CAR20001 – Future Work Skills

1. About the Occupation

1. Target Occupation

To me, becoming an accountant is always my dream job due to the following reasons. Firstly, I was inspired by the way my mother dealt with money in her shop, including receiving payments from consumers, recording financial transactions. This really attracts my attention on how the cash flow is controlled by simple tasks since I was a kid. The desire to major in accounting might initiate in me from that time. Secondly, when I went into secondary and high school, Mathematics was my competence. Specifically, I was always in the top 3 students who had the highest Math score in my class. Therefore, I believe that becoming an account not only fulfils my dream but also is suitable with my skills at that time.

After graduating, I am planning to search for accounting jobs in Vietnam because of the following reasons. Firstly, Vietnam is my home country where I was born and raised; hence, I want to go back and devote myself to the development of the country by using the knowledge and skills I learnt abroad. Secondly, according to Tonby et.al (2019), there is little doubt that Asia is on the rise due to its positive integration into global flows of trade, capital, and innovation. Therefore, choosing Vietnam to work creates a favourable chance for me to move up in my career ladder and develop myself.

1. Position Description:

Job brief: Taxation Accountant

Taxation Accountants evaluate, monitor and advise on tax issues to companies or entities, file tax returns and reports, and handle disputes with tax authorities (Job Outlook n.d.).

Responsibilities and Duties:

• Preparing, submitting, and managing tax returns, payments, necessary paperwork, and reports ( Appendix 1).
• Providing financial and taxation advice that aligns with business models, plans and operations to clients (Glassdoor, n.d.).
• Complying with financial policies and regulations of authorities (Resources Workable, n.d.)
• Reviewing financial statements, expenses and previous tax returns to identify the best strategy for business to reduce tax, make claims and increase profit. (Seek, n.d.).
• Liaising with financial institutions and brokers to establish funds management arrangements (Job Outlook, n.d.).
• Introducing and maintaining internal accounting systems, and giving advice on the selection and application of computer-based accounting systems (Richard Lloyd, n.d.)
• Being aware of industry trends and changes related to taxes (Appendix 1).

Qualifications

• Education Level
• Must have a bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance or any relevant field (Cleverism, n.d.).
• Certification of CPA or accounting institutions such as IPA, CPA ANZ, etc is preferable (Seek, n.d.).
• Experience: A minimum of 2 years of experience as a taxation accountant or similar role (Target jobs, n.d.).
• Skills:
• Professional understanding of accounting strategies and advanced mathematical skills (Glassdoor, n.d.).
• Good understanding of MS Office and other accounting software (Appendix 1).
• Good skill of communication and interpersonal (Top resume, n.d.).
• Good time management skill (Bellerbys College, n.d.).

1. Entry and Support
2. The pathways for graduates to enter the occupation

Nowadays, the accountant plays a vital role in a business, therefore there are many opportunities for graduates to pursue the occupation (PDR, 2019). Specifically, junior and senior are capable of applying into internship programs of a myriad of companies in almost every developing country as they already gained a great amount of knowledge in their major. Internship programs will support them in applying the knowledge into the practice and gaining the work experience (Staff Writers, 2020). Students can take advantage of the Internet to find job ads on some websites such as Linkedin, Monster.com, Indeed.com, SummerInternship.com, and so on. Given the applicant had qualified knowledge and attitude, he will be chosen to be the intern for a specific period of time, usually 3-6 months. In addition, if the intern has good performance in the internship program, they will be likely to be the official staff of that company (Lorreto, 2019).

1. The main organisations that represent or support people working in this occupation and the benefits they offer to the career planning process.

In my opinion, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) is considered the most reputable organisation in supporting workers in the accounting field. According to Jobstars (n.d.), AICPA is the national, professional organization for all CPAs – who passed the CPA exam and meet the license requirements. This organization provides members with the opportunity to connect with the largest professional accounting community in the world to learn, share, and develop (AICPA, n.d.). In addition, this organization supports its members in the learning aspect by providing career guidance and lessons regarding the accounting and finance field. Hence, I suppose that people working as an accountant, especially the graduates, should try to join AICPA because of the aforementioned benefits it brings to the members.

1. Future Work
2. Drivers of Change

In recent times, new media ecology heavily impacts the future demand for the accountant. It is apparent that thanks to the advancement of communication tools, catching up with the latest news is much easier than before. However, these improvements also bring up challenges for accountants. Specifically, the accountant needs to carefully examine the data and the information by asking experts, checking the sources, etc so that they will not believe in the false news.

1. Future Work Skills

From my perspective, I believe that interpersonal skills is one of the most important skills for accountants in the future. According to Tarver (2020), interpersonal skills are attitudes and tactics that individual exerts to communicate efficiently with others. In the business world, interpersonal skills refers to the ability of an employee to collaborate well with other co-workers. Regarding accountant, there is no doubt that besides working with reports, accountants must be exposed to clients, co-workers to handle their task. Therefore, communicating effectively is essential for accountants.

1. Career Planning:
2. Strengths

Being a senior, I believe I do have strengths in accounting fields which becomes the advantage for me in the future. Regarding the academic outcomes, I am confident that the knowledge I gained at Swinburne will support me a lot in my future career. This is because I have practised applying most of the concepts into real-life cases with the instruction of lecturers. Hence, I will not be unfamiliar with those concepts while working. About the experience, I had a 6-month internship at Deloitte – one of the biggest global accountant companies. This program helps me a lot to gain practical work experience and get the hang of what really accountants need to handle in real life. Furthermore, I attempted to refer to some alumni from my university about their opinions while working and ask them for advice so that I can prepare myself at best when entering the occupation. However, I think I still need more time to get new realistic experience working as an accountant.

1. Focus for improvement/development

Mentioned above, due to the short period of time of the internship and the advice from seniors, I cannot fully get the grasp of a realistic accountant at work. Hence, I undoubtedly will apply for more internship programs and apply the suggestions of the seniors into my work to fully understand this job. In addition, participating workshops from accounting experts will at my top priority to broaden my knowledge. Besides, I need to improve my hard and soft skills, especially the ability to use MS Office and communication skills, to become outstanding among others. Registering some online courses to improve these two skills will help me better.

1. About the employer

1. Target employer

1. Reason for choosing this employer to study

For me, Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler (KPMG) is the company I want to work for in the future due to the following reasons. First and foremost, the working environment at KPMG is very friendly, supportive and flexible. The seniors are willing to share experience, giving advice and lead newbies towards further development (KPMG, n.d.). The business also respects individuality as well as personal opinion. I think these are what an amateur like me needs in a community where we can learn from each other. Secondly, the global internship program in KPMG is extremely interesting. More detaily, employers are allowed to work in various countries if they satisfy the requirements (KPMG, n.d.). This program will give me the opportunity to work in different nation, discovering the new culture and working style of people from all over the world.

1. Main purpose

KPMG is a multinational network of professional firms offering audit, tax, and advisory services (KPMG. n.d.). The company’s purpose is to inspire confidence and empower change in business. Therefore, the main purpose of the company is to recruit people who have the qualified ability to achieve the mission with them.

iii. Recruitment

Being one of the BIG 4 accounting organizations, the recruitment process of KPMG is very competitive and demanding. Specifically, applicants must go through four stages (KPMG, n.d.). The first stage is the application stage where candidates perform an online application by sending their CV to the company recruitment’s email. Next, the applicant must complete the abilities assessment measuring the emotional intelligence, perception and understanding. The third stage is video interview where interviewee answers several questions from the employer. The final stage of our recruitment process is KPMG Career Launchpad where the applicant is invited to the office to hear from inspiring leaders and business representatives and graduates. Passing all four stages, the applicant will be contacted by KPMG and received a written employment offer.

1. Decision Factors:

i + ii 4 factors + reasons

The chief factor that I want to work for KPMG is the big size of the company. In fact, KPMG is a global company, having over 650 offices in 147 countries and more than 219,000 staffs worldwide (KPMG, n.d.). This creates a favourable chance for me to broaden my knowledge about various cultures and working styles.

The second reason for choosing KPMG is its reputation. There is no doubt that KPMG is famous for being one of the BIG 4 accounting organizations (CFI, n.d.). It is inevitable that the company has a professional working environment and employees; therefore, I develop myself by learning from them.

Another reason is the clients of the company. According to KPMG (n.d.), the company serves over 82% of the Fortune Global 500 and over 80% of the Forbes Global 1000. There is no doubt that working with such clients help me to become more professional and specialized at my work

The last reason for selecting KPMG is the working environment where is friendly, supportive and flexible. Mentioned earlier, new employees are encouraged a lot by the advice and sharing from their seniors. Thus, this creates a comfortable working environment for workers.

iii. Strengths and weaknesses of sources you

have used and how this might impact your career planning decisions and

actions.

As most of the resources I used above primary resources – KPMG websites, this will provide credibility and accuracy to the information. However, there are still some drawbacks. As the website of the company is not regularly updated; therefore, some information might be old-dated leading the difference with reality.

The above weakness undoubtedly impacts my career planning decisions and actions. Specifically, I have to recheck the information with those who are experts or working for KPMG. Then, I will plan some specific strategy that the KPMG is requiring to get employment.

1. Drivers of Change:

1. Past 5 years and/or

The most significant change in the past 5 years regarding the accounting field is the rise of smart machines and systems. To be more specific, there are many innovations that facilitate people’s work in recent years. For example, employees can make use of Excel to handle the tasks effectively and save time with designed formulas (Brown, 2018). Besides, the accounting machines also assists business in calculating money which saves labour resources and increases the level of accuracy

1. Next 5 years.

In the next 5 years, I believe that the globally-connected world will become the most important aspect. As the world is becoming integrated, the diversity in culture and adaptation to that is essential. In the next 5 years, there is no doubt that there will be more and more global companies who have various employees coming from different regions gathering together to form a community.

1. Career Planning

To match with hiring trends in the upcoming years, I have to improve myself by learning more skills, especially office skills and communication skills. About the office skills, especially using office tools to handle the task, joining in classes or self-learning through the Internet will support me a lot. Additionally, exposing myself to people who communicate effectively will help me to improve this skill. Thereby, I can increase the chance of getting employment in the future.

Appendix

Appendix 1: Tax Accountant Job Description (Better Team. 2020)