When you finish your degree, your intention is to start a career using it. In order to apply for jobs, you will need a certain range of skill sets to satisfy the requirements of that position. So, the research project is to determine the skill sets of the occupation you want to be employed in. You should make it easier on yourselves as if you were to say manager; it would be too hard as there are so many levels, industries, companies who have various interpretations of what is a manager. In other words, confine your research project. There has been ample research on various fields on this, and there is little agreement to what is required or not. There no point having skills which are no use to your intended profession, hence the importance of your research.
There is another element here to be considered; what are the activities of your desired occupation? In other words, what are the day to day activities of the job you want to do. You could consider this question from various points of views. Your lecturer will discuss these once you have come up with some ideas. This part is of particular importance as unless you know what entails in the position, you will not know what skills you will need to understand and practice or acquire through your studies.
The assignment will be completed individually. This project will aid you in applying for positions and you can include it in your resume. It will alleviate any misconceptions your future employee will have about whether you understand the role and its importance.
A literature review is normally done in conjunction with the proposal. It will draw out the research questions you will need to start the research process
Importance of Researching Job Skills
Understanding ones job description plays a crucial role whenever an individual is applying for a particular position. The main aim is to ensure that one is able to comprehend the tasks and duties which as are expected in order to add value to a company as well as earning income. Besides, understanding the job description plays into the ability to recognize various limitations that might hinder one from achieving their potential (Maas, Schaltegger and Crutzen 2016).
Job description and tasks are significant in assisting an employee to understand various parameters within which they are supposed to function. Also, an employee is able to understand an organization standards which facilitates effective execution of tasks. More so, there are many benefits that an employee can get from understanding their job description such as performance management, training and employee development, compensation plans, recognition and rewards, code of conduct required, return to work programs as well as essential analysis of the job function (Chenhall and Moers 2015).
Managerial accountant is a demanding field that requires professionals to have skills and abilities that aid in carrying out tasks required. These skills are vital for helping managers to make decisions in order to enable companies become competitive and dominant in the market. Among the skills managerial accountants must have include variance analysis where the managers are expected to explain difference between the budget and actual amount incurred. Besides, the managers are required to determine rates and volumes of both goods and services in an institution (Jermias 2017). Further, they are expected to understand various measurements that relates to the performance of a company. Another significant skill that managerial accountants are required to have is price modelling which focuses on various aspects if price, competition, consumers and market segments. Moreover, management accountants are required to be experts in product profitability, analyzing the effectiveness of sales of a products, perform cost analysis among other skills relating to strategic planning, financial forecasting, annual budget and resource allocation.
Managerial accountant not only focuses on numbers but a set of skills that involve gathering accounting information that can be used in the decision making process. As a result, managerial accountants are required to use creativity, leadership skills which are significant in the identification of areas of strength as well as weaknesses in order to provide informed solutions (Gilchrist 2018). For this purpose, managerial accountants are required to have analytical skills which are significant in the development of budget as well as minimizing costs and maximizing profits. Besides, aptitude of technical process is significant in assisting the accountants to come up with accurate estimates. Further, management accountants are required to have knowledge in business fundamentals which can assist an organization to achieve long-term goals.
Activities of Desired Occupation
Objective A:
This research is aimed at determining the skills that a managerial accountant should be equipped with in order to be able to meet the requirements with respect to tasks and duties required by managerial accountants.
The objective of this research is to determine the training and development programs that are structured to meet the needs of managerial accountants in preparation to meeting market demands.
1:What is involved in the main functions of management accounting?
2:How has the field of management accounting changed when comparing past and present managerial accountant practices?
3:Which factors in managerial accounting are responsible increased competitiveness?
4:Other than common skills and abilities that managerial accountant are expected to have, what other requirements are necessary to increase ones success in the job market?
There are various functions that are involved in management accounting such as preparation, organizing and providing of financial data that can be used for decision making. These functions are primarily performed by directors in various organizations. As a result, managerial accountant comprises two aspect which include management aspect as well as accounting aspect. In essence, managerial accountant is a field that evolves with time (Maas, Schaltegger and Crutzen 2016). In the past, management accountants were mainly concerned with data entry using spreadsheets and were considered to lack personality since they did not require skills such as communication.
It was until the 21st century when managerial accountants began to evolve from data entry into decision making through analysis form financial reporting, offering advice as well as assisting business development. Increase in competition is attributed to the change in dynamics with how managerial accountants conduct themselves. Today, managerial accountants are characterized with systematic, planning and use of technology to help businesses succeed. As a result of competitive nature of the field, various institutions have begun incorporating applied skills of managerial as well as those of accounting to equip students with the right skills that are demanded by the job market (Chenhall and Moers 2015). Therefore, various skills such as relational, knowledge and communication skills are considered by most employees.
Research design refers to techniques that are used in collection and analysis of parameters that are determined by the research question. The primary goal of a research design is to find answers sought by the research questions.
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Six W’s
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Who is the respondent?
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What information should be obtained from the respondent?
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When should the information be obtained from the respondent?
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Where should the responded be contacted to obtain the information the information?
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Why are we obtaining the information from the respondent?
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Why is the marketing project being conducted
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In what way are we going to obtain the information from respondents?
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The respondents in this case will be managerial accountants and information collected through secondary sources which include business reports, journals and trade journals. The information to be collected will be prioritized based in the information that answers the research questions. The main purpose of collecting the information is to answer the research questions for purposes of enhancing knowledge with respect to management accountant skills and abilities.
Assignment Details
Qualitative research is also referred to as exploratory research. This type of research is used for purposes of seeking fundamental motivation, reasons and sentiments. On the other hand, quantitative research is used to justify the research question through data that can be manipulated into meaningful statistics. It employs measurable data to come up with patterns that can be used in making reliable conclusions (Brannen 2017). For this research process, qualitative research will be used because it plays a significant role in shedding light into the research question.
This research is also significant for drawing insights and opinions that gives a deeper understanding into the research question. The research will also use various methods such as interviewing family and friends to seek a better understanding of the process of a managerial accountant through a small sample size. In depth interviews are going to be used especially focus groups because qualitative data collection maximizes the use of unstructured and semi-structured techniques which increase the validity of respondent’s feedback (Silverman 2016).
Among the specific questions that the research will aim at investigating include what are the requirements of a managerial accountant in the modern world? Are these skills and abilities cut across different businesses or organizations? What is nature of training and development that is required to enable managerial accountants meet the needs of their job requirement?
The people to be included in this research are appropriate because they have been in the field of managerial accountants and have witnessed first-hand the trends that have been happening in the job market. Besides, these people are knowledgeable and have experience in the fields and their families depend on them for various aspects of life.
Convenience sampling will be used for this research because it is expensive to conduct the research far from the researcher’s proximity (Etikan, Musa, and Alkassim 2016).
How data will be collected
The data will be collected through a questionnaire which will be given to the respondents.
The data analysis for this research will employ the use of collected information to determine difference and similarities by arranging and sorting the feedback from questionnaire and secondary sources in order to increasing understanding of the research question. Besides, coding will be used in categorizing the data to reduce the volume of data and identify important patterns (Silverman 2016).
The results of this research will play a significant role in providing substantial information relating to the current filed of managerial accountant as well as provide detailed information regarding trends in the industry. Also, the information will be used as a basis for training and development to increase the chances of getting a position as a management accountant in the job market.
References
Brannen, J., (2017). Mixing methods: Qualitative and quantitative research. London, Routledge.
Chenhall, R.H. and Moers, F., (2015). The role of innovation in the evolution of management accounting and its integration into management control. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 47, pp.1-13.
Etikan, I., Musa, S.A. and Alkassim, R.S., (2016). Comparison of convenience sampling and purposive sampling. American Journal of Theoretical and Applied Statistics, 5(1), pp.1-4.
Gilchrist, R.R., (2018). Managing for profit: the added value concept. London, Routledge.
Jermias, J., (2017). Development of management accounting practices in Indonesia. In The Routledge Handbook of Accounting in Asia (pp. 126-136). London, Routledge.
Maas, K., Schaltegger, S. and Crutzen, N., (2016). Integrating corporate sustainability assessment, management accounting, control, and reporting. Journal of Cleaner Production, 136, pp.237-248.
Silverman, D. ed., (2016). Qualitative research. London. Sage.
