Accountant earns her dream job

Shelly-Ann Barnaby has always been
good with numbers.

She graduated from George Town
Primary, went on to George Hicks High School and then to John Gray, where she
was at the top of her class.

“My mom has always stressed the
importance of education,” she said, adding that she was never allowed to work
in the summer unless it involved some type of school internship or educational
programme like Junior Achievement.

She applied, was accepted and became
very successful in Junior Achievement, an organisation that helps students work
in real-life situations with professionals from the business community.  In Ms Barnaby’s case, JA was instrumental in
bringing her into the field of accounting.

“You study something in school and
never see how it applies in the real world,” she said.  “In JA, I got to see how accounting worked in
business.  I knew what I wanted to do and
the company I wanted to work for.”

That company happened to be
PricewaterhouseCoopers, and the program led her to meet Trishia Ogilvie, the
director of risk management and compliance at PwC who formerly worked in the
human resources department there.

“I used to volunteer with JA as a
company adviser,” Ms Ogilvie said.  “I
definitely remember her as a strong participant for sure.”

After receiving her associate’s
degree from University College of the Cayman Islands, she went to Brock
University in St. Catharine’s, Ontario, Canada, where she earned her bachelor’s
degree in accounting.

“I liked it (Canada), but I
couldn’t take the cold any longer,” she said.

She came back to Cayman after
graduating.  Now, she works at PwC as an
accountant with her CPA certification. 

January will mark three years that
Ms Barnaby first started working at PwC. They have invested in her as an
employee, she said, sending her to the US to take the proper exams and receive
additional training.

“I can’t imagine working anywhere
else,” she said.

Ms Ogilvie sees Ms Barnaby as an
example of the bright young Caymanian employees of PwC crucial to the future of
the company.

“She seems very driven, very keen,
very ambitious,” she said.  “She’s got
all the right questions and she’s very interested in progressing.”