Accounting of Today
What is the role of accounting in a typical business? The role of accounting is to make sure that all the finances of a company are correctly explained to the general public.
What are the projections for jobs in accounting of the next few years and beyond? The projection is that there is going to be a continual need of jobs in accounting. where ever there are businesses there you will find accountants.
What are the key trends, developments, and challenges in the accounting profession? According to the CCH Accounting Trends Survey says that the top five trends appearing in the accounting profession are...
What are the opportunities for career growth? The opportunities for career growth come from the making of more laws and rules in the regulation of companies finances in which you have to the have more accountants to complete the requirements of such laws and rules.
What are the projections for jobs in accounting of the next few years and beyond? The projection is that there is going to be a continual need of jobs in accounting. where ever there are businesses there you will find accountants.
What are the key trends, developments, and challenges in the accounting profession? According to the CCH Accounting Trends Survey says that the top five trends appearing in the accounting profession are...
- The need for continued growth is driving greater client specialization and firm alliances to expand and enhance client service.
- Increased efficiency and productivity needs require the accelerated adoption of paperless workflows and technology.
- Staffing challenges and increased emphasis on collaborative culture compels the adoption of knowledge management practices and tools.
- Demographics and cross-generational demands are requiring firms to become increasingly flexible and creative to address staffing issues.
- Meeting client, firm and employee needs requires anytime, anywhere access to information and knowledge.
- Growing the business;
- Keeping current with technology;
- Productivity; and
- Finding and retaining staff. www.accountingweb.com
What are the opportunities for career growth? The opportunities for career growth come from the making of more laws and rules in the regulation of companies finances in which you have to the have more accountants to complete the requirements of such laws and rules.
Accounting Careers
Types of Accounting Careers
- Public Accounting Firms: A group of accountants work in a partnership that provides accounting services to individuals, businesses and government. A number of major firms are dominant in this field. A public accounting career will give you a good start in your career, where you can gain foundation knowledge before moving into a specialist area.
- Government:Government accountants may work at any level of government. They prepare budgets, track costs and analyze government initiatives. Prospects for advancement are generally good. Bureaucracy and political arguments are the downsides.
- Corporations: Businesses of all sizes usually have an accountant or accounting department that prepares financial statements, tracks costs, handles tax returns, and works on major transactions. The work is more dynamic and prospects are good.
- Independent: Working as a self-employed accountant means generating your own business. However, you benefit from good customer contact, independence, and – if you are proficient – good returns. Conversely, you are in a more vulnerable position when business is not so good
- Audit: Audit is at the core of accounting work. Accounting auditing careers involve checking accounting ledgers and financial statements within businesses, public and not-for-profit organizations. Being increasingly computerized, this work can rely on random sampling methods. This provides a solid foundation to future specialist work, as it really enables you to understand how an organization makes money.
- Budget Analysis:A budget analyst develops and manages an organization’s financial plans. Many jobs exist in government and private industry. You’ll require strong quantitative skills for this work, along with good people skills, because you’ll be involved in negotiations.
- Financial:Financial accountants draw information from the general ledgers to prepare financial statements. They also take part in the business’s important financial decisions involving mergers and acquisitions, employee benefits planning and long-term financial projections. This work can very from week to week, so needs a combined understanding of accounting and finance.
- Management Accounting: Management accountants work in companies and contribute to decisions about capital budgeting and business analysis. Major activities include cost analysis, contracts analysis, and participation in efforts to control expenses. Management accountants are now major contributors to business decisions, working alongside marketing and financial managers to develop new business.
- Tax:Tax accountants prepare corporate and personal income tax statements. They also prepare strategies for deferring taxes, when to expense items, how to approach a merger or acquisition, etc. You need to have a thorough understanding of economics and the tax code. Many large firms now also look for legal knowledge. www.alec.co.uk
Accounting Mentor: Li Sun;
Discussion with:
Li Sun
Date:
Oct 09, 2009
Objectives
What do you really want to get out of this interview? What would make it successful for you?
I am eager to understand and appreciate what more entails the life and the work of an accountant. Having more knowledge and understanding of accounting that would benefit me in my future career.
Marketplace
What are your projections for this type of work or industry? Is it stable, growing, declining?
The demand of Accounting is growing.
What are the key trends or issues? New developments? Key challenges?
Business Fraud within Companies. Sarbanes-Oxley act of 2002. After that more companies had to do more accounting, they needed to have more people to check their books. In the next five to ten years the demand of accountants are going to stay high. For an example the law requires that the CEOs and CFOs require in writing their financial statements in which then requires more accountants to help them do what the law requires of them.
What and where are the opportunities?
This law opens up the opportunities for more jobs everywhere.
What are typical salaries in this type of job, entry-level to experienced? What are the opportunities for career growth?
The range for someone with a bachelor degree is about 50,000 dollar if you pass CPA test you could 80,000 100,000 after a work experience of five to ten years
Entry into Position
When and how did you get involved in this work?
He made the decision back in college to go into accounting and it was not in high demand at that time. He also saw that teaching accounting was something he could do, and he decided to do that.
What was your training and background? Is this typical for people in your position and in similar positions?
He took a lot of account classes and did a lot of research in accounting topics. He has a doctorate in account and now teaches at a college and most people actually just get a job at a firm.
How important are specific credentials for entry or success?
Being a CPA is very important. Right after school it is not very important but after working for sometime at a company they would want you to have it.
Job Specifics
What’s a typical day like for you or someone in a similar position?
It depends on which field you are in. If you are doing taxes you are at a desk all day. Auditing you could travel around instead of being at a desk all day.
What do you like most about your work?
Doing good in a very bad economic world.
What do you like least?
Sometimes it gets very dry and boring.
What talents or skills do you think are the most crucial to success in this work?
The only most important thing is that you need to work hard. There are no special talents but you just need to work hard.
What attitudes or values are important?
Honesty, Responsibility and other good work ethics.
Who doesn’t do well in this type of work?
The lazy people will not do well as an accountant.
How do you advance or get promoted in this type of work?
Experience, Personality, Being a Team player, Work well with everybody, your boss and employees. The impact of a degree does not matter once you have the job.
Recommendations
Would my background be appropriate for this type of work?
As a beginning college student I would probably not, but maybe I would in a few years after some education.
What would you recommend I do if I want to go into this type of work?
Take a few classes to then decide which field to go into in accounting. Doing some research into which company you would like to work for.
Are there other jobs similar to yours that you would suggest I also consider?
Being a teacher of accounting at a college.
Can you recommend other people I can talk to, or other resources I can check out?
No one comes to mind of who would work in that field.
Knowing what you do now, would you approach this career (or job) in the same way? If not, what would you do differently, and why?
You would work different because you would know more and would have had more leverage at your hand. In applying for a job, his standards would be higher as in working harder, and that as he would have worked harder could have opened up more job opportunities.
Li Sun
Date:
Oct 09, 2009
Objectives
What do you really want to get out of this interview? What would make it successful for you?
I am eager to understand and appreciate what more entails the life and the work of an accountant. Having more knowledge and understanding of accounting that would benefit me in my future career.
Marketplace
What are your projections for this type of work or industry? Is it stable, growing, declining?
The demand of Accounting is growing.
What are the key trends or issues? New developments? Key challenges?
Business Fraud within Companies. Sarbanes-Oxley act of 2002. After that more companies had to do more accounting, they needed to have more people to check their books. In the next five to ten years the demand of accountants are going to stay high. For an example the law requires that the CEOs and CFOs require in writing their financial statements in which then requires more accountants to help them do what the law requires of them.
What and where are the opportunities?
This law opens up the opportunities for more jobs everywhere.
What are typical salaries in this type of job, entry-level to experienced? What are the opportunities for career growth?
The range for someone with a bachelor degree is about 50,000 dollar if you pass CPA test you could 80,000 100,000 after a work experience of five to ten years
Entry into Position
When and how did you get involved in this work?
He made the decision back in college to go into accounting and it was not in high demand at that time. He also saw that teaching accounting was something he could do, and he decided to do that.
What was your training and background? Is this typical for people in your position and in similar positions?
He took a lot of account classes and did a lot of research in accounting topics. He has a doctorate in account and now teaches at a college and most people actually just get a job at a firm.
How important are specific credentials for entry or success?
Being a CPA is very important. Right after school it is not very important but after working for sometime at a company they would want you to have it.
Job Specifics
What’s a typical day like for you or someone in a similar position?
It depends on which field you are in. If you are doing taxes you are at a desk all day. Auditing you could travel around instead of being at a desk all day.
What do you like most about your work?
Doing good in a very bad economic world.
What do you like least?
Sometimes it gets very dry and boring.
What talents or skills do you think are the most crucial to success in this work?
The only most important thing is that you need to work hard. There are no special talents but you just need to work hard.
What attitudes or values are important?
Honesty, Responsibility and other good work ethics.
Who doesn’t do well in this type of work?
The lazy people will not do well as an accountant.
How do you advance or get promoted in this type of work?
Experience, Personality, Being a Team player, Work well with everybody, your boss and employees. The impact of a degree does not matter once you have the job.
Recommendations
Would my background be appropriate for this type of work?
As a beginning college student I would probably not, but maybe I would in a few years after some education.
What would you recommend I do if I want to go into this type of work?
Take a few classes to then decide which field to go into in accounting. Doing some research into which company you would like to work for.
Are there other jobs similar to yours that you would suggest I also consider?
Being a teacher of accounting at a college.
Can you recommend other people I can talk to, or other resources I can check out?
No one comes to mind of who would work in that field.
Knowing what you do now, would you approach this career (or job) in the same way? If not, what would you do differently, and why?
You would work different because you would know more and would have had more leverage at your hand. In applying for a job, his standards would be higher as in working harder, and that as he would have worked harder could have opened up more job opportunities.
Accounting Terms
Balance Sheet - A record of the financial situation of an institution on a particular date by listing its assets and the claims against those assets.
Income Statement - Also called profit and loss statement (P&L) and Statement of Operations, is a company's financial statement that indicates how the revenuenet income (the result after all revenues and expenses have been accounted for, also known as the "bottom line"). The purpose of the income statement is to show managers and investors whether the company made or lost money during the period being reported. The important thing to remember about an income statement is that it represents a period of time. This contrasts with the balance sheet, which represents a single moment in time. (money received from the sale of products and services before expenses are taken out, also known as the "top line") is transformed into the
Statement of Cash Flow- Is a financial statement that shows how changes in balance sheet and income accounts affect cash and cash equivalents, and breaks the analysis down to operating, investing, and financing activities. As an analytical tool, the statement of cash flows is useful in determining the short-term viability of a company, particularly its ability to pay bills.
Assets - Are economic resources owned by business or company. Anything tangible or intangible that one possesses, usually considered as applicable to the payment of one's debts is considered an asset. Simplistically stated, assets are things of value that can be readily converted into cash (although cash itself is also considered an asset).[1]balance sheet of a firm records the monetary[2] value of the assets owned by the firm. It is money and other valuables belonging to an individual or business. [3] Two major asset classes are tangible assets and intangible assets. Tangible assets contain various subclasses, including current assets and fixed assets.[4] Current assets include inventory, while fixed assets include such items as buildings and equipment.[5] Intangible assets are nonphysical resources and rights that have a value to the firm because they give the firm some kind of advantage in the market place. Examples of intangible assets are goodwill, copyrights, trademarks, patents and computer programs,[5] and financial assets, including such items as accounts receivable, bonds and stocks. The
Liabilities - Are defined as an obligation of an entity arising from past transactions or events, the settlement of which may result in the transfer or use of assets, provision of services or other yielding of economic benefits in the future.
Owners Equity - Is computed by deducting the book value of the liabilities from the book value of the assets.
Net Income - Is equal to the income that a firm has after subtracting costs and expenses from the total revenue.
Revenue - Is income that a company receives from its normal business activities, usually from the sale of goods and services to customers. Some companies also receive revenue from interest, dividends or royalties paid to them by other companies.[1] Revenue may refer to business income in general, or it may refer to the amount, in a monetary unit, received during a period of time, as in "Last year, Company X had revenue of $32 million."
Income Statement - Also called profit and loss statement (P&L) and Statement of Operations, is a company's financial statement that indicates how the revenuenet income (the result after all revenues and expenses have been accounted for, also known as the "bottom line"). The purpose of the income statement is to show managers and investors whether the company made or lost money during the period being reported. The important thing to remember about an income statement is that it represents a period of time. This contrasts with the balance sheet, which represents a single moment in time. (money received from the sale of products and services before expenses are taken out, also known as the "top line") is transformed into the
Statement of Cash Flow- Is a financial statement that shows how changes in balance sheet and income accounts affect cash and cash equivalents, and breaks the analysis down to operating, investing, and financing activities. As an analytical tool, the statement of cash flows is useful in determining the short-term viability of a company, particularly its ability to pay bills.
Assets - Are economic resources owned by business or company. Anything tangible or intangible that one possesses, usually considered as applicable to the payment of one's debts is considered an asset. Simplistically stated, assets are things of value that can be readily converted into cash (although cash itself is also considered an asset).[1]balance sheet of a firm records the monetary[2] value of the assets owned by the firm. It is money and other valuables belonging to an individual or business. [3] Two major asset classes are tangible assets and intangible assets. Tangible assets contain various subclasses, including current assets and fixed assets.[4] Current assets include inventory, while fixed assets include such items as buildings and equipment.[5] Intangible assets are nonphysical resources and rights that have a value to the firm because they give the firm some kind of advantage in the market place. Examples of intangible assets are goodwill, copyrights, trademarks, patents and computer programs,[5] and financial assets, including such items as accounts receivable, bonds and stocks. The
Liabilities - Are defined as an obligation of an entity arising from past transactions or events, the settlement of which may result in the transfer or use of assets, provision of services or other yielding of economic benefits in the future.
Owners Equity - Is computed by deducting the book value of the liabilities from the book value of the assets.
Net Income - Is equal to the income that a firm has after subtracting costs and expenses from the total revenue.
Revenue - Is income that a company receives from its normal business activities, usually from the sale of goods and services to customers. Some companies also receive revenue from interest, dividends or royalties paid to them by other companies.[1] Revenue may refer to business income in general, or it may refer to the amount, in a monetary unit, received during a period of time, as in "Last year, Company X had revenue of $32 million."