In this video I'm going to give you five reasons to become an accountant.
[Music]
Hey there, welcome back to the channel!
I'm James, this is Accounting Stuff and today I'm going to give you
five real reasons to become an accountant. Maybe you're considering doing
accounting as a career, or perhaps you've been the game
for a while now and you're thinking… Geez accounting, big mistake.
Why did I decide to do this in the first place? Whichever it is let me know down
in the comments. I'd like to hear your story.
I've been working in the industry for about seven years now, maybe a bit more
and during this time I've had the opportunity to work on both
sides of the fence. In public accounting as an auditor
at the big four, and in the private sector
as a financial accountant. So all of these reasons that I'm
about to give you are coming from my own personal experience.
There’s going to be no particular order to these except that the last one
is my favourite. Let's jump right in!
Reason number one. Accounting is a stable industry.
Here's how I see it… I like to picture the economy as
an ocean’s tides sweeping over a rocky beach.
There are high tides and low tides, booms and busts,
flowing in and out over the rocks on the shoreline. Tides are temporary.
They're constantly changing over time. But the rocks are permanent.
They don't budge. They stoically hold their position and
observe the waves flowing around them. If an oceans tides represent the economy
then the rocks are accountants because businesses will always
need accountants. For every ripple that disturbs
an ocean’s surface, every time a financial transaction takes place,
businesses need accountants to record, process and summarise these
transactions into financial reports. The need for accountants is constant.
No matter whether we're in a boom or a recession Accountants are rocks.
Okay, reason number two. Accounting will teach you to
become financially literate. Financial literacy is the process of
educating yourself to being able to manage your money, personal finances and
investments, efficiently and effectively. I've mentioned this before and I bring
it up again now, because I believe that Financial Literacy is one of the most
important skills that you can learn in life. It teaches you to budget and save,
the value of interest and the meaning of all of the different
financial terms. The sooner that you can understand all of
these the better. I wish that I'd become
Financially Literate ages ago. Like when I was 16, or something.
Because if I had, then my finances would be in a much
better shape today. Thankfully though,
accounting taught me to become Financially Literate,
and it can help you too. If you'd like to learn more,
I've made a whole playlist covering Accounting Basics that you can
find up here. And I keep adding to it each week.
So don't forget to hit the subscribe button and ring the bell to be notified
when the next one's out. Right, reason number 3.
And I've been debating whether to include this one or not, because I'm sure that
some of you are going to disagree with me. But anyway, accounting is interesting.
See I didn't even blink when I said that! Hold up, before you get stuck in with the
comments, let me explain. Accounting gets a bad rep from a lot of
people for being a ‘boring’ profession. But the way I see it
it all comes down to your mindset and how you approach your work.
You have two options. Option 1.
Rinse and repeat. In accounting, repetitive monthly deadlines
are common and accountants are often put in a situation where we can
take last month's workbook. Wipe it clean and roll it forwards
into the current month. Again and again.
Rinse and repeat. This approach makes life easy.
Because in the short term it’s efficient.
You’ll glide through your to-do list as quickly as possible.
But once you've repeated this process over and over it becomes
monotonous and boring. Work doesn't motivate you anymore.
It's become a grind. Option 2 is where you go the extra mile.
Challenge yourself to work beyond your managers and your own expectations.
And by that I don't mean sitting at your desk,
working late while everyone else in your team has gone home.
I mean working with intention. So when your next faced with a task
that you've done a gazillion times before. Give yourself some time to
pause and reflect. Look for the kinks in the system.
What about this process is inefficient, and how can you streamline it?
Don't get me wrong. In the short term this approach
is hard work. And it can be time-consuming.
But in the long run, that's when it'll reap the benefits.
Because if you invest your time and effort now to make a process quicker in
the future, then work will start to feel a lot more rewarding.
And hopefully… Your boss will notice your efforts too.
It will separate you from the crowd, and earn you recognition.
And perhaps … a promotion. That'd be nice.
If it doesn’t, if you've gone through all of this effort,
and your boss doesn't even notice or care. Then quit!
Or at least examine your options. We work in one of the most
stable industries in the world. Which brings me on to reason number four.
Accounting as an industry offers us a wealth of opportunities and flexibility.
There are so many different branches of accounting that you can pick from to
match the lifestyle that you want to live. If you're looking to climb the ladder
as quickly as possible then consider working in audit.
But if you prefer working the 9 to 5 and a role with a bit less stress
then an option is to work in private accounting at a non-listed company
that doesn't have all of those extra compliance requirements.
After a few years building some experience you could choose to work for yourself.
Go it alone and create your own private practice.
Lots of people do this. It's hard work, but if you manage to
build a profitable business then it will be a rewarding journey.
Working in accounting will open doors for you and teach you valuable
transferable skills you can make use of in whichever career path you
choose to follow. Ok reason number 5.
My personal favourite and bear with me because this might sound
counterintuitive. You can use accounting as a stable
platform that enables you to take risks. What do I mean by that?
Here's my logic. Many people, myself included
are drawn to accounting because of the stability that it offers.
Accountants are rocks after all. As a career it offers job security
and that prospect can be very enticing. Perhaps too enticing,
because playing things safe can become a habit.
Which is fine, everyone's entitled to make
their own choices. But personally I feel that I've learned
the most from some of the riskier decisions in my life.
Five years ago, I left my safe job at the
big four in London to move to Australia.
It was a new country, I had no work lined up
and I didn't know many people there. By my standards it was a
risky decision. And do I regret it?
Well, yes it was madness! Just kidding,
No. I'm glad I made that choice.
It was scary at first, but eventually I got a job
found a place to stay and ended up living there
for three years. I have a tough time
making risky decisions. But accounting is my safety net.
As an industry there's always demand for it. So you can feel confident of finding work
again if things end up going pear-shaped. Moving to Canada to start this channel
is another risk that I'm dealing with right now.
Whether this was a wise decision remains to be seen.
Time will tell. But the experience so far
has been incredibly valuable. I've had the opportunity to chat
and meet with so many interesting people through YouTube.
And I don't regret this choice one bit. So if you're working in accounting,
or thinking about it. Are there any risky decisions that
you've been hesitating on? Maybe accounting can be the rock
that encourages you to take the first step. Powerful stuff on the channel today,
if you'd like to learn more about accounting then check out this playlist here.
And as usual if you've got any questions, let me know down below in the comments.
And click on this little circle in the middle to subscribe for more weekly videos.