Making the right career choice involves considering several factors in your final decision. These include your interests, personality, beliefs, skills, and ultimate professional goals.
However, there is another crucial factor you have to consider when selecting your career: job stability.
When studying your options, you also have to find out if you will experience career stability in the future. This is because some jobs are always in demand while others are frequently unstable.
You want to have a qualification and skills that will help you find a job that doesn’t get phased out quickly. Ideally, you should also have a career in a field that doesn’t take you long to find another line of work in case you lose your current one.
Moreover, you want to be in a field that allows you to get a good salary and gives you room for growth.
Representatives from the top online financial training institute in Dubai say that with forecasts for significant industry growth, high salaries, and continuous demand for professionals, pursuing a career in accountancy could be one of the best decisions you can make.
The Rewards of Pursuing a Career in Accounting
If you are curious about what the field of accounting offers, continue reading below:
1. Consistent demand for accountants
The demand for accountants has remained stable for years.
In the United States, a report states the job outlook for accounting professionals is stable and the projected number of career opportunities is expected to be high in the next several years.
Accounting involves managing finances, which means nearly all organizations need at least one accounting professional to handle their monetary assets.
Some corporations are so large that they have entire accounting departments with several employees in different offices.
Because of these reasons, the demand for accounting professionals is always constant. And it will remain this way for the foreseeable future.
2. Wide range of specializations and roles
Since nearly all organizations need an accounting professional, you’ll have plenty of options regarding employment.
You can choose to work for a company you like as a permanent employee in their accounting team.
You will also have the option of working for an accounting firm. If you choose this path, you can have a variety of clients or focus on a specific sector, such as restaurants, construction and contracting businesses, and schools.
Additionally, you’ll have different specializations to choose from. These include:
- Cost accounting
- Financial reporting
- Forensic accounting
- Internal auditing
- Tax accounting
The different roles you can take in accounting include:
- Accounts payable clerk
- Accounts receivable clerk
- Accountant or accounting assistant
- Accounting manager
- Bookkeeper
- Payroll clerk
- Staff accountant
With the right qualifications, training, experiences, and determination, you’ll get the opportunity to take on any of these roles throughout your career as an accounting professional.
3. Variety of sectors and employment type
As an accounting professional, you can work in any sector.
You can work in the retail, fashion, education, government, and non-profit sectors, and more when you are an accounting professional.
Moreover, you have the opportunity to work in any city or country since industries from all parts of the world always need the best finance professionals.
Additionally, you can choose from different employment types. Whether you join an accounting firm or a company, you can work as a full-time, part-time, or freelance employee or even as a consultant.
You can choose an accounting role that allows you to experience a better work-life balance.
4. More opportunities for career growth
Lateral moves are a common occurrence in accounting. However, working in this field can help you prepare for a role as an executive and other higher positions.
You can start looking for a management position after gaining several years of experience in different accounting roles. Your background and knowledge in accounting software can help you step into a CEO or CFO role perfectly.
With your background, you can also make better decisions in all aspects related to finance.
Additionally, as an accounting professional, you can meet and collaborate with other people outside of your work. Because of this, you’ll have more opportunities to network for career advancement.
Exposure to exciting and fulfilling work
Accounting isn’t just about entering numbers into a spreadsheet and making calculations all day.
Accounting professionals assist organizations in various exciting ways. Using financial data, you can help businesses as they:
- Open a new branch or venture
- Move into new markets
- Launch new products
- Rebrand
- Close a branch
- Avoid unprofitable business moves
- Reduce waste and unnecessary spending
When you are involved in accounting, you can assist in shaping and growing the company you work for.
6. A step towards entrepreneurship
Due to the nature of their job, accounting professionals often get bitten by the entrepreneurship bug.
With years of managing finances and working with others, you will likely develop a good amount of business contacts. You can then feel confident and comfortable capitalizing on your networks and starting your own company in the future.
If you want to take on an entrepreneurial path, you also have various options to choose from, which can range from bookkeeping and tax accounting to financial control and representation.
Your training and experiences will also help you be more adept at managing various parts of your business, particularly everything related to finance.
7. Competitive salary
Accounting jobs have always been known for their high, more-than-satisfactory compensation packages.
In the U.S., the median pay in 2020 for accountants was $35.37 per hour and $73,560 per year.
In the United Kingdom, the average base salary is £29,739 per year.
In the United Arab Emirates, accountants can get at least AED 10,000 as their starting rate.
Your salary can get even higher if you engage in continuous learning activities. The additional training and certifications you’ll obtain will allow you to be more competent in your current position and qualify for more advanced roles.
Moreover, your chances of getting frequent salary increases will be higher when you invest in upskilling and reskilling activities.
With these benefits in mind, pursuing a career in accounting can prove to be a good decision, particularly if you already have a penchant for numbers and working with others to achieve a common goal.
AUTHOR BIO: Nikhil Vachani is Senior Tutor for Phoenix Financial Training, a leading provider of professional accountancy and finance qualifications throughout the Middle East and India as well as of bespoke finance courses to a wide and varied portfolio of corporate clients. Nikhil is a fellow member of the ACCA and UAECA and has 11 years of experience as a specialist trainer in the areas of Financial Accounting, Corporate Reporting and Taxation across all levels of ACCA.