Career insight - Doors open for accountants
by Professor Dennis Taylor
Big
corporations, small to medium businesses, public sector organisations
and professional accounting firms can't seem to recruit enough
accounting graduates. Demand is fuelled by both a growing economy and
industry need to navigate major regulatory reforms and hundreds of jobs
open up annually to fill the void left by retirees and career changers.
In the past 20 years demand for accountants and auditors has grown
faster than the average for all occupations and that demand is likely to
continue through the 2010s.
As economic growth fuels more and larger businesses, the volume and complexity of information dealt with by accountants and auditors regarding costs, investments, taxes, risk management, control systems, regulatory compliance, and social and environmental performance reporting increases.
In the past six years, there have been some big changes across a wide spectrum of business and government enterprises in Australia including the introduction of the GST, and more major taxation reforms affecting business strategies and financial record keeping. Furthermore, a wave of legislative reforms about company auditing rules and corporate governance practices have also had a significant impact on the sector. And on the heels of corporate governance reforms was the adoption, by the Australian Accounting Standards Board in 2005, of a detailed new set of international financial reporting standards. On the horizon are sweeping changes to superannuation rules impacting on financial and tax planning. What does all this mean? It means career opportunity doors keep opening for accounting graduates.
Accounting is a highly regarded degree, especially when combined with completion of the CPA or CA exams of the Australian professional accounting bodies. We aim to produce graduates who have an analytical mind, an ability to sort out financial and regulatory complexity, strong communication skills and personal integrity.
And today, the opportunities to specialise have never been wider. CPA Australia identifies the specialisation fields as taxation, financial planning, financial reporting, auditing (including forensic auditing), finance and treasury, corporate governance, business management and e-business. An accounting degree and another degree such as law, finance, computer science or an MBA gives a distinct advantage to anyone wanting to move into a specialist area.
More information about accounting at UniSA is available online at http://business.unisa.edu.au/commerce/