Reflection Essay

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Questions
1. When you think of the accounting profession what comes to your mind?
2. What contextual factors do you think could influence the accounting profession?
3. Describe the people you expect to interact with as an accountant.
4. What role do you think you should play in contributing to your community as an accountant?
5. What might the clients and fellow employees expect of you as an accountant?
6. What skills do you think you should possess to be a successful accountant?
Answers
When I think of the accounting profession, some things come into my mind. These things have changed over time as I acquire new knowledge about the profession.  Before I attended the 1st seminar of ACCG, 315, I thought accounting was all about creating journal entries and ledgers, preparing the trial balance, balance sheet and profit and loss statement. I supposed it was just only maintaining huge files at the office, and there was a complexity of performing these functions. More so, there are some types of accounting such as management, taxation and auditory services.  But now I think accounting is a profession of working in terms and having one on one time with clients. The professionals spend mostly in front of the computers and networking. The forming client relationship is the largest part of the accounting profession. 
There are several contextual factors that influence the accounting profession. I  have had this mindset that the contextual factors include regulators such as the government accounting standard setting organs like the Financial Accounting Standards Board. After reading some articles, I found some more contextual factors such as globalization, technological innovation, and ethics. Those factors play a big role in influencing the accounting profession. 
In any profession, one expects to interact with various groups of people. as an accountant, I expect to be interacting with the people like employees and managers responsible for planning, leading, controlling employees to get the work done efficiently and effectively. I also expect to interact with stakeholders such as financiers, suppliers, and customers. Others include auditors, debt collectors, and I expect to spend some time with clients to conduct professional stuff.
An accountant plays various roles in contributing to the community. One of these roles is offering the relevant financial information to the users of the information to make proper decisions for my company. The information provided should be faithful, accurate, timely and understandable. Another role is to maintain a healthy relationship with the managers and customers. Another key role will be to safeguard the integrity of financial reporting. There are various issues surrounding financial reporting that include malpractices by accountants. Avoiding these malpractices will improve the integrity of financial reporting to ensure that the various users of the accounting information get the correct reports that will ensure proper decision making. The government is often the greatest victim of accounting malpractices by professionals who intend to evade taxes. I will be assisting with the corporate strategy to provide advice and help business to reduce costs. Accounting, according to academicians, has a significant role of imparting knowledge, skills and ethical foundations of the profession to the next generation.
There are several things expected of me by Clients and fellow employees. First, they expect me to act ethically and honestly with full dedication of the company. The employees expect me to maximize the quality of work life and employee satisfaction. Secondly, fellow employees expect me to establish and maintain proper working relationships with them by creating an environment of trust and understanding, as well as one that supports teamwork among the employees. Third, they expect me to uphold the values and norms of the workplace as displayed by both formal and informal groups within the workplace. As an accountant, clients would expect me to display competence enhanced by particulars skills such as decision-making, communication skills, leadership, interpersonal, technical, and time management skills. The clients also expect me to respond to their issues as quick as possible and to display a high degree of flexibility. More, they expect me to deal with them honestly.
As a successful accountant, I must have skills such as leadership skills, which include strategic thinking and long-term planning goals of the company. Proper communication skills are necessary when handling the customers. The other skill is adaptability, necessary because the accounting industry is highly dynamic, so there is a need to adapt quickly and easily. Time management enables an accountant to have work done in time. Finally, among the most important skills is computer skills because today, virtually all accountancy work involves working with some general and specialized computer programs. I believe that the accountants must have some "soft skills" and "technical skills" to achieve their career goals.
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