Who is suited for accountancy

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As with any role, enthusiasm is a key component that recruiters will look for. The ability to bring positive energy to a team and truly believe in what you are working towards is crucial. Enthusiasm is contagious; it demonstrates that you are willing to learn your trade. Closely aligned with understanding and enthusiasm, initiative is a must-have. It proves that you can work on your own, that you are an independent thinker and in turn, will lead to you being trusted with more responsibility.

It is particularly important if you decide to become a freelance accountant at a later stage of your career. We all have particular brands we are fond of using.

Most of the time, the reasoning behind our choices comes down to one thing: trust. The same applies when you are building your career. You want people to trust you. Credibility is the currency that you can trade on.

With more credibility comes more opportunity. Through building a credible brand, you are also laying the foundations for a solid future.

Complete the fields below. They like meeting new people. Accountants work with many people — coworkers, clients, corporate managers, entrepreneurs and others. Accountants get to know many people over their careers.

Are you the one who charted out the whole semester on the first day of class? The one who planned the spring break trip? You might be an accountant.

Accountants need to be able to plan out their work and develop strategies to help clients accomplish their goals. They like figuring out tough calls. Consultancy and advice forms the bulk of what accountants provide today - using their expert knowledge to help their customers select the right business structure, minimise unnecessary tax expenditure, and forecast their cash flow for the coming year. Late January, February and March represent the close of the financial year, and are dreaded by accountants as 'tax season'.

It's the busiest time of the year, but on the flip-side, it can mean an easier time of it during the other nine months. Its predictability makes knowing when to plan holidays easier too. Love to offer your time to charities and other good causes? It's a great way to make an accounting qualification as rewarding for others as it is for you. Some accountants have degrees, some don't.

Having an accountancy degree can enable you to skip a few exams on the way to full qualification, but generally it doesn't matter whether or not you've been to university.

There's nothing stopping you getting in on the ground floor with accountancy courses for beginners. If all businesses need finance pros, it should be no surprise that those pros are generally always in demand. It's not a career that's going anywhere either - while increasing automation means that there can be less to do on the calculations side of things, that just means that accountants are spending more time consulting and advising on strategy.

Like helping others? It could be the perfect career. Accountants help their clients all day long, especially ones who work for an accountancy practice. We think helping people solve their problems and achieve their business goals is a pretty rewarding way to spend your time. When times are hard, it's usually departments such as sales and marketing, which are hardest hit.

Conversely, money troubles usually mean a doubling-down on the finance department, to make sure not a penny is misspent.