My Future Job as a Certified Public Accountant - Essay Example

Teacher My future job: Accountancy and its caveats I would like to be a CPA or a Certified Public Accountant in the future. CPAs are the licensed accountants who have passed the rigor of the board exam. News has it that CPA board exam is one of the most difficult board exam to take but it does not daunt me. I would like to become an accountant still. One of the reasons why I would like to become an accountant is because I enjoy working with numbers and I have strong analytical skills. I am beginning to notice that my chosen career in the future is controversial. As a student in a commerce program, I am often asked what will I major in the future. When I replied that I would like to become an Accountant, I often receive strange and odd reactions compared to other responses. Sadly, many of them are in the negative. Some have sarcasm as if Accounting is a profession. The sarcasms I get are usually in hypothetical questions such as “so you would like to work at Enron? But the government shut it down already!”. Or, if I would like to get rich quickly or being admonished to be careful not to go to jail. And wish me luck and was asked to give them some money if I will have my kickbacks in the future. At first, I did not take these comment seriously but when I researched about Enron and the recent corporate scandals, I realized that they were not just comments but in fact sarcasm. Traditionally, accounting is the method to record, measure, analyse and communicate the financial information of a company that would be used by decision makers of a business organization in their economic decision making about the company. The accountant is usually in-charge of the books of the company, they are usually responsible for preparing the company’s financial statements such as income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow that will be used by various stakeholders for their economic decision (Needles 45). But this skill and knowledge can be applied to other aspect of the business such as management and in fact a very good qualification to become an executive because Accountants understand the economic bottom line of a business more than any other people. Unfortunately also, this understanding in the company’s financial statement became the source of controversies in the corporate world such as the case of Enron, WorldCom, Arthur Andersen and many more companies which made people view the profession of accounting as something devious if not a corrupt profession. I cannot blame them because even if a law was passed to prevent them such as the Sarbanes–Oxley Act, “financial fraud still seems to dominate the business news in the US as well as worldwide”. (Young and Peng 399) At some point, I was even discouraged to take the profession and advised to consider other major courses in commerce such as Management, Marketing or even Finance or Economics just to avoid Accounting. It really made me think about it but finally, I decided to stick with what I want to do as a professional. In the first place, why would I change the course of my life or my profession just because people before did something bad with their profession? And why will I let the opinion of other people dictate the course of my life. There may have been criminal practices in the profession but I am different from them. And I will prove that I am different from them. This only shows the magnitude of the responsibility of an accountant. While a good Accountant can steer the company towards a strategic direction that would enable the organization to realize its objectives, unethical Accountant can also pervert the practice and make the organization profitable or at least to make it look profitable through accounting acrobatics such as what happened in Enron, Andersen Consulting and WorldCom. When I checked further, I found out that Public accounting firms as being a “part of the contemporary ‘enterprise culture’ that persuades many to believe that ‘bending the rules’ for personal gain is a sign of business acumen.” This stands in stark contrast to the differentiating public interest perspective of a profession, and we suggest that cultural change in the profession is necessary for real and lasting change to occur” (Stuebs & Wilkinson 30). As a would be Accountant, I would rather look at the perspective of Stuebs and Wilkinson about the cultural change in the profession necessary for real and lasting change to occur in the profession of Accountancy. In today’s corporate and public environment where there is a greater awareness and sensitivity about corporate propriety, it would be a great time for would be Accountants like me to make a difference. It is timely because cultural change is more suited to be implemented by the young and idealist like thus. Such, instead of looking at the present negative opinion about the profession of Accounting with pessimism, I will instead look at it as an opportunity to shine and succeed in an otherwise negatively perceived profession. My readings and investigation about the profession of Accountancy put me in a better perspective to judge on how I could succeed as an accountant. Of course as any profession would require, I must be technically with accounting which I believe I could be because I am good in numbers and analysis. But that is only the base requirement of the profession. Equally important and perhaps even more important today, is to be ethical with the job so that people would trust me. Trust may be common and a given in other profession but it is a valued commodity in accountancy considering the numerous instance of fraud and scandals that rocked our corporate world that slid the world economy in recession. Being trusted as an accountant has many positive implications. As a newbie in a company, my boss would likely give me sensitive responsibility if he or she trusts me which would present a wonderful opportunity to prove that I can be relied on and then serve as my ladder to be promoted. If I will be an executive of a major company, investors and people will likely to put in their money in my company and patronize my products and services because they know they could trust the company. In sum, there are two things that could make an accountant successful. First is to have the technical skill and second, is to become trustworthy so that there will be more opportunities that will be presented to me that will make me successful. Annotated Bibliography Needles, B. E. . Principles of Financial Accounting (11th ed.). Independence, KY, USA. 2011. Cengage Learning. This book of Needles explained the fundamental principles of accounting. It includes a thorough explanation of the various financial statements such as Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Cash Flow. It also explained how to interpret these financial statements. Among the use of financial statement is the basis of economic decision of its various stakeholders. Other tools were also introduced such as interpreting ratios of financial statements. Stuebs, Martin; Wilkinson, Brett. Ethics and the Tax Profession: Restoring the Public Interest Focus.. Accounting & the Public Interest, 2010, Vol. 10, p13-35, 23p, 4 Diagrams, 2 Charts; DOI: 10.2308/api.2010.10.1.13 This report of Stuebs and Wilkinson narrated the corporate scandals that we see in the news. It showed how Enron, WorldCom and other companies manipulated their financial statements to defraud the public. It illustrated how accountants could manipulate numbers to make a company appear profitable even if it is not. It resulted in the growing distrust of the public for American business and accountants as well. Thus, it emphasized the necessity of cultural change in the corporate world and accountants to restore public trust. Young, Susan M., and Emma Y. Peng. "An Analysis Of Accounting Frauds And The Timing Of Analyst Coverage Decisions And Recommendation Revisions: Evidence From The US." Journal Of Business Finance & Accounting 40.3/4 (2013): 399-437. Business Source Complete. Web. 14 Apr. 2014 This journal compares the likelihood and timing of analyst coverage decisions and recommendation revisions related to fraud firms versus firms without accounting fraud. It also tackled the persistence of fraud even in the aftermath of Sarbanes Oxley Act. It was found in the study that analysts have a higher probability of taking the more severe action of dropping coverage rather than only revising down recommendations for firms with any type of accounting fraud. The study was useful in finding out that laws such as Sarbanes Oxley do not stop fraud. Fraud still happens in corporate America despite of stringent regulatory measures Read More