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Where Could a Job in Accounting Take You?
Starting a career in accounting is a smart decision. Accounting is a field that will always be highly in demand and it is a field that you can continue to grow and progress within your company. The more you develop your accounting job academically, the more you will develop professionally and financially, which can take you to many exciting places.
There are so many various positions you can pursue in the accounting field. Jobs in accounting can range from entry level positions to more executive, senior roles. Accounting career information for some of the most popular career paths are listed below. Choose the accounting career that you are most interested in, learn exactly what it entails and what education you need to get there and the salary you can potentially earn.
Accounting Salary
Accounting salaries can range considerably based on your position and experience within the accounting department. You can begin with entry level work, such as a job as an accounting clerk or accounting assistant and expect to earn a salary from $50-$60,000 annually. Progressing through the accounting department will take time and hard work but as you learn more skills and become more experienced you can anticipate an increase in your salary. Upon moving into an accounting manager role or beyond, you can expect to make $100,000 or greater annually.
Getting Certified
Many accounting career paths begin in college. Students can start their career by taking accounting courses, such as the Certificate IV in Accounting and Bookkeeping (FNS40217) and then continue to study a bachelor's degree in accounting. This will be your first steps to starting your successful career path. After a year of work experience you are able to get qualified as a Certified Public Accountants. CPAs make substantially more money than accountants. After your CPA you are then in a more comfortable position to take on more responsibility such as management positions and you can even work your way up to director of the accountancy department.
Many people choose to break off into a different branch of accounting and with more experience comes more money and more opportunities for career advancement. No matter how far you progress with your career in accounting, your career path will always start with a solid foundation of your certificate in accounting.
You have completed your accounting certification and it’s time to enter the job market. Although, you may be asking yourself, what career paths are available?
There are a huge variety of options available to you if you have a certificate in accounting. The type of job that you enter will depend on your own personal interests and areas of strength. Below are the more popular and most common job roles for recently certified students.
Accounts Payable
A position in accounts payable involves entering invoices, reconciliation of supplier statements and other internal documents, processing payments and ensuring all transactions are correctly documented and accounted for while maintaining the company’s accounts payable ledger.
Accounts Receivable
Accounts Receivable involves creating customer invoices, preparing customer statements and allocating payments received. It is your role to ensure all transactions are correctly documented and accounted for while maintaining the company's accounts receivable ledger.
Assistant Accountant
A role as an assistant accountant requires you to work under the supervision of an accounting senior. This position will usually involve roles such as assisting with the preparation of financial statements and statutory returns, performing balance sheet reconciliations including bank reconciliations, overseeing accounts payable and receivable, entering journal entries to assist with end of month processes such as accruals and prepayments, and maintaining the general ledger. Assistant accountants will also assist in the preparation of taxation returns and payroll.
Junior Accountant - Audit/Business Services/Taxation
A Junior Accountant can expect to be involved in preparing the financial statements and taxation returns for a variety of clients. You will start in a role by processing income tax returns for individuals and then advance to organising financial statements for sole traders, to partnerships and small companies. Occasionally, the role may also require the completion of financial audits.
Payroll Clerk
A Payroll Clerk performs a variety of tasks around employee pay. Usually, it involves entering new employees into the payroll system, removing employees who have left the company and maintaining the records of those who are currently employed by the company. Additional tasks may include entering changes in pay or tax status, maintaining attendance records, ensuring that deductions are managed correctly and assisting in organising termination pay. More experienced clerks might calculate and prepare general ledger entries, calculate earnings and deduction totals and file tax reports.
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