Career Development Essay: Employability Skills for Accountants

Question

Task: The Assignment Tasks
Reflective Career Development Essay and Action Plan
The Employability Hour assessment consists of a 1500-word [+/- 10%] reflective career development research log, incl. a 250-word action plan.

Students are asked to submit evidence of their career development thinking undertaken as part of the Employability Hour. The reflection should cover the topics below, for which in-depth guidance will be provided during the lectures.

1. Your Career Goals (indicative word count: 200)
In this section, you should describe what you are “aiming for”. Based on the possible selves’ exercises completed in class and in your own time, this section provides us with the necessary context to understand the rest of your essay. Things you could cover here are, for example:

• Where you would like to be in 3-5 years
• Target industry or role
• Any longer-term plans and ambitions
• Etc.

2. Your target role and what is required (indicative word count: 400) Please find some further information about the job you would like to secure once you complete your studies. Take a look at some job ads, check out prospects.ac.uk, speak to people in similar roles, etc. Some examples of what you might want to write about include:

• Person specs, e.g. type of degree, degree classification and related previous work experience, etc.
• What does the job entail
• What makes this job attractive to you
• Etc.

Please reference your findings, e.g. by providing links to websites or screenshots of job ads you can provide in an appendix that will not count towards your maximum word count.

3. What are the gaps you will need to close (indicative word count: 300)

Looking at both your first job after graduation (and any longer-term career goals you may have identified), do you currently meet all the requirements and person specs If not, what do you need to do to close any gaps What can you do to give yourself the best possible chance to secure the role This should link to your action plan (section 6).

4. Your experience of tailoring your CV (indicative word count: 200) Reflect on your experience of tailoring your CV to the role or a “stepping stone” activity like a summer internship, relevant part-time job or volunteering opportunity. What aspects of your experience to date did you highlight and why

Please provide your CV in the appendix. It will not be marked and does not count towards the maximum word count.

5. Building your professional network (indicative word count: 150) What type of people should you add to your network How are you going to do this Specify some events, online forums, professional bodies, etc., as well as potential candidates for informational interviews.

6. Action plan (250 words)
Please outline the steps you are going to take towards your graduate job during the remainder of your studies, covering the timeframe and how you are planning to overcome challenges you might face.

Answer

1. Career goals
I would like to mention within this career development essay that my career goal is to be a successful accountant which I have dreamt to be since my early student days. I had a penchant to deal with money-related matters and as I grew up, the urge to deal with financial materials intensified. So I chose accounting as a career to contribute my part for a better corporate scenario having a high levelof transparency and commitment to the discipline.

I want to see myself handling an important post as an accountant in an esteemed organisation. I will work hard to reach an important position in the company within 3-5 years wherein I can help to contemplate favourable decisions.

I want to work as a Finance Manager to oversee the financial operations of a company. I would like to work with a smaller organisation as such companies strive to deliver expertise and knowledge to an optimal level that bigger organisations cannot provide. Currently, I am pursuing my degree in accounting to start a professional career as an accountant. In the long run, I am striving to earn a higher qualification like the Certified Public Accountant (CPA). It will help me to expand my horizon as an accountant and grow up the corporate ladder.

2. Target role and its requirement
In this section, I would like to discuss the sort of accounting job I want to secure after my graduation alongside the requirement of the companies and job descriptions. Person specification –

I want for myself a successful career in accounting and to serve the purpose, I am looking up to the position of Finance Manager. A man in that position prepares the detailed financial reports and advice the management to manage the resources efficiently(Warren & Jones, 2018). So it is an important position and the incumbent ought to possess a bouquet of skills to deliver the responsibilities suitably. Thus the finance manager needs to have the following skills, such as –
• Accounting and computing skills
• Communication and presentation skills
• Numerical proficiency
• Analytical mind
• Leadership
• Problem-solving characteristics
• An eye for detailed analysis
• Organisation skills
• Ability to work as a team and independently as well

• A degree in accounting will be suitable for the position but to climb the ladder, post-graduation in accounting is necessary.
• To be a successful finance manager, one needs to have relevant 2-4 years of accounting experience.

Job description –
The finance manager is supposed to play a significant role in the organisation. Hence the job description of the incumbent is as follows:

• To effectively analyse the financial data.
• To have an understanding for proper evaluation of the cash flows (Indeed Career Guide, 2021).
• Understanding and implementation of contract provisions.
• Estimating future earnings and expenditures.
• Implementation of contract compliances.
• Overseeing government or vendor contracts.
• Securing the financial management systems.
• Application of advanced mathematics and statistical modelling software and spreadsheets to analyse and extract financial information.

Attraction for this job –
I guess the responsibility of a Finance Manager carries quite a crucial position in the corporate scenario as the incumbent tends to monitor the entire financial scenario of the business. It is a task of high responsibility as the personnel will take care of a range of financial happenings right from budgeting toextracting the investment return alongside other activities (Cascino, et al., 2021). So the finance manager undertakes a strategic position to analyse the financial data extensively and extract suitable information for the management to contemplate effective business decisions. Besides, the compensation is also good as the average salary for the position ranges from £40,000 to £80,000 in the UK(Prospects.ac.uk, 2021).

3. Gaps to close
The person requirement for the position of a Finance Manager is quite comprehensive showcasing what an ideal personnel holding the position will possess. I have no qualms in stating that I am yet to achieve that coveted person requirements. To start with, I am in a learning mode and have limited accounting knowledge currently. But as I will finish my studies, I guess I will gain some more accounting knowledge to land my initial job. I lack problem solving capacity, leadership, and communication skills. I often come across criticism from my teachers and parents that I am always in a rush and in the process commit silly mistakes. The attitude is quite in contrast to that of an accountant who possesses an eye for detail(Maynard, 2017). Lastly, I lack the experience of working as an accountant as I am not working anywhere and do not have the practical knowledge to deal with accounts.

I am determined to pursue a flourished career in accounting, so I am ready to face my weaknesses and resolve those. I guess the problem-solving capacity can be rightly addressed by going through the accounting discipline and learning its intricacies. So gaining adequate knowledge of accounting will help me to land a suitable accounting job and enhance my problem-solving skills(Martins, 2017). If I pursue the accounting course effectively, I will be able to get the right sort of job and gain experienceto flourish my career. I have decided to undertake communication classes to gain confidence and clarity on matters.As I will gain confidence and knowledge alongside work experience, I can inculcate in myself leadership traits to guide my team towards a constructive route.

4. Tailoring the CV
I have realised the importance of gaining work experience as an accountant while pursuing my accounting course. So I have decided to join a start-up as a summer intern to gain practical experience of working as a junior accountant. It is useful to strengthen my CV as a working experience gets due attention of the potential recruiters. Besides, the summer internship will help me to gather an insight into how the accounting job is conducted and processed to extract a positive outcome. Therefore I am going to highlight my summer internship to show the recruiters my capability to manage the desired tasks.

We live in a digital era, so it is necessary to gain suitable awareness of various technological aspects related to accounting. I will undergo training on accounting software and ERP tools alongside MS Excel and MS PowerPoint to enhance my technological skills. These are certain underlying qualities for contemporary accountants to excel and succeed in the current job market(Cascino, et al., 2021). Thus besides the summer internship, I am going to give due impetus on the technical skills as well to prove my capabilities and learning inquisitiveness to the recruiters.

5. Building the professional network
In the age of social networking sites, I am going to exploit professional networking platforms like LinkedIn to connect with potential recruiters. This sort of connection will help me to garner effective networking to land a suitable job in the market and strengthen my career graph. Since I want to start with a start-uporganisation, I will try to connect with the start-up founders on the platform. I will follow their posts and undertake projects that are quite relevant and dynamic in the current market scenario. Again, I will participate in various discussions on the forum to gather the attention of the recruiters and strengthen my networking(Talaue, et al., 2018). I can also indulge in blogging which forms an effective way to connect with the targeted audience.

6. Action plan

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cascino, S. et al., 2021. The usefulness of financial accounting information: Evidence from the field. The Accounting Review, 96(6), pp. 73-102.

Indeed Career Guide, 2021. Finance Manager Skills: Definition and Examples | Indeed.com. [Online]
Available at: https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/resumes-cover-letters/skills-required-for-finance-manager
[Accessed 29 December 2021].

Martins, H. F., 2017. Perspectives on Business English as a Lingua Franca in Business Communication. Career development essayTeacher Education and Curriculum Studies, 2(5), pp. 61-67.

Maynard, J., 2017. Financial accounting, reporting, and analysis. London: Oxford University Press.

Prospects.ac.uk, 2021. Financial manager job profile | Prospects.ac.uk. [Online]
Available at: https://www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles/financial-manager [Accessed 29 December 2021].

Talaue, G. et al., 2018. The impact of social media on academic performance of selected college students. International Journal of Advanced Information Technology, 8(4), pp. 27-35.

Warren, C. & Jones, J., 2018. Corporate financial accounting. London: Cengage Learning.

Appendix