Zayyan ShaibuAudit / Vancouver
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PORTFOLIO / 2026Vancouver, British Columbia

AUDIT · DATA · COMMUNITY

ZayyanShaibu

I audit mining clients by day and build the working papers that hold up under review.

Petroleum engineering in Nigeria, a recycling dock in New Westminster, a bookkeeping desk in Vancouver, then audit at Deloitte. The through line is evidence: knowing what happened, proving it, and writing it down so someone else can rely on it.

Walk the career Résumé LinkedIn (opens in a new tab)
Portrait of Zayyan Shaibu
THE PERSON BEHIND THE FILEVANCOUVER, BC
7Roles heldNigeria and Canada, 2017 to today
70+Information sessionsRun for the Langara Accounting Club
25%Membership growthYear over year at the club
$820Raised for charityColdest Night of the Year

01 / THE SHORT VERSION

From petroleum engineering to audit,
by way of a recycling dock.

Nothing here is a straight line. That turns out to be the useful part.

I trained as a petroleum engineer in Abuja, spent a year and a half writing production and drilling reports for the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, then took a data entry desk where the whole job was not being wrong.

I moved to Canada in 2022 for an accounting diploma and worked the recycling floor at Urban Impact in New Westminster while I studied. When the audit co-op at Deloitte came through in 2024, the thing that transferred was not the engineering formulas. It was the habit of writing down what actually happened, in a form someone else can check.

Since then: a season at RBC facilitating nearly a million dollars of client GIC placements, a full-time return to Deloitte, a promotion, and CPA PEP alongside the day job. I also spend a fair amount of time on the CPABC chapter here, which is where most of the interesting conversations happen.

  1. 2014
    Petroleum engineering beginsNile University of NigeriaAbuja, Nigeria
  2. 2017
    First reports signed offProduction and drilling reporting at NPDCBenin City, Nigeria
  3. 2019
    Data accuracy as a jobExpense tracking and records clean-upAbuja, Nigeria
  4. 2022
    Field changeAccounting diploma at Langara CollegeVancouver, Canada
  5. 2023
    Into the professional communityExternal Director, Communications, CPABC chapterSurrey, Canada
  6. 2024
    Audit, first passDeloitte co-op on external auditsVancouver, Canada
  7. 2025
    Banking, then back to auditRBC client advisor, then Deloitte full timeSurrey to Vancouver
  8. 2026
    Promotion and CPA PEPStaff Accountant II, Core 1 in progressVancouver, Canada

02 / EXPERIENCE

Seven roles,
two countries.

Audit, banking, operations, data and engineering, in the order they happened.

07

Deloitte LLP

Staff Accountant II

Audit and assuranceVancouver

Mining-client audit conclusions supported by cash, payroll and revenue testing, with process walkthroughs documented under Canadian Auditing Standards.

  • Promoted to Staff Accountant II in September 2026 after one year as Staff Accountant I.
  • Excel analyses point testing at the transactions most likely to misstate, using pivot tables, lookups and reconciliations.
  • Working papers, tie-outs and review-note responses move files toward sign-off alongside seniors and managers.
  • Collaborating with management on a new-hire initiative planned for 2027.
2025 to present
06

RBC

Client Advisor

Banking and client serviceCloverdale, Surrey

Facilitated CAD 943,000 in GIC investments through a senior financial planner referral for a client weighing options on a CAD 950,000 deposit.

  • Delivered account services and product guidance across a busy branch.
  • Applied internal controls to cash, deposits and drafts.
April to August 2025
05

Deloitte

Staff Accountant I, Co-op

External auditVancouver

Contributed to audit planning through risk assessment and internal control evaluation, working on external audits.

  • Built a prompt in Deloitte-approved AI software to summarise board minutes and partner summaries, cutting documentation preparation time.
  • Presented how guided risk assessments inform the audit approach.
May to September 2024
04

Urban Impact Ltd

Associate

OperationsNew Westminster

Hands-on operations work in recycling and waste diversion, running to schedule and to specification.

  • Held this role through the first eighteen months of the accounting diploma.
  • Physical, time-boxed work with little room for shortcuts, which shaped how I plan a file.
October 2022 to April 2024
03

Office Machines Consultancy Firm

Data Entry Assistant

Data and reportingAbuja, Nigeria

Owned the accuracy of incoming records before anyone downstream relied on them.

  • Developed spreadsheets to track equipment expenses for the company each month.
  • Reviewed data for deficiencies and errors, and updated outdated records as needed.
  • Collaborated on projects including a curriculum platform for the Nigerian Air Force Academy.
May to October 2019
02

Nigerian Petroleum Development Company

Petroleum Engineering Intern

EngineeringBenin City, Nigeria

Field and office training in oil and gas operations, safety and environmental requirements.

  • Prepared weekly and monthly reports detailing oil production activity and drilling.
  • Worked with senior engineers on equipment repairs.
  • Attended technical seminars and site briefings.
May 2017 to September 2018
01

Nile University of Nigeria

BEng, Petroleum Engineering

FoundationAbuja, Nigeria

Graduated with a 3.61 out of 4.0 average before moving to Canada to change fields.

  • Analytical coursework in reservoir, drilling and production engineering.
  • The reporting and controls habits carried directly into accounting.
Where the accounting starts

03 / COMMUNITY + LEADERSHIP

The work that
does not bill hours.

Chapter communications, campus programming, student mentorship and a student chapter treasury, from 2017 to now.

February 2023 to present

CPABC Surrey / Langley / North Delta Chapter

External Director, Communications

Own external communication for the chapter, promoting events and initiatives across the Lower Mainland.

  • Helped raise $820 in chapter contributions for the Coldest Night of the Year walkathon in support of Cloverdale Community Kitchen.
  • Moderated a chapter career guidance evening, steering a panel on the value of the CPA designation.
  • Promotes mentorship programming and practical AI sessions for members, candidates and students.

October 2022 to May 2024

Langara Accounting Club

Lead Student Ambassador

Ran the club front door for students deciding whether accounting was for them.

  • Coordinated more than 70 information sessions through online and in-person presentations.
  • Rebuilt the club social presence and grew student membership by 25 percent year over year.

Langara College

Langara Black Student Union

Member

Part of the team behind Black History Month programming on campus, from the opening ceremony to the closing gala.

  • Helped host a month of events celebrating African cultures and the people who came before.
  • Wrote publicly about what those rooms made possible for students who arrived in Canada alone.

March 2017 to July 2019

Society of Petroleum Engineers, Student Chapter

Financial Secretary

Treasurer duties for a student chapter, on a small budget where every naira was accounted for.

  • Prepared event budgets, monitored expenditure and prevented shortfalls.
  • Maintained monthly financial logs and reconciled every transaction before reporting.
  • Advised the executive on cash flow forecasting and excess cash management.

04 / SELECTED WORK

Things I changed,
built or ran.

Specific work rather than a list of duties.

01

AUDIT + TECHNOLOGY

Less time transcribing. More time testing.

During the Deloitte co-op I built a prompt in firm-approved AI software to summarise board minutes and partner summaries. The saved hours went back into the parts of the file that need judgement.

Deloitte co-op / 2024
02

PEOPLE + LEARNING

Helping shape the next new-hire experience.

Working with management on a new-hire initiative planned for 2027, aimed at making the first weeks in audit genuinely useful rather than merely survivable.

Deloitte / In progress
03

COMMUNITY + FUNDRAISING

A walkathon that paid for meals.

Raised $820 in chapter contributions for the Coldest Night of the Year walkathon, supporting Cloverdale Community Kitchen and its work on hunger and homelessness.

CPABC chapter / 2023
04

COMMUNITY + STAGE

Holding the room for a career conversation.

Moderated the chapter career guidance evening, steering a panel of professionals through what the CPA designation is worth and how people actually get there.

CPABC chapter / Moderator
05

COMMUNITY + WRITING

Making the case for the humans in the loop.

Writes publicly about AI in accounting, mentorship and the value of judgement, including sessions on building AI that works for practitioners rather than around them.

LinkedIn / Ongoing
06

CAMPUS + GROWTH

Seventy sessions and a bigger club.

As Lead Student Ambassador for the Langara Accounting Club, ran more than 70 information sessions and lifted student membership by 25 percent year over year.

Langara Accounting Club / 2024

05 / CREDENTIALS

Education, certificates
and a few trophies.

Including the engineering degree that started all of this.

EDUCATION

Professional education

CPA Western School of Business

CPA Professional Education Program

May 2026 to present / Core 1 in progress
Diploma

Langara College

Post-Graduate Diploma in Accounting

Vancouver / Dean’s List, Summer 2023
Degree

Nile University of Nigeria

BEng, Petroleum Engineering

Abuja / Graduated 3.61 of 4.0

CERTIFICATIONS / INTUIT 2022

  • Bookkeeping SpecialisationIntuit
  • Financial Statement AnalysisIntuit
  • Liabilities and Equity in AccountingIntuit
  • Assets in AccountingIntuit
  • Bookkeeping BasicsIntuit

RECOGNITION

  • 03CPABC Case CompetitionThird place / 2024
  • 01EY Canada National Technology RiskFirst place / 2023
  • 01KPMG Ideation Case CompetitionGreater Vancouver Area winner / 2023
  • DLLangara College Dean’s ListSummer 2023

TOOLKIT

Audit and accounting
  • Canadian Auditing Standards
  • Working papers
  • Review notes
  • Risk assessment
  • Internal controls
Tools
  • Excel
  • QuickBooks Online
  • Word
  • PowerPoint
  • Generative AI in firm-approved software
Data
  • Pivot tables
  • Lookups
  • Reconciliations
  • Expense tracking
  • Records clean-up

06 / IN WRITING

What I keep
saying out loud.

Recurring themes from what I publish on LinkedIn, in my own words.

On AI in the profession

AI is changing the way we work in accounting, but sound judgement and human connection still matter.

On arriving in Canada

Landing as a Nigerian graduate student was a whirlwind of excitement and homesickness, and progress came from connection.

On mentorship

A specific question beats a vague ask, and the follow-up six weeks later is what turns one conversation into a relationship.
Read more on LinkedIn

07 / SAY HELLO

If any of this is
useful to you, write.

Audit work, CPA study notes, chapter events, or a decent argument about football. All welcome.

LinkedIn Download résumé