a half to go before landing his first accounting position, Prassos says, “I can’t wait to get there and be settled in.”