What Is The Job Of An Accountant?
Accountants are responsible for assisting businesses with their money and ensuring they get the most amount of profit. They will need to create financial reports, thoroughly check financial documents as well as offer financial advice. Some of the things they will need to do include handling budgets, tax, paying employees salaries, finding particular services or goods for the business etc.
As an accountant, what you do on a daily basis will depend on your accounting speciality. Some examples include:
Public practice accountants. They help companies by dealing with their finances and are usually employed by professional service or accountancy firms. They can work with many different types of clients.
Public finance accountants. These accountants typically work with public sector companies. Some of these include governmental departments, NHS, local councils, schools etc. One important part of their responsibilities would be financial reporting where they inform external stakeholders about the financial status of the company. They also need to make sure that all public sector financial activities are done correctly. If you are in the Yorkshire area then you may want to see payroll services York.
The Difference Between Public Finance & Public Practice
It is easy to get these two mixed up. Basically, public practice accountants are able to work with many different types of businesses to assist them with managing their money. These types of accountants typically work with accountancy firms. On the other hand, public finance accountants only work in the public sector and they make sure that the public's money is spent in an appropriate manner.
Becoming An Accountant
In order to become a chartered accountant, you'll need to do a degree as well as get particular professional qualifications. Alternatively, you can get a degree apprenticeship working as taxation or accountancy professional. You can eventually become a chartered accounting by working your way up. You can start in a junior role such as an accounting assistant while you do studies to get the necessary professional qualifications.
Myths Busted
We will now bust a couple of accounting myths.
- It isn't necessary for you to do extremely well in maths in order to become an accountant. However, being good with numbers will help you a lot.
- It isn't necessary to get a degree but a lot of people go this route.
- If you want to become an accountant by getting a degree, you can study economics, maths, sciences, languages and not necessarily accounting.
The type of professional qualifications you should get would depend heavily on the particular accountancy field you are interested in specialising in.
What You Should Expect
Lewis Currie works at Grant Thornton UK LLP as an audit associate. He started working in this job after he completed his A levels. While working, he started doing AAT (Association of Accounting Technician) qualifications and will finish it in the summer. Then, he will start doing ACA (Association of Chartered Accountants) qualifications.
"The great thing about working in auditing is that every day is different. I enjoy working with many different clients in various sectors. Sometimes I work with clients in education, manufacturing and many other types of sectors. Every single client is unique and the work that has to be done is custom to each client. That is what makes this career so interesting."
Typical Accountant Skills
In order to work in accounting, you'll need certain skills. For example, you'll need to be able to work well with others, communicate clearly, be capable of analysing the numbers, pay attention to small details, have leadership traits, commercial awareness, be flexible and adaptable, work with integrity, have the ability to problem solve etc. Once you have these skills, they will assist you in progressing in your career as an accountant.
