Straightforward Guide To Job And Career Opportunities

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• Publisher: Straightforward Publishing Digital
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781847163592
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Personal Success

This new edition to the Straightforward Guides series is a comprehensive and detailed analysis of careers and jobs available for all of those seeking an interesting and fulfilling job and future career. This book, which adopts and A-Z approach, will provide invaluable information to enable people to make career decisions.

1. ACCOUNTANCY

This section covers:

* The Accounting profession

* The Actuarial Profession

Mention accountancy to people, particularly non-accountants, and they groan. Accountancy is perceived as a very conservative and rather boring profession. However, it is anything but. Accountancy is at the heart of all business and is a great way to learn the machinations of any industry whatever it may be. It is also a profession that pays well.

Accountancy is central to all business, whether large or small. The complexities, however, change with the nature and size of businesses and their environments.

An accountant is involved in the financial transactions of particular businesses and also the preparation of accounts and also auditing. Accountants deal with a wide variety of areas, such as taxation, business forecasting, business modelling, financial performance, investments and acquisitions and mergers. Because the work is so diverse accountancy is split into specialist areas, in the main three specialist areas.

MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING

The nature of the work

Management accountants work mainly in commerce and industry. There work is integral to a company's operation, dealing with planning budgets, monitoring ongoing expenditure and preparing reports for external bodies. Management accountants may be qualified Chartered Accountants, Chartered Certified Accountants or Management Accountants.

ACCOUNTANTS IN PRIVATE PRACTICE

As the name suggests, accountants working for private practice will offer their services to all types of business, small organisations, fee paying clients and so on. Basically, they are freelance. They are either qualified as Associate Members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (CAEW), the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Scotland (CAS), The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland (CAI) or the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).

PUBLIC SECTOR ACCOUNTANTS

This is a different area of accountancy, employing the same essential skills but operating in a very different environment which encompasses local and national government finance. Public Sector accountants control and assess the expenditure within local authorities, health trusts, universities and central government. As you can imagine, this is a complex and varied area of accountancy.

Entry requirements

Most trainee accountants are graduates. maths is obviously an important element of accountancy and if you have a degree which involves maths, for example business studies, this will stand you in good stead. Most employers will set numeracy tests as part of the overall selection process. There are other entry requirements, for example, some professional bodies mentioned above, before accepting a person onto their trainee programme will require 5 GCSE's grades A or B and two A levels as a minimum.

Accountants who are qualified with any of the professional bodies can practice in the public sector. However, the most relevant organisation is the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA). If, however, you don't have another accountancy qualification you must, as a minimum have three GCSE's Grade A to C and two A levels. Maths and English will be a requirement.

The best advice is to identify which area of accountancy most attracts you, identify the relevant professional body and then make enquiries about entry qualifications. The most important thing is to gain a job in the appropriate area and then, through the employer, gain day release onto the required course.

What can you earn?

Salaries within the accountancy profession will vary with industry and location, also size of the firm. As a trainee you can expect £24,00-£28,000 in London and the South east, with starting salaries varying elsewhere. After qualifying salaries will increase significantly. A good accountancy qualification will always hold you in good stead.

Other areas of accountancy

A less qualified area of accountancy is that of accountancy technician. Accountancy technicians work in a variety of roles, usually assisting qualified Chartered Accountants. There are no set entry level qualifications but people wanting to work within this area must be confident in maths. Good IT skills are also valuable as Information technology is integral to accountancy. Salaries are lower than qualified accountants but can still be attractive.

More information

The following are the important bodies within accounting and they can offer all the advice that you will need.

Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA)

0208 8849 2251

www.cimaglobal.com

Chartered Institute of Public Finance Accountants (CIPFA)

020 7543 5600

www.cipfa.org.uk

Association of Certified Accountants

020 7059 500

www.accaglobal.com

Association of Accounting technicians (AAT)

0845 863 0800

www.aat.org.uk

 

ACTUARY

The nature of the work

This is a distinct area of finance, dealing with the assessment of financial risks and probabilities. Typically, you might find actuaries working in areas such as pension forecasting, life assurance and other areas of insurance. They will also be involved in other areas of business where risks are involved. Actuaries will use their skills in mathematics and statistics to create models to analyse past events and predict future outcomes. Actuaries can be found either in private practice, typically consultancies and also government and the health service.

Entry requirements

To qualify as an actuary you must become a student member of one of the professional bodies, which are either the Faculty or the Institute of Actuaries. Minimum qualifications for entry are usually three GCSE's Grades A-C including English and two A levels one of which must be maths at grade B. If you have a second class honours degree in any subject then a grade C in maths is usually acceptable. If you have a degree in maths or actuarial science you do not need maths A level.

Once you have completed your professional training you become a fellow of either the Institute or Faculty. To become a Fellow you must pass 15 professional examinations. Depending on your prior qualifications you may be exempt from some of the exams at the Core technical stage and some at the other stage.

What can you earn?

Actuaries earn high salaries, with a trainee beginning at around £30,000. This will rise significantly as training and qualifications progress.

More information

The Association of Consulting Actuaries

020 73824954

www.aca.org.uk

Faculty of Actuaries

0131 240 1300

www.actuarites.org.uk

Financial Services Skills Council

020 7216 7366

www.fssc.org.uk

Government Actuaries Department (GAD)

020 7211 2601

www.gad.gov.uk

The Actuarial Education Company

01235 550005

www.acted.co.uk

2. ADVERTISING

Advertising is a very attractive profession. It is also a complicated profession and if you get it right it can provide enormous benefits both to an employee but also clients. It can be a very worthwhile career. In this section, we cover the following:

• Advertising account executive

• Copywriters

Their are numerous other positions within advertising, for more information contact:

Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA)

44 Belgrave Square

London

SW1X 8QS

Tel: [phone]

www.ipa.co.uk

ADVERTISING ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE

The nature of the work

As an account executive, you would find out about the client's advertising goals then work with your agency's creative and planning staff to ensure that effective advertising campaigns are produced.

Your tasks would include:

• meeting clients to discuss their advertising needs

• working with account planners to come up with a campaign that meets the client's brief (instructions) and budget

• presenting campaign ideas and costs to clients

• briefing the creative team that produces the words and artwork

• negotiating with clients, solving problems and making sure that deadlines are met

• checking and reporting on the campaign’s progress

• keeping in contact with the client at all stages of the campaign

• managing the account’s budget and invoicing the client

• trying to win new business for the agency.

You would normally handle about three or four accounts at the same time.

What can you earn?

Starting salaries are around £18,000 to £24,000 a year. With experience, this nor...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1. ACCOUNTANCY
• 2. ADVERTISING
• 3. ARMED FORCES
• 4. BANKING AND FINANCE
• 5. CATERING
• 6. CIVIL SERVICE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT
• 7. CONSTRUCTION
• 8. ENGINEERING
• 9. FARMING AND LAND
• 10. HEALTH SERVICE
• 11. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
• 12. JOURNALISM AND PRINTING
• 13. LEGAL PROFESSION
• 14. MARKETING
• 15. MUSIC RADIO AND TV
• 16. POLICE FORCE
• 17. RETAIL
• 18. SOCIAL WORK
• 19. SPORT AND LEISURE
• 20. TEACHING
• 21. TRAVEL AND TOURISM
• 22. VETINARY
• Index