Financial Accounting – can you start a career in this?

Interested in Financial Accounting or something Finance related? And not sure how or where?

Starting out in the great big working world can be very daunting! Where to start?

Sometimes we have it in our heads we want to be in the Financial Accounting Field. Maybe be a Tax Consultant and have your own business OR you want to be a Bookkeeper or Technical Financial Accountant or a Finance Manager. You may meet people with this job title or you see them so busy with deadlines in the corner office, looking so sleek and professional but not sure how to get there?

Career option in Financial Accounting

It all starts at the beginning!

Remember. None of these highly skilled and professional people just landed there. It came with resilience, hard work, studies and starting at an entry level job and working themselves up the corporate ladder.

For a Financial Accounting career, the pathway will be as follows:

Start as a Bookkeeper – for this you don’t even need a matric, you only need Grade 10 and/or be 16 years of age to start. This is an NQF3 Qualification. Have a look here to see what Bookkeepers do and what options they have ito work.

Then as you go along you progress to a Senior Bookkeeper, an NQF4.

From Senior Bookkeeper you progress in your qualifications to Accounting Technician, NQF5.

Progression from that is to a Financial Accountant with an NQF6 Qualification.

Diversity within Financial Accounting

If full finance is not your thing, BUT you long for that professional career path, have you considered Business Management?

Start as a Business Administrator – No matric necessary to get an NQF4 Qualification, only a Grade 11 as an entry requirement.

Progress to a Senior Business Administrator, NQF5.

From there, progress to a Business Accountant with an NQF6 Qualification.

Opportunities

With Financial Qualifications behind your name, there are a variety of jobs or career choices you have. Remember, finance roles are an essential part to every organization (from small to medium enterprises, as well as Corporates) and is also across all industries, whether it is medical, manufacturing, retail, mechanical etc.. Every industry needs finance personnel.

Earning potential with Financial Accounting

Have a look below at excerpts from various job portals which indicates a guideline in terms of potential earnings. Remember that this is dependant on job criteria, levels of experience, qualifications and size of company and job responsibilities:

Junior Bookkeeper

Bookkeeper

Senior Bookkeeper

Technical Accountant

Financial Accountant

Where to now?

The first step is to start with the qualification – Join the other ICB alumni and start your qualification journey:

Don’t let excuses stop you! For example, saying you don’t have time to study. Have a look at these helpful articles on HOW you can make it happen!
No time to study? How to convert your time confetti