Accounting Useful for All Professionals

Accounting courses are certainly useful for a variety of careers within a company— purchasing agents, sales and marketing specialists, human resource managers, computer experts, and operations managers. All of these people need to understand the impact of their decisions on the company's profitability. The purchasing agent's skill in negotiating the prices of raw materials has a direct impact on the cost of goods produced. The degree to which the sales and marketing people cut prices in order to close deals has a direct impact on the company's total sales in dollars for the year. The human resource manager's decisions regarding employee benefits has a direct impact on the company's ability to attract key people, as well as the cost of hiring them. The computer specialists—otherwise known as management information services professionals—have a direct impact on the efficiency of the organization by providing top management with timely reports with which to make crucial business decisions. Finally, the operations manager must be familiar with budgets and how they relate to the quantity and price of raw materials, labor, and other costs. The information necessary to make these crucial business decisions is provided to these internal users by the accounting function.

If you decide to take even more accounting courses, then you'll be preparing yourself for several financial careers within the business environment. The controller is the company's chief accounting officer, responsible for preparing the company's financial statements, tax returns, payroll, and operating budgets. The treasurer is responsible for investing the company's money and for securing financing from creditors. The chief financial officer (CFO) is the member of top management of the company to whom the controller, treasurer, and internal auditor report. He or she works hand in hand with the company's chief executive officer.

Regardless of what career you choose, accounting can be one of the most valuable disciplines to study because it provides a good foundation for many occupations.

Date: 2015-01-02; view: 698