Accountants and Auditors

 

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The reasons people choose to become accountants are as many and varied as the people themselves, and while we cannot answer every question as to why someone becomes an accountant, we can offer some great reasons to choose accounting as a profession. As you consider your career choices in accounting you will find that, contrary to the urban legend, accounting is a dynamic and challenging career that can take you to the height of your abilities, and around the world if you want it to.

Where do Accountants Work?

You will find accountants working in every type of organisation imaginable. Every firm, from the newest bio-tech start up, to a two hundred year old bank needs financial experts to serve and advise them in their business. It will often be the case that the accountant is an enabler, that is they help the business to achieve their targets by providing information on performance, finance and progress - and also ensure that they are in compliance in important areas such as Tax, Company Returns, Contractual Obligations and so on. This usually means that the accountant has the ear of management, or indeed are management. Progression to Board level positions is not beyond the capability of many an accountant.

Accountants are not only found in the business environment - they can also be found in a range of organisation types such as charities, government bodies, sporting organisations and so on. This means that you can have the widest range of opportunities to choose the sector that most suits where you want to work. On the other hand you might see yourself working for a charitable organisation - again the accountant is an important advisor and enabler for ensuring that the charity gets the best use of its money, and that it ensures that charitable status is maintained by preparing and issuing required documents in good time.

Accountants also have an entrepreneurial spirit - they often establish their own businesses and become their own boss. Typically this might involve setting up an accounting, auditing and/or tax practice. They also move into related fields such as business consulting, training or education. More still will stray off the accounting path completely and do everything from establish a restaurant to set up a web based business. Even in this situation the fact that you have a financial literacy puts you in a much better position than those who have little understanding of finance or accountant.

Typical Accountant Roles

Auditor

Undertaking statutory reviews of the financial records and internal control systems of certain organisations so as to ascertain whether or not the financial statements are a "true and fair" representation of the underlying financial records. Audits are legally required by a range of institutions including Companies, Banks, Credit Unions, Companies Limited by Guarantee and so on.

Accountant in Practice

This is an accountant who offers his or her services to members of the public. Typically the accountant will establish an office, put a sign outside the front door and begin trading. They may offer a broad range of services or be narrowly focused on a single area. So in addition to the accountants who are offering the normal book keeping and accounting services to all-comers, you will also find accountants who have a narrow specialisation in their practice. This might be a specialisation in taxation, liquidation and receivership or business planning. Accountants also offer help in related areas - they may offer training on bookkeeping, sell accounting software, provide a range of financial products (subject to approval by the Financial Regulator) or help to register a company.

The accountant in practice may also find themselves specialising in accounting for a particular type of entity. Some specialise in the voluntary sector, others in financial institutions and others still in the public service. While there will always be some overlap in knowledge between specialties - there will also be factors or circumstances that are unique to the sector you are seeking to serve, and this uniqueness can be a way for a particular accountant to stand out from the crowd.

The Accountant in Industry

Not all accountants own or work in public practice, some work in industry in the finance function of a company or other firm type. Their role may be mixed and could include preparing budgets and reports (see "The Management Accountant" below), preparing VAT Returns and returns for other forms of taxation, advising management on whether they should buy a particular business or introduce a new product line. Most of these functions are for internal use - they are things that the managers within the company will use to make decisions. Accountants who choose to work in industry will often find themselves progressing quickly within the management structure. It is not unusual to find an accountant as the CEO of a business.

The Management Accountant

A subset of the "Accountant in Industry" is that of the role of Management Accountant. Management Accountants specialise in preparing and presenting internal information that is used by management in their monitoring an decision making functions. The report of a Management Accountant should be tailored to the information needs of the individual business needs and the needs of the individual manager. Management accounts will include a range of information - both financial and non-financial - and may include trends, percentages, charts and research outcomes as well as numerical information. Types of information provided by the management accountant includes:

• Budget preparation
• Performance measurement
• Competitor analysis
• Graphs of trends
• The Balanced Scorecard

 

Bookkeeping

Bookkeeping is the "bread and butter" part of the accounting process. Before accounts can be created there must be clear records that the information can be drawn from. This is achieved by businesses through keeping a structured set of "books" including a Cash Book, a Sales Book, a Purchases Book, a Debtors Ledger and a Creditors Ledger. In addition to keeping them for the accountant, tax law and company law both require the proper keeping of the financial records of the business. They can be subject to inspection and/or audit by (for example) the Revenue Commissioners, so it is always good business practice to keep your books up to date.