Essay: Accounting Industry In Australia - Growth, Opportunities, And Careers.

Define yourself and what are your goals in life?

What are the reason that you left PwC?

Can you tell when was this company established and what are the principle activities which we perform?

Do you follow the development of the organization? What do you reckon, was this year performance of the company better than last year ?

Do you have an idea of the role for which you have applied for in the business? Tell us some thing about its responsibilities?

What is the feature that makes you unique from the other candidates who are here for this interview?

Discuss a scenario where you have shown your attributes of leadership for resolving any issues?

Where do you want to be in 5 years’ time? What are your own objectives, which you want to attain?

Do you want to ask any questions?

Growth of Accounting Industry in Australia

The book keeping and accounting industry is a key sector and is associated closely to the various business sectors. The profession of accounting has the liability of reporting in accordance to their financial performance to the common investors and the stakeholders. Hence, it can be stated that the profession of accounting has an essential role within the economy and even towards the other industries that are operational in the economy (Parker 2013). The profession gives out various services that are inclusive of the maintenance of payroll, bookkeeping and various other services. Furthermore, with the innovative development and swift expansion of the organizations, the main focus has been on accounting and this has developed. There are several standards which are created so that the entire quality of the profession of accounting can be developed further.

By reviewing the market scenario and the current condition in Australia, it can be forecasted that the profession of accounting has created around $20 billion revenues in Australia with a essential amount of growth rate (National Industry Insights Report. 2017). The industry is very much attractive and with the development of the business and the new businesses coming within the industry. According to the forecasts which have been reviewed, the industry of accounting has shown a development of 2.6% within the year 2012 to 2017 (Afpbb.com.au. 2019). The extent of unemployment in the industry that has been selected is found to be 115,000.

Figure 1: (Table Showing data of growth rates of Australian Accounting Service Industry )

Source: (National Industry Insights Report. 2017)

Figure 2: (Employment status in the field of Accounting in the country)

Source: (National Industry Insights Report. 2017)

Figure 3: (Bar diagram showing quarter wise growth in employment in accounting services)

Source: (Aph.gov.au. 2019)

The figures that have been shown above reveal that the accounting industry has been developing by a significant margin and there is more possibility of enhancement in the industry. The next graph reveals the estimation of the increase in employment after 2018 and this has been seen to rise as well. This is forecasted that various other companies are establishing in Australia. By looking at Figure 3 it is seen that 1^st quarter is shown by months November to January 2016 and it is seen that the next quarter initiates from February 2017 to April 2017.

The other chart that has been depicted below addresses the perspective of the graduates as to the selection of the options of employment which they can access and thereby the same is depicted on the percentage basis.

Roles of Professionals in Accounting Industry

Figure 4: (Popular employment options which are available in Australia.)

Source: (Created by the Author)

This chart reveals the professions that are followed in Australia and the graph reveals that the profession of accounting is in third position as it has been preferred specifically by the Australian graduates (Aph.gov.au. 2019).

The estimation from the point of view of the industry is very high because the industrial environment on an overall basis is developing and hence it is anticipated that there will be development in the finance and accounting industry (Pop-Vasileva, Baird and Blair 2014). The professional service that has been provided by the accountants is extensive and the organizations are in need of such services and hence there is a demand for the services, which is undertaken by the professional accountants.

It is seen that even though there has been a fall initially in the revenue which is created by the small non-employed accounting companies, which is generally due to the simplification and initiation of personal and e-tax and it has been anticipated that the revenue of the Australian Accounting Industry will rise at an aggregate rate of 5.55 within 5 years and will reach $20.7 billion by the year 2020. The development in the industry is huge and hence the future of the industry is bright.

There are several employment sections which are associated to the accounting industry. There are certain roles that are performed by the experts are the functions of the auditor, financial advisors and the finance managers. These are the key areas which are regarded by the experts in the profession of accounting (Crawford et al. 2014). In such circumstances, the role of the accounts managers are taken into consideration in order to address further the duties and the roles, which are performed by such entities within a business.

The function of the account managers within an organization is an essential one as all the key decisions of the fund procurement and the implementation of the same is undertaken by the finance managers of the company. The account managers are liable for undertaking the key financial decisions for the organization (Bayerlein and Timpson 2017). In most of the companies, the managers are appointed to take care of the finance related aspects of the business and manage the financial element of the organization. Some of the key roles which are undertaken by the finance managers have been addressed as follows:

• Forecasting and planning the fund requirement
• Management of cost and supervision
• Application and procurement of the business funds
• Implementation of the financial management tools for the enhancement of the management of the organization

Financial Managers: Roles, Remuneration, Education and Qualification

Figure 5: (Career path of a finance manager in Australia)

The person would be selected as the finance manager of an organization requires having certain understanding on the field of accounts and needs to have experience of the same. The accounts managers need to be appointed professionally. The accounts managers require having proper knowledge on the accounting standards and policies. Furthermore, the finance managers should have ideology for the transitions and capability to incorporate approaches that are innovative for the development of the business (Edwards 2014). The managers need to be professional and should have the capability to estimate the costs and the revenues of the organization for the future time period. The finance manager even needs to have essential skills related to communication for the intention of ensuring that effective communication can be generated with their subordinates.  

The post of the financial managers is a critical one within the business and has an essential role in the process of decision making within the organization. Hence, the remuneration that is offered to these people are much higher and the same is variant from organization to organization.  

Figure 6: ( Pay scale demonstration of Finance Manager in Australia)

Source: (Payscale.com. 2019)

The figure that has been posted above explains the remuneration of the financial managers, who are functioning in Australia along with the element of the salary of the person. The recent survey that has been undertaken reveals that the aggregate salary of a financial manager has been between AUS $61,174 to AUS $141,705 per annum (Payscale.com. 2019). The incentive of the financial managers is pretty high and this has been due to the role they play.

The accounting profession is in need of extensive range of skills and knowledge for proper treatment of the financial data. The financial managers need to have required degree of competence. The financial managers need to have suitable ideal education and qualification for the performance and the decisions which are undertaken by the management.

The Association of Certified Accountants (ACCA) and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountant (CIMA) provides courses that are professional with the goal to develop a person in accordance to the financial needs and groom them for the roles that are to be performed by the companies.

The organization that has been taken into consideration for this section is Deloitte, which is one of the largest four auditing companies that are operational in Australia. The business with which the company is associated is related to providing auditing services to the companies that are functional in Australia. Furthermore, Deloitte even provide advisory services and is known to be one of the biggest auditing companies in the nation.

Deloitte: An Overview

Deloitte has a partnership with Touche Tohmatsu and are always looking for development, clientele services and has employees over 8000 and has 790 partners and is situated in 14 various countries all over the globe. The management of the organization is always looking to undertake an innovative process and create a competitive edge over their rival companies which are functional in Australia.

It is due to their management policies that Deloitte Australia has attained extensive of revenues of AUS $ 2.013 billion in the year 20018 and has attained 154 revenue development four years in a row. The organization has been able to create revenue of 15% at the present time period. The organization is driven by the goal of providing effective quality services to their customers and make sure that the accounting standard provisions are maintained.

The culture that is seen in Deloitte is an effective one and the entire environment is constructed in such a way that the employees are motivated and they look to perform properly in order to attain their goals. Deloitte being a renowned company values their employees very much. The standards and policies are constructed by the company by looking at the employees working in the organization and ensuring that all the interests of the employees are taken into consideration at every point of time. The culture that is maintained in Deloitte is proper diversity is attained by the organization. Furthermore, the organization has provided all the features that would make the employees more comfortable in the market and thereby inspire them with the help of which they would be able to outperform their previous performance.

The company even offers other benefits to the employees that are inclusive of the leaves, infrastructure etc. These sorts of benefits that are given to the employees are given with the point of view to make sure that a balance between work and life of the employees can be attained. Furthermore, the company even has one of the effective recruitment plans, which in turn makes sure that the employees who have been recruited are skilled and competent.

Conclusion 

The explanations that have been made in the report address the function and development of the accounts experts in a new business environment. The discussions that have been made earlier reveals that the profession of accounting is expected to develop further from a suture point of view. The enhancement of the business sectors and the entry of new companies are maintaining it in control that the demand for the services of accounting is always high. The function of the accounts manager which is a part of the profession of accounts is explained with the function which is undertaken by the experts. Furthermore, the analysis even addresses the prospects of becoming a financial manager which is inclusive of the remuneration, functions and authority. The report even addresses Deloitte as an organization that can act as a employment source for the future aspirants and hence suitably addresses the workplace for them. The explanation even defines the interview questions for the post of financial manager for the intention of ascertaining the market overview and the standards of the business.       

Reference List 

Afpbb.com.au. (2019). The Australian Accounting Industry . [online] Available at: https://www.afpbb.com.au/Resources/TheAustralianAccountingIndustry.aspx [Accessed 1 Feb. 2019].

Aph.gov.au. (2019). Employment by industry statistics: a quick guide – Parliament of Australia . [online] Available at: https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1718/Quick_Guides/EmployIndustry [Accessed 1 Feb. 2019].

Bayerlein, L. and Timpson, M., 2017. Do accredited undergraduate accounting programmes in Australia meet the needs and expectations of the accounting profession?. Education+ Training, 59(3), pp.305-322.

Crawford, L., Helliar, C., Monk, E. and Veneziani, M., 2014, March. International Accounting Education Standards Board: Organisational legitimacy within the field of professional accountancy education. In Accounting forum (Vol. 38, No. 1, pp. 67-89). Elsevier.

Deloitte Australia. (2019). Deloitte Australia | Audit, Economics, Strategy and Operations, Financial Advisory, Risk, and Tax services. [online] Available at: https://www2.deloitte.com/au/en.html [Accessed 1 Feb. 2019].

Edwards, J.R. ed., 2014. Twentieth Century Accounting Thinkers (RLE Accounting) (Vol. 34). Routledge.

National Industry Insights Report. (2017). Accounting and Bookkeeping. [online] Available at: https://nationalindustryinsights.aisc.net.au/industries/financial-services/accounting-and-bookkeeping [Accessed 1 Feb. 2019].

Parker, R.H. ed., 2013. Accounting in Australia (RLE Accounting): Historical Essays. Routledge.

Payscale.com. (2019). Finance Manager Salary (Australia) | PayScale . [online] Available at: https://www.payscale.com/research/AU/Job=Finance_Manager/Salary [Accessed 1 Feb. 2019].

Pop-Vasileva, A., Baird, K. and Blair, B., 2014. The work-related attitudes of Australian accounting academics. Accounting Education, 23(1), pp.1-21.