Pathways to becoming a professional accountant

¶ … hottest industries to work in according to Forbes magazine for the next five years is the accounting industry. Due to the increased restrictions on corporate businesses, demand for corporate transparency and general mistrust of businesses, there is a greater need for auditing and regulatory agents to perform accounting practices. As a result, this industry is in very high demand. My personal goal is to become a successful accountant within the coming years; I believe that I have the requisite skills and temperament to become extremely successful within this profession. The accounting industry has become increasingly complex and competitive due to the introduction of new accounting regulations and practices; therefore the training required for the profession has increased, as have other factors such as the complexity of accounting procedures. There are many different kinds of accounting; in particular I would like to specialize in public accounting, specifically focused on auditing. I will become a very successful auditing accountant because I have the requisite skills, temperature, and experience to carry out the duties of the profession.

There are many different skills necessary to become a successful auditing accountant, all of which I have developed in the past few years. In order to become a successful auditor, the first skill is an understanding of public accounting practices and policies. Accounting practices are extremely complex, and the role of public accountants is to have a strong grasp of national level policy and regulatory measures and its application to businesses. Auditors examine the financial situation of other companies and thus must have complete knowledge of public accounting policies. In order to obtain the training necessary for public accounting, I have taken classes specifically focused on public accounting. These classes include governmental regulatory studies, federal agencies and policy reform, and other topics that deal with the administration of public accounting practices.

Technical skills are only one aspect of the requisite skills necessary to be successful within accounting; there are many personal skills that are crucial to becoming to a good accountant. One of these skills that I have prided myself on is attention to detail, since accountants must work with figures of immense precision sometimes within three decimal places, where even a small variation in a certain amount will erode the value of that particular work. Therefore it is imperative that accuracy is first and foremost in the minds of accountants. I have developed this skill through careful discipline; whenever I do a task I always ensure that I take meticulous detail in both planning and execution, forcing myself to be a perfectionist. As a result, I have now made it a habit to always be precise and accurate in everything that I do. This attention to detail is one of the most fundamental skills to being a great accountant.

Another personal skill that is necessary for public accounting is the ability to communicate effectively with others. This is one of the most crucial skills that any individual must have in public accounting because auditors will have to work with many different types of people across different backgrounds and work cultures. Inter-personal skills are very hard to develop because it requires consistency, any individual can have friends or close relationship, but to constantly be a good and caring person is very difficult. Since I understand the importance of developing strong interpersonal communication skills as well as ability to work in team environments, I attempt to have helpful and caring relationships with everyone I meet. This extends not only to those who are closest to me, such as my parents, relatives, close friends, etc. But also to those who I meet in class, or casually through other activities. My purpose is to understand different types of individuals and what makes them function in order to better my interpersonal communication.

While I have achieved success in developing the above core competencies to become a successful public accountant, many doubt my ability because of certain flaws within my education and skill set. One of the common doubts is that my math ability is not up to the standards required for successful auditing. On many levels I struggle with higher end mathematics, especially calculus. Some people see this as a strong barrier for my success. However, what they do not realize is that math is a very small fraction of public accounting. This is because, math within public accounting only extends to basic math, and the majority of such math is done through computers and calculators. As a result, this is not a hindrance on my ability to become a public accountant at all.