New Zealand information sessions

Yaama. I'm Josie Tully. I'm a proud Gomeroi woman, a CPA and a commercial analyst here at HeliMods. HeliMods is an aerospace technology company here on the Sunshine Coast. We do design, manufacture and integration for special mission aircrafts such as the Royal Flying Doctor, which you can probably see behind me. My job here is a commercial analyst. So no two days are the same. I started out as a senior accountant and quickly realised that I did a lot more than just what a typical accountant does. So from forecasting, budgeting, reporting into leadership team, a bit of HR (Human Resources), AP (Accounts Payable), all of that kind of falls under my wing and it's super exciting.

Ever since I was a little girl, I loved numbers. I also really have a passion for helping others, empowering others. And pretty early on, I learnt that accounting was a career that I was able to combine the two of those. I also love accounting, especially in this day and age, because we have such an opportunity to be innovative, to be challenged, to be learning new things and to be challenging the status quo I suppose in what accounting is.

Attaining The CPA designation has opened amazing opportunities and doors for me. I'm an executive member of the Sunshine Coast Young Chamber of Commerce. I was super keen to get involved and I said, “Do you guys need any help on the executive committee?” And the response was, “Oh my gosh! Yes, we need an accountant.” So having my CPA designation really gave me the credibility for them to just take me on board. It's given me the confidence in myself that I can do anything I put my mind to.

Now that I'm a CPA, my future is very exciting. I do know that I want to be in a decision-making position and helping empower a team to really push HeliMods forward on the amazing growth trajectory that we're on.

Choose a job that you love. It is a big part of your life. Find what fulfills you and just make sure that you're striving towards that. Another piece of advice I would give my younger self is to start as soon as possible to equip yourself for your future career.