From Poverty-Fighting Achiever to Award-Winning Entrepreneur
Born in a small terrorist-inflicted village in Punjab, India, Jatinder Singh, CPA, relied on scholarships to get quality education at boarding schools. As the oldest of five siblings, Jatinder had to learn how to grow vegetation to help support her family. She also struggled with epilepsy, but she didn't let that stop her from reaching her academic goals.
Jatinder's first exposure to accounting was as a child, when she saw her uncle working on income taxes. After looking at his books, she liked that accounting required business sense. "I studied business accounting on my own, and I would go and tutor kids to make money," she said. But Jatinder decided to be a biology major to please her parents. "My parents wanted me to be a doctor. So I left India promising them that I would become a doctor in the United States. But I knew in the back of my mind I would never be a doctor."
After she finished college at Drexel University in 1998, she worked at Temple University in Philadelphia as an office manager. She took accounting classes as an employee of the school. As she continued to learn about accounting, Jatinder worked for a couple of CPA firms and began studying for the CPA exam. She passed in 2007. After obtaining her CPA license, she worked her way up to vice president of finance and accounting for a woman-owned IT company in a suburb of Philadelphia. Jatinder then took her accounting career to the next level by starting her own practice, with three clients. "At that point, I wanted to expand my horizons and get involved in the CPA community." She became a member of the NJCPA Southwest Jersey Chapter and eventually became the chapter president.
Coming from northern India, Jatinder is grateful for the opportunities she was able to capitalize on in the U.S. "I am really thankful for this country. This country gave me the freedom that my country could never give me." Jatinder wanted to give back and extend opportunities and resources to businesses and professionals in India.
She served as president of the U.S. chapter of the U.S. India Investors Forum for two years and is currently president of the U.S. India Business Forum. These nonprofit organizations are designed to help companies in India understand what the U.S. has to offer. Jatinder worked with the U.S. Commercial Service and the U.S. India Business Forum to encourage companies in India to take advantage of incentives the American government created for international companies to move their businesses to the States.
Because of her significant contributions to the U.S. India Investors Forum, Jatinder earned the Hind Rattan (translated as "gem of India"), a national award in India. "My parents have the award up on their mantle," she says, explaining that her parents wanted to keep the award as a reminder of how much Jatinder overcame to accomplish her success.
Jatinder believes relationship building is the road to client loyalty, allowing her to keep clients for decades. "My relationships with my clients have lasted longer than some marriages. Iām kind of married to my clients!"
Jatinder is an advocate for empowering women. She has spoken at New Jersey colleges, encouraging female accounting students to start their own businesses and get involved with organizations that allow them to serve their communities.
Jatinder's path to success wasn't an easy one with shortcuts or leisurely walkways. She had to work her way out of poverty, trusting her parents to wrangle the money for her plane ticket to the U.S. But she knew that when she hit rock bottom, success was right around the corner. Jatinder hopes to inspire others to make great decisions for themselves.
"People say [about me], 'She really thinks she's all that.' I don't think I'm all that. I know I am. I worked for it. I deserve to reward myself."