Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Accountancy courses qualifications

So, what is a rewarding career? A career with a high salary? A career which has a respected position in society? A career with mobility and excellent prospects?

The accounting profession offers all of these opportunities, as well as a challenging and varied work environment. Accountancy is essentially the effective management and administration of the financial affairs, and accountants are a vital part of any organisation's operations.

As a qualified accountant, you have the opportunity to pursue a variety of finance careers in any of the world's financial centres and in any business sector. Accountants are employed in the public or private sector, industry or commerce, and across the whole spectrum of financial work; from audit and public practice; to management or financial accounting; in taxation related work: or in management consultancy and financial services. Accountants are often perceived as boring 'number crunchers', but the variety of career opportunities open to the qualified accountant highlights this as a misconception.

With accountancy you have the luxury of career mobility; the freedom to choose your own career path and the opportunity to gain the knowledge and skills required to rise to the top in your chosen field. To benefit from career mobility you must acquire the skills that employers want. Employers want quality personnel, professional, flexible and adaptable employers. How do you acquire these skills?

To become qualified accountant in the UK and in other countries around the world the generally accepted route is to join a professional accountancy body and to pass the professional examinations. In addition to this, bodies also require their graduates to satisfy stipulated work experience to gain full membership and qualification.

Taking the UK as an example, the accountancy profession is unregulated except for certain areas, which are regulated by law. These three areas are; investment advice, insolvency work and company audit work. Individuals wishing to practise as an auditor in the UK are required by law to hold an audit qualification from a Recognised Qualifying Body (RQB) there are five RQB's: Association of International Accountants, Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales; Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland, Institute of Chartered Accountant in Ireland; Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.

The majority of students pursuing a career in accountancy opt to study a degree prior to their professional examinations.

Most professional bodies operate a policy of exemptions designed to reduce repetition for students who have already attained a qualification of an acceptable standard. For students holding degrees, this means that they are often rewarded exemptions from the whole or part of the first level of a professional qualification, effectively reducing the time scale for qualification.

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