If you have ever thought of becoming accountant, then this article is for you. You must read it. You'll learn everything you always wanted to know about becoming an accountant, where accountant work, how much they earn, what type of extra in-service training they need, how you get to become an accountant, some advantages and disadvantages involved in the job, when you can expect to retire ant how you can make a difference in the lives of people you serve.
Being an accountant means, being able to get involved in the business and understand its strategy and how it operates, while being able to provide useful information and analysis to assist with the decision-making of the business.
Accountants know that revenue undertow and flows, and that costs do the same. They help you predict the effect on cash flow and come up with strategies to manage the situation. They organize cash reserves and come up with a spending plan that ensure that there's always money in the bank.
A typical day for an accountant varies based on what is required at any given point in time. One day, you will be preparing various reports and analysis for the board as to the financial position and performance of the company, the next you may be assessing the tax impact of high level transactions proposed by the business. You must always be working closely with the finance team and other key stakeholders within the business to ensure that the company balances sheet is as accurate as possible to assist with decision-making. Accountants keep track of payments, financial positions, and transfers of capital or income for individual or institutional clients. Some are responsible for examining the tax implications of those actions.
Some accountants work in the Finance and insurance. Some of them work for the Government, Management of companies and enterprises. However, some accountants are self-employed. Accountants work with individuals, small businesses, large corporations, non-profits and government agencies to prepare and organize financial and tax documents.
To become a fully qualified accountant you need to be CA (Chartered Accountant) or CPA (Certified Practicing Accountant) qualified. To be eligible to undertake the CA or CPA study you first need to have a degree in business or commerce that is accepted by either organisation. While you can start working in an accounting role with just a relevant undergraduate degree, without a CA or CPA qualification this role will remain quite junior, particularly in public practices. Having a CA or CPA qualification further develops the skills and knowledge to become a business leader.
The lowest-paid accountants earned an average annual salary of $44,480, while the highest-paid made $124,450. Of course, the salaries vary from an enterprise to another and the starting salary is lower at the beginning of an accountant's career.
To be a good accountant you need to be adaptable, diligent, committed and have a great attention to detail. Working in high stress situations and meeting tight and demanding deadlines requires you to be resilient and to have good organizational skills. Accountants deal with a broad range of people so you also need to be personable, which helps establish trust with clients and other stakeholders.
Being an accountant is kind of a dangerous job. Accountants collect and store more sensitive personal information on their clients than almost any other business. A data breach that causes the exposure of client information could lead to damage claims, compliance costs, loss of business, and damage to the firm's reputation that may take years to rebuild. Moreover, you can even go to jail because of a number error. As a “financial physician” (a term that cropped up more than once in our surveys), you’ll be the bearer of unpleasantness more often than blessings, and can expect to be greeted, at times, in a less-than-friendly fashion
Fortunately, robots won’t eliminate the need for accountants because there are integral human elements of the job. Robots will not be able to replace Accountants's job. Another reason is that robots can’t take over the interpretation and application of regulations because legislation is constantly changing, which effects the reporting and tax obligations and requires to always be learning and developing your skills.
The retirement age for an accountant is ranged from 62 to 70. However, most firms in the Top 100 have a mandatory retirement age between age 60 and 66.
As you can see, being an accountant requires you, to have CA (Chartered Accountant) or CPA (Certified Practicing Accountant) qualified. You need to be able to analyse numbers but your proficiency at adding and subtracting does not necessarily need to be higher than the average person. You will be able to work with individuals, small businesses, large corporations, non-profits and government agencies to prepare and organize financial and tax documents.
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Rationale: to inform or educate
Authority: recognized author
Date: recently published
Accuracy: probably true
Relevance: relevant for this document
Sources: cites sources