Careers
A CAREER IN ACCOUNTING
If you are looking for a career that offers variety, opportunities, challenges and attractive salary prospects, you can find it as a professional chartered accountant. And you will have the added advantage that there is almost always a shortage of accountants, and this means that there will be many career opportunities open to you for years to come.
The days when Accountants were considered to be merely “number crunchers” or “bean counters” are long past. Nowadays they are considered to be very important members of the management team, with substantial responsibilities for the financial health of the organisations for which they work and for the good reputation of those organisations.
The career paths in all areas of accountancy are performance-based, with very good salary and promotion prospects and the variety of work available in this field means that you can be constantly dealing with new and varied situations.
CAREER PROSPECTS
The choice is yours, since your career path can lie in any of the following fields open to graduate accountants:
- Industry
- Commerce
- Education
- Government
- Professional Firms
Accounting firms and commercial and industrial organisations are relatively flexible in their search for and selection of staff. However, a tertiary education, specialising in the accounting field, is the first essential step in your accounting career path.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR ACADEMIC EDUCATION
Until comparatively recently, the University of the South Pacific was the premier if not the only academic institution in Fiji offering degree courses. It is, undoubtedly, still the most popular institution, although both the University of Southern Queensland and the University of Fiji are now also offering tertiary academic courses of study leading to Bachelor degrees.
Since it is such a popular area of study, all these institutions run degree courses in the field of Accounting. The University of the South Pacific and other tertiary institutions also offer Diploma and Advanced Diploma courses in the Accounting field.
WHAT AREAS OF WORK CAN YOU CHOOSE?
Auditing - Auditors are independent. They ensure that the financial reports prepared are fair and will inform, rather than mislead, users so that they can be used to assess an organisation’s performance and to make sound decisions.
Taxation - Accountants work to ensure that all individuals and also businesses pay the correct amount of taxes to contribute to the financing of government. Accountants also help to design the system of taxation so that it is fair to all taxpayers.
Accounting – Accountants generate and communicate information to assist individuals and organisations in decision making, planning and control of operations. Accountants often become directly involved in these operations too.
Information Systems – Accountants help to design and use information systems. They direct the right information to the appropriate person at the right time to ensure that the correct actions can be taken to ensure the sound running of an organisation.
Financial Management – The Financial Manager manages the organisation’s funding requirements. He or she determines how best to raise cash to buy the resources that the organisation needs, ensures that customers pay in good time, and that the organisation itself pays its bills too.
Advising Small Businesses – Very few people who own their business have resources to carry out the specialist management functions by themselves. Almost all successful small businesses hire accountants to compile their accounts, tax returns, business plans and to render advice on other financial matters.
Management Consulting – Accountants are uniquely placed to identify the appropriate information needed to evaluate projects. Accountants can advise whether a proposed project is viable, and how it should be organised so as to be successful. In addition, many organisations and businesses employ the services of accountants to advise them on how best to organise, or restructure, their operations.
WHO IS A CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT?
Modern day Chartered Accountants are business leaders with broad financial commercial and managerial skills – persons whose experience is central to a successful business.
In Fiji, a Chartered Accountant is a person who is a full member of the Fiji Institute of Accountants (FIA) which is governed by the Fiji Institute of Accountants Act (Cap 259).
MEMBERSHIP OF THE FIJI INSTITUTE OF ACCOUNTANTS
To practise professionally as an Accountant or to use the title “Chartered Accountant” in Fiji, a person must be a registered full member of the Fiji Institute of Accountants. This is designed to ensure that those who are entitled to call themselves “Chartered Accountants” are properly qualified, both academically and in terms of practical experience.
In Fiji, there are approximately 215 fully qualified Chartered Accountants, and a further 70 overseas members. In addition, there are about 115 Provisional Members, who have obtained the necessary academic qualifications but who have not completed the minimum three-year period of practical experience or the three post graduate degree courses. And there are also approximately 130 members who have still to complete the full range of required academic degree qualifications, who are known as Affiliate Accountants.
Once you have successfully completed either the USP Diploma in Accounting, or the FIT Diploma in Business Studies (Accounting Option), or the TAFE Advanced Diploma in Accounting, or have obtained a Bachelor degree and completed units equivalent to those covered in the diploma courses, you can apply to be registered as an Affiliate Accountant. You can enrol as a Student member with the Institute when you begin any of the diploma courses referred to in this paragraph or when you begin a degree course in Accounting at the USP, or the University of Fiji or a recognised Australian based university campus.
If you complete the minimum three-year Bachelor degree course at the USP, USQ or the University of Fiji and have passed the minimum 20 prescribed USP academic units set out below (or their equivalent), you can apply to be registered as a Provisional Member:
AF 101 Introduction to Accounting and Financial Management I
AF 102 Introduction to Accounting and Financial Management II
AF 108 Introduction to Law for Commerce
EC 101 Macroeconomics OR
EC 102 Microeconomics
CS 100 Computing Fundamentals OR
CS 121 Introduction to Information Technology
MA 101 Mathematics for Social Sciences OR
MA 111 Calculus and Complex Numbers
AF 201 Managerial Accounting
AF 203 Corporate Accounting OR
AF 210 Financial Accounting (from 1st January 2007)
AF 205 Law of Associations
AF 208 Financial Management
AF 301 Accounting Theory and Applications
AF 302 Information Systems
AF 304 Auditing
AF 308 Taxation Law
Plus 6 academic units, in any discipline, 2 at 100-level, 2 at 200-level and 2 at 300-level.
To be admitted as a full Chartered Accountant member of the Institute an applicant would need to have completed the same 20 academic courses as those prescribed for Provisional Members, to have completed at least 3 years of post degree practical experience under the supervision and guidance of a full chartered accountant member (with two of those years being under the supervision of a mentor) and to have completed the following four units of the post graduate Programme prescribed by CPA Australia:
Ethics & Governance
Strategic Management Accounting
Financial Reporting and
Global Strategy and Leadership
RECOGNISED OVERSEAS ACCOUNTING BODIES
The Fiji Institute of Accountants recognises a number of overseas accounting bodies for the purposes of granting reciprocal membership, at equivalent level, to persons who are registered current members of those bodies:
The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
The Association of Certified and Corporate Accountants of the United Kingdom
The Australian Society of Certified Practising Accountants
The Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants
The Certified General Accountants Association of Canada
The Hong Kong Society of Accountants
The Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Singapore
The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia
The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India
The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka
The Japanese Institute of Certified Public Accountants
The New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants
The Papua New Guinea Institute of Accountants
The Society of Management Accountants of Canada
The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants.