The last hurdle revisited

By Lori Murdoch

No work. All play. That was the forecast for Friday, November 30, the day when the four candidates CAmagazine profiled in December would know the 2007 UFE results. Marc-Philippe Léonard in Montreal would know November 29; Kerry Tham in Edmonton would find out at 8:00 a.m. November 30, while Ontario residents Alex Fisher and Elliot Craig would have to wait until noon that day.

Twenty-four hours before the great revelation, PricewaterhouseCoopers candidate Craig was getting a little nervous in Hamilton; in fact, he was too nervous to find out the results himself, and had asked his mentor Anthony D’Alesio to call him with the results. Tham had been scrambling to meet deadlines at KPMG in Edmonton, and was feeling really anxious, but “keeping busy keeps my mind off things.”

Three-and-a-half hours before results in Quebec were due online, Léonard was also really busy at Ernst & Young. “The worst part,” he jokes, “is when everybody calls asking if you’re stressed!” After a “crazy day” at work, Deloitte and Touche’s Fisher took off to Toronto dance spot The Fifth Social Club with his study buddies. “We will never have a night like this again!” he says.

At 6:50 p.m., Léonard was at an Internet café with his girlfriend. The site unlocked at 7:00 and one click of the mouse revealed UFE writers’ fates with a “sorry” or “congratulations.” “My teeth were clenched,” Leonard says, sucking in his breath on the phone the next day. He clicked: Congratulations! You have passed your UFE 2007!

“It was pure euphoria,” he says. By 8:00 p.m., he was celebrating with his office at Vieux Dublin pub; a couple of hours later, they were off to a party at Opera nightclub, organized by the Young CA Association of Quebec. “It was a pretty fun night. I’ve only slept for three hours,” he says the next day, “but I feel great. There are not many nights that will resemble November 29.” Léonard plans to stay with his firm. He still has to complete his two years requirement, and thinks by summer he will officially have his designation. At noon on Friday, November 30 — while Fisher and Craig were still holding their breath in Ontario — he went off to Karina’s cocktail lounge for more celebrating with staff.

At 9:30 a.m. on November 30, Tham was spraying champagne on celebrating colleagues after running, screaming, up the grand staircase at KPMG. “Our entire office was up there,” she says, “hooting and hollering, waiting with champagne.” Tham had recruited a girlfriend to check results with her at 8:00 o’clock. “I couldn’t do it alone,” she says. They clicked on the link - again and again. “It was probably 8:10 before I got on. I was shaking the whole time.” Beside her name: competency achieved. “I was so excited,” she says. She drove to the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Alberta for the letter of proof and met her study buddy outside the office. “We went in together. We were both so happy.” After champagne sipping, lunch at the Mayfair Golf and Country Club and cocktails in a stretch limo on the way to a spa, there was a bash at The Globe bar and grill where, in KPMG tradition, UFE writers cut off everyone’s tie.

Tham says the future is wide open. “There’s such a burden off you,” she says. “Now I feel like I can just go forward. I have 12 months left to article. Maybe do some travelling. Anything is possible.”

On the big day, Craig’s fiancée — he became engaged after writing the UFE — stayed home to be with him. A friend visited until 11:00 am. “My heart started racing then,” he says. D’Alesio had agreed to call when he got Craig’s results, probably just before noon. He had been instructed to just spit out the verdict when Craig answered the phone. It rang at 11:58. “As soon as the first syllable came out of his mouth, I knew,” Craig says. “He said ‘congratulations, you passed.’ It was an amazing feeling. It’s great to know it’s done. I feel relieved.”

Then they phoned everybody — his mom first. They visited family and friends before going to the 4:00 p.m. PwC office celebration, dinner at Capri Restaurant, and late-night partying at Hamilton nightclub Liquid Kitty. “It was a great night,” he says. “A great weekend for sure.”

“My definite plan is to stay with the firm,” he says. He thinks he will have completed his hours by winter 2009. “I plan on staying after that. I enjoy what I do. I love the people there.”

Fisher was the last to find out. At noon, he was home alone in Thornhill, Ont., in front of two computers. “You just want to do it quickly,” he says of finding the results, “like ripping off a Band-Aid.” At 12:00, he clicked on the link. Like Tham, he waited. At 12:04, he found his name — in Ontario, only successful writers are posted. “It’s the greatest feeling,” he says. “This has been the most painful experience of my life but the feeling of gratification is overwhelming and validating.” Then the celebrating began: lunch with friends, dinner at Riva Supper Lounge with performance coach Sean Crewe and another Deloitte student, cocktails and festivities with co-workers at swanky nightclub This is London. “I asked someone there [another Deloitte UFE writer who passed] if he was having a good time and he said, ‘I could be picking up garbage off the street right now and I would be having a good time!’” Like Craig, Fisher “absolutely” plans to stay with his firm. He hopes to complete his hours by June. He turned 25 on December 7, the day of the firm’s UFE luncheon at the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel. “There will never be another birthday like that again,” he says. “Ever.”