Don’t Be The Accounting Dinosaur

Don’t be the Accounting Dinosaur! A Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting simply doesn’t cut it anymore. If a thing is worth doing, it’s worth doing well. If you choose a career in Accounting, you simply need to get to the top of the food chain.

You need a Chartered Accounting qualification behind your name otherwise no employer looks at you for anything significant in Accounting. The modern profession of the Chartered Accountant originated in Scotland in the 19th century. Before that, Accountants often belonged to the same associations as Lawyers.

Accounting began to transition into an organized profession, with local professional bodies in England merging to form the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales in 1880. In the United States the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants was established in 1887.

The benefits of belonging to a Chartered Accounting professional body are:

• A mark of excellence which gives potential employers confidence and trust. The Accounting game is simply a game of confidence and trust
• Networking opportunities at professional events such as the Finance Indaba, the World Congress of Accountants, and the CIMA CGMA Africa Conference
• Meeting other Accountants means accessing peers and leaders in your career field
• Opportunities for mentoring
• Exchanging industry information can provide answers to technical, business and ethical challenges

The top three Chartered Accounting professional bodies in South Africa, which you can belong to are:

1.  ACCA- The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. ACCA is the global body for professional Accountants. It offers the world’s most widely-respected qualifications, recognised for their integrity and importance in accountancy, finance and management circles around the globe.
2.  SAICA- The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants. SAICA is the professional accountancy body in South Africa, established in 1894. It has approximately 34000 members all over the world.
3.  CIMA-The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), is the largest professional body of Management Accountants in the world. It has more than 227,000 members and students in 179 countries.

Trevor is a Chartered Management Accountant (FCMA), Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA), holder of a Master’s Degree in Business Administration with Distinction and Bachelor of Commerce Honours Degree in Accounting.