Impact of General Trends on the Accountant Profession

This article discusses the impact of general trends on the accountant profession, including the skills, knowledge, and experience required to succeed in this field. It explores the influence of globalization and technology on the future of accounting.

Career Viewpoint

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
ANALYSIS AND APPLICANTION..............................................................................................1
General trends which will impact on accountant profession.......................................................1
The skills/knowledge and experience required............................................................................2
EVALUATION................................................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
This project has covered the accountant profession. Currently my this profession is very
common in the United Kingdom. A person who is want to become an accountant is need to take
certificate through ACCA, ACA and CIMA. These are some legal bodies in UK which provides
certificate of accountancy. In this report I have included various aspects related to account
profession. I have mentioned general trends also in this report which impact profession of
accountant. Some major skills and knowledge has discussed below which are highly required in
this profession.
ANALYSIS AND APPLICANTION
General trends which will impact on accountant profession
General trends are always impacted a profession or an industry in both way positively
and negatively, so these trends impact accountant profession as well (Taylor, 2018). Suppose
currently a person who want to become an accountant is compulsorily needed to complete its
study in accountancy subject. That person need to take qualification certificate from ACCA
(Association of Chartered Certified Accountants), ACA (Association of Chartered Accountant)
and CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants). Currently businesses and
companies within the United Kingdom are only offers accountant jobs to those people who have
legal certificate of chartered accountant. There are different skills and knowledge also required in
the job role of an accountant (Fouche and Kgapola, 2016). Now business and companies are
highly required accountant in their business environment, because they want to properly manage
their financial records.
The United Kingdom is a very developed country in the world, in which now this place is
a hub of many multinational companies like; Tesco, Marks and Spencer, Shell, British
Petroleum, and Land Rover etc. Currently these international brands wants to hire some skills
and talented accountants in their daily operations. Reason is, these companies are runs their
operations at the large scale, so their cash inflows and outflows are also very complicated. That's
why these companies are highly needed accountants in their operations to manage these cash
statements in proper manner. UK's well-developed economy is main change which has increased
value of an accountant (Thomson, 2017). These are some major changes has happened in
accountant profession which will impact job role of an accountant. According to these changes,
now person need to develop various skills and knowledge to get a job of an accountant.
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Software Knowledge: Currently many accounting software programmes has launched in UK's
market which will help to an accountant to systematically complete their accounting tasks.
According to this change, a person who want to become an accountant need to take full
knowledge of these software programmes.
Intelligence in Accounting: A person should gain intelligence in accounting field to become a
highly professional accountant (Brink and Stoel, 2018). In hiring processes, most companies has
given priority to those candidates who have great intelligence in accounting. That's why a person
need to complete proper qualification in accountancy to gain high intelligence in accounting
field.
Management Skills: An accountant need to develop management skills to systematically
manage their all accounting task. These skills will help to an accountant to provide quality
services to their clients. According to current business environment of UK, time is everything for
all businesses or companies. That's why time management skills are necessary for this profession
in the current time.
There are globalization and technology will also impact this profession in the future
(Khomsiyah and Lindrianasari, 2017). Suppose, currently many businesses is UK now wants to
expand their operations in global market, so this situation will highly impact the profession of
accountant. Reason is, when companies or businesses expand their operations, then they will
highly need some highly professional employees who will manage their cash statements. In this
case, accountants are only major people who can easily manage tasks which related to cash
statements. On the other side, technology will also impact this profession, because currently day
by day many technological accounting tools and gadgets are launching in market. In this
situation, people who work accounting profession will get influence to take proper knowledge of
these technological tools etc. This is how globalization and technology will impact on accountant
profession.
The skills/knowledge and experience required
There are different skills, knowledge and experience has required in the job role of
accountant (Oosthuizen and Ackermann, 2018). On the other hand, a person who want to
become an accountant in UK is need to develop these various skills, knowledge and experience
which has discussed below;
SKILLS
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Communication Skills: Communication skills plays great role in profession of accountant,
because an accountant need to communicate with many people in their daily operations. In this
case, a person who wants to become on an accountant, then it'll necessarily need to develop these
skills.
Team Building Skills: Team building skills are highly required in the job role of an accountant.
Reason is, many times an accountant need to work in a team where some employees have
worked under their command (Osmani and et.al., 2019). In this case, these team building skills
are the best to that account to complete their targets in decided time period. That's why these
skills are too necessary as well.
Decision-Making Skills: This is the third most important skills which an accountant should
develop to take some effective decisions within their daily operations. These skills help to an
accountant for taking productive decisions in this profession. With these skills, a person will able
to gain huge profit in accountant profession.
Self-Motivation Skills: Self-Motivation is very excellent technique to systematically complete
each task (Caglio, Cameran and Klobas, 2019). In accounting profession, these skills are helping
to an accountant to become more energetic and high performer in daily operations. That's why
self-motivation skills are important in this profession.
Calculation Skills: With the support of calculation skills, an accountant is able to easily
calculate lots of financial statements in few time. If any accountant has excellent calculation
skills, then it'll enable to take huge advantages from these skills. For example; a person who has
great calculation skills is able to gain more job opportunities in the accounting profession than
other people.
AREAS OF KNOWLEDGE
Financial Knowledge: Financial knowledge is too necessary in the profession of accountant,
because this profession is completely based on finance, cash, fund, money etc. An accountant is
always analysing various financial records of a company to complete their task (Setiyawati,
Iskandar and Basar, 2018). These financial records are supporting to an accountant to for making
company's final balance sheet, revenue sheet, yearly profit sheet etc. On the other side,
companies or businesses gives great job opportunities to those accountants who have great
knowledge of finance. Suppose a company which has an accountant who have excellent finance
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knowledge, in which that company will easily able to find appropriate source of funding in the
market. That's why finance knowledge is too important in the job role of an accountant.
Knowledge of IT (Information Technology): IT Knowledge or knowledge of information
technology is highly required in an accountant, because currently this knowledge plays great role
in this profession (Heckman and Corbin, 2016). Currently there are various account management
tools available in UK's markets. These tools are basipetally part of information technology, and
these are helping an accountant to manage it's all work in proper manner. Currently many
software programmes are also existing in the market which help to an accountant to
systematically manage their financial records. In this situation, an accountant can easily save its
lots of time and money through knowledge of information technology. A person who wants to
become an effective accountant is necessarily needed to gain proper knowledge of IT (Ceil,
2018). That's why this knowledge plays great role in the profession of accountant.
EVALUATION
I belong to accountant profession, and recently I've seen a job vacancy in the Buzzacott
on the post of “Accountant Associate”. I complete able to do that job, because currently I've
those know skills and knowledge which that company has required. The Buzzacott company
wants to hire a passionate and highly qualified employee in their business environment. In this
case, I have preferred this job opportunity to me because I've completely fulfilled all
requirements of that job advertisement. I completely trust on my skills and talent which will help
to put great efforts in that job role. Currently I'm too excited to do this job of accounting
associate, because I've gained proper knowledge of accounting field. I'm passionate to do things
which related to accounting and I've proper command on my skills. That's why currently I'm
capable to do this job. With the support of this job role, I'll able to more improve my strength
which is based on accountancy. This job is really appropriate to me for showing my accounting
skills, talent and knowledge to people.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded that the general trends really impact on accountant profession.
According to trends, a person is highly needed to develop different skills and knowledge level to
become a highly professional accountant. There are globalization and technology also impact
this profession in positive way. An accountant is able to gain huge advantages with the support
of these skills, knowledge and experience.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Taylor, E., 2018. Guide to Meeting Certified Public Accountant (CPA) Requirements at.
(Doctoral dissertation, Boston College).
Fouche, J. P. and Kgapola, M. P., 2016. PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTANTS’PERSPECTIVE
OF SKILLS REQUIRED TO PROGRESS TO MANAGEMENT
POSITIONS. International Journal of Business and Management Studies. 8(1). pp.20-
36.
Thomson, J., 2017. Is the Accounting Profession Committed to Closing the Skills Gap?. The
CPA Journal. 87(9). pp.16-17.
Brink, W. D. and Stoel, M. D., 2018. Analytics Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities for Accounting
Graduates'. Advances in Accounting Education: Teaching and Curriculum Innovations.
22. pp.23-43.
Khomsiyah and Lindrianasari, 2017. The influence of accounting education on the prospects of
becoming a member of the chartered accountant profession: opportunities, challenges
and expectations of Indonesia towards the ASEAN economic community. International
Journal of Monetary Economics and Finance. 10(3-4). pp.257-269.
Oosthuizen, A. and Ackermann, C., 2018. Knowledge and skills required by entry-level
accountants for integrated reporting.
Osmani, M., and et.al., 2019. Graduates employability skills: A review of literature against
market demand. Journal of Education for Business. 94(7). pp.423-432.
Caglio, A., Cameran, M. and Klobas, J., 2019. What is an accountant? An investigation of
images. European Accounting Review. 28(5). pp.849-871.
Setiyawati, H., Iskandar, D. and Basar, Y. S., 2018. The quality of financial reporting through
increasing the competence of internal accountants and accrual basis. International
Journal of Economics, Business and Management Studies. 5(1). pp.31-40.
Heckman, J. J. and Corbin, C. O., 2016. Capabilities and skills. Journal of human development
and Capabilities. 17(3). pp.342-359.
Ceil, C., 2018. Accountant Liability for Securing Company’s Financial Position. Available at
SSRN 3520400.
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Appendix
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