#Iconic_Audencians: Ping Sun (DBA 18), discipline & harmony

Sun Ping is adamant that setting oneself a strict framework of rules is the key to a successful career and a harmonious life. She has been moulded by a rigorous military-style education (both figuratively and literally – her father was an army officer). It included a rather unique time management protocol that she has adopted ever since and implemented with her collaborators and family members. Loyalty to her parents is an important rule of hers: although she had a strong desire to become a teacher, she followed the route they had set out for her and became an accountant. She ended up embracing a successful career in taxation. Diligence is another core principle of her framework. A self-made woman, she started her professional life as a cashier, working her way up before launching her own taxation consultancy firm in 2004. She has accumulated over 30 years of experience in financial management, solving tax-related disputes, and pre-IPO financial and tax consulting.

She is now one of the most respected and recognised professionals in her field in China. She is driven by solid work and moral ethics that have, at times, led her to stand up to senior colleagues, even at the risk of losing her job. Strong minded, she wakes up at 6:50am 365 days of the year without needing an alarm clock, and goes for a 5K run “even during the Chinese New Year festival”. She is openly ambitious and aims one day to compete with the likes of KPMG and EY, but humbly accepts that she won’t succeed without a lifelong learning plan. This is what led her to join the Sino-French SWUFE-Audencia DBA programme, from which she was the only woman to graduate in 2018. Keen to convey the importance of hard work and resilience to the young generation, she volunteers as a Student Career Development Mentor at SWUFE and Chengdu universities.

But she is quick to point out that she doesn’t advocate setting up and following rules for the sake of it. Her structured organisation is what allows her to optimise her agenda and prioritise quality time with her husband and son, as well as some alone time for her to recharge. Every inch a romantic, France had been in her mind for years as she fantasised about the prospect of strolling along the Seine holding her loved-one in one hand, and a bunch of roses in the other. And she is keen to put an end to the stereotype of the dull accountant: she too can let her hair down at times … albeit decently and moderately!

 

It all began back in 2020 when we celebrated Audencia’s 120th anniversary by launching our very first iconic alumni collection. For this second series, we are delighted and proud to showcase 12 new profiles of Audencians from around the globe. The alumni that you will discover have very generously given up their time for an interview with fellow alumna, Katia Hérault (GE 2001), for which we are immensely grateful.