How to achieve a rewarding career in the Accounting Profession

What is a rewarding career? A career with a high salary? A career which has a respected position in society? A career with mobility and excellent prospects? The accountancy profession offers all of these opportunities, as well as a challenging and varied work environment. Accountancy is essentially the effective management and administration of the financial affairs, and accountants are a vital part of any organisation's operations.

As a qualified accountant, you have the opportunity to pursue a variety of finance careers in any of the world's financial centres and in any business sector. Accountants are employed in the public or private sector, industry or commerce, and across the whole spectrum of financial work; from audit and public practice; to management or financial accounting; in taxation related work; or in management consultancy and financial services. Accountants are often perceived as boring 'number crunchers', but the variety of career opportunities open to the qualified accountant highlights this as a misconception.

With accountancy you have the luxury of career mobility; the freedom to choose your own career path and the opportunity to gain the knowledge and skills required to rise to the top in your chosen field. To benefit from career mobility you must acquire the skills that employers want. Employers want quality personnel, professional, flexible and adaptable employers. How do you acquire these skills?

To become a qualified accountant in the UK and in other countries around the world the generally accepted route is to join a professional accountancy body and to pass the professional examinations. In addition to this, bodies also require their graduates to satisfy stipulated work experience to full membership and qualification.

Taking the UK as an example, the accountancy profession is unregulated except for certain areas, which are regulated by law. These three areas are; investment advice, insolvency work and company audit work. Individuals wishing to practise as an auditor in the UK are required by law to hold an audit qualification from a Recognised Qualifying Body (RQB). There are five RQB's: Association of International Accountants; Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales; Chartered Accountants of Scotland; Chartered Accountants of Ireland; Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.

The majority of students pursuing a career in accountancy opt to study for a degree prior to their professional examinations.

Most professional bodies operate a policy of exemptions designed to reduce repetition for students who have already attained a qualification of an acceptable standard. For students holding degrees, this means that they are often awarded exemptions from the whole or part of the first level of a professional qualification, effectively reducing the time scale for qualification.

Generally speaking, the student determines how soon they can achieve the qualification. Progress is dependent upon whether you choose a part-time or a full-time study option. Most professional qualifications can be completed in a minimum of three years, however, students are encouraged to go at their own pace.

Bodies offer various flexible study options to students; many of who choose to study on a part-time basis while working full-time; fulfilling their work experience requirements at the same time. Although working whilst studying for a professional qualification can be both demanding and time consuming, it is often to the students' advantage, as they have the opportunity to implement what they learn in the classroom to real work situation.

As mentioned previously, qualification as a professional account is achieved through a combination of study and work experience. The accountancy experience can usually be gained before, after or during study for the qualification. In the UK, the required experience is a minimum of three years, and to qualify as a company auditor, this must be approved and supervised practical training under a registered auditor.

Courses for the UK bodies are available internationally, and UK qualifications can be studied in most main business centres through distance learning programmes. The main bodies also offer their own range of study materials; study texts and revision kits, tailored specifically to their examinations. Study materials can be used in conjunction with a taught course or as self-study guides for those students unable to attend scheduled classes.

With the growing importance of e-business and the Internet, accountancy bodies are getting on-line and over the next few years there will be increasing opportunity to study interactively through the World Wide Web. The first tentative steps towards on-line learning have already been made with programmes such as the Association of International Accountants' Cyber School.

The route to becoming a qualified accountant is regarded as one of the most difficult, demanding commitment and determination. The rewards however, are exceptional. Achievement of a professional accountancy qualification will enable you to meet the challenges of a complex, modern, international business environment and will equip you with the tools to rise to the top in any financially based career

Written by: Nicola Hind
Development Executive
The Association of International Accountants
South Bank Building
Kingsway
Team Valley
Newcastle Upon Tyne
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 191 482 4409
Fax: +44 (0) 191 482 5578
E-mail: aia@aia.org.uk
Website: www.aia.org.uk

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