why study accounting essay

why study accounting essay

The Importance of Studying Accounting

1. Introduction

However, the need to study accounting is not driven merely by necessity. It can also be a lot of fun! Indeed, accounting can be appreciated from a great many perspectives. Accountancy, which is the accumulated theoretical thought that explains how to account for economic transitions, is often built on the soundest type of reasoning. It is a bit of an “if then” discipline as its truths are derived through logical deduction from a few basic principles. It is thought provoking as there is often considerable need for judgment in its application. And, as Figure 1 illustrates, accounting is also a bit of a detective story. This makes the sign “certified public accountant” a bit of a misnomer as virtually all accounting is detective work of one type or another.

Studying accounting is critical to studying business. This assertion is even more true today given the difficulties that many business organizations now face and will continue to face in the future. Studying accounting is also of critical importance in informing investors who help financial markets to function properly. Without good information, investors cannot make informed decisions. They can neither allocate their investment funds to companies most in need, where the chances for advancement are the highest, nor to those companies that are already performing well. The result will be greater uncertainty in stock prices making the cost of capital for companies uncertain and ultimately higher. Studying accounting is so important that it has been described as the “language of business.” To operate a business without being able to understand its financial consequences is a bit imprudent.

2. Benefits of Studying Accounting

What can be truly challenging for many people is finding meaning in accounting despite its wonderful possibilities. Understanding the relevance of accounting is particularly challenging in the college setting where students’ interests are typically not tuned to company financial statement analysis or professional requirement of prudent revenue and expense recognition. This possible disconnect between the nature of accounting as a logic and the nature of accounting as one of the subjects of college education raises the question: When a college student first encounters accounting, whether in the form of accounting principles, as part of a business transaction analysis or the general journal that underlies corporate statements, how can he or she best relate to it? This is the question that is relevant to any student introduced to college accounting. Given our discussants are accounting teachers trained in the principles of accounting, the question of the most functional manner of introducing college students to accounting is a necessary question: to start from accounting’s abstract postulates or to start from its human practice.

In the context of a college education, the accounting discipline is the subject of several popular day-to-day descriptions. For instance, students are heard complaining about the challenging aspects of accounting, with comments such as “accounting is driving us crazy,” “accounting is not meant for human brains,” “to hell with accounting,” and similarities. In fact, the negative connotations associated with accounting are widespread. There is no debating that studying accounting is difficult. However, despite the widespread negative connotations, accounting is simple and very practical once it is understood. It is thus important to bear in mind that difficult is different from not ideal. In reality, the widespread negative portrayal of college accounting is in sharp contrast to the elegance of accounting as a logic and human interaction tool in practice. The beauty of accounting emanates not just from the formalized rigor of accounting principles, but its development from and its effects on everyday human interactions whereby managers and external accountants use their discretionary powers to determine reported profit-linked bonuses and net worth-influencing valuations, while external stakeholders use reported firm performance to make buy-and-sell decisions in the capital markets.

3. Career Opportunities in Accounting

Accountants and auditors can work in a wide range of organizations and industries. They can work in accounting, law, banking, and various types of insurance companies. Their analytical skills are also sought after in educational and government institutions, as well as in private companies. Students who take their accounting studies seriously can work their way up the corporate ladder in the private sector and apply for high-ranking jobs such as those of the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, or Chief Operating Officer. These high-ranking jobs come with high salaries.

People who study accounting can look forward to a rewarding career. They are highly sought after by companies, as they play a key role in helping organizations make financially sound decisions. Moreover, their analytical skills can be put to use in a wide range of areas within companies. People who study accounting have a wide array of career opportunities. Jobs such as accountants, bookkeepers, tax examiners, and auditors have a high earning potential. Students who have studied a graduate degree or an MBA have wider opportunities in the workplace and can command a higher salary. The skills of people who study accounting are also sought after in nonprofit, banking, and government organizations.

4. Skills Developed through Accounting Studies

Studying accounting provides background information for all finance careers, whether they are in white collar crime investigation work or taxation so that you’re always a part of your company’s schedule and future. Good accounting practices also contribute to your company’s overall financial stability. Most of all, accounting skills are always in need by all size organizations and charities, and accounting majors are highly requested worldwide. Every employer wants employees with facts and figures; and who is more skilled than someone who is trained to grasp this information? Not only does accounting perfectly match all the fields of practice, accounting provides a thorough understanding to learning-the-fundamentals aspiring business professionals. While any job applicant may be able to state that, because of heavy exposure to high-level calculations, they have solid quantitative abilities, someone who has been prepared as an accountant has actually been reviewed and received fine-tuning in a variety of related ability set.

Career success is a mantra for today’s workforce. It’s seen as the key to leading a fulfilling life—and also to being a good family member and community steward. A preparation that proves to be the best path to professional success includes financial management training. Determining career goals is the first step in forming a plan to achieve them. Do you want to work for a private company, a non-profit organization, a government or educational entity, or do you want to be an entrepreneur? The answer to this question influences which skills you should develop and, in many cases, which college course to major in.

5. Conclusion

In conclusion, besides, there is one other distinguished person who affirmed that one can neither study nor practice business management genuinely and ethically if one does not know accounting. Even, a great economist, proclaimed that one can become just a clerk, but not an entrepreneur, if one does not know accounting. Therefore, it is important to expose accounting in the early stage of study so that everyone who wants to run a business becomes accustomed to this discipline and is well prepared for the future qualitative decision making, and also for a better performance of the business.

From all of them, accounting is the best course one may endeavor to pursue. It is indeed an extremely fascinating profession, with broad and varied career prospects and not just confined to the narrow field of accounting. Accountants will always continue to play a key role across all business value chains, be it in product development, supply chain management, inventory management, distributive management, price management, sales management, operating cost management, attracting funds management. Accounting is therefore the natural vital engine, which runs and controls the interaction management. Therefore, accounting knowledge constitutes a powerful leverage to further improve the value of the services rendered by any manager. Studying accounting in high school is the best for the student to meet the real-life problem in the future.