Jennifer Yeung, Noble: The language of accounting goes beyond numbers

By Stephen Whitfield, Senior Editor

Since a young age, Jennifer Yeung has always wanted to be an accountant – just like her father, who was an accountant for an E&P company. Math was always her first love, and as she puts it, the language of accounting “clicked” for her early on.

“Understanding that language and understanding peoples’ businesses and how those businesses reflect in the numbers – being able to trace those numbers back to the origination of transactions – it’s a really good foundation to branch off wherever you may want to go in the field of finance,” said Ms Yeung, who now serves as VP, Chief Accounting Officer and Controller at Noble.

Shortly after receiving her bachelor’s degree in accounting from Loyola University in New Orleans in 2006, Ms Yeung joined Ernst & Young (EY), one of the “Big 4” accounting firms in the US, as a staff auditor. Over the course of nearly 17 years, she would serve a number of positions with the company, including stints as Audit Senior Manager and Managing Director.

On the surface, her roles at EY were straightforward. As an auditor, she reviewed and confirmed the accuracy of the financial records of client companies, tracing the figures cited within these records to supporting documentation and ensuring their compliance with regulations.

However, she also learned that there is a subtle art to the job of an accountant. Financial statements, she said, are not just filled with dry facts and numbers. In fact, they are a collection of “thousands or millions of decisions” based on the judgments of hundreds of people within a company. In some instances, an auditor comes upon figures in a financial statement that are more of an estimate, or a contingency, where people have to apply those judgments.

As an accountant, it was critical for Ms Yeung to understand the facts and assumptions behind those estimates and contingencies, getting into the minds of the people making those judgments.

“You have to really understand how people work because, at the end of the day, you may have to take their word on some things. Honestly, that’s something that can apply to any industry, including the drilling industry,” she said.

Ms Yeung advised a number of industries during her time at EY, but being based in Houston, she often worked with companies in the oilfield services (OFS) sector, including drilling contractors. Although she had no experience with oil and gas prior to joining EY, she learned to “speak the language of offshore drilling” through her auditing experience there.

“There’s a kind of paradox that exists within every OFS company I’ve dealt with in that there’s a humbleness that’s ingrained in everybody you interact with. It’s a working man’s business – most people are out in the field. On the other hand, there’s also a complexity that generally exists because of the high-tech equipment and the complex legal structures. I enjoyed interacting with those companies,” she said.

By the time Ms Yeung was ready for a career change in 2023, OFS seemed like a natural transition. Through a connection made by a contact at EY, she joined Noble as Associate Chief Accounting Officer that year, then transitioned into her current position of VP, Chief Accounting Officer and Controller.

In some ways, Ms Yeung’s current duties at Noble mirror the work she did at EY – she oversees a team that examines the company’s financial statements and verifies their accuracy. However, her job now encompasses a wider breadth of interactions with various departments within Noble.

“As an auditor, I was looking at financial statements from the outside, but now I’m the one who has to sign the financial statements. Whereas a public accountant spends 98% of their time dealing with other accountants, in this role at Noble I get to interact with other functions like supply chain and operations.”

Within a year of joining Noble, Ms Yeung also dove headfirst into IADC. She was familiar with the association dating back to her EY days – her work with offshore drillers had brought her in contact with the IADC Accounting Issues/Procedures (AIP) Committee, which facilitated discussions among drilling companies on developing and adopting various accounting standards. After joining Noble, however, she stepped up her involvement with IADC and now sits on the IADC Executive Committee as Secretary/Treasurer.

Ms Yeung describes this role as being the “translator” of IADC financial news to the Executive Committee, making sure the committee gets whatever information they need to make financial decisions. This includes co-reporting with IADC’s President on the updated forecast at each Executive Committee meeting, as well as overseeing IADC’s financial governance documents.

“I’m always looking to learn and be challenged,” Ms Yeung said about volunteering with IADC. “I think that’s where I saw the position as an opportunity. You get exposed to a lot of smart, experienced people. I enjoy talking to them and seeing how their minds work.” DC