Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Buy Accounting Clerk Career in a Retail Clothing Company essay paper online
- Day-to-Day Activities of an Accounting Clerk in a Clothing Company
- Relevance of the Career to the Society
- Pros of the Career
- Cons of the Accounting Clerk Career
- Success Factors for the Accounting Clerk Career
- Educational Requirements for the Career
- Requirements for Continuing Education in the Career
- Required Licenses
- Legal Requirements
- Conclusion
Introduction
Beginning a career before graduating from college is vital in ensuring that a person is set for the field that he or she is interested in in terms of requirements, expectations, and challenges that the person is likely to face. To choose a career effectively, it is important to establish skills and knowledge that a person possesses and relate them to the career he or she wishes to pursue (Shin). Effective career choice depends on the possession of the knowledge and skills required for effective performance in the career. Moreover, it is important to establish professional and legal requirements before one can start out on a career and determine if he or she holds necessary requirements before thinking about joining any profession. Apart from knowledge and skills acquired through academic training and education, career choice may be determined by such factors as talent, previous experience, and environmental factors that may interest some individuals in beginning some career. This paper explores a career as an accountant clerk in a clothing company, including the career profile, legal and academic requirements, relevance of the career to the society, and factors that may attract people to launch the career.
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Day-to-Day Activities of an Accounting Clerk in a Clothing Company
An accountant clerk performs several specialized tasks in an organization, which include posting details of transactions, typing reports, entering data in ledger systems, and processing payments among other. The major responsibility of accounting clerks lies in maintaining accurate accounting records. This is what an accounting clerk should be trained in, and he or she should also be conversant with the changing systems to keep accurate records. Day-to-day activities of an accounting clerk include performing accounting and clerical duties that provide support to the functions of the supervisors. Further, the job profile of an accounting clerk involves conducting appropriate research on transactions and other accounting concerns, tracking the sources of accounting problems and resolving such problems. Besides, an accounting clerk is vested with the sole responsibility for providing the management with accurate financial and stock figures of any transactions done within the investment. In addition, an accounting clerk files and tallies deposits to provide data for preparing financial reports. Furthermore, an accounting clerk performs payroll functions, which include collection and confirmation of employee overtime, verification of taxes and other deductions, and tracking employee holidays and sick time (Johnson).
Moreover, an accounting clerk is responsible for performing verifications to establish accuracy of invoices and other accounting documents and to enhance preparation of accurate financial reports. Furthermore, an accounting clerk is responsible for reconciling financial records with the organization’s employees, management, and external parties, including the suppliers and customers. In addition, it is the duty of accounting clerks to provide recommendations on questionable data with the aim of resolving existing discrepancies.
Further, accounting clerks are responsible for handling petty cash accounts and performing reconciliation on necessary accounts, such as bank accounts (Penny). Accounting clerks also monitor the activities of customers, which include monitoring their accounts to avoid instances of non-payment and delayed payment for transactions. In addition, an accounting clerk is responsible for preparing payments that an accountant has to sign. In line with payments function, accounting clerks facilitate the sorting and coding of the data payable to facilitate payment by senior accountants.
Relevance of the Career to the Society
An accounting clerk career is important to the society since it acts as an avenue to provide the society with accountability on accounting matters. Accountants deal with finance, which is the most sensitive function in any given organization. They are the most sought after by people in the community since transactions that involve money need accuracy, which can only be provided and ascertained by accountants. Thus, their major role of accounting clerks is to manage financial records of people, governments or organizations in the society. The ability of an organization to run its operations smoothly, pay the workers, and perform its societal role is determined by accountants’ abilities to control costs and promote the collection of adequate revenues. The role of an organization is to provide the society with relevant products and services. Therefore, a clothing company plays a major role in providing the society with clothing, which forms one of the basic needs. Effective accounting procedures are paramount for a company to ensure that the society acquires the required amount of clothing. For instance, accounting procedures help in providing data, such as the quantity of products required within a given period, to ensure that the society is satisfied because they acquire sufficient products to meet their needs.
Further, a clothing company is responsible for performing the role to the society, which includes creating employment opportunities for the surrounding communities. Creation of employment requires financial stability in the organization, whereas one of the major factors that contribute to financial stability is good accounting procedures, which comprise of good record keeping abilities and accurate reports. For instance, by utilizing the recommendations that the accounting clerks provide regarding controversial transactions or other financial information, an organization is able to avoid unnecessary losses, which may lead to its collapse. Moreover, accounting clerks play a vital role in protecting public interests, whereby the public includes shareholders, employees, suppliers, financiers, and customers. The major public interest in the accounting function involves acting ethically, which incorporates the ability of accounting clerks to provide the public with accurate and reliable financial reports.
Pros of the Career
One can think that the accounting clerk career may be unattractive for many people who want to establish their career path due to the difficult accounting tasks associated with the career. Further, accounting is one of the most sensitive areas of an organization since it mostly involves dealing with money, which makes it a risky career for some people. Accounting clerks are the major targets in any robbery attempts simply because they are conversant with how much worth the organization, an individual or an institution has in terms of cash or deposits. However, numerous factors can attract people to building careers as accounting clerks. For instance, to become an accounting clerk, one only needs a high school diploma, especially in small and medium firms that do not comprise of a lot of accounting work (Ferguson 14-16). This makes it easier for people with high school diplomas to secure a job while they continue with their education in other higher educational establishments. It is beneficial since unlike in other careers such as medicine, where one has to acquire specialized education and training, one is in a position to start earning without any specialized education or training.
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In addition, it is easier to establish a career as an accounting clerk since jobs are easily available in comparison to other careers. Almost all companies in any industry require accounting clerks since they have a finance department that is operated by accountants and accounting clerks. Therefore, the career is attractive to many people since they are able to work in any industry of their choice ranging from hospitals, banks, insurance companies, and food processing plants among others. Furthermore, the employment of accounting clerks is expected to grow given the increasing tempo of industrialization and globalization (Fitch 66-67). Therefore, establishing a career as an accounting clerk will provide growth opportunities for accounting clerks and assurance of employment in any of the industries offering employment in this sphere. In addition, the career provides people with opportunities for specialization, whereby one can specialize in accounts payables or receivables, thus gaining specialization benefits, which include better productivity through better skill building in one area.
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Cons of the Accounting Clerk Career
The career may be undesirable to some people since it is in the lowest category in the accounting career, and accounting clerks have to perform support functions for the supervisors. Further, being the lowest level in the accounting career, accounting clerks receive very little compensation in comparison to other professionals in the field. In addition, unlike in other careers, where promotions are determined by people’s productivity in the organization, to succeed in the career of an accounting clerk, one must get some professional qualifications such as the CPA or gain long work experience.
Success Factors for the Accounting Clerk Career
Apart from possessing the required education and skills in accounting, one requires factors such as the right attitude for the job to ensure success in the career. Right attitude enables one to have the necessary learning interest, which is important in skills building. Furthermore, one should have relevant problem-solving skills and abilities, which are important in the career since the clerk is often faced with situations that require solving problems on the matters of conflicting financial data. In addition, for one to be successful in the career, it is important to understand the business world, to facilitate the identification of common challenges in accounting, and the methods of resolving such challenges. Further, it is important to analyze one’s strengths and weaknesses in the career, to enhance building of the strengths and establishing measures to resolve weaknesses.
Educational Requirements for the Career
Most organizations require that accounting clerks possess at least a high school diploma, although some large organizations may require a professional degree in accounting or relevant work experience. This is because of the nature and complexity of accounting details or records that an accounting clerk may be required to keep. Further, due to the need for organizations to embrace technology for accuracy and data storage, most of the modern organizations require that the accounting clerks have basic computer knowledge, such competence in Microsoft applications, which include Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Quick Books and Outlook (Brown 8-10). This requirement forms the basis of modern accounting, which is hugely associated with computing. Moreover, an accounting clerk should possess excellent verbal and written communication skills and organizational skills in order to be successful in this field. In addition, accounting clerks are required to have bookkeeping software knowledge to be able to keep the accounting books effectively for data retrieval and future reference. However, apart from academic qualifications, it is important for new accounting clerks to acquire some on-the-job training to be able to perform their functions effectively since it provides them with some experience to perform accounting duties.
Requirements for Continuing Education in the Career
Most accounting clerks begin the career with only a high school diploma. However, they still have opportunities to continue their education, which will enhance progress in their career. For instance, accounting clerks are allowed to pursue degree courses while working to advance their knowledge in the accounting field. However, pursuing a degree course requires high grades in a high school or college diploma since the accounting course can be challenging especially in mathematics and accounting (Plevyak 10-14). Moreover, accounting clerks with degrees can attain a master’s degree in accounting in case they pass relevant exams in their undergraduate degree or once they attain the necessary experience required in pursuing a master’s degree in accounting.
Required Licenses
To qualify as a public accountant, one is required to attain a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) that is issued by the state (US Bureau of Labor Statistics 42-43). Earning a CPA certificate requires that one demonstrates the required competence and knowledge by passing the uniform CPA examination. Furthermore, to attain a CPA certificate, it is important that one meets high educational standards and has the specified amount of general accounting experience. Further, people wishing to practice as public accounts should attain at least 150 semester credits from accounting colleges or universities that have accreditation from the state. Moreover, academic requirements include passing a specified number of both accounting and business courses. In addition, the state board requires a degree course to allow people to perform accounting duties in some of the specialized organizations.
Legal Requirements
The legal requirements for establishing a career as an accounting assistant include the possession of a high school diploma. However, when one wants to advance their career, he or she must acquire a Certificate of Public Account and other legal documents, which include the certificate of good conduct. The certificate of good conduct is an important document for accounting professionals since it acts as a proof of the accountant’s credibility and transparency in the financial matters.
Conclusion
Selecting an ideal career can be a challenging task, which makes people engage in several careers before they finally launch in a career that they find interesting or one that matches their career goals and dreams. Choosing a career involves consideration of several perspectives, which enables one to make an ultimate choice. Factors that determine career choice include skills, knowledge, and experience that one possesses. Knowledge and skills form the basic factor in making a career choice since it is vital to build a career in which one has some knowledge. On the other hand, it is important to consider one’s career goals and examine the possibility of growth when starting out on a career. Most people pursue a career with prospects for growth in the organization in which they work or in other similar organizations. Growth in a career is important since it leads to growth in the salary scale, knowledge and skills, and experience, which is important in joining higher-level positions in similar institutions. Choosing a career as an accountant clerk provides most of these benefits, whereby job opportunities are readily available in almost all organizations. Availability of employment opportunities forms the first step towards career growth and advancement since engagement in employment enables a person to develop their skills in the career and acquire sufficient experience required for career growth. Furthermore, unlike in other disciplines, to start a career as an accounting clerk requires only a high school diploma. This enables a person both to develop skills at work and continue their university education at the same time.
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