Irina Davydova
Reading time: 9 minutes
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The profession of an accountant today is very popular and in demand. The knowledge and skills gained during the training process will be useful in the life of every citizen of the Russian Federation. You will understand the legal accounting and tax base, and you will be able to defend your rights. Thus, you will be legally protected from the mistakes of the employer. You can also open your own business and run it without anyone's help.
Pros and cons of being an accountant
Anyone who is thinking about becoming an accountant should have a clear idea of all the advantages and disadvantages of the work of this specialist.
Let's list the advantages:
- Accounting is one of the most demanded professions in the labor market.
Anyone who receives an education in this specialty will be able to get a job as an accountant. According to federal law No. 402-FZ of December 6, 2011, each company must submit reports on its expenses and income to the tax service. For help legal entity the accountant is coming. Monthly in major cities there are about 6-7 thousand vacancies on employment sites! You definitely won't be out of a job.
- Highly paid labor
The minimum salary in a federal city, for example, in Moscow or St. Petersburg, is 45 thousand rubles, and the maximum is 200 thousand. AT small town salaries vary from 30 to 80 thousand.
- honorary profession
The accountant is the chief after the head of the company. He works directly with the director of the firm. It is thanks to the closeness with the management of the accountant that they are very appreciated.
- Opportunity to work freelance
Many small companies cannot afford to hire an accountant, so they offer him to work remotely. As a rule, many accountants earn extra money by fulfilling one-time orders, while not losing their main job.
- Specialists are protected from the mistakes of the employer
They can control the charges themselves. wages and reports on pension contributions. Thus, they can never be deceived by the employer.
- Capabilities career development
If you dream of becoming a professional accountant, then everything will depend only on your skills and abilities. Experienced specialist with knowledge of English language easily reach the rank of chief accountant or financial director.
- Greater chance of taking advanced training courses
To increase the cost of their services, an accountant can take numerous seminars and courses.
- The skills acquired while working as an accountant will be useful in starting and running your own business. At the same time, the cost of wages for employees will be significantly reduced.
Despite the benefits, working as an accountant is not easy.
We list the disadvantages of this profession:
- Great responsibility. A person in the position of an accountant bears a huge responsibility, and material.
- You will have to pay fines for mistakes in your activities.
- For all the shortcomings, the management deliberately blames the accountant, since he is the right hand of the director of the enterprise. You need to be stress resistant.
- You may have to work an irregular schedule.
- You will have to process large amounts of data and information.
- Activities are strictly regulated. There is a certain list of documents that every accountant should know. They are spelled out in the Decree of the Ministry of Labor of Russia No. 37 of 08/21/1998.
- We have to follow changes in legislation, both in tax and accounting.
I would go to accountants - let them teach me!
When applying for a company, employers pay attention to your work experience and they are less strict about the education of candidates.
But, despite this, the specialist must be educated.
You can learn the profession of an accountant or certain skills in the following ways:
- Graduate from a higher education institution with a degree in finance or economics
Only at the university you get necessary knowledge which can be used in practice. By the way, after graduating from a university, you will receive a not simple title in the following specialties: “Accounting, analysis and audit”, “Economics and accounting”, “Taxes and taxation”, “Finance and credit”, “Banking”, etc.
In addition, you will have the opportunity for internships. With consistent practice, you will get hired faster. But note that it will take 4-5 years to learn the "tower".
- Enter a secondary school vocational education(college, school)
As such, secondary financial education is also held in high esteem. But the duration of training depends on the specific institution and program. Most often, they study at a technical school for 3 years. You will also have several opportunities: take internships in real companies, study in a special program and eventually receive a diploma in various areas.
- Take specialized courses
At the end of courses and seminars that are conducted on a commercial basis, you can get a certificate of a professional accountant or auditor. The duration of the classes will depend on the program. The shortest courses are 2-3 weeks. At the end of the course, you will have to pass certification exams.
- Take courses on special applications that accountants need to know
As a rule, at the end of them you should also be given a certificate or other confirmation of your participation.
- Self-taught - listen to video tutorials and do freelance assignments (freelance)
You can also read books about accounting, sit on forums that can help you a lot! Of course, you will spend a lot of time on self-study. But on the other hand, you will know a lot and only what is really interesting and necessary for you.
How to become a good accountant - necessary qualities and skills
To be successful in accounting, you must have the following personal qualities and also be:
- Responsible.
- Diligent.
- Punctual.
- Attentive.
- Neat.
- Purposeful.
- Stress resistant.
- Balanced.
- Honest.
- Think logically.
- Argument your point of view.
In addition to personal qualities, an accountant must have the following knowledge and skills:
- Know and maintain accounting, tax, management accounting.
- News primary documentation and cash book.
- Maintain inventory records.
- Calculate wages, sick leave, vacation pay and other required compensation.
- Keep records of mutual settlements and not enter the company into the so-called "minus".
- Knowledge of accounting and tax laws.
- Negotiate with clients and employees.
- Be able to draw up documents, for example, powers of attorney, tax invoices, receipts and expenditure invoices.
- Calculate pension contributions for legal entities and individuals.
- Know the rules for conducting an inventory Money and inventory of the company.
- Conduct inventory and draw up an act of reconciliation.
- Prepare reports and submit them to the tax office.
- Conduct economic analysis organizations.
- Be able to prepare and correctly prepare advance reports.
- Know the regulations and instructions of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation.
- Be a confident PC user.
- Understand the "Client-Bank" system and the following programs: MS Excel, Word, "1C: Accounting".
Of course, this list could be much longer. Skills and knowledge depend on the area of accounting, the scope of the company and taxation systems.
The Future of the Accounting Profession - Career Opportunities and Salary
To become a professional accountant and get a job in a decent company, you will have to work hard:
- Firstly, during the training, start earning money, perhaps performing some simple primary tasks. Thus, you will have works in the portfolio (correctly executed documents) and marks on some points of knowledge and skills.
Note that in order to get a job in a company with a good reputation and popularity, it is worth having an average work experience of 2 years. By the way, some specialists are hired with a minimum experience of 1 year. - Secondly, you should improve your professional level. For example, take training courses on topics in which you are not an expert. Their passage can confirm the certificate.
- Thirdly, do not be afraid of work. Of course, you will first have to get a job in a small organization, for example, as an assistant accountant, junior accountant, office manager and carry out small assignments from the management.
By completing the above tasks, you will be able to get a job in a decent company within 2-4 years after receiving a diploma.
The career path for an accountant is as follows:
- Assistant.
- Junior accountant or economist.
- Accountant.
- Chief Accountant.
- Financial director.
Since the specifics of companies are diverse, professional accountant happens:
- Financial analyst or accountant-economist.
- Auditor.
- Credit controller.
- Consultant.
The salary of an accountant depends not only on the link on which you stand career ladder, but also from the scope of the company. The more extensive your knowledge, the more services you can perform, and the higher you will be appreciated.
Consider what an example average salary from specialists of this profession in Russia:
- An assistant accountant receives 15-20 thousand rubles.
- 18-25 thousand rubles provided for the services of a junior accountant.
- 26-30 thousand rubles assigned to an accountant.
- 30-60 thousand rubles must pay the chief accountant.
- 40-120 thousand rubles may be obtained by the financial director.
As for the specific area of activity in which you can develop as a specialist, and pay - there are considerable differences.
We bring to your attention the statistics that were carried out on the basis of 2014:
- Bank employees receive 20-70 thousand rubles.
- 20-80 thousand rubles you can earn in sales, trade.
- 30-90 thousand rubles gets an accountant in a construction company.
- 35-100 thousand rubles offer for the services of an accountant in the field of energy and raw materials extraction.
In the future, a specialist with an education in the direction of "Accounting" will not be left without work. Demand will continue to be high. By the way, having studied English and programs in this language, you can conquer not only Russian organizations but also foreign ones.
The main thing is to improve your professional level and develop!
Answers (6):
As an accountant, I will tell you that you can, now there are very good courses and the institution is not needed. Only. there will be a small problem with employment, everyone needs a higher education, but in practice you can prove that you can. All the basics will be told to you in the courses, and you will learn the rest of the nuances after having worked somewhere
Requirements for accountants: this is a higher education, work experience is required. The work is of course routine and requires hard work, attentiveness and scrupulous work. In addition, you need to constantly monitor the legislation. Moreover, every year the rules of accounting become more complicated. And also work is associated with great responsibility, including material.
If you want to be an accountant - it's not difficult. The main desire and education is economic. Accounting is like writing. Composes an accountant, and the exam is taken by a pension fund, fund social insurance and tax office. The most excellent result for an accountant is considered to be: making a profit on the balance sheet for the year, a minimum of taxes in accordance with the law and successfully passing field check. Is it hard to be an accountant?
I myself work as an accountant, but there is no such education. We work only in 1C. To learn something, I downloaded a program for myself and study at home, and I download all program updates here http://www.modber.ru/catalog/item2145.html
But, to be honest, an accountant is not difficult profession, you just always need to keep abreast of new events and changes in the country.
Details
The profession of an accountant is valued in the labor market, because a specialist with a diploma can work in the accounting department of any enterprise, as well as in banks and institutions. But is it difficult to be an accountant, is it hard to work in your specialty and how much? Let's find out how difficult or simple the work of accounting workers can be.
If you ask the question whether it is difficult to work as an accountant for any specialist working in a banking institution or at an enterprise, then we will hear an unequivocal answer that the work of an accountant is difficult.
A specialist in this industry, especially if he serves in a large corporation or company, in addition to direct accounting, must know jurisprudence in the areas of economic law, be familiar with labor and tax laws. An accountant from different industries also needs special knowledge that is acquired in the process of service.
It is also difficult to work as an accountant because the legislation changes regularly. The accountant must be aware of changes in the articles of legislation, because in his activities he relies on these laws. This means that it is the accountant who is responsible for the correct conduct of financial processes and the execution of relevant documents.
A young specialist may not think about the complexity of working as an accountant. The realization of the answer whether it is difficult to be an accountant comes with time, when the specialist has worked for ten years. After all, in addition to special knowledge in the profession, an accountant must also develop personal qualities, such as:
- Punctuality. Probably, this is a feature of the professionalism of an accountant, because sometimes it depends on his timely reports financial stability enterprises.
- A responsibility. Accountant, a person of profession who keeps records of the company's material assets. If you miss something in this mechanism, the operation of the enterprise as a whole may fail.
- Special education. Accounting is an industry in which a simple unprepared person will not be able to work, so you need a minimum education for the position of "accountant's assistant" - passing courses, for the position " Chief Accountant» - diploma of higher educational institution.
- In addition, the work of an accountant requires constant self-education: you need to know new things in the accounting industry, as well as amendments or additions to legislative financial documents or tax acts.
- The path to professionalism begins with work under the supervision of a specialist highly qualified. The accountant should use the chance to improve his skills in full.
- Professionalism. The professionalism of an accountant today is made up not only of special knowledge, but also of the ability to work on a personal computer, knowledge of 1C, Excel, and special calculating programs.
Is it hard to be an accountant?
It is difficult to work as an accountant, because business leaders require constant professional growth from accounting specialists. This includes:
- Refresher courses;
- Self-education.
Once every five years, an accountant must take an advanced training course for accountants, at the end of which a certificate of advanced training is issued. A specialist who intends to move up the career ladder will not pass by special courses that improve his skills. If possible, he will also use online courses.
Self-improvement is:
- Studying special literature that is published by publishing houses: “ main book”, “Actual accounting”.
- Reading periodicals. All changes in the accounting business, as well as improvements in its work, can be gleaned from the accounting newspaper "Official Gazette". Periodical modern and useful. Here you can find answers to complex questions regarding financial legislation, the capabilities of auditors and a warning against different kind errors.
Working as an accountant is also difficult because you need to know the theory of financial and management accounting, in total - accounting, taxation legislation, business and commercial law, various mathematical and economic methods analysis.
Conducted sociological surveys and studies clearly answer the question - is it difficult to be an accountant, already having experience and experience. Unfortunately, with the acquisition of professional skills, the profession of an accountant does not become easier. A person of this profession is not only a specialist with a special education and a salary. An accountant is a person who can take responsibility for the financial calculations on yourself, because in the hands of an accountant material resources enterprises. The accountant should treat the company's resources as if he were counting and multiplying his own material and financial resources. Only such an accountant will become a self-respecting person on whom the head of the enterprise can rely.
There are a thousand professions in the world today. Such a variety of different types of activity creates favorable conditions for the living of all mankind. Each of the professions, of course, is necessary and contains certain goals. Along with such complex specialties as a builder, engineer, lawyer, economist special place occupies the profession of an accountant. Asking an average accountant whether it is difficult for him to work, everyone will confidently answer in the affirmative. The accounting profession contains great amount nuances and subtleties, without the knowledge of which it is impossible to become a qualified specialist. An accountant must know by heart an infinite number of numbers, accounts, laws and other information. He needs to easily navigate them and at the same time not make the slightest mistake in calculations and calculations. Inattention is not something that is not welcome in this case, it is simply contraindicated in the performance of this work. In addition, attention should be paid to the fact that constant changes in legislation greatly complicate the work of an accountant. Previously used figures and definitions change dramatically with other data. You need to clearly control this process, while regularly training your memory.
The work of an accountant is strictly regulated, which can be attributed to the disadvantages of this profession. It does not develop creativity and does not expand the space for their own fantasies. In addition, very often accountants have to follow the instructions of their superiors, even if they do not agree with them. Often, accountants need to be able to maintain trade secrets. For these reasons, overly ambitious people have no place in accounting. Also a big disadvantage of the accounting profession is the high fee for possible errors. Most often, accountants are punished with sanctions, fines, dismissal and even criminal liability.
To work as an accountant, you need to have a rational, mathematical mindset. A person should be easy to navigate and not get confused in figures and numbers, should easily assimilate new information. For example, the humanities do not like accounting and, moreover, do not see any interest in accounting accounts.
It should also be noted that the profession of an accountant takes a lot of time. Since all the reporting of the enterprise lies on the shoulders of the accountant, representatives of this profession often stay late at work or do not even sleep at night. This can affect their health and personal relationships in the family. Many argue that the profession of an accountant is very boring. However, experienced accountants clearly disagree with this. They claim that the accountant - great profession for future career growth. In addition, if a person is talented, he will never be bored in accounting. This profession opens wide scope for promising ideas and plans. Despite all the difficulties of the profession of an accountant, it certainly has a lot of advantages.
Firstly, this profession is always in demand in the labor market. There is no normally functioning enterprise that does not need an accountant.
Secondly, accountants always have the opportunity to communicate with a huge number of people. It's colossal life experience and the opportunity to study human psychology.
Thirdly, working as an accountant is a great chance to control and discipline yourself. Willy-nilly, but working as an accountant, you get used to responsibility and a clear daily routine.
Fourthly, work as an accountant develops logical thinking, helps both in mastering new disciplines and in everyday life.
Fifth, the profession of an accountant gives you the opportunity to work for yourself. With the right education, a person can work from home without any problems. In addition, people who have the appropriate education often work as accountants on the second shift, while receiving additional income. Despite the fact that many accountants complain about the low income from their profession, practice shows that in-demand specialists always have a steady income. It all depends solely on the person and his professional abilities. It is also impossible not to note that the profession of an accountant is extremely relevant today due to the presence of a huge number of financial universities and accounting courses, where everyone can get necessary skills and skills.
Today, future accountants have wide open spaces to study a new specialty. In the modern world, all conditions have been created for mastering a profession, industrial practice and career growth. As for beginners in the field of accounting, at first they have a hard time. But the same can be said about any other profession. All skills and abilities come only with time and experience. And what seemed impossible before, in three years will be considered elementary. In addition, in our time, in the era of post-industrial society, it is much easier to master the profession of an accountant than before. There is a huge amount accounting programs which greatly facilitate the work of an accountant. A natural example is the 1C program, without which it is already impossible to imagine the normal functioning of millions of domestic enterprises. This program is designed for accounting and tax accounting at enterprises of various fields of activity and different systems of taxation. Of course, any beginner in the field of accounting should have such human qualities as responsibility, perseverance, scrupulousness, hard work, attentiveness and, perhaps most importantly, the desire to improve their professional skills. If he has and develops such qualities, all difficulties will quickly fade into the background.
An accountant is a very necessary person in every organization, who ensures competent financial accounting. Of course, no one will ever be put in such a position, no matter how rude it may sound.
Now an accountant is a sought-after profession, but this requires a really good education and vast knowledge of financial affairs. Before choosing whether to study for the profession of an accountant or not, it is worthwhile to compare the pros and cons of the profession well.
Let's start with the pros:
- First, demand. An organization cannot exist for a long time without a qualified accountant; no one has canceled obligations to the tax service;
- Secondly, there are more than enough jobs, especially in large cities;
- Thirdly, with regard to wages, relatively high, depending on how large your enterprise is;
- The fourth plus is the honor of the profession. A qualified and conscientious specialist is always highly valued. Plus, the accountant is directly connected with the directors and takes part in all discussions of the authorities;
- The fifth plus is the opportunity to earn extra money. Currently, there are a lot of small organizations and companies, they, like everyone else, also need an accountant. One-time orders also provide a certain income;
- The sixth plus is the control of their own wages and insurance premiums. Thus, the accountant protects himself from the deception of the head and the mistakes made by him;
- The seventh advantage is linguistic. If you have knowledge of English, then the path to the position of chief accountant or even higher, financial director opens up for you;
A big plus: the acquired skills and knowledge can be easily used when starting your own business.
There are many advantages and pluses, but do not forget about the minuses:
- First: a huge responsibility. In short, any mistake in finances threatens with serious consequences;
- Second: for various violations - fines;
- The third minus is the schedule, it's just not normalized. There is work both in the morning and late in the evening. Processing a huge amount of data can take a very long time;
- The fourth is regulation. Strict compliance;
- Fifth, you need to constantly monitor changes in accounting and tax legislation;
- There are certain contradictions between tax and accounting rules - the sixth drawback.
Is it possible to work as an accountant without education? You can find a job that does not require higher education, but you definitely won't get into big firm and therefore earn less.
The conclusion is this: there is a demand, and therefore you will not be left without work.
But for a successful interview for an employer, your professional qualities, such as:
- Responsibility and literacy;
- Willingness to work more than expected, that is, to stay late at work and sacrifice your time in the name of the company;
- sociability;
- Knowledge of foreign language;
- Stress tolerance;
- Punctuality and others.
And you can get better acquainted with this profession by watching this video. Enjoy watching and good luck!