Personal and Professional Development Report - Accounting & Finance

This report presents a comprehensive analysis of personal and professional development, encompassing various aspects such as learning skills, career planning, and ethical awareness. The report begins with an introduction to personal and professional development, emphasizing the importance of skill development for achieving goals. The main body of the report includes a summary of scores from learning skills questionnaires, highlighting strengths in time management, numeracy, and IT skills, while also identifying weaknesses in e-learning, speaking, listening, and writing. The report then delves into career planning, outlining the current and ideal situations, followed by a SWOT analysis to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Steps towards achieving the ideal situation are detailed, along with an exploration of ethical awareness in the context of accounting. Finally, a development plan is presented, outlining specific actions, resources, and timelines for improvement in identified skill areas, such as speaking, listening, and writing. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and recommendations for continued personal and professional growth.

Assessment

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY................................................................................................................................3
Summary of scores from learning skills questionnaires on survey.......................................3
Career Planning -situations & Aspiration..............................................................................5
SWOT analysis:.......................................................................................................................5
Steps towards ideal situation................................................................................................6
Ethical awareness..................................................................................................................7
Development Plan.................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES.............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Personal and professional development can be referred to as the process which
involves individual and organisation engagement in a process of learning so that desired
goals can be achieved and challenges can be met. In order to grow professionally as well as
personally, it is important to develop the requisite skills so that planning, negotiating,
building networks and learning from the experiences can be made easily. It is important to
develop the skills by initially identifying the strength and weakness of an individual so that
lacunas can be identified and process can be initiated to fill the skill gaps. This report shall
cover the career planning, personal SWOT analysis, steps towards ideal situation, ethical
awareness and the development plan.
MAIN BODY
The aim of this project to establishing the current learning skills and abilities. To
develop as a person, we all need to classify our strength to support us overcome our
limitation. To design a smart goal deliberating that how you can improve your learning skills.
To review and consider your current and ideal circumstances and how it will be affecting on
your career. To understand how ethical issues so important for the accountant.
Summary of scores from learning skills questionnaires on survey
Survey Score/Max. Score%
e- Learning skills 15/25 60%
Information technology skills 38/45 84%
Numeracy skill 35/40 88%
Reading and Research 22/30 73%
Speaking and Listening 18/30 60%
Time management 27/30 90%
Writing 19/30 63%

The above survey result is showing my strength and weakness. According to the
result, my approach towards time management skill as per my observation is that I am really
good in managing my time. I always make plans to meet my deadline. Prearrangement
always benefits me to focus on my study. Managing the time is very essential in my life
because it helps me to structure my work in a way that let me achieve targets. I always reach
on time to my interviews before the time because by doing this, it helps me to make me feel
calm and also help me in preparing for the interview.
I am also good with my numeracy skills. I can do basic maths such as addition,
subtraction, multiply without using calculator. I can also interpret tables, graph, ratio,
percentage and proportions.
My result for technology skills shows that I got some knowledge about IT skills. I
have done a basic IT course that helped me to learn how to use Microsoft word, excel and
PowerPoint. This helped me to work more professionally, boosted my self-confidence and
made me an appreciated student to get a higher grade in my last project.
As well as I am also quite good at reading and research. I can read and understand
well. In my last project, I have done an online study and searched online for many solutions. I
am good at reading rather than writing because I used to research about things happening
around the world.
However, in my result, I got some weaknesses also. I am very weak in e- Learning
skills, speaking and listening, and writing skills. English is my second language so sometimes
I feel nervous to speak in front of everyone and give my opinion. Sometimes the way the
audience is looking at me make me think that I am speaking something wrong. On the other
hand, while I am speaking in front of everyone I used to forget words as to what I need to
speak next as my mind just goes blank in front of the large audience.
Occasionally, I feel difficulty in understanding English people' s accents because
the way they speak is different from us. During my written task, I found that I made mistake
in my grammar. I found it hard where I can use correct grammar and structure such as
punctuation and verbs. My main weakness is also writing task as I face difficulty as to how
to think about writing an introduction in the task because it is hard for me to figure out how
to correct the thesis from the whole project. It’s very hard to write introduction in opening
sentences so that the reader can get interest in my project.
I am struggling to complete the words while I am doing my project because I haven’t
got a good vocabulary. According to my e-Learning result, I got 60% which shows that I am
very weak to learn online. I understand the topic while I am reading online but sometimes it's

very hard to understand some words immediately, I am also unable to talk to my teacher
whilst there is an issue. Due to the e-Learning, I found it problematic to study resources in a
relaxed atmosphere which is a home situation because there was no pressure to complete the
task what normally we face in the university. It’s very challenging to keep up with regular
deadlines through the virtual studies.
Career Planning -situations & Aspiration
Current situation: I have started Account and finance course in January 2020. I have
passed my first semester with good grades. From the education experience, I have gathered
some knowledge and I understood that the Accounting field will be demanding in future. My
self-confidence has been developed through my education and life experiences.
Ideal situation: Currently, I am not working because I wanted to concentrate on my
study so, that I can get good grades to achieve my goals. Work experience will give me to
grab more opportunity to work with big and exciting companies. Working as a sales assistant,
admin or as a cashier will support me to understand how to pursue sales targets and policies
which are essential for the success of that goal.
SWOT analysis:
Strengths
 I am able to examine difficulties from all
potential approaches in order to classify all likely
results.
 I am very punctual and have always submitted
my work on time.
 One of my strength is to have patience which
allows me to give sufficient reactions and
improved my relationships in my previous
workplace.
 My speaking and listening skills determine
how well I work with others.
Weaknesses
 One of my highest difficulties is that I feel very
anxious when my project need to be complete
before deadline.
 Due to my lack of confidence I have
difficulty to speak in front of everyone and
share my ideas about certain tasks.
 I have no relevant experience of current
study.
 I am very weak in writing skills because I
have problem to use correct grammars.

Opportunities
 In next month, I am going to do some part-
time job or work experience which is
relevant to my study and this experience will
demonstrate my capability to work with
statistics and finances.
 My current study of accounting and finance
degree will provide me some kind of
knowledge like accountancy practices,
commerce, industry and finance which will
help me to find job easily.
Threats
 Due to my current study, I cannot work and
this would be negatively impacting on my
work experience.
 The corona virus have highly affected the
current economic climate which caused slow
growth for marketing production so there is
very less chance to get relevant jobs.
 I applied for job where my friend applied,
and she is much stronger in writing skills
than me and she have challenge me for the
administering position.
Steps towards ideal situation
Action Resources Timescale
I will find some work
experience and part time job.
I will apply for jobs online in
similar career. On other hand I
will drop my CV to my local
council, passport office, and in
other office where I can get
relevant experience like
administration.
I will finish my exam on 16th of
January after that I will start to
look for part- time jobs or work
experiences.
I am going to improve my
knowledge to understand more
about economics growth and
how marketing have been
affected by coronavirus.
I will read newspaper or watch
news every day to understand
what is happening in the
economics growth and is the
price of marketing going up or
I will start to read newspaper
from 20th of December, and I
will keep continue to read until
I finished my course because
this would help me to

down and also how it is highly
impacted by the corona virus?
understand how economic
growth have affected the
current situations.
Working in administration or
other professional jobs, it is
essential to have an academic
skill for professional writing.
I will attend online academic
workshop to improve my
writing skills.
I will practice every day to
develop my grammar and
structure.
Ethical awareness
Accountants deal with the close economic facts of individuals and administrations.
Some can perform million-dollar transactions, and others support with defending withdrawal
finances of taxi drivers and social workers. The purpose of accounting in business is to record
evidence to give the overall financial representation of a certain and related events and
support them to make judgement.
Finance procedures rely on accounting deprived of which they would finally failure.
Though, the organization of finances procedures and robust contest have encouraged certain
accountants to follow unethical performances irregularly through the purpose of increasing
their businesses interests (HadaR and Brody, 2016).
Ethical codes are the important moralities that accounting specialists indicate to
accept in order to develop their business, support community belief and determine reliability
and equality. People who link societies and protect the authorisations to existent themselves
to the community as CPAs or IIAs attempt to defend the character of the business. The
resulting are five extents that justify the notice of everybody who deliberately got affected in
the accounting business.
 Independence and Objectivity- Codes and individuality are closely connected with
accounting business. The most important component of confidence is the creation of
the unbiased consequences and suggestions that benefit a client. Meetings of
understanding includes claim experience under individuality rules.

To continue unbiasness and self-governing, it is also essential to confirm that
references are not focused on external impact. An accountant’s specialised decision is
negotiated if they lower their decision to somebody else (Blair, 2016).
 Integrity- It represents that the accountant should be straightforward and trustworthy
in all profession. Maintaining trustworthiness indicates that accountants do not
accompany themselves with the report that is uncertain or is considerably incorrect or
deceptive.
 Confidentiality- An Accountant should keep personal information safe. Someone
else's personal information which is attained should not be revealed or used for
individual benefits. There can be breach of confidentiality if there is an official law or
proficient causes to do so (YU and Prince, 2016).
 Professional Competence- As expertise, regulation and best practices changes, a
professional accountant must stay contemporary. An accountant needs to stay well-
informed of progress that could affect a result's consequence. The process of
performing appropriate care results in identifying your capability level. Accessing
with other specialists is regular training that supports to link an arrangement of person
and produce regard. This guideline is also used for supervisors who observe other
people. These accountants are essential to safeguard that the assistants get appropriate
exercise and supervision as they perform their responsibilities (Nicolae and Nicolae,
2016).
 Professional Behaviour- Codes require accounting professionals to observe the rules
and policies that manage their authorities and their organisations of employment.
Circumventing arrangements that could harmfully affect the standard of the business
is a sensible obligation that professional associates and others must presume.
Development Plan
What to
Develop/why?
Specific actions
to take
How will
measure goal
achieved
Time
scale/Deadline
Comment/Progress
Speaking and
Listening
skills:
I will ensure that
I will make good
eye contact with
I am going to do
my presentation
in next month. I
On 20th of
November, I set
my target to be
I hope my all target will
help me to achieve my
goal.

I have a
language barrier
because English
is my second
language. While
I am speaking
In front of
everyone I get
nervous because
of my lack of
confidence to
speak English.
the audience to
engage them in
my presentation
rather than
focusing on the
slides. Before my
presentation
deadline, I will
be practising
many times so I
can remember it.
I will be making
sure that I will
speak slow and
listen carefully to
the people.
will measure
this by my
presentation
which will be
measured by my
Good grades.
This is very
important for
me to move into
the next level of
my course.
ready for my
presentation, I
will speak
English as much
as I can and my
aim is to listen to
English Music so
that I understand
the accent of
English people.
In the Middle of
November, I will
be ready to
prepare my
presentation
which is required
to be submitted
in January.

Writing Skills:
I am very week
in my writing
skills because I
make mistake in
using correct
grammar.
I will improve
my grammar by
reading books.
As well as I will
be attending
workshops to
increase my
vocabulary.
By doing my
project on
Microsoft word,
it is very easy to
check grammar
and spelling
error electronic.
By the time of
my next exam, I
will be able to
use correct
grammar and
structure so that
I can improve
my writing
skills. This will
support me to
pass my exams.
By doing my
project on
Microsoft word
it is very easy to
check grammar
and spelling
error electronic.
I will continue
my daily writing
routine as it will
give me
advantage to
improve my
writing skill and
support me to
achieve the goal.
E Learning
skills:
For my e
Learning skills, I
will be making
sure to read
Books online
rather than
buying books. I
will use more
online resources
to complete my
project and to
Effective e
Learning skill
will improve my
IT skills and it
will train me to
get better job
such as in
administration. I
will be more
satisfied by
increasing my
From my day
routine, I will
take at least 2
hours to access
online resources
to improve my e
Learning skills.
.

prepare for my
exams. During
my online
lectures, I will
try to get more
involved in
discussions and
will also try to
give my opinion.
understanding
about how to
use Excel,
Microsoft word
and other
software.

My long-term
goal to develop
my career:
My long-term
goal will help
me to develop
my future
career. Working
experience will
also give me
more
knowledge
about my best
interest.
While my online
or face to face
session, I will
make sure that I
will keep making
notes and
highlight the key
words. This will
help me to
understand in an
easy way. I am
working hard to
increase my
knowledge in
accounting and
finance through
watching news.
Throughout my
course, I had
many tests,
assessment and
exams so I can
measure this
when I will pass
my all exams
and
assessments. I
am looking for a
job in the
private or public
sector, mainly in
tax training
companies as in
an office firm,
there is more
chance to get
administrative
positions that
must classify
economic
reports and
further
informations.
Every day I am
searching more
jobs on indeed to
relate my course
which would help
me to get more
knowledge and
work experience.