Accounting (1 Viewer)

[choc-chip]

Apperantly, plenty of ppl are interested in commerce/business (whatsoever do u called it). Just wondering how many of you actually into it? Do you just go for a high salary career prospective? Parents expetation? Or personal interest?
Say if I wish to do accounting for all of above reasons, any ideas of what its like? Is accounting for ppl who are patient for numbers, determine minded?
Anything else? It does feel alright when I flip through the few pages of its 2 inches textbook, but still...

 

[Minai]

I'm entering my 3rd year of Accounting...
You have to be very patient with the subject...it can frustrate you to death sometimes, and some topics you'll find extremely boring. But it is rewarding, and Accounting at uni isn't about "number-crunching" (that's closer to a TAFE award), it's learning to become a business manager as well as a financial accountant.

You'll find that Accounting, especially in later years, won't have much "pencil-pushing" work, and its mostly theory and accounting standards.

I'm also doing accounting because of its supposed great career prospects (ie, it's relatively easier to find a job than any other business/commerce field), and its a very versatile major, meaning you could end up as an auditor, a tax consultant, a legal advisor, a business manager or a financial controller etc

 

[choc-chip]

Wooopss, think my thread've posted in a wrong session, can anyone move it to the commerce forum for me?
What are the boring subjects referring to?
How is accounting different from finance?"number crunching"??

 

[Suvat]

I don't think there's a commerce forum in university general...

Anyway, accounting 1A was easy but plain boring while accounting 1B was more interesting as it had more management accounting, but it also meant more stuff to cram.

 

[choc-chip]

Can anyone please explain what do the CPA, or CA course like? Aren't they a postraduated degree?

 

[redruM]

CA involves doing the following:
1. be in an accredited course

2. CA PROGRAM
a) CA foundations - can be done after 2nd yr of accredited degree is completed. yes, that means you start CA program in 3rd year.

b) 3 technical modules - you need 1 yr work experience under CA mentorship in an acredited CA company/firm.

c) final integrative module

the CA program can be done in 18 months after your degree has finished.

3. work in a CA firm/practice for 3 years.


from what i have heard CA's are much more prestigious than CPA's.
someone correct me if i am wrong, but CPA courses take 6 months.

minai, didnt know you were majoring in accounting?

 

[Minai]

Wooopss, think my thread've posted in a wrong session, can anyone move it to the commerce forum for me?
What are the boring subjects referring to?
How is accounting different from finance?"number crunching"??

boring subjects - depends what you like I guess..
I usually find anything to do with ethics and accounting standards highly sleep inducing, but thats just me.

redrum - yes I am

 

[jase_]

Apperantly, plenty of ppl are interested in commerce/business (whatsoever do u called it). Just wondering how many of you actually into it? Do you just go for a high salary career prospective? Parents expetation? Or personal interest?
Say if I wish to do accounting for all of above reasons, any ideas of what its like? Is accounting for ppl who are patient for numbers, determine minded?
Anything else? It does feel alright when I flip through the few pages of its 2 inches textbook, but still...

I'm doing a combined degree with Business, so I'm majoring in Accounting as well. I'm going into my 4th year for 2005, however I'll be doing most of my Accounting major subjects in 2005, so at the moment, I'm 1/4 through my major.

I pretty much did Accounting because of the 3 reasons you mentioned above. I had an interest in it since I did the VET course at TAFE in Years 11 and 12 as well. I was initially just doing IT for my first 2 years before doing Business as well, hence why I'm almost finished IT and half way through Business.

Accounting at uni, as Minai said, it pretty much only 1/3 numbers. The rest of it is learning about how to apply accounting knowlege to make decisions and stuff like that. Most things you do in business is pretty much learning how to make business decisions to avoid future risk, whether your doing accounting, finance, marketing or economics.

If you want to do accounting, and do good at it, then you should definately have an interest it in. Accounting itself is a boring major to study, so if you at least have an interest in it, then its only half boring.

What you learn at uni in the accounting major is pretty broad and just touches the surface of the accounting world. Obviously you have to go out into the real world and start working to experience all the detailed stuff. That's pretty much where the CA/CPA programs partially come in. It's pretty much the advanced version of what you learn at uni and tries to relate what you're doing in the real world and teach you other stuff that you need to know. Besides that, you learn as you go along, as you do with most jobs. It's pretty much treated as a postgraduate Masters degree as you mentioned.

Hope this helps!

 

[choc-chip]

Thanx jasee, ur words are extremely helpful to me indeed.
IT and accouting are the perfect matched obviously, I knew someone did it a couple years ago, and he's now having a 100k job at somehwere I'm not quite sure. However what I've concerned is the demand of accountant 3-5 years in the future, due to the huge number of accounting students . On the other hand I also believed granted an accounting degree provides a broard opportunity for career development(as minai said so). Now, I'm tosing between accounting and business administration since I'm worried if I'm not smart enough to excel accounting.

 

[Sweet_Lemon]

wel....i think parent expectation won't be counted into why i wanna study accounting..LOL...coz they don't really mind, as long as i do a course tat i'm interested in. But they did say tat Girls suits a career in accounting..not offence or anything...but tat's how some parents thinks...

 

[choc-chip]

But they did say tat Girls suits a career in accounting..not offence or anything...but tat's how some parents thinks...

They must be Asian then.

 

[Minai]

Thanx jasee, ur words are extremely helpful to me indeed.
IT and accouting are the perfect matched obviously, I knew someone did it a couple years ago, and he's now having a 100k job at somehwere I'm not quite sure. However what I've concerned is the demand of accountant 3-5 years in the future, due to the huge number of accounting students . On the other hand I also believed granted an accounting degree provides a broard opportunity for career development(as minai said so). Now, I'm tosing between accounting and business administration since I'm worried if I'm not smart enough to excel accounting.

I was worried too, but apparently accountants are always in demand, always have been.

And regarding the bus. admin.: I remember going to advisory day at Macquarie Uni and one of the lecturers/professors was talking to me and basically said not to do the Bachelor of Business Admin. because it was fluffy and not really an applicable degree versus something like accounting

 

[choc-chip]

thanx heaps Minai...
Right! Seems commerce would be my choice in next year...
Anyone thought of cadetship while u studying accounting? It sounds quite valuable in gainning practical experiences.
BTW, someone has told me that CPA is internationally recognised, where CA is pretty much limited in Australia.Ture?

 

[Shuter]

Thanx jasee, ur words are extremely helpful to me indeed.
IT and accouting are the perfect matched obviously, I knew someone did it a couple years ago, and he's now having a 100k job at somehwere I'm not quite sure. However what I've concerned is the demand of accountant 3-5 years in the future, due to the huge number of accounting students . On the other hand I also believed granted an accounting degree provides a broard opportunity for career development(as minai said so). Now, I'm tosing between accounting and business administration since I'm worried if I'm not smart enough to excel accounting.

This isn't meant to be rude, but is english your second language?

 

[choc-chip]

This isn't meant to be rude, but is english your second language?

I know that wasn't meant to be rude, and u you aren't rude at all..
Well, considering accounting would be my first choice next year.

 

[Shuter]

I know that wasn't meant to be rude, and u you aren't rude at all..
Well, considering accounting would be my first choice next year.

Is that a no?

 

[Korn]

Which is considered to be the best Uni for accounting, i have heard Macquarie is, i have heard that UWS has been doing biz for a long time and UNSW is good for commerce

 

[epsilon]

Thanx jasee, ur words are extremely helpful to me indeed.
IT and accouting are the perfect matched obviously, I knew someone did it a couple years ago, and he's now having a 100k job at somehwere I'm not quite sure. However what I've concerned is the demand of accountant 3-5 years in the future, due to the huge number of accounting students . On the other hand I also believed granted an accounting degree provides a broard opportunity for career development(as minai said so). Now, I'm tosing between accounting and business administration since I'm worried if I'm not smart enough to excel accounting.

I agree with choc chip on this as well. Judging from what I'm reading in the business section of the papers and those business mags, it seems that accountants/auditors/financial thingy ppl are in sky high demand right now. I've always been interested in law/accounting/thingys that teaches you how to embezzle millions from giant corporations, and I think that I'll probably be able to get into a commerce/business course with my uai. But who know's what's the situation gonna be like 3-5 years from now? My aunt's an accountant, and from what she said, an accountant's job prospects are usually strong most of the time.

Just curious about the salary thing. How much does an accountant usually earn?

As for the CPA/CA thing, all I know is CPA seems to be spending much more money on advertising on tv It seems like a pretty cool qualification to get. I'm planning of checking out other countries during the first few years of my career before settling down here. Wish me luck!

 

[Minai]

Which is considered to be the best Uni for accounting, i have heard Macquarie is, i have heard that UWS has been doing biz for a long time and UNSW is good for commerce

If it's any help, UNSW has been named (in an international study) as having the best School of Accounting in the Asia-Pacific region.

Just curious about the salary thing. How much does an accountant usually earn?

Graduate starting salaries are anywhere between $35,000 to $40,000 and go up from there. How much you usually earn depends on how quickly you get promoted, the company etc etc

 

[Grizzly]

If it's any help, UNSW has been named (in an international study) as having the best School of Accounting in the Asia-Pacific region.

How would CPA/CA accreditation affect this study ?