Accounting career advice

azbob

azbob

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You should probably try to get into journalism.
 
Zewp

Zewp

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I read the original post. No idea what made him delete it, but he said he was doing Bcom Accounting and is switching to Bcom General Accounting, and asked what career opportunities he would get with the latter.

OP, I don't think you should have any trouble getting a job. You might have to start off with an entry-level bookkeeping or accounting job, seeing as many places looking for senior accountants demand at least a few years experience. Most places aren't too fussy about the specifics of the degree you're doing, as long as you're qualified to do the job and know what you're doing.

Experience is, unfortunately, the thing that counts the most. If given a choice many companies will rather take a lesser-qualified senior accountant than a higher qualified guy fresh out of university.
 
K

KalMaverick

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I'm not sure what exactly your curriculum entails but you could possibly take a look at joining SAIPA.

Link

Not sure what you want/wanted to do but that's a good place to look.

I just hope you're studying accounting because you want to and not because someone told you there's money in it because then chances are you're going to be miserable.
 
R

Ron.Burgundy

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Thanks Zewp and KalMaverick. Sorry about the messed up first post - had no idea if I was posting in the right place and then tried to delete it and realised I couldn't.

Appreciate the advice guys.
 
K

KalMaverick

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I can't comment from experience but quite a few job ads I've seen call for a CIMA qualification. I think it's quite good but maybe someone with experience will know for sure.

I'm going for CA(SA) but am also considering maybe going for CIMA afterwards.
 
RiaX

RiaX

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I have a question since this thread is here and the original post is gone.

Like for postgrad in sciences phD and above you have to generate new knowledge like in chemistry create a new compound or define a xray structure and so forth.

What does one do to get a phD in accounting ?
 
H

HavocXphere

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RiaX said:
What does one do to get a phD in accounting ?
Click to expand...
Well it might seem like a fairly static field from the outside, but its actually evolving fairly fast. e.g. In my first years of study the very first lecture started with marking changes implemented in the timeframe between finalization of the draft and printing. Were talking weeks here - the book are freshly printed specifically for the students.

All of the science fields have actual reality to measure their work against. e.g. If your formula and actual results don't agree then you can the formula. Accounting doesn't have that. Accounting is very subjective when you get to the accounting theory. You've got multiple options as to what you're going to do and usually all of them are decidedly imperfect - *accurately* capturing reality in a few numbers is just plain fckin difficult. i.e. You're talking about condensing 500 000 numbers down to 100 numbers. Doing that requires quite a bit of judgement calls & leaves a lot of room for debate. Thats where people write their phd.

As for doing a phd. The accounting field is different in that regard. Nobody does anything beyond Honours unless they plan on being a prof. The standard career path is 4 years till Hons, 3 years articles and then you're qualified. Something like a third make it so its a pretty ambitious plan in itself. 7 years total...so roughly equivalent to a med doctor in your world if I'm not mistaken.

KalMaverick said:
I'm going for CA(SA) but am also considering maybe going for CIMA afterwards.
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You get more exemptions if you first complete CA afaik. Assuming you hit the CIMA now already its full exemption for the base level, 2/3 exemption for level 1 and 1/3 exemption for level 2. Total cost like 20k ish. When you get there shoot me a PM and I'll provide some more details. Actually - feel free to PM if you have any other random questions too - always happy to help someone on the same path out.
 
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killadoob

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CA first bro go for it, long hard road but in your 30's you will ride the wave. Then when you are earning 30-100k a month you can study further.

You have to live a little as well.
 
K

KalMaverick

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From what Zewp said he changed/is changing from BCom Accounting to BCom Accounting General, I don't think he will be able to do CA then.
 
J

Johnone

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What I would like to know is whether there is a transitional qualification for those who have studied a non-CA BCom degree in order to do CTA and eventually qualify as a CA.

IIRC, Unisa mentioned something like this, but I don't know whether it was something they planned to implement or whether you can do it already.

I know there is an advanced diploma in accountancy through which you can (after completion) complete your post-graduate diploma in Management Accounting (i.e. for those who doesn't have the 'appropriate' degree to do the post-grad diploma immediately). This is for those who want to do CIMA.

Does SAICA allow a similar post-grad bridging qualification?
 
K

KalMaverick

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Johnone said:
What I would like to know is whether there is a transitional qualification for those who have studied a non-CA BCom degree in order to do CTA and eventually qualify as a CA.
Click to expand...

- Scrap that.

Johnone, watch this video. At around the 1:50 minute mark.

[video=youtube_share;QtsNlP_JbMM]http://youtu.be/QtsNlP_JbMM?t=2m1s[/video]

UNISA is supposed to have a "Advanced Diploma in Accounting Sciences" which I cannot find according to this document. However even that bridging course requires that you have:
B Accounting Degree
or Accounting Diploma
or any other
qualification with:
- Financial
Accounting
- Management
Accounting
- External Auditing
- Taxation
on at least a NQF
Level 6 (thus at second
year level)
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
H

HavocXphere

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Johnone said:
What I would like to know is whether there is a transitional qualification for those who have studied a non-CA BCom degree in order to do CTA and eventually qualify as a CA.
Click to expand...
Not really. You'd essentially have to do everything over, minus perhaps a credit here & there (if any).

As cheerful as KalMav's video sounds, in the real world things don't always go very smoothly & pretty much every route departing from the straight forward normal route results in some kind of heavy penalty. e.g. I've seen people being forced to redo a years worth of modules...despite switching from one uni's CA stream program to another's CA program...and that was switching from the top ranked uni to a mid ranked one. They also don't let anyone transfer into the CA program during studies from related fields (e.g. internal auditing) - they have zero hope of catching up.

With CIMA its possible to do a bridging course because you only need to catch up on financial management. Here you'd need to catch up on 4 subjects (or 3 if by some miracle they give you full credit for your existing FinMngmt/Taxation degree)

I'd encourage you to go for it - just be aware that there isn't going to be anything "transitional" about it - you'll essentially be starting from scratch.

Also remember...uni stuff aside...you need to actually pass the board exams.
 
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