The Job Specifics of Certified Professional Accountants - Research Paper Example

Introduction Acquiring professional accounting qualification is always a challenging task as it requires extensive hard work as well as certain degree of commitment from the persons who peruse such careers. The career as a certified public accountant is also one such career which requires complete commitment from the individuals and once a certain degree of proficiency is achieved, the overall rewards are excellent. (Gaylord and Ried) Normally CPA or Certified Professional Accountants work in small as well as large audit and accounting firms offering external as well as internal audit services besides offering other services such as tax consultancy and other consultancy. Over the period of time, the range of the services offered by CPAs has changed due to changes in the overall requirements of the organizations. Recent corporate scandals and the failure of many financial institutions in the wake of current financial crisis only highlighted the greater role of accountants and auditors in terms of ensuring that the organizations remain within their obligatory duties and the interests of the stakeholders remain intact. Thus a career as a certified professional accountant is really challenging and tough and requires extensive knowledge of the subjective as well as the regulatory environment within which the CPAs work. Compliance with the regulatory requirements therefore remains one of the key aspects of how the CPAs will actually evolve and develop into successful professionals. (Hutchinson) This paper will therefore discuss the career as a CPA by presenting a comprehensive overview of the culture of overall culture of being in profession of accountancy and audit. CPA as a professional qualification As discussed above that the CPAs nature of work is mostly based upon the providence of the services to their clients. A CPA is therefore will mostly be found working in an office based environment which is service oriented engaged in the consultative process wherein a CPA normally provides services to sort out the different issues related with finance and accounting. (Leaders Edge ). However, to be a CPA one need to pass the exam of CPA and also have to fulfill the practical training requirements before one can actually start using the word CPA after his or her name. Historically exam was offered in a pen and paper based environment however, it was subsequently changed and exam is now conducted on computers. There are further changes in the way exam will take place from next year therefore the overall challenges to pass the exam are increasing and the candidates will have to sort some important challenges in order to become successful in this exam. (DEFLICE) The change in the way exams are going to be conducting is based on the assumption that the overall requirements and expectations from CPAs have changed over the period of time. Due to increasing complexity of the way modern organizations work, it has therefore become critical that the CPA as a profession shall evolve too to meet the changing requirements. It was because of this reason that the new changes are being introduced in the way overall exams are to be conducted in future. (accountingweb.com) What CPAs do It’s believed that the accounting theory is shaped by its users and it is important that the theory must support the changing requirements of the profession. Broadly speaking there are five broader areas in which a CPA practice and fall within the direct and indirect domain of public accounting. First it is the accounting and auditing services which form the most part of the work of a CPA. These services are either delivered under the statutory requirements or organizations, in order to improve their efficiency, may require the services of the CPAs. Another important area of work for CPA is the taxation wherein the CPAs help organizations to manage their taxes and deal with the computation of overall taxation to be paid by the firm. More recently however, CPAs now have started to offer services such as forensic accounting, management consultancy as well as the entrepreneurial services. This breadth of the services offered by the CPAs therefore indicate the overall demand for the services of CPAs and how the overall shape of the profession is changing with the passage of time. (Berry) What is also significantly more important to note that CPAs also work within organizations and handling, most commonly, finance departments of the firms? This role for CPAs therefore require them to exclusively work for a single firm and manage the overall affairs of the finance department of the firm including its tax management and preparation of financial statements and subsequently helping external auditors to perform audit of such financial statements. Job requirements and overall culture of the career A CPA typically has to take into consideration two important aspects when they start their work. First a CPA typically focus on the problem solving for his clients therefore ensuring that he offers his services in most efficient manner. However, the needs and requirements of their clients change almost everyday due to the changes in the government regulations as well as the changing economic conditions which force the firms to adapt to the changing requirements. CPAs therefore have to really keep themselves updated on all the regulatory and economic changes taking place externally. (Careercoach.com) When CPAs work in a business setting offering their services individually they also need to market their services and bring in new business. This also requires the management of the existing resources so that the CPAs can actually deliver the work according to the prescribed professional standards and delivering the work of highest quality. Those CPAs who work individually also find it often difficult to deal with the clients as well as managing their own employees. Thus the people management is also one of the essential requirements for the success in this profession. People management therefore also requires that the CPAs must develop some soft skills such as management of resources as well as the people and marketing issues which can really provide them an upper hand in beating their competition and consistently deliver the higher level of services to their customers.(Interview). Though CPAs is more related with the number crunching however, CPAs have to manage the complex world of business and investment. It therefore requires that the CPAs must maintain their knowledge at the level which can easily allow them to negotiate with the changing requirements of the business and investment. (Stair) The typical progression in the professional ladder in CPA profession often requires a linear ascension to the top. Mostly CPAs have to start from the lower level as the trainees and subsequently make their way up and become partners in their own firms. (Sugahara, Hiramatsu and Boland) Overall CPAs , if practicising independently, tend to enjoy the number of choices available to them during their work and therefore one of the key motivators for them is the freedom and the range of choices available. Conclusion CPA is a quite interesting profession and requires extensive knowledge of the subject and people management skills to become a successful profession. Over the period of time, the overall job requirements of CPAs have changed and they are now supposed to offer other services such management consultancy to their clients besides offering the traditional accounting and auditing services. It is however, important to note that the overall job efforts of CPAs got affected by the changing economic and market conditions. It is generally believed that tough economic conditions tend to affect the business of CPAs as well as the increasing scrutiny from the regulatory authorities has made it more difficult for CPAs to work competitively and efficiently. Bibliography accountingweb.com. "Passing CPA exam in 2010 becomes top priority as exam changes loom." 03 June 2010. accountingweb.com. 11 December 2010 . Berry, Joanne S. "Making our Voice Heard on Tax Issues." The CPA Journal 1 December 2010: 7. Careercoach.com. "Job Outlook for Accountant Jobs." 2010. Careercoach.com. 11 December 2010 . DEFLICE, ALEXANDRA. "CPA Exam to Undergo an Evolution." Journal of Accountancy (2010): 10-13. Gaylord, Gloria L. and Glenda E. Ried. Careers in accounting. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional, 2006. Hutchinson, James. "Is Becoming a CPA the Right Move? ." 10 Dec 2008. suite101.com. 11 December 2010 . Leaders Edge . "Career mapping gives direction to CPA firm." 1 June 2002. allbusiness.com. 11 December 2010 . Stair, Lila B. Careers in business. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional, 1998. Sugahara, Satoshi, Kazuo Hiramatsu and Greg Boland. ""The factors influencing accounting school students career intention to become a Certified Public Accountant in Japan." Asian Review of Accounting 17.1 (2009): 5-22. Read More