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To attract degree students back to the courses, the image of the profession needs to reflect its versatile reality, says Mazars partner.
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Accounting should portray itself as the essential business toolkit
19 September 2022
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An accounting degree needs to be seen as essential toolkit for a broad range of business careers to attract students back to courses, says the managing partner of Mazars’ Sydney office Matthew Ashley.
Speaking on the latest Accountants Daily podcast, Mr Ashley said the staid image of accountants failed to reflect the modern reality of what the qualification could offer.
To attract students back, “there should be a bigger focus on what doing an accounting degree means and more importantly, where you can go from it”, he said.
“I think there is this misconception that if you're doing accounting, you're this traditional bean-counter, sitting there doing tax returns and counting things up where most of my friends that I worked with and did cadetships with aren't actually doing accounting anymore.
“They're in commerce, they're working in banks, they're running businesses – studying and learning accounting and then going on and doing your CA or CPA gives you a huge grounding to do whatever you want to do.”
He said there also needed to be a greater emphasis on the attractiveness of accounting degrees to a wide variety of employers.
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“If you're an employer, looking at anyone, no matter what industry you're in, and they've had five or six years of accounting experience, they’ve got an accounting degree or a business equivalent, and they’ve done their CA or CPA, that's such good grounding and such core competencies that can roll out across any industry.
“So I think there needs to be that greater push in terms of where it can take you and it doesn't necessarily mean a long-term career in public practice.
“I've taken that route because it's something I love and I'm really, really passionate about. But it's not for everyone.”
He said another factor was how quickly the traditional accounting roles themselves were changing.
“It's a fascinating place right now. If I look back in the last five years to where we are now, it's extremely different and rapidly changing with the likes of ESG and sustainability …
“Where it's going there's going to be a lot heavier focus on that consulting piece, there's going to be a greater emphasis on not just being able to provide a service, but actually the advice piece. Value-add is going to be more important than ever.
“In such a fast-moving environment, getting that external advice that is actually relevant is more critical than ever.”
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