dont do it

ye well, need to do something. :)

accounting makes you think about money all the time, which has a tendency to turn you into an asshole

already am one, is no problem! :D

no you're not

i think tom is right for once

plusworthy

my mum's comptroller and she can't do power calcs

*controller, there a diff? w/e

i have a few charted accountant friends, they hate it

stay clear, its a boring job

lets go to uni

In the business world, there are two ways of looking at your money. Retrospectively and prospectively.

Accounting is looking at your past numbers (revenue, expenses, good sold, inventory remaining, depreciation) and putting them into a format that can be easily understood and analyzed. Accountants are mostly used for two purposes: 1) create financial statements that investors and creditors might use to see whether the company is worth lending money to or investing money in or 2) for managers to analyze the company's spending to see where efficiency may be maximized.

The prospective world of business analysis is Finance. I won't go into that since that wasn't your question.

But for accountants, generally, you monitor your books and keep track of money coming in and going out throughout the month. There may be general number maintenance at the end of each period (depends on the business).

The essence of accounting is basically matching expenses with revenues. That's pretty much the entire purpose of accounting and why it was created. A company might buy a truck to transport goods. On paper, it looks like the company just spent 10,000US$, and got nothing back. But accountants say, "well, this van may cost 10,000 but it's going to generate us 20,000 over the next year in expenses saved and extra business handled." So they capitalize the cost of the truck (making the truck an 'asset') and slowly depreciate the cost (spreading the cost of the truck out over it's useful life) of the truck.

As someone going into accounting with no experience, they may have you just book figure to the general ledger each night and then perhaps do some of the maintenance work I mentioned above.

The math in accounting is very, very basic. Nothing more than basic adding, subtracting, dividing, and multiplying happens. Mostly you just watch the ebb and flow of numbers in t-accounts and wonder how the hell you got stuck in accounting.

Btw, Certified Public Accountants do VERY well for themselves. If you get your CPA (even if you're a noob), you can look forward to at least 60,000$US/year here in the states. Even more if you start your own CPA firm.

I got my BS in Finance from a state university about 3 years ago and currently working on my Masters of Business Admin.

aye this is what I have pretty much gathered from having a look around, thanks.

my main concern is the workload since I can't go off to uni due to having A levels that are worth nothing and I can't stop work due to financial reasons which is a shame, so it will be all done through home learning, over however long it takes me.

speaking to someone today they said depending on what way you do it, the time it takes all depends and again many different routes.

Health is another thing I was looking at but open.ac need you to be employed by the NHS (our national health service) or a private firm, and then they throw in a lot of stuff that is not directly related but you need to do it anyway so it's a major turn off.

choices choices!

Accountants, at least in America, are in huge demand. Even just having the experience of real-world accounting practices is a great, valuable thing. You can do very well with it.

You should look into whether your employer has a student tuition reimbursement program (most large companies here do). They may even front you the money to go to classes!

Even better is working directly at a university or community college because they typically allow you to attend a couple classes free each semester (don't know if it's the same in the UK). Then all you need to worry about is the text books required for classes.

Even a very menial job at a university (like a tuition collector -- university equivalent of bank teller) can help you get those classes for free.

To be honest, if I could do it over again and get a different degree, I'd probably go into computer science or internet technology/design -- something I'm actually interested in. The job I'm at right now is completely customer service oriented and I've learned after a couple years that I have deeply rooted hatred for most people.

well it isnt too late to change it.

Sometimes it is... like in my case.

got kids?

Nah, I don't. But it's tough to look at your education as an investment and decide to throw it away. I managed to get my undergrad with scholarships, but with grad-school now, I'm taking out student loans. I don't think it'd do my future any good by turning around and dropping another 20k for another undergrad.

Besides, getting another undergrad would require lots more schooling and attention than I can dedicate right now (working full-time + grad-school).

every course/class is here free ~~:)

they are here also, but all depends on the circumstance and financial background and of course if you're following the education route upon leaving school

the method of teaching in the UK is crap, but if you put a bit of effort in, no matter how little money your family has you can pretty much end up anywhere due to financial help. kinda rocks.

OK so the post is a year old but I re-visted the thread.
I think you are mixing accounting and bookkeeping up.

Accounting (managment accounting) involves a lot more than adding and subtracting e.g. equity betas

Cost Accounting is also rather more complex

Equity betas would fall under finance.

Accounting is historical reporting on what a company *has* done. Using equity betas is entirely forward thinking in that you're looking at the correlation of your stock (of which you have the beta) to the market. An investor or _financial_ manager would use that to propose either changing investment strategies or assert that it was working properly to begin with to minimize risk unsystematic risk (by diversifying).

Maybe it has something to do with our diction in that you're from England and I'm from US. We might have different definitions.

But accounting to me has always been historical understanding and reporting on figures known. Finance is taking what we know from the past and applying it to choices that must be made.

Bookkeeping I would consider a function of accounting. If you think they're different things, then we'll have to agree to disagree.

You're right - it's a just a difference in definitions.

Peace ..Out

Dood,

Play hard, go pro.

Come on !!!

sounds like boring shit, can't u find anything ells?

I'm doing a degree in accounting. Its pretty easy, once u understand the reasons why u have to do this and that.

accounts is easy if your regular with it :)
jsut be decently regular and you cant go wrong but if your farting about then no amount of last moment work helps

Account's seem's easy, but it's fugging boring.
I don't doubt you can earn some decent moeny for it, but adding up numbers all the time and reading up on anal tax laws seems stale.

I would do something with IT if I was you, learn a few database programs like oracle/sql stuff, you're talking an easy 30+k a year and you'll always be in demand (around the country) and you can troll ESR in the day.

What more could you possibly want out of life!

way to read my post idiot

I really, really don't want to do something in ICT. I don't mind using computers at all and I could do most things pretty eaisly but I get bored instantly. They will be a last resort.

I do have others plans which I will / am following I just need a good saftey net. =]

I like how he sees major differences between adding up numbers as he puts it and learning some database systems.

I take it Oracle is like extreme sports and accounts is like baseball.

Lets be honest if you're going to have a boring job, be an accountant and earn top money.

for jamerio

you get a certain amount of creativity in database design (layout/colour schemes)

accounts follows a standard format and is black & white

How can you say you get bored with computers when you've quite clearly spent a shit load of your youth in front of one?

And even more amazingly you say you'll get bored of it yet you think adding up a shitload of simple math and boring literature will be any more interesting>

It's just bullshit. you're not the type of person to be an accountant. Read some of your posts, you're kidding yourself man.

I have a better chance or being a social worker or some other job which involves dealing with trash on a daily basis.

ahahahah right ok.

idiot.

Jamerio is back in business. Telling everyone he knows them best and how they should live their lives. For a moment there I thought we had lost you. Welcome back you fucking cunt.

He was asking for advice bright spark.
Still, being impartial was never your strong point was it. haha.

Yeah and he clearly loved your "advice".

idiot

Jamerio. Jamerio never changes.

hahahahhaha, funniest post in a while =D got a good laugh, thx.

Yeah because playing ludicrous amounts of Q3/Discussing Q3 and generally just "talking" on irc/msn/etc is the same as doing a job in ICT.

I have a better chance or being a social worker or some other job which involves dealing with trash on a daily basis.

well yeah but that's always true

What LoGradeChili said is pretty solid.

I've completed the business part of my degree(s) with accounting and finance as my majors.

I'm not sure what a basic accountant's cert qualifies you for, but it sounds like its about financial accounting, which is what LoGradeChili is talking about.

If you end up looking at doing more, later on in advanced accounting (200-300 level papers), accounting becomes much less about crunching numbers (the technical, bookkeeping stuff) and a lot more about accounting theories and policies. Here, I would not be thinking about your ability in maths as much as I would being able to digest finance and business theories (such as why we depreciate some assets like this, and others another way). The maths is usually dead easy, it's getting your head around theories thats more heavily graded.

Studying in accounting will usually lead you to either being a financial accountant, tax accountant or financial auditor. There are LOTS of other routes accounting can lead you to, but those are the most common afaik.

boring boring boring, do it for the money though, its pretty decent when you're qualified.

accounting, or what i know of it from uni, is boring as hell.
fuck that.
saying that tho, i dont have any better suggestions :x

no wonder uk is boring, everyone wants to be accountants! gawd! :>

I'll ask my dad about :o

your dad is an accountant?! lies

Just recently started in that line of work.

my sister is an accountant and she says its really boring but it pays well.

my dad's one and imo it looks pretty boring. But then i've always hated every finance related class. Anyway "accountant=boring" is the stereotype so you're gonna hear alot of that.

I had accounting in my first year. On the very first page of the textbook, it said, "Accountants don't make history, they just record it!"

what lies

Ive touched on accounting with marketing and finance, generally business wise its balance sheets (taxation), profit and loss accounts and budgetting such as projected profit and loss or projected sales etc etc thats the bulk of it

generally if ur decent with numbers and pretty good with some financial formulas u'll be able to do it easily, as you go up in level you then come onto government policies and laws etc.

whats made you suddenly change direction zimmerman?

didn't have a direction in the first place, I just need to do something, yeah I'll be well suited in computer related course in terms of how well I can do something but I will be bored within seconds.

That's still better than doing accounting, doing well and still being bored within seconds.

i wudnt rashly jump into something, ur very much like me were i was/AM unsure what i wanted to do, even now im not sure whether my course will be for me, How could we possibly know until were working within the career?

Warsow > Accounting

rofl

lol

xdxd

<3

plussed <3

I touched some accounting stuff at uni as I'm doing some economy aswell, and I got rid of it as early as possible. Unless you've been working a fair amount of time in a saw mill you shouldn't experience much problems with maths (guess why everyone is able to study economy), it's really basic stuff... but hell it's so fucking boring it hurts, it really does. I'd much rather look into something else. :(

Here's my 2 pennies worth ..

Accountancy is a very useful foundation for working in other industries. Most companies always like to employ people who have an understanding of corporate finance because it means that person knows how to look at the financial implications of corporate decisions.

I studied CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants) and for me it was a great career move. I found not only did my salary go up but also it added weight to my CV.

I didn't stay in accountancy but concentrated more on IT project work and am now working as a contractor in the Oracle Financials area. I have had several jobs offered to me on the strength of the CIMA qualification (and my Oracle skills of course).

Oracle Financials is a pretty lucrative market to get into - I usually bill at between 500 - 600 GBP per day.

Bottom line is CIMA + IT Financials (Oracle or SAP) = the win!

If you want to stay in Finance maybe ACCA is more suited to you but CIMA is better for broader industry relevance.

Any more questions PM me

Good luck

it's horrible. u'll turn into one of those people who work in the postal offices in the states and one day goes berserk!
RATTATTATTATTATTATTA!!! POW POWPOW!

£90 per hour my accountant charges and thats cheap, so do it!

Basic accounting is used in every office out there now, so its always a bonus to have on your CV.

aye, half way there now anyway but think i'll do another two years and make it a degree then go from there

we'll see

I can tell you from personal experience that finance and accounting is THE MOST boring shit from the wide range of boring shit you can choose. Learn business processes instead, or perhaps business systems architecture and development, standardisation, quality, whatever.. anything is more interesting than fucking accounting.

yup :D you're not getting paid for your qualification but for the level of frustration you can take :D

you mean frustration of working with all that money for miserable pay? :)

hehe :d well you can always try to pull a Liechtenstein one :)

the wha?

Aaron now works in a betting shop!

Heard him on a server the other day!

Pays well, good career options. So many senior managers / board directors / CxOs come from a finance background.

FU ESR, I almost answered to the five years old comment!

Again.

Like third time over the last month.

Still, it was a good read.

accounting is the same thing as science fiction, on my college, durin last 4 accounting classes, most important thing i've learnt about accounting is that you can make things look how you want to, with no touches with reality at all. :D

anyway, how do you think enron crashed & burned all of a sudden? :> god bless accounting :D

Wotan's law in action

"Bump any old thread, and there's a 50% probabiity Jamerio is making a fool of himself in it"

You lost, deal with it

What did I lose?

nothing, you're the winner!

\:D/

you are way more annoying jamerio and its kind of sad how obsessed you are with him :(