![\"\"](\"https:\/\/poole.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/424\/2020\/07\/Sarah-Saunders-1-3.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nShe found that opportunity at Cary-based Epic Games, developer of the popular online video game Fortnite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In May 2019, she joined as the accounting manager of the company\u2019s newly released PC game store, where she\u2019s had the chance to build accounting systems for the store from the ground up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUnlike working with different clients at EY, I now have one \u2018baby\u2019 that I get to focus on,\u201d Saunders says. \u201cIt\u2019s really the perfect role for me – it\u2019s challenging in all the right ways while also providing some stability in terms of my work-life balance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finding your own path is something Saunders feels passionate about, which is one of the reasons she\u2019s served as a mentor in Poole\u2019s undergraduate accounting mentorship program for the past five years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s so important for students to connect with someone in the field they\u2019re trying to enter into,\u201d she says. \u201cI really try to listen to the student and not push what I\u2019ve done – but help them to find their own path.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false,"raw":"\n\n\n\n\n
During kindergarten, Sarah (Hopkins) Saunders announced that when she grew up, she was going to be an accountant like her mom, who worked for years at Big Four accounting firm EY. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI always knew that\u2019s what I wanted to do. Being a CPA was my end goal, and I wanted to do everything I could to get there,\u201d Saunders says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She graduated with her bachelor\u2019s degree in accounting from the Poole College of Management, during which time she checked off the boxes by participating in the college\u2019s Accounting Internship Recruitment (AIR) program, joining EY\u2019s Emerging Leaders Program, and interning at EY.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI knew I needed 150 hours to get that CPA license, so getting my master\u2019s degree was next,\u201d she says. To Saunders, there was no question of where she would go. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She enrolled in the Jenkins Masters of Accounting (MAC) program, graduated in 2013, obtained her CPA designation and moved to the Charlotte area to work full-time in EY\u2019s auditing group. During her six years at EY, Saunders had the chance to support three companies through three IPOs - an opportunity few young accountants get to experience so early in their career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And though she was deeply appreciative of her years at EY, she was ready for a change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was a hard decision because EY was all I had ever known. For a lot of accountants, public accounting is the main goal when you are fresh out of college. I vividly remember during my first semester of the MAC program when my professor asked us where we wanted to see ourselves in five years. It was an easy question for almost everyone to answer - except me,\u201d Saunders remembers. \u201cAll but two people in the class had a clear plan - work in public accounting and transition to an industry position. At that moment I realized I had never really thought about what I would do after I became a CPA. Up to that point, my main goal was to be a CPA and I did it by 23. So I really had to soul-search about what I wanted to do next.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She found that opportunity at Cary-based Epic Games, developer of the popular online video game Fortnite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In May 2019, she joined as the accounting manager of the company\u2019s newly released PC game store, where she\u2019s had the chance to build accounting systems for the store from the ground up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cUnlike working with different clients at EY, I now have one \u2018baby\u2019 that I get to focus on,\u201d Saunders says. \u201cIt\u2019s really the perfect role for me - it\u2019s challenging in all the right ways while also providing some stability in terms of my work-life balance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finding your own path is something Saunders feels passionate about, which is one of the reasons she\u2019s served as a mentor in Poole\u2019s undergraduate accounting mentorship program for the past five years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think it\u2019s so important for students to connect with someone in the field they\u2019re trying to enter into,\u201d she says. \u201cI really try to listen to the student and not push what I\u2019ve done - but help them to find their own path.\u201d<\/p>\n"},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sarah Saunders, Jenkins MAC 2013, created her own career path and found her perfect role at Epic Games.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":16195,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"source":"","ncst_custom_author":"","ncst_show_custom_author":false,"ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"ncst\/default-post-header","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"{\"showAuthor\":true,\"showDate\":true,\"showFeaturedVideo\":false,\"caption\":\"\",\"subtitle\":\"Sarah Saunders, Jenkins MAC 2013, created her own career path and found her perfect role at Epic Games.\",\"displayCategoryID\":398}","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","ncst_content_audit_display":false,"ncst_backToTopFlag":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[323,398,286,1146,9,1],"tags":[442,250,732,344],"_ncst_magazine_issue":[],"class_list":["post-16194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-graduate","category-mac-program","category-newswire","category-profiles","category-students","category-uncategorized","tag-jenkins-graduate-programs","tag-jenkins-mac-program","tag-master-of-accounting","tag-poole-college-of-management"],"displayCategory":{"term_id":398,"name":"Jenkins MAC Program News","slug":"mac-program","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":398,"taxonomy":"category","description":"Master of Accounting Program News","parent":1810,"count":197,"filter":"raw"},"acf":{"ncst_posts_meta_modified_date":null},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/poole.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/poole.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/poole.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poole.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16194"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/poole.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16194\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16317,"href":"https:\/\/poole.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16194\/revisions\/16317"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poole.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/poole.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poole.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poole.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16194"},{"taxonomy":"_ncst_magazine_issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poole.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_ncst_magazine_issue?post=16194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/figure>\n\n\n\n