How to Be a Qualified Accountant

Personnel Five-Year Development Plan: How to be a qualified accountant In the modern society, the developing speed of economy is very fast, which means the world is becoming a business world. As a result of this trend, the role of financial management is getting more and more important. That is why more and more people and companies require accountants with good accounting skills, especially in Canada, in which the tax is so complicated that almost all the peolple need an accountant to take responsbility for their tax.

Career goals and objectives

There are many successful accountants in the world. For example: Daryl Ritchie, CEO of Meyers Norris Penny LLP, got his start in 1978 as an articling student at the firm,and because of Ritchie’s hard work in 20 years, Ritchie was promoted to CEO and has since led the firm in leadership and growth. Another good instance is Bill Thomas, who is the CEO and Senior Partner of KPMG Canada, started his career with a bachelor of Science from the University of British Columbia in 1989. Thomas began at KPMG in 1990 in Audit practice. Quickly recognized, Thomas soon after moved up to become Audit Leader.

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Appointed to CEO in 2009, Thomas is now head of the 4,500 employee company(Kristin, 2011). These people are the final goals and objectives to most of the accountants, so do I. My terminal goals and objectives are to be a qualified accountant. I will work in an accounting firm at the beginning time, and after having lots of experience and many clients, I will set up my own accounting firm, that is the ultimate goal and objective in my career.

The possible opportunities for career growth

In the business world, the importance of accounting has been promoted in recent years. To companies, accountants are essential. They are trained in
accounting and are taught to measure, establish and maintain financial records of great accuracy for companies or individuals, records that have great value for managers, tax authorities and investors. In any business the accountant plays an important role and has many duties. Accountants are responsible for evaluating records provided by the book keepers in order to establish whether the business is progressing or not, and where it lacks improvement. Accountants record financial transactions that take place within the company and prepare financial statements.

The most important role of accountants is predicting the cost effectiveness of company strategies and help the overall development of any business through knowledge and technical skill. They are key to the success of any organization, working hand in hand with those who run it(Nacpaf, 2012). To individuals, as I mentioned before, in Canada, almost everyone needs an accountant to help themselves to clarify the items and details of the financial statement, otherwise, they may pay a high price for their financial behaviour because of the strict and complicated tax law in Canada. Considering these two reasons, to set up my own accounting firm has a good prospect.

Besides, this business action must have a large number of clients and a huge amount of potential clients, due to this, this action can ensure a very high profit. Therefore, it is a good choice for people who want to be successful. The inventory of current skills, abilities, training, and education It is not very easy to be a qualified accountant. First of all, this person should be good at math and calculating, because being an accountant, this person has to deal with a large amount of numbers. Secondly, this person should be smart enough so that he can try his best to reduce the clients' tax and not break the tax law at the same time.

Finally, this person should have abundant knowledge in accounting area. However, there is no company will waste their time on testing whether this person is qualified or not, considering of this, this person had better has passed CGA exam. A CGA is an accounting professional with expertise in finance, taxation, business strategy, auditing, management, and business leadership.

CGAs must meet the education, experience and examination requirements established, and regularly enhanced, by CGA-Canada(Wikipedia, 2013). After passing all the courses which CGA requires, this person will be qualified enough to do an accounting job.

Job satisfaction attributes

What attribute people to have an accounting job? For the first reason, getting an accounting job can offer people a stable salary. Some people are not interested in the jobs which are very flexible, they prefer to do things followed some laws or rules, they do not need to think about how they should do this thing, they should only care about what they should do. For the second reason, to have an accounting job is really more than getting a job. People use accounting in their daily lives when they study financial statements to make investment decisions, assess interest rates to pay off their house mortgages, and calculate rates for car payment.

The last reason is that this job is comparably easy. Firstly, people do not have to work day and night. Secondly, people can even work at home instead of going to their work place. Thirdly, this job is very safe, people won't risk their lives when doing this work. Three action steps to reach the stated career goals and objectives For the first 2 years, the most important thing is collecting the accounting knowledge, starting learning CGA courses and passing the CGA exam. This is also the fundamental period during one's accounting career.

A good beginning is half the success. For the following 2 years, after graduating from university, I will enter a small accounting firm. Because of lacking in the accounting experience, probably the big accounting firms will not hire people who just graduate from university. However, as a CGA, to find a job in a small company is not very hard.

I will spend these 2 years to accumulate work experience, save money and try to know lots of clients to lay the foundation for setting up my own accounting firm. For the fifth year, after having enough funds and clients, I will set up my own company. This is the ultimate goal and objective in my career. I believe this step will be a milestone in my career life.

Potential barriers

To be a qualified accountant is a very long and hard period for an international student. For one thing, as I come from China, there are sigificant differences between Canadian and Asian universities, especially when it comes to accounting education. These differences, in conjunction with differences in cognitive and linguistic patterns, constitute formidable barriers that initially prevent successful participation in the Canadian accounting courses(Mary, Matthew; Panadda, 1999).

For another, even if Asian students have studied English for a long time or have passed some basic English tests, the language is still the biggest problem during their study time. What is more challenging for Asian students is that they have adapted to their own country's tax law. However, in Canada, they have to learn a totally new tax law in their second language, which is also a intractable trouble for them.

Conclusion

Being an accountant has many advantages. For instance, people can get a stable salary from this job, they don't have to day and night. Besides, accounting offres people an absolutely good potencial opportunity in business. Therefore, if they can overcome the barriers mentioned before, it's really a good choice to start an accounting firm.

References
Kristin, Craik. (2011). Canada's Best Accountants. Retrieved from http://www.businessreviewcanada.ca/money_matters/canadas-best-accountants Nacpaf. (2012). Accountants in the company.
Retrieved from http://www.nacpaf.com/role-of-accountatns-in-a-company.html Wikipedia. (2013). Certified General Accountant.
Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certified_General_Accountant Mary, Beaven., Matthew, Calderisi., ; Panadda Tantral. (1999). Barriers to Learning Experienced by Asian Students in American Accounting Classes. Retrieved from http://www.fdu.edu/newspubs/barriers.html

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