Project 1

Project 1: Accounting Careers

 

Project Introduction

 

Accounting is a service activity, which means that its main function is to provide financial information about businesses. All businesses need accounting as part of what they do. Therefore, the types of businesses that you could work for as an accountant or bookkeeper are unlimited.

 

Accounting information is used by businesses to make decisions and meet government obligations, such as taxes. When gathering information about a business, accountants generally begin by asking questions about the business. Therefore, accounting is about people and finances.

 

A career in accounting could be a professional accounting designation requiring university or other post-secondary school training or a clerical position that might begin with an entry-level accounting position right after high school. Both these pathways are explored in this project.

 

FIN1015 Learn EveryWare © 2009 Alberta Education

Project 1: Accounting Careers

 

What I Need to Know

 

Accounting as a Profession

 

Over the past half century, accountancy as a profession has become comparable with law or medicine. Most provinces license public accountants just as they license doctors and lawyers. Licensing accountants helps ensure a high standard of professional service.

 

 

 

 

In Canada there are a number of accounting organizations that provide education and professional training. These organizations include the following:

• Institute of Chartered Accountants (CA designation)
• Certified General Accountants (CGA designation)
• Society of Management Accountants (CMA designation)

Courses are available through these organizations and post-secondary schools. In the case of the chartered accountants and management accountants, a university degree is a prerequisite (generally a Bachelor of Commerce degree).

 

All three organizations require their members to have practical experience.. To qualify as a CGA, CMA, or CA, you must pass a final examination that is the same across the country.

 

Accountancy is a growing profession. Its growth is in response to the expansion and complexity of the economy, the increasing involvement of the accountant in the process of management decisions, and a greater number of financial reporting activities.

 

Where Are Accountants Employed?

 

Accountants are employed in three broad fields:

• public accounting
• private accounting
• government

Public Accounting

A public accountant may be employed in any of the following services:

• auditing: the evaluation of books and records of a business
  Auditing—The principal service offered by public accountants is auditing. Auditing is the evaluation of the books and records of a business. Banks commonly require an audit of the financial statements of a company that applies for a sizable loan. Such audits are performed by public accountants, who are independent professionals working for a fee.
  
  The purpose of an audit is to authenticate a company’s financial statements. The auditor carefully examines the company’s statements and the account records from which they were prepared. The auditor determines whether the statements fairly reflect the company’s financial position and operating results in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.

• Management advisory services‚ÄîPublic accountants commonly offer management advice to a company. Clients use the suggestions from the accountant to make management decisions. Management advisory services include the design, installation, and improvement of a client’s general accounting system and any related information systems it may have for managing the company. Management advisory services may also include financial planning, budgeting, forecasting, and inventory control.
  
  
• Tax services‚ÄîA professional accountant is well qualified to render services in the tax area, including preparing and filing tax returns.

Private Accounting

Accountants employed by a single company are said to be private accountants. A small business may employ only one accountant or it may depend on the services of a public accountant. A large business, on the other hand, may have a large accounting department. The employees of a large accounting department commonly work under the supervision of a chief accounting officer called the controller.

 

A private accountant may be employed in any of the following areas:

• General accounting‚ÄîGeneral accounting involves the general tasks of recording transactions, processing the recorded data, and preparing financial reports for use by the management.
  
  
• Cost accounting‚ÄîCost accounting involves determining and controlling costs, as well as assessing the performance of managers who are responsible for costs. This may involve accounting for the costs of producing a certain product or service, or the costs of performing some other specific function.
  
  
• Budgeting‚ÄîThe process of developing formal plans for future business activities is called budgeting. The objective of budgeting is to provide management with a clear understanding of all the activities that must be undertaken and completed in order to accomplish the company‚Äôs objectives.
  
  
• Internal auditing‚ÄîIn addition to an annual audit by an independent firm of public accountants, many companies maintain a staff of internal auditors. These employees move from one department to another, checking the records and operating procedures of each department.

Government Accounting

 

Accountants who work for the municipal, provincial, or federal governments provide various services. Government accountants are used in many capacities, including government payroll, investigation of tax evasion, and public boards. Government accountants may also provide all of the services performed by public and private accountants, only their client is the government.

 

FIN1015 Learn EveryWare © 2009 Alberta Education

Project 1: Accounting Careers

 

Clerical Careers in Financial Management

 

Financial clerks work in specialized positions within the area of financial management that do not necessarily require a formal accounting designation. They are involved in recording the financial information. In contrast, the accountant is responsible for analyzing the recorded financial information to make informed decisions regarding the future of the company. Accountants and accounting clerks often work very closely together.

 

These positions vary from company to company, but all of them require the basic knowledge of financial management that you will receive in this course, together with the use of technology that you learn in your studies.

 

Some of these positions, as well as a brief description of their main duties, include the following:

 

Accounts payable clerk	Recording and making payments for money owed by the business
Accounts receivable clerk	Recording money received from customers or to be received from customers
Payroll clerk	Recording and paying payroll for the business
Receptionist with accounting skills	Answering phone inquiries, preparing correspondence, and recording a company’s financial activities
Purchasing clerk	Ordering and recording the purchases of a business.
Bookkeeper	Recording, summarizing, and reporting the financial information of a business

 

 

Why Is This Important?

 

All businesses need to keep track of the coming and going of their money. By taking financial management courses, you become prepared to apply as an entry-level accounting clerk in any type of business that may interest you. You also become prepared to begin your professional accounting career at a university or post-secondary school of your choice. It is important to understand all you can about a career when making a career choice.

 

What Do I Need To Do?

 

In the following Time to Work assignments, you will have the opportunity to investigate these careers and career paths in more detail. Continue to Time to Work to begin your exploration.

 

Time to Work

 

When you have completed these assignments, submit them to your teacher for assessment.

 

Assignment 1: Accounting Career Report

 

 

The purpose of this assignment is to explore the wide range of opportunities in accounting and where to look for these positions in your local area. Select Accounting Career Report for your assignment.

 

Assignment 2: Research Assignment

 

The purpose of this assignment is to explore where to access information regarding professional accounting designations as well as explore other accounting positions, education required, and salary ranges.

 

 

Save this in your FIN1015 Course Folder as pr1-2. This stands for Project 1, Assignment 2, and is the format used throughout this course to save your documents unless your teacher has advised otherwise. Please be sure to check with your teacher about the format to be used.

 

Select Research Exploration when you are ready to do this assignment.

 

Portfolio Submission

 

After assessment, save your assignments or a summary of your assignments in the Course Portfolio folder that you created on your desktop. The websites and information you collect could be valuable to you in the future and are used in a final presentation at the end of this course.

 

FIN1015 Learn EveryWare © 2009 Alberta Education

Project 1: Accounting Careers

 

Project Summary

 

Now that you have had a chance to investigate different accounting-related careers, you are better equipped to choose if a career in accounting is for you. You should also have a better idea about what is involved in training to become a professional accountant.

 

As you have discovered, financial management training allows you to apply to a wide variety of companies. The job opportunities are numerous and the skills that you develop in this course will help you to apply to different accounting clerk positions. Many clerical positions ask for work experience. Your financial management training is project-based experience, and you should include the final project when applying for these positions. People often start at an entry-level position and work their way up the ladder to as high as they want to go in the accounting field.

 

Even if you do not choose an accounting career, the skills that you learn will transfer to other useful areas such as starting your own business, developing your own personal budget, and managing your own financial activities. Continue to Project 2 to explore the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.

 

FIN1015 Learn EveryWare © 2009 Alberta Education