“Like other professions, the field of accountancy has come to recognize that the younger generation of employees is more concerned about balancing their private and professional lives than older workers. Accordingly, accounting organizations headed by the AICPA and accounting firms across the US are teaming up with businesses to develop programs designed to help both employers and employees address lifestyle issues that face dual professional families.”(1) Changing workforce demographics is shaping the future of the accounting profession. Statistics show that the number of people and dual-career families entering the labor pool is increasing. In order to become a professional accountant an accounting and finance degree is neither necessary nor sufficient. This fact is very difficult for people to realize. (Certainly, the reverse also holds: career opportunities for accounting and finance graduates are not restricted to the accounting profession). These pages were written to provide some basic background information on the accounting profession, together with the transition from university student to professionally qualified accountant.
“The image of accountants as dull, middle-aged men dressed in grey suits is fast disappearing. The accounting profession is associated with high salaries and a bewildering array of career opportunities including traditional auditing and assurance work, management consulting, corporate finance, IT consulting, tax planning, human resources (HR) and insolvency. In addition, the leaders of many top companies are qualified accountants.”(2)
Most accountants work in a typical office setting. Self-employed accountants may be able to do part of their work at home. Accountants and auditors employed by public accounting firms and government agencies may travel frequently to perform audits at clients’ places of business, branches of their firm, or government facilities. Most accountants and auditors generally work a standard 40-hour week, but many work longer hours, particularly if they are self-employed and have numerous clients. Tax specialists often work long hours during the tax season. They promise that the changing role of accountants will spur job growth. In response to market demand, these professionals will offer more management and consulting services as they take on a greater advisory role and develop more sophisticated and flexible accounting systems. By focusing more on analysing operations rather than just providing financial data, accountants will help to increase the demand for their services. “An increasingly important area of accounting and auditing is internal auditing. Internal auditors verify the accuracy of their organization’s records and check for mismanagement, waste, or fraud. Specifically, they examine and evaluate their firms’ financial and information systems, management procedures, and internal controls to ensure that records are accurate and controls are adequate to protect against fraud and waste. They also review company operations—evaluating their efficiency, effectiveness, and compliance with corporate policies and procedures, laws, and government regulations”.(3) There are many types of highly specialized auditors, such as electronic data processing, environment, development, legal, premium insurance, bank, and public health auditor services. As the systems of the computer make the information, more duly, internal auditors help the managers to base their decisions concerning the fact sheet, faster than personal supervision. The auditor can also recommend a control facility for system of the computer of their organization to guarantee reliability of system and integrity of the data.
The computers quickly change character of work for the majority of the accounts and auditors. Through the special software packages, the accounter is summarized with the bargains in standard formats for the financial records and organize the data in special formats for the financial analysis. These packages of accounting reduce very much the quantity of tiresome manual work connected to the data and storage of the record. Personal and laptop computers allow the bookkeepers and auditors to be more mobile and to use systems of the computer of their clients to take the information from the large computers of the universal computer. As a result of these tendencies growing number of the accountants and auditors has extensive skills of the computer and specializes in correction of problems with the software or development of the software to meet unique data requirements. (Blumstein, 71).
“However, this trend will be counteracted somewhat by a decrease in the demand for traditional services and growing use of accounting software. Accountants will spend less time performing audits due to potential liability and relatively low profits, and will shift away from tax preparation due to the increasing popularity of tax preparation firms. As computer programs continue simplifying some accounting-related tasks, clerical staff will increasingly handle many routine calculations.”(3)
Proficiency in accounting and auditing computer software, or expertise in specialized areas such as international business, specific industries, or current legislation, may also be helpful in landing certain accounting and auditing jobs. In addition, employers increasingly seek applicants with strong interpersonal and communication skills. Regardless of one’s qualifications, however, competition will remain keen for the most prestigious jobs in major accounting and business firms.
Do you ever think where the accountant may work? There is a world of possibility for an accountant. They work in business, sports, the arts, government, education, the non-profit sector - the choice is really great! Accounting opens doors in every kind of business coast to coast. You could work for a large, international accounting firm or a small, local accounting firm, a corporation or small business, a government agency or non-profit organization, or a college or university. Accounting is also an excellent foundation for starting your own practice or company. Others for whom training in accounting is invaluable include appraisers, budget officers, loan officers, financial analysts and managers, bank officers, actuaries, underwriters, tax collectors and revenue agents, FBI special agents, securities sales representatives, and purchasing agents.
“If you work for an accounting firm, as an accountant you may deal with clients in a wide range of industries. For example, you could be assigned to a client in the music industry, examining the company’s financial records, providing tax advice or developing a computer system to track the sale of CDs.
If you work directly for a company, you could be involved in everything from advising on how to increase profits to analysing future financing needs. If you work in government you might find yourself testifying on the impact of pending tax legislation. You can even use your accounting expertise to instruct students or conduct research.”(4)
Accounting demands a various number of skills, aptitudes, and technologies. You should have excellent oral and written communication skills, strong problem-solving abilities, and technical know-how. Once you may be preparing a financial report on the computer; the next you may be presenting your findings on video.
As for the skills an accountant must have it is at least a bachelor’s degree in accounting, or a bachelor’s degree in another subject with a master’s degree in accounting. In addition to accounting and business courses, one should take classes in communications, the humanities, the sciences, economics, and computer applications. So it seems really promising. Although applicants with a master’s degree in accounting, or a master’s degree in business administration with a concentration in accounting, usually have an advantage in the job market.
Another fortune in this profession is that an accountant doesn’t work with the words, language and that long process of persuading people. Accountants and auditors design internal control systems and analyse financial data. It is nearly impossible to overstate the benefits of being able to write well. It is even more important to be able to write well than to speak well, at least until you reach very senior levels of an organization or are interacting regularly with the public directly as a representative of a company. Written communication has a central role in the success of an organization and the ability to express yourself only adequately is simply not, well, adequate. And if you cannot communicate well in writing you’re going to have a very tough time making a successful career from your first job. Even if this handicap doesn’t inhibit you in an entry-level position, you will run into a wall on your first promotion. The importance of effective writing in the workplace cannot be over-emphasized. “Clear communication not only frees the employee to perform their tasks efficiently, it bolsters self-confidence and enhances the creative process in the entire staff. People know they are starting on solid ground and have confidence that their efforts will not be wasted or unappreciated. Clear communication shows respect for entire staff and enables excellence in business.”(5) My future career doesn’t require writing at all. I will write often of course, but this will be numbers, not letters and words, so this is a technical writing. An accountant usually calculates, so the documents I will write are just forms for filling.
Especially pleasant for me was to get to know that employment of accountants is expected to grow about as fast as the average for all occupations through the year 2008. In addition to openings resulting from growth, the need to replace accountants and auditors who retire or transfer to other occupations will produce thousands of job openings annually in this large occupation. (Rest, 46) As the economy grows, the number of business establishments will increase, requiring more accountants and auditors to set up books, prepare taxes, and provide management advice. As these businesses grow, the volume and complexity of information developed by accountants and auditors regarding costs, expenditures, and taxes will increase as well. More complex requirements for accountants and auditors also arise from changes in legislation related to taxes, financial reporting standards, business investments, mergers, and other financial matters. In addition, businesses will increasingly need quick, accurate, and individually tailored financial information due to the demands of growing international competition. These trends will positively affect the employment of accountants and auditors.
So the only language I will require, analysing data/information/statistics is numbers mixed with formal English phrases. For sure I will persuade a lot of people with the most knockdown argument – numbers. My speech will be full of numbers, as that of any successful accountant, who is concise and respectful person in glasses and in the expensive suit in front of the computer in comfortable office.
References used:
1. http://www.nysscpa.org/cpajournal/old/15499675.htm
2. http://www.lums.lancs.ac.uk/Departments/Accounting/undergraduate/accountcareer/
3. http://www.financial-jobs.com/finance/accountant.cfm
4. http://www.orcpa.org/acct_career.html
5. www.cheathouse.com/essay/essay_view.php?p_essay_id=72710 - 21k
6. Blumstein Philip, Carssow W., Groves Kathryn, The Honoring of Accounts. NY: Sociologist, 2001.
7. Rest F., Choosing the profession. Cambridge University Press. 1999.
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