Key Practice Areas in the Accounting and Finance Industry
April 3rd 2008 21:49
Key Practice areas in the Accounting and Finance Industry
Compliance Audits
A compliance audit verifies documentation and assesses business systems, processes, or products against specific standards.
Common compliance audits:
GLBA Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act
HIPAA - Health Insurance Portability And Accountability Act
PCI DSS Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard
SOX Sarbanes-Oxley Act
Compliance Audits should have three characteristics:
Systematic,
Independent,
Documented.
Mergers and Acquisitions
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) is all about acquiring, selling and combining (merging) different companies to help a growing company grow rapidly without having to create another business entity. On one hand, it is a demanding and complex field that involves corporate strategy, corporate finance and management, but it can also be an exciting and lucrative area of practice.
Book keeping:
Book keeping involves recording all financial transactions entered into by an individual or organization, including businesses, charities and even clubs. Financial transaction is any event that involves money.
Book keepers generally account for all balance sheet and income statement items:
Assets;
Liabilities;
Equity;
Revenue;
Income;
and maintain supporting documents like receipts from transactions.
Accounting packages:
A wide variety of Accounting Software packages are currently available. Their key purpose is to record and process transactions through electronic accounts like Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable and Payroll. Many also generate financial reports based on the transactions entered.
Core modules include:
Accounts receivable
Accounts payable
General ledger
Billing
Inventory
Purchase Order
Sales Order
Small business accounting
Small business accounting is based on the same principles as for larger corporations. Accurate Balance Sheets, Income Statements and Cash Flow Statements should be prepared at least monthly to help the owner assess performance and make business decisions.
Good software packages for small businesses include:
Quick Books Pro
PeachTree Accounting
MYOB.
Accounting career paths
Strong financial skills are well-regarded throughout industry, leading to a wide range of career paths for accountants. The following is an example career path at a large public accounting firm:
Title / Level Salary Experience
Entry Level $45-60,000 First year
Junior Staff Accountant $55-66,000 1-2 years
Senior Staff Accountant $64-83,000 3-5 years
Manager $80-106,000 5-7 years
Senior Manager $100-160,000 7 years plus
Partner $250,000 10 years plus
Accounting solutions
Most people are familiar with MYOB and Quickbooks for small businesses, but there are actually over 50 well-known accounting software solutions available to meet the needs of any business.
These are available with a range of licenses:
GPL (General Public Licence)
Proprietary; and
Software as a service.
Accounting solutions cater to all requirements: Personal use, small business, mid-market, high-end and specialty organisations like Pharmacies, Accounting Firms, Restaurants and Law Firms.
Business valuation
Business valuation is all about determining the economic value of an owners interest in a business. Business valuation is often used to estimate the selling price of a business, resolve disputes related to estate and gift taxation, divorce litigation, allocate business purchase price among the business assets, and many other business and legal disputes.
Business valuation takes into account:
Economic Conditions
Financial Analysis
Normalization of financial statements
Discounts and Premiums
The aim of Business Valuation is to determine the fair market value of a business.
Compliance Audits
A compliance audit verifies documentation and assesses business systems, processes, or products against specific standards.
Common compliance audits:
GLBA Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act
HIPAA - Health Insurance Portability And Accountability Act
PCI DSS Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard
SOX Sarbanes-Oxley Act
Compliance Audits should have three characteristics:
Systematic,
Independent,
Documented.
Mergers and Acquisitions
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) is all about acquiring, selling and combining (merging) different companies to help a growing company grow rapidly without having to create another business entity. On one hand, it is a demanding and complex field that involves corporate strategy, corporate finance and management, but it can also be an exciting and lucrative area of practice.
Book keeping:
Book keeping involves recording all financial transactions entered into by an individual or organization, including businesses, charities and even clubs. Financial transaction is any event that involves money.
Book keepers generally account for all balance sheet and income statement items:
Assets;
Liabilities;
Equity;
Revenue;
Income;
and maintain supporting documents like receipts from transactions.
Accounting packages:
A wide variety of Accounting Software packages are currently available. Their key purpose is to record and process transactions through electronic accounts like Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable and Payroll. Many also generate financial reports based on the transactions entered.
Core modules include:
Accounts receivable
Accounts payable
General ledger
Billing
Inventory
Purchase Order
Sales Order
Small business accounting
Small business accounting is based on the same principles as for larger corporations. Accurate Balance Sheets, Income Statements and Cash Flow Statements should be prepared at least monthly to help the owner assess performance and make business decisions.
Good software packages for small businesses include:
Quick Books Pro
PeachTree Accounting
MYOB.
Accounting career paths
Strong financial skills are well-regarded throughout industry, leading to a wide range of career paths for accountants. The following is an example career path at a large public accounting firm:
Title / Level Salary Experience
Entry Level $45-60,000 First year
Junior Staff Accountant $55-66,000 1-2 years
Senior Staff Accountant $64-83,000 3-5 years
Manager $80-106,000 5-7 years
Senior Manager $100-160,000 7 years plus
Partner $250,000 10 years plus
Accounting solutions
Most people are familiar with MYOB and Quickbooks for small businesses, but there are actually over 50 well-known accounting software solutions available to meet the needs of any business.
These are available with a range of licenses:
GPL (General Public Licence)
Proprietary; and
Software as a service.
Accounting solutions cater to all requirements: Personal use, small business, mid-market, high-end and specialty organisations like Pharmacies, Accounting Firms, Restaurants and Law Firms.
Business valuation
Business valuation is all about determining the economic value of an owners interest in a business. Business valuation is often used to estimate the selling price of a business, resolve disputes related to estate and gift taxation, divorce litigation, allocate business purchase price among the business assets, and many other business and legal disputes.
Business valuation takes into account:
Economic Conditions
Financial Analysis
Normalization of financial statements
Discounts and Premiums
The aim of Business Valuation is to determine the fair market value of a business.
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