hello earthlings/ FELLOW ACCOUNTANTS
I plan to study accounting and management in uni starting this september but most people i know doing the same course are going for accounting and finance. Please do advise, what are the let downs of accounting and management and why do you think acounting and finance is a bit more popular. Are management accountants limited in the professional bodies they can be part of. your expertise is needed,

p.s-- my personal statement for my uni application

@nike4luv,either management Accountant or financial Accountant,you will still be under the same accounting unbrelar,i mean faculty of management science.if you are good in financial accounting then you can say you er a financial accountant or vice vasa.

but thinking about the broadness of the course, is financial accounting incorporated into managerial accounting or the way round. a lecturer told me that managerial accounting has more infomation but financial accounting is more fancy sort of

according to research, the professional qualifications of the two aspects are different. what if one is more recognise. like management accounting, you are not included in ACCA. its quite confusing. which one is the hardest gan?

nike4luv:

but thinking about the broadness of the course, is financial accounting incorporated into managerial accounting or the way round. a lecturer told me that managerial accounting has more infomation but financial accounting is more fancy sort of

according to research, the professional qualifications of the two aspects are different. what if one is more recognise. like management accounting, you are not included in ACCA. its quite confusing. which one is the hardest gan?

Hi nike4luv - to be a versatile accountant, you must have very good knowledge of both financial accounting and management acconting. Career-wise, you can establish yourself in either of the two as there are numerous opportunities in the two areas. Though I personally think that management accounting is a more sought after apect of accounting than financial accounting. A financial accountant only needs to understand the principles of double entry to be successful as all his works are based on historical data/information, while a management accountant is a strategist who needs to undetstand historical information to be able to make decisions about the future. He is an analyst and a decision maker.

Accounting professional qualifications are becoming more harmonised compared to the way they were in the past. You may be an ACCA/ICAN qualified and still be able to practice as a management acccountant. I understand that CIMA is planning to increase the number of tax topics in its taxation papers to enable its members to be allrounder instead of having to work only in the industrial sector. The contents of the syllabuses of professional exams of accounting bodies such as ICAN, ACCA, ICAEW, CIMA, etc are becoming similar such that a student only need to be a member of anyone of them to be able to work successfully as an accountant.

Though recognition of qualifications earned from professional bodies depends on the country where you intend to practice but each employers in country will always have a preference for the local accountancy qualifications. For instance, in Nigeria, employers usually require a potential employee to be a memeber of ICAN, while those in Pakistan prefer ICAP. However, there is usually opportunity for conversion wherever you go. In the UK, an ICAN member only need to pass papers in the professional level of ACCA to become a member of the body.

I will advise you not to make a decision in relation to the aspect of accounting you want as a career path yet. Your passion either of the management accounting and financial accounting at the university will surely dictate a path for you.

I hope i've been able to help!

yes, you have helped quite alot. although i have chosen accounting and management, i do have the opportunity to change as times goes on because we and the financial accountants study some modules so it shouldnt be so hard to change over if needs be. btw, are you an accountant as well. Does the accounting degree include more business studies than necessary because am more of a maths, chemistry and philosophy person which i think its better if one is to use theoretical ideas to analyse.

nike4luv:

yes, you have helped quite alot. although i have chosen accounting and management, i do have the opportunity to change as times goes on because we and the financial accountants study some modules so it shouldnt be so hard to change over if needs be. btw, are you an accountant as well. Does the accounting degree include more business studies than necessary because am more of a maths, chemistry and philosophy person which i think its better if one is to use theoretical ideas to analyse.

Yes, i'm an accountant and currently work in the Europe. I did science in secondary school as well. I think a non-business student can strive in accounting as long as the person is good in mathematics. However, you need to create extra time to study good accounting textbooks such as "Frank Wook" (sorry i'm not sure about the most updated volume/edition).

well i feel much better now. thank you. what part of Europe do you practice in