Top Reasons Why Accounting is a Good Career Choice

What's the square root of 196? Let's face it: not all of us are good with numbers. But for those who excel at that or even enjoy mental arithmetic and number crunching, getting an accounting degree could be a viable option. On the surface, it's easy to label accounting as another of those boring professions populated by former class geeks or people with cardboard personalities. However, that's just an outdated stereotype, considering how even celebrities like Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones had once studied accounting at the London School of Economics.¹

On a more significant note, the role of accounting in the workforce is an essential one. Apart from helping a business track income and expenditures, it also ensures statutory compliance, as well as provides management and the relevant stakeholders with quantitative financial information used to make more informed business decisions. So, does an accounting career pay off? Let's find out how the benefits all add up!

Defined Career Path

With accounting revolving around practical skills like cost analysis and accurate recording of financial records, it's easier to picture a clear and structured career path. This can give one more concrete goals to work towards, knowing what it would take to reach a certain position like financial controller, alongside the requisite certifications needed to get there.

Even the various work environments for different accounting specialisations can be quite defined, with managerial accounting characterised by a fairly consistent pace, wherein your work does not fluctuate too much on a daily basis. On the other hand, tax accounting usually sees a mix of busy periods around tax season, with lull periods thereafter. This type of clarity, where you can already expect what you'd be facing, can give you a huge edge in terms of mapping out your career and life milestones.

Market Demand

According to the Ministry of Manpower's (MOM) Labour Market Report, financial services was one of the key drivers of employment growth in Q1 2019.² Additionally, jobs like accountant, finance executive, financial analyst and finance manager continue to experience high demand, especially with digital age accountancy requiring more strategic and high-value input in the face of increasing automation.

More crucially, there remains a shortage of accountants in Asia, who possess sufficient experience to handle new global financial regulations. This is why banks are turning their attention towards hiring locally and investing in the necessary regulatory training, according to Mark Hall, Country General Manager of recruiters Kelly Services in Singapore.³

Add all this to the fact that accounting is responsible for budgeting and future projections - which can make or break a business - and it's easy to see why accountants will always be in demand!

Healthy Remuneration

In relation to an increased number of vacancies at all levels across the market for technical accounting specialists, salaries are also shifting upwards to compete with other higher paying areas of accounting and finance.

Unsurprisingly, this makes accounting in general a rather lucrative career path, with both public and private accounting professionals relatively well-compensated. The figures speak for themselves: the median annual salary for entry-level general accountants in their first year is $48,500, eventually rising to $109,500 (tax manager in corporate accounting), and even $136,750 (director in public accounting firm).⁴

The 2019 Salary Guide for Accounting and Finance Professionals by staffing firm Robert Half also validates these statistics, highlighting how companies are now moving quickly to make competitive job offers and land skilled professionals. This comes amid a climate where firms are continuously benchmarking and adjusting salaries, doing all they can to prepare employees for advancement and ensuring they don't lose top performers.⁵

All in all, accounting is still very much a viable and sought-after career choice that delivers a mix of monetary and lifestyle benefits, no matter what stage you may be at in life. But as with most professions that require a deep amount of technical expertise, it's always best to begin with attaining a quality education and certification - browse through the accounting programmes offered by SIM GE!
 

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¹ Accounting Today: 10 Celebrity Almost-CPAs (https://www.accountingtoday.com/slideshow/10-celebrity-almost-cpas)

² Singapore Business Review, 9 May 2019: Here are the most in-demand jobs in 2019 (https://sbr.com.sg/hr-education/news/here-are-most-in-demand-jobs-in-2019)

³ Singapore Business Review: This is the hottest accounting job in Singapore right now (https://sbr.com.sg/source/efinancialcareers/hottest-accounting-job-in-singapore-right-now)  

⁴ Robert Half, 8 Oct 2019: Private or Public? How to Choose Your Accounting Career Path (https://www.roberthalf.com/blog/job-market/private-vs-public-choose-your-accounting-career-path)

⁵ Accounting Today, 10 Jan 2019: Accounting salaries remain high in 2019 (https://www.accountingtoday.com/news/accounting-salaries-remain-high-in-2019)


Posted online, 28 July 2020