How to Become a Chartered Accountant?

If you like working with numbers, you might consider a career as a chartered accountant. As a chartered accountant you will in high demand by banks, private businesses and institutions and government departments. Exploring the many jobs open to chartered accountants will give you an idea of one area in which you can easily obtain a high paying job.

Companies have minimum requirements set out in the job posting when they want to hire a chartered accountant. The requirements for becoming a chartered accountant lie in the areas of education, experience and evaluation of your work experience. The usual route for becoming a chartered accountant is to take a degree at an accredited university in business, with a major concentration of your course work in the field of accounting. You do need to check the various regulations for chartered accountants as each province and state has specific regulations with regard to certification.

A chartered accountant must possess certain skills and competencies need to perform the job. These skills for chartered accountants fall into two groups – personal and professional skills and specific skills related to the job. All chartered accountants should be able to communicate with others both in speech and writing, demonstrate excellent problem solving skills and be able to manage several accounts. In addition, ethics and professionalism is important for chartered accountants as well as personal characteristics, such as being able to work independently adapt to change and take initiative to get the job done well.

The specific skills a chartered accountant needs include six categories associated with the job. Knowledge of how to use accounting software is essential for a chartered accountant as using a computer for the tasks makes the job much easier and faster. Being knowledgeable about tax structures and being able to prepare the tax returns of individuals and both small and large businesses is a large portion of the job of chartered accountant. Knowledge of finance, risk management and investments as well being able to measure performance are the other specific skills a chartered accountant should be able to perform.

The business degree alone will not qualify you as a chartered accountant. You must take a chartered accountant course and be certified by the national association. There are also experience requirements that you need to fulfill to become a chartered accountant. As part of your training you must have a work experience that allows you to work in the field under the direction and supervision of other chartered accountants.