Accountancy

Accountancy helps form a clear financial image of how a business is functioning and is one of the oldest professions. It is often referred to as ‘the language and soul of business’ as it keeps a company’s financial information in pertinent order. This financial information is vital for management, employees, regulatory bodies, potential investors and other stakeholders to make informed decisions.

There are three main fields of accounting.

• Management accounting primarily records, summarises and reports on the financial transactions of a specific organisation aiding the strategic planning for the company
• Public accountancy is involved in a broad range of activities including bookkeeping, accounting, tax management, financial advisories and consulting
• Government accounting is mainly the accounting of books and records of government including government owned financial institutions

These are some of the activities of an accountant:

• audit accounting (checking financial statements and understanding how businesses make money)
• budget analysis (developing and analysing financial plans)
• financial (preparing financial statements to report financial performance)
• management accounting (working within companies to analyse costs, contracts, structure of the business and control of expenses)
• tax (developing tax strategies for personal and corporate clients)

What skills does the subsector need?

The skills needs for the subsector are recognised as:

• good industry and product knowledge
• leadership and management skills
• self-motivation
• technical skills
• a meticulous eye for detail and high level of professionalism
• analytical skills