A BLACK CHILD TRANSFORMED BY ACCOUNTING
Botshelo Mhomboti is an accounting clerk who has published her first book ‘A black child transformed by accounting’ in June 2021. She is already busy with her second book called ‘The poetic atmosphere of income tax’. This one will be a book full of income tax poems which aims to help struggling income tax students understand the module or rather field better.
What inspired you to write this book?
I’ve always had a passion for writing, and I always encourage the youth to venture into a field with the aim of putting something new on the table. I wanted to be different and leave a mark in the accounting field, and this led me to think about combining poetry and accounting, which will introduce a new way of learning accounting.
When did you start writing the book and when was it published?
I started in October 2020 and completed it in June 2021. I handed the manuscript to my publisher, Dr Ditupa Fothane from the Department of Education, and it was published in September the same year.
What is your target market for the book?
The book covers basic accounting and is aimed at accounting learners from Grade 10 to first-year university students. The reason I include first-year accounting students is because students sometimes study science in high school and then decide to venture into the accounting field at tertiary. There are also many other career routes that has accounting modules, and the book will be a great investment for these.
I also encourage business owners to buy the book so that they get insight into the finance world, which will help them understand their accountants when they interpret financial statements.
Why will your readers benefit from reading this book?
Poetry encourages critical thinking and improves verbal and memory skills. The book will broaden the level of thinking of individuals who read it and will help the reader to recall information, as some formulae form part of poems.
What are some of the things you learnt while writing this book?
I have learnt that anything can be achieved through dedication and hard work. Balancing schoolwork and writing the book was a major challenge, but fortunately I managed to pull through. I also learnt that if you put your mind to something, anything is possible. I had a challenge raising funds for the publication of the book: I had to think of ways to get the means to publish it. This pushed me to start tutoring accounting students and selling items at traffic lights on weekends. What electrifies me now is the fact that I managed to pull through and that I made it because of my very own hard work and dedication.
