She describes herself as a late bloomer and also, curiously, a dinosaur.

"Well, after being here for 25 years I'm a dinosaur now!" says Jahni Lindsay laughing, as she compares herself to some of her colleagues at the Bermuda office of global accounting firm Ernst & Young.

And during those 25 years she has seen and experienced many developments since joining what was originally the small local accounting company Whittle and Cordon as a teenager.

She has also made some personal changes late in her own career that are already yielding results, the most recent being her promotion to supervisor of a team of seven in the firms Corporate Finance department.

Until six years ago she had spent most of her career in one job, as a staff accountant, working in different areas of the firm which through a series of mergers and buyouts evolved to become known as Kempe and Whittle and eventually Ernst & Young.

"The workplace was very different back then for women, challenging in a different way and not as flexible as it is now," says Mrs. Lindsay.

"You never used to see a woman manager in accounting firms, your boss was always a man.

"And young people coming into the firm already had good work ethics, whereas now some have to develop it at work."

After staying at one level within the organisation for many years, in 1998 Mrs. Lindsay made what was for her a major decision: to go back to school.

Now, after "a lot of hard work and some sacrifice" the 45-year-old, who has been married for ten years to husband Wien and is mother to their sons Blair, nine and Blake, seven, can add the title certified management accountant (CMA) to her personal description.

"Getting through it and qualifying was like a big weight being lifted off my shoulders, but I'm so glad I did it," says Mrs. Lindsay. "But you know, I really should have done it when I was single and younger and before I had kids, it would have been easier!"

When she reflects on the catalyst behind her decision to pursue the professional qualification, she recalls her mother.

"When I joined the firm at 18 (after attending Warwick Academy and Warwick Secondary schools) I was only planning to be there for six months," she says.

"But my mother was widowed and left with five children. Women of her generation had much fewer choices of course and she had always been a housewife, never worked outside the home at that point.

"I was the oldest and the only one out of school, so I ended up helping her financially to support our family, which made six months turn into much longer than I expected.

"I thought of my mother when my husband (who is a contractor in the construction business) hurt his back very badly in an accident at work a few years ago; at one point we thought he might not walk again," she continues.

"I realised I had to make the most of having more choices than my mother. If I had to support my own family I needed to be in the best position I could be in.

"I also knew that as long as you don't have a certain certification or qualification in this business you're basically stagnant; plus you have all the young kids coming back from university with qualifications, some of whom can end up being your boss, and if you don't have any yourself you don't move on."

And so after almost 19 years in the workforce she started her journey to certification at the Bermuda College.

"I must admit it was a challenge to get back to school," she says. "Blair was two-and-a-half and Blake was just a baby when I started. I took all the core classes required as a foundation before I could move on to the Advanced Management Accounting Programme (AMAP).

"Yes,sometimes it was difficult ? economics was like another language to me for a while! But I had a lot of support from my husband and his family and the firm was wonderful too.

"The firm has been very supportive and flexible in fact, which is just one of the good things about working here. They gave me the ability to work 15 hours a week so that I could study as well as see to my family and maintain my involvement in my church activities.

"It's been a lot of juggling over the past six years and having that kind of support has really been invaluable."

After four years of attending the College part-time and completing the AMAP Mrs. Lindsay then successfully took the qualifying exam required to move on to a further two years of study in the professional programme for the CMA qualification.

"That meant travelling to Canada every six weeks or so as part of the course," she says. "There were other older people in the programme while I was there, in their 30s, 40s and even one man in his 50s, which was encouraging for me.

"Some already had Masters degrees but wanted the accounting qualification. It was good to be among that group and I was learning a lot all the time."

She admits that during these two years in particular the pressure involved in the coursework and exams she had to complete, and trying to balance her studies with her life in general could be overwhelming.

"Oh I certainly felt like throwing in the towel a few times!" she says with a chuckle. "At each stage I would think 'OK, if I don't pass this next exam, that's it!'.

"But I think at the end of the day when you do something like this when you're older you're more disciplined and you've already built up endurance. That's what you need to handle this kind of situation. And you're also just even more determined to do it."

Now that she has 'done it' she feels the sacrifices which were necessary as she pursued the qualification were worth it.

"I think that the time that I lost with my family was probably the biggest sacrifice for me," she says. "But I'm looking forward to making up for that now."

She is also looking forward to being able to reach for broader career opportunities as a result of her new certification.

"I'd really like to be a manager some day, soon ? perhaps get on the fast track to that!" Mrs. Lindsay laughs. "I like it at E&Y and I'm ready to use what I've learned here; I'm enjoying the opportunities the qualification is opening up for me.

"One good thing about doing the programmes for the CMA is that what you learn helps you to understand the language of the business world better, and it makes you think differently.

"Eventually I'd like to do more than pure accounting, perhaps move into helping businesses in the area of strategic planning. I'm a late bloomer, I did everything late, even getting married!

"But there are lots of opportunities now for me to do really interesting work; you don't have to stay in one spot once you're qualified."