KEY POINTS:
THE QUALIFICATION
What: Bachelor of Business with an Accounting major
360 credits, NZQA Level 5-7
Where: The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand (TOPNZ)
0508-650-200
Email: Open Polytech
Web: www.openpolytechnic.ac.nz
Pay: $65,000 plus
Course cost: $12,000
Graduates receive an accounting qualification and most go on to complete further requirements set
by the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants to become certified.
THE GRADUATE
Belinda Walker
Senior accountant
Business success
I chose to be an accountant because of all the different career paths it would open up. Accounting is an extremely valuable broad-ranged skill to have as it can be applied to many disciplines. Working especially in a chartered accounting firm gives you an excellent grasp on business in general. I became an accountant as I knew it would give me a good grounding in business that can be applied to all aspects of operating a business whether it be small, medium or large.
The course was practical. Only the other day I referred to the corporate finance paper with regards to a work assignment. I refer to the skills and knowledge that I learned from my Open Polytechnic course every day.
I intend to become fully qualified and have started my graduate diploma in accounting. I looked at all the alternative study options but felt that TOPNZ offered the best study facility to meet my needs. Their courses are well laid out and follow through in a logical systematic order. You also get plenty of opportunity throughout the course to test the skills you have learned. The assignments during the course often relate to real world scenarios.
The business degree is made up of 18 papers in total which equates to three years full-time study. Each course is based on a 17-week semester apart from the summer semester which is slightly shorter. Approximately 10 to 12 hours study a week is required to complete the course. Most course grades are acquired through the completion of two to four assignments plus an external exam.
After studying full-time for a year and a half I changed to part-time study on the weekends and full-time work in a small chartered accounting firm where I worked for nearly six years before moving to Auckland.
I now work in a chartered accounting firm in Parnell called Business Success.
No two days are the same. I pretty much do everything that is accounting related from the compliance-related work of annual accounts, GST returns, PAYE returns, FBT returns, income tax returns to the value-added business development services of budgets and cashflows and ratio analysis.
I am an MYOB approved partner so I also do MYOB setup and training. The work I do is varied and there is a lot of client contact.
I absolutely love the work as I have such a variety of different tasks to do every day. The variety certainly makes you see the big picture. What I really enjoy is the people contact.
I would say the work is definitely challenging but ultimately rewarding. It's a great feeling to look back over the week at all the different jobs you have completed.
My next step would be to continue learning the business development aspects of accounting. I want to complement both my sound understanding of compliance plus my MYOB approved partner training.
The number one skill you need is to have people skills; people in business want to deal with accountants who can speak the same language as them. Accountants today need to have sound business knowledge as clients want advice on all aspects of their business, and as the financial aspect of business affects every part of the business, accountants are the best people to provide the right advice.
An accountant needs to have a mix of people skills, broad business knowledge and education.
THE EMPLOYER
Jeremy Wilson
Principal
Business Success
Belinda's enthusiasm and professionalism were instantly clear at every stage of our selection process. She is an accountant with an 'x' factor.
In accountants we look for honesty, enthusiasm, passion, humour, communication, common sense business people who happen to be accountants. An accountant must have a desire to help people succeed in business.
The work of an accountant is challenging, exciting, stressful, pressurised and rewarding. It's hard. You need to gain a wide range of business experience to be able to advise your clients.