Section 1: Specific Area of Employment Within Accounting Industry

The present report is developed for carrying out a career research in the field of accounting industry. In this context, it has carried out research in the field of accounting officer within the accounting industry. It will discuss all the aspects of the field such as nature of work, the environment, the education, skills and personality traits required within the carrier of accounting officer. It will include discussion in relation to the specific employer who provides job role within the specific accounting career selected. The discussion of the organization is carried out in detail in the report. The career path as an accounting officer is also included within the report. At last, a personal reflection of the overall sections of the report is presented that reflects whether the personal interest and skills matches the needs and expectations f the accounting officer role.

This section of the report discusses about a specific area of employment of personal interest within the accounting industry. The accounting profession selected as such is accounting officer within the auditing firm PwC, recognized as one of the Big Four Auditor specialized in providing audit, assurance, and tax and consulting services. PwC is involved in providing help to businesses, non-profit and government organizations for creating value and improving the way of their working. The accounting officer holds an important position within the firm who is responsible for supporting the overall operational and administrative function in the audit related activities. In this context, the discussion of all the aspects of the field of accounting officer within the firm is carried out as follows:

• Nature of Work: The accounting officer at PwC is responsible for providing support to the audit teams in their overall operational and administrative activities. The officer has an active involvement during carrying out audits of the businesses as he/she has to interact directly with the clients and auditing teams. The accounting officer also conduct review of the accounting documents and also performs auditing of the specific financial statements sections of the top ASX listed entities. The specific areas of the financial statements audited by the accounting officer includes cash, accounts receivable, accounts payable, property, plant and equipment (PPE). Accounting officer is required to report to senior manager and should carry out an effective delivery of auditing activities to the clients (PwC, 2018).
• Environment &Education: The accounting officer will be provided a supportive culture to work, new opportunities to work with innovative technology, competitive salary package, financial incentives and flexible work environment. The firm provides the opportunity to work with people from different backgrounds and gain benefit from its best working policies that allows for maternity/paternity leaves, gender equality and flexible work options. The educational qualifications required are B.Com (Hons), one year of industrial training and also have experience in accounting administration work such as accounts payable & receivable, bank reconciliations and cash payments (PwC, 2018).
• Skills, Training & Personality Traits: The person holding responsibility of account officer should possesses the relevant accounting skills of cost, financial, forensic, hedge and taxation accounting. He/she should also have the capability of managing the work pressure and carry out prioritization of different tasks so that they are completed in an effective manner. Also, the person is providing training to work in a supportive team environment of PwC so that he/she is able to work effectively with wide range of stakeholders. The personal traits required in an accounting officer are integrity, accuracy and quick decision-making abilities. In addition to this, he/she should also depict care for others and also carry out the tasks assigned with high attention. The person appointed as accounting officer should also have good interpersonal skills such as ability to interact effectively and work in a team environment. Also, he/she should express the opinions clearly and have sharp intellectual skills (Fouché, 2013).
• Average Salaries: The average salary for an accounting officer within Australia is $57,036 per annum. In addition to this, the accounting officer is also entitled to receive incentives and rewards on the basis of performance (Account Officer Salaries in Australia, 2018).
• Labor Market Outlook: There has been increase in the demand of accounting professionals within Australia with the growth in its economy. There is a high need for qualified accounting professionals with variety of business sectors to monitor their financial progress and overcome the accountancy issues that restrict their ongoing growth and development. There is growing demand of accounting officer possessing high level of technology skills and having an in-depth knowledge regarding the accounts payable and receivable sections of the financial statements. The emphasis is on hiring fixed-term accounting professionals for reduce the staffing costs and ensuring that skilled accountants are recruited for maintaining accuracy in the financial reports. There is a new opportunity for the accounting officer within Australia in the auditing firms to work flexibly and enhance their learning from exposure to range of industries and auditing teams (Accounting employment market update, 2016).
• Related positions and Typical employers: The related positions that an accounting officer could undertake in the future includes job role of finance and business support, accounting manager, financial accountant and other such accounting roles. These job roles can be offered by the auditing firms, banks and other business corporations within Australia.

The employer selected for the purpose of financial accountant job is PWC as it is perfect organization where career related to accounting job can grow and can have multiple chances of growth throughout the job. PwC stands for PricewaterhouseCoopers which is a multinational organization and headquarter of PwC is located in London, England. PwC has its main function as accounting and auditing firm through providing various tax, accounting and auditing related solution to thousands of companies located in more than 155 countries. PwC is also a part of “Big 4”, a group of top 4 accounting and audit firms of the world. The other three companies that is the part of “Big 4” are Deloitte, EY and KPMG. PwC ranked at the second place in the list of “Big 4” and it is estimated that more 236000 employee work here (Statista, 2018).

The history of PwC was interesting as it is one of oldest accounting firm that is providing vast range of services to their customers. PwC has been formed after the merger of two most renowned firms – Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand and each of these firms are historical background of more than 150 years. The merger between these two firms has taken place in year 1998 and it became major accounting firm providing best in class Management Consulting Services (MCS). PwC has begun providing world class ERP system for the multinational companies to ease their operating system and other technical areas. Now PwC is brand name where the members of PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited (PwC IL) work and provide professional services. All these member firm together form a group of PwC network.  The group of member companies that fall under the brand name of PwC are controlled and managed by the PwC IL. So PwC IL acts as the coordinating entity for all the member firms that falls under the PwC network. All the member firm that fall under the PwC network has its separate legal entity and they don’t any connection with other member firm of the PwC network and they are only joined through the entity PwC IL. The requirement of separate legal entity arises due to local legislative laws and each of members of PwC network is financially and legally independent (What is PwC, 2018).

Section 2: Information about the Employer

The culture and values are given top priority at PwC as employees are the backbone for any professional organization. At PwC people come from different backgrounds and cultures but are they all are treated with equality and given equal opportunity show the talent. At PwC aspirations and expectations are captured and are guided with how to make the decisions and treat others. As professionals, PwC expects that we must align our actions with values and behaviour of PwC. So it can be said that all employees at PwC are equally critical to the success of the organization. At PwC people work with integrity, togetherness and make differences in order to make the better world (Our Culture, 2018).

The main mission or purpose of PwC is to help the intricate the system functions, adapt and evolve in order to benefit the communities and societies. The system can be related to capital market, tax system, or economic systems within which business and society exist. There are many subsidiaries and branches of PwC as it has offices in more than 155 countries. Some of the main subsidiaries and branches of PwC are PricewaterhouseCoopers Australia, PricewaterhouseCoopers Aarata, PricewaterhouseCoopers Private Limited, A.F. Ferguson & Company, Strategy&, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP Canada, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, PricewaterhouseCoopers France, PricewaterhouseCoopers China Limited. PwC Mauritius, PricewaterhouseCoopers Auditores Independentes, PwC Advisory, Price Waterhouse & Co. S.R.L., PwC Management Services LP, etc. As PwC have multiple branches in each country, so it is not possible to provide subsidiary and branches of PwC here.

PwC operates in multiple countries that mean it has some of major companies as its clients. Some of the major clients of PwC are Bank of America, American International Group, JP Morgan Chase, International Business Machines, Goldman Sachs Group, United Technologies, Ford Motor Company, Johnson & Johnson, Caterpillar, Dell, Merck, Exxon, Chevron, Johnson Controls, American Express, Allergan, Cisco Systems, Thomson Reuters, Phillip Morris International, Xerox, Walt Disney, 3M Company etc (Big4 Accounting Firms, 2018).

PwC offers experienced and comprehensive services for the wide range of business needs that will help to work smarter and reach the objectives. Some of major professional services offers by PwC ate Advisory services, Legal services, Audit and assurance, Tax Consultation services, IFRS consultation, Family Business Services, Service related to reports on Sustainability & Climate Change etc. Apart from these services accountancy and auditing services are core services that PwC provides to its major clients (Services: PwC, 2018).

There is scope of opportunities at PwC in accounting field as there are multiple chances for promotion at Account Officer Post. At PwC account officer are required to report to the senior manager and they are surrounded by the supportive team of peers. As an accounts officer one has to deliver effective and efficient accounts and audit services for the clients of PwC. There are huge opportunities of promotion at PwC as after account officer one can go accounts manager and much more.

There is huge career growth within Australia in the profession of accounting officer. The entry-level position in the career path includes an account assistant and then with providing relevant training and experience one become an accounting officer. The other entry-level positions include of accountant, payroll officer and project officer. An individual can take more than one path for becoming an accounting officer such as starting with payroll clerk, payroll officer, personal assistant, platform manager, policy advisor, credit controller, payments clerk or costing clerk. Thus, an individual can start his career with number of entry level positions to reach the destination of an accounts officer. He/she should have the formal qualifications as required for improving the chances of employment such as a relevant diploma in accounting or financial services. The entry level positions require good reasoning, mathematical and data entry skills. Also, having an experience in accounting, clerical work or bookkeeping is required for progressing within this career and becoming an accounting officer.

Section 3: Typical Career Path

The typical career path for an accounting officer can be depicted as follows:

The middle level position includes that of an accounting officer and a team leader. An individual after gaining sufficient experience within the job role of the accounting officer can become a team leader that is a senior accounting officer leading the team of accounting officer. Also, gaining additional knowledge in the field of finance or management accounting an individual can become a financial or management accountant. This is the upper-level entry position within the job field of an accounting officer. The progress within the field of an accounting officer depends on the size of an organization. The job titles and experience required may also vary from an organization to another depending on its size, requirements, expectations and the government rules and regulations (Schaeffer, 2006).

On the basis of overall analysis carried out in the above three sections, I believe that the job role of accounting officer within the PwC meets by personal skills and educational qualifications. I possess good data entry skills and accounting diploma to gain entry-level position within the career path to become an accounting officer. I want to persuade a career in the field of accounting since my academics and the job role of accounting officer attracts me to work in this career filed. I possess strong knowledge in the financial statement section of the accounts payable, receivable and credit payments and this will support my progress within the career field. I will be highly satisfied after reaching the job position of a management accountant after entering within the career work of an accounting officer. This is my ultimate aim to reach after starting my career within the accounting industry as an accounts officer.

PwC will help in enriching my learning and improving the accounting skills by gaining exposure from the senior accounting professionals and the auditing team. It will help to improve by competencies by gaining exposure from the different industries that will help in gaining employment options in the future context within the accounting field. The research done in the field of accounting officer in the above three sections has confirmed by plan of gaining employment within this field. However, I have realized in order to gain entry in the upper-level position. I further need to gain knowledge in the domain of management accounting for progressing within the career role of accounting officer. I have to also work on my technology and decision-making skills as they are of the most importance for achieving success by working in the profession of account officer. The demand for IT competent and intellectual accountants is on rise within the accounting field and therefore I need to further strengthen my expertise of MS-Excel, Office and other required technology areas. I also need to work on my decision-making skills as it is highly required to gain success as an accounting officer. The specific aspects of the field that are of most interest for me are bookkeeping and credit controller as I possess intensive knowledge in these areas. Therefore, I would like to take up the responsibility of these areas as an accounts officer as I possess high capabilities in this. The critical analysis of the skills, training and personality traits required for an accounting officer exactly fits my qualifications and competencies. Also, there are various employers who have job vacancies of the accounting officer and thus there is a huge employment option within the field that further attracts me to gain entry within his accounting profession. The big accounting and auditing firms have rising demand of the accounting officer and thus I believe that working in the career filed is best option selected by me.

Conclusion

It can be said from the overall discussion held in the report that accounting industry has a rising demand for the certified accounting professionals. Thus, the job role of accounting officer provides an exciting opportunity to advance within the accounting profession. The research carried out in the field of accounting officer has provided all the details that an individual need to analyze before deciding to take up the profession as an accounting officer. PwC auditing firms provides a supportive work culture for the accounts officer in whom they can enrich their accounting skills and knowledge. Therefore, it can be said that there are wide opportunities within the big accounting firms for gaining successes as an accounting officer.

References

Statista. 2018. PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers) Statistics & Facts. Retrieved August 19, 2018, from https://www.statista.com/topics/2617/pwc/ 

Schaeffer, M. 2006. Accounts Payable and Sarbanes-Oxley: Strengthening Your Internal Controls. John Wiley & Sons.

Fouché, J.P. 2013. A Renewed Call for Change in Accounting Education Practices. Int J Edu Sci 5(2), pp.137-150.

What is PwC. 2018. PricewaterhouseCoopers. Retrieved August 19, 2018, from https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/about/corporate-governance/network-structure.html  

Our Culture. 2018. PricewaterhouseCoopers. Retrieved August 19, 2018, from https://www.pwc.com/us/en/careers/why-pwc/our-culture.html 

Accounting employment market update. 2016. Retrieved 19 August, 2018, from https://www.chandlermacleod.com/blog/accounting-employment-market-update/

Big4 Accounting Firms. 2018. PwC Clients 2018. Retrieved August 19, 2018, from https://big4accountingfirms.com/pwc-audit-clients-list/ 

Services: PwC. 2018. PricewaterhouseCoopers. Retrieved August 19, 2018, from https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/services.html

PwC. 2018. Accounts Officer: Job Description. Retrieved 19 August, 2018, from https://au.linkedin.com/jobs/view/accounts-officer-at-pwc-australia-816776726 

Account Officer Salaries in Australia. 2018. Retrieved 19 August, 2018, from https://au.indeed.com/salaries/Account-Officer-Salaries