Career Action Plan of an Individual - Assignment Example

Name Class Unit Table of Contents Executive summary 3 Introduction 4 Current Situation 4 As a management accountant, my responsibilities synch perfectly with my personality. I am meticulous in my work and such, auditing and preparing financial records comes easy. Books of records balance out so as a perfectionist. I am also able to confirm the accuracy of my presentations to the board of directors. I also have a passion in financial analysis. This is also articulated semi-annually when I advise the firm on what directions they will take in terms of investing and preferential production departments. Through looking at accounting records, one is able to identify the mistakes management is making and the departments that are being underutilized in terms of production (Auyeung & Sands, 1997). One is also able to identify recyclable materials that will lead to abnormal profits by the company. Accountants also ensure that companies are running according to the laws pertaining to the company. This enables companies to evade law suits and unscrupulous and/or illegal dealings. 4 Graduate and employability skills 4 S.W.O.T Analysis 5 Strengths 5 Weaknesses 6 Opportunities 7 Threats 9 Career Goals 10 Steps to Success 11 Conclusion 11 References 12 Executive summary As a senior accountant, the epitome of my career is still not achieved. As such, I would like to delve into more in depth analysis of the direction of my career, the goals I wish to achieve and the means by which I shall achieve these goals. This paper is on the S.W.O.T analysis of a career with a bachelor’s degree in accounting. It focuses on identifying the glitches on the road and sailing through them. It also focuses on a realistic plan that can be articulated through patience, determination and hard work. Introduction Current Situation As a management accountant, my responsibilities synch perfectly with my personality. I am meticulous in my work and such, auditing and preparing financial records comes easy. Books of records balance out so as a perfectionist. I am also able to confirm the accuracy of my presentations to the board of directors. I also have a passion in financial analysis. This is also articulated semi-annually when I advise the firm on what directions they will take in terms of investing and preferential production departments. Through looking at accounting records, one is able to identify the mistakes management is making and the departments that are being underutilized in terms of production (Auyeung & Sands, 1997). One is also able to identify recyclable materials that will lead to abnormal profits by the company. Accountants also ensure that companies are running according to the laws pertaining to the company. This enables companies to evade law suits and unscrupulous and/or illegal dealings. Graduate and employability skills I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting. I have also worked with two accounting firms. This has sharpened my skills through repetitive tasks especially during tax season. The firms had few employees which translated to every member having to do bulky work. We were also shuffled within the department. This made us skilled in handling all financial statements of an entire company individually. This however, is not adequate skills as I am still going to need a Certified Public Accountants certificate in order to make external audits for the company. I have a passion for accounting. I also have a passion to see organizations grow and flourish. This is possible through advanced research of the marketplace which help one identify niches in the organization that become the competitive advantage of a company. S.W.O.T Analysis Strengths I have a degree from an accredited university. This makes it easy to verify my skills to employers. I also have experience with two accounting firms. These firms are well-known for their prolonged working hours, which show that I am able to put in extra hours when necessary. The firms are also popular for efficiency and reliability. This directly links me – being part of their organization – as efficient and reliable. I have letters of recommendation from these firms to attest to this. I also have the added advantage of marketing skills. During my years in the accounting firms, I was tasked with the duty of finding viable clients and securing them for the firm. As such, I am skilled to attract and retain clients. This is also possible through the public financial statements presented in the financial journals (Hansen & Hansen, 2007). In the organizations I have worked in, including my current one, I have always been the perfectionist of any team I am appointed to work with. This is very important in accounting and has thus led me to have leadership positions within the teams and organizations. I am thorough in my audits, which gives the companies assurance that their presentation to external auditors is correct and accurate. This is important as a misrepresentation of a company’s financial records could lead to law suits or loss of major investors (Hansen & Hansen, 2007). I believe in doing my best in an organization and treating my work as I would if I owned the company. This leads me to working extra hours to get tasks completed on time. It also leads to diversifying my skill set to assist the department run smoothly. I also forward presentations to the executives on research I have conducted on the industry about trends in the shoe industry and possible resource utilization technologies that have come up. This, I think is different from my colleagues, who only do whatever lies within their job descriptions. They also require remuneration for every extra hour they put in. This is not always the case for me, which makes me a bigger asset for the company (Hansen & Hansen, 2007). Interpersonal communication skills are also another strength I possess. This is crucial in explaining the accounting analysis to the members of the organization (Hansen & Hansen, 2007). This analysis is important in achieving the required goals the analysis is supposed to gain, that is, increasing productivity through increased production, utility and efficiency. Weaknesses There are a lot of accounting and data mining software used by accountants every day. I am not always up to date with such software and I believe this be to be my greatest weakness. In the current technical marketplace, it is crucial to learn such software in order to stay ahead of your competitors through learning how to interpret their data. Accounting software also saves time and resources as most of it now can analyze and present data in a way that makes decision making a lot easier. In the personal skill set realm, being a perfectionist sometimes makes it hard to work as a team (Hansen & Hansen, 2007). When I am appointed a team leader, I find it hard to work with colleagues who don’t mind leaving in a few errors in the financial statements. This leads to frustration both on their side and mine. The end result is that cohesion within the group is lost and this ends up delaying processes. It might also end up having other members of the team lose morale of finishing the task as they are stranded, waiting for an agreement between me and the group member in question. The fact that I do not hold a CPA is also a major weakness. Most companies prefer accountants who can sign off on the last public financial statement. This is not always easy to prove without the mentioned certificate. Hence, the firm lacks confidence in my abilities due to this reason. As such, furthering my career in the organization has a limit as long as I have not acquired this certification. Specialization in accounting is another major weakness. In today’s world, people are getting degrees in a different course and then getting a master’s in business administration. When such people come within the market, they are more likely to get ahead because of this diversification (Hansen & Hansen, 2007). Having a degree in Accounting, studying CPAs and looking to go into getting a master’s in business administration puts me at a great disadvantage. The exception is if I focus on being an advocate within an accounting firm, or start my own accounting firm. Opportunities The current trend of having all firms keep up-to-date records of all their financial activities is creating opportunities for accountants. The government for example needs accountants to correctly record all the financial activities in order to issue tax to the companies. Investors of both private and public companies are also keen to companies’ financial records and audits as a means of determining what companies are viable investment opportunities. The industry has also developed a culture of mentorship and development of raw talent. The focus is on prepping new and young accountants though succession planning of older employees. This makes it easy to secure a good opportunity as well as to have my career grow (Lehman, 2004). Through expertise training from executives, we are perpetually been trained to be the next chief executive officers. Flexible college hours also enables one to go back to school and get more qualifications that complement the hands-on training rendered within the company (Kassim, 2014). This succession planning means that more and more jobs and opportunities are being availed to new employees. Social media is also a great platform for one to advertise themselves for better jobs. It also provides a greater opportunity for one to network and start up their firm through references. Through this platform one is able to start up their own consultancy firm with a few online clients who already trust their services. This in turn provides capital to start up a firm with a physical location. There is also an opportunity for accountants to become chief executive officers. This is possible when one gains the knowledge, then goes back to study a degree in the industry the wish to run. In so doing, it sets them apart due to their knowledge of the specific field as well as their business acumen due to their accounting back ground. Globalization has extended accountants’ opportunities in that getting a job in most countries is possible (Hansen & Hansen, 2007). With a standardization of examinations and course coverage, accountants are eligible to work wherever they please. This is important too when working with an international company. It becomes easy to adapt to new geographical locations. Very little additional knowledge about a country’s specificity in accounting records is required. The supply for job opportunities is therefore high due to globalization (Lehman, 2004). Threats Technology has its ups and down side. The up side is that it is efficient and fast. The downside is that current times have proven technology able to replace manpower. This translates to retrenchment in the accounting sector. With more companies adapting to technological software for accounting, more and more accountants are being deemed unnecessary. A firm which once needed ten accountants to take care of all its financial recording and analysis can now easily make do with three or four. This is problematic because it means most skills learnt within educational organizations can be done by a simple click of a button. Software like Python which perform multiple tasks is having several accountants being replaced by one computer scientist. Technology is also paving a way to have clients check all their accounting details online through their mobile gadgets. This reduces the utility of financial consultation firms as well as accounting firms. The demand for accountants is continuously diminishing due to these developments. Companies are opting to hire CEOs that are not accountants in profession to run their organization. This is because of the need for consultative services that are more related to the products and services offered by the company in question. This means that all accountants who do not have a complementary degree in, for example construction, food and beverage or manufacturing to name a few, will be at a disadvantage as their demand will be lower than those with the required specialized qualification (Kassim, 2014). Other degrees are also teaching accounting as a module within their course. This has led to the specialty of accountants being common. There are many individuals who can easily prepare their accounting records even with the absence of an accounting degree of CPA. This has led to redundancy of the field to individuals or private companies who do not need specialized skills for their accounting needs (Auyeung & Sands, 1997). Career Goals The first step is to become a certified public accountant. This will help me have more opportunities within the firm. As a senior accountant, my next goal is to become the head of the retail department. At this point, I will be in a position to get back to school and attain a master’s in business administration with finance as my major. At this point, I can be viable for the chief financial officer position (Labro & Tuomela, 2003). The alternative is starting out my own firm with the experience attained. This will require a network of clients which I can gather by doing their audits and balancing their records every month. Producing top notch results out of office hours will lead to my reputation spreading through a grapevine. I will also create a portfolio with these references. Individual audits will lead to a company audit, at which point I will be able to hand in my letter of resignation in order to pursue my own firm. This will free up my time as I work for my first company as well as look for other major clients. I will still focus on individual clients and hopefully grow my firm in a way that has them retained under my name but have the junior accountants I mentor run their accounts under my supervision. Eventually, I shall be fully established. At this point I will balance companies’ accounts and at the same time start financial consulting. This will open up my end goal, which is to be an independent financial consultant. With the few major companies I shall already be accounting for, I shall rendered my consultancy services at a discounted price until my reputation as a financial consultant grows. I shall then change my firm to have two departments; accounting and financial consultancy. At this point, I shall have appointed a partner to head the accounting department. Steps to Success The first step is to get my certified public accountant certificate. Next, I shall become a freelance accountant, working off hours to grow my reputation. I shall use the funds gained through the freelancing work to pay for my master’s in business administration. When I complete the postgraduate, I shall look for a physical location and a major client to help kick start my firm. After establishing a few major companies as my clients, I shall employee a few accountants to work under me. This will help me groom my partner who will take charge of the accounting department. Once I find a viable employee, I shall start consulting for my existing clients at a discounted price. Once that department is fully established, I shall run it myself and have the partner run the accounting department. Conclusion Finally, for one to achieve career goals time and effort is required. One has to analyze the internal and external factors affecting the success of their career. This S.W.O.T analysis as well as a solid plan is required. This will help me in establishing my own accounting and financial consultation firm as a way to achieving my goals. An action plan is effective as it gives one momentum, direction and motivation. It sets out the short term as well as the long term goals and helps in maximizing one’s potential. References Auyeung, P., & Sands, J. (1997). Factors influencing accounting students' career choice: a cross- cultural validation study. Accounting Education, 6(1), 13 Hansen, R. S., & Hansen, K. (2007). Using a SWOT analysis in your career planning, quintessential career. Kassim, C. K. H. C. K. (2014). Accounting Education Change: Improving the Quality of Accounting Graduates. J. Appl. Environ. Biol. Sci, 4(6S), 1-7. Labro, E., & Tuomela, T. S. (2003). On bringing more action into management accounting research: process considerations based on two constructive case studies. European Accounting Review, 12(3), 409-442. Lehman, G. (2004). Social and environmental accounting: trends and thoughts for the future. In Accounting Forum (Vol. 28, No. 1, pp. 1-5). Elsevier. Read More