Accounting
Accounting, business analysis and business systems skills are the cornerstone of business in the twenty-first century. Tomorrow’s decision makers and leaders will need to understand the major aspects of a total business cycle and accounting studies are a key foundation for this understanding.
In recent years the accountant’s role has transformed from ‘number crunching’ to providing comprehensive business advice. Accounting professionals pursue a variety of career choices, including public practice (providing accounting services to clients), strategic business planning, auditing and assurance services, corporate planning, taxation, treasury, information systems, foreign exchange, financial planning, insurance, business and management consulting, manufacturing management, and cost and management accounting.
Key areas of accounting practice are as follows:
Financial accounting is about the external reporting of a company’s financial position and performance. Financial accounting information is used in making investment decisions and is widely used to value businesses and predict corporate success or failure.
Managerial accounting provides information to managers to help them measure and control processes within their business. It aids managers in strategy implementation, costing of new products and services, evaluation of the value added by different areas within a business and managing their performance. It provides accounting and other information to help managers run a business in a successful and profitable manner.
Auditing and Assurance services is about monitoring the external reporting disclosures made by companies and it adds credibility that reporting. In addition, assurance services add credibility to non-financial information, e.g. voting, for the Oscars or in the Brownlow medal count, environmental reporting, customer-satisfaction surveys and internet reporting.