The strange and confusing world of Canadian accountants

The strange and confusing world of Canadian accountants

The word “accountant” is not protected by legislation in Canada. Anyone can claim to one. I’ve seen people call themselves a practical accountant, small business accountant, tax accountant, registered public accountant and many other similar names.

To complicate matters there are three accounting bodies recognized by legislation – Chartered Accountants (“CA”), Certified General Accountants (“CGA”) and Certified Management Accountants (“CMA”). They have varying amounts of experience, skill and training. Another organization – The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (“ACCA”), which is not recognized by legislation, and claims to be the global body for professional accountants, offers their services. There are also thousands of Certified Public Accountants (“CPA”) from the United States and elsewhere.

For a country of about 34 million the accounting landscape is very complex. Contrast this with the United States, with a population of over 300 million, where a single designation is the most prominent – Certified Public Accountant.

Given all the choices how do you pick a Canadian accountant? I’m a Chartered Accountant (and a licensed public accountant in Ontario), and perhaps a little biased, but I believe Chartered Accountants are the best option. Regardless, start first by deciding why you need an accountant. Often the need is to prepare a tax return, help with special tax situations and planning, bookkeeping or just general advice. Then develop an image of the ideal accountant and try to find a match. Get a referral from your banker, a business colleague or friend that uses an accountant or knows one. A referral from a trusted source is one of the best ways to find a good one.

If you are a business owner, and give your financial statements to anyone other than the tax department, you need a licensed public accountant. Almost all public accountants in Ontario are Chartered Accountants but in the rest of the country a public accountant could be a CGA or CMA. If you don’t distribute financial statements, or are not a business owner, you can usually pick an accountant of your choice – licensed or not. 

If you come up short check the member directories of the accounting associations. Every professional body maintains a complete list of members and the directory is searchable.

Another way is to search Google. Search for the word “accountant” and the city where you live. We’re located in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada so you’d search “Mississauga Accountant” or “Accountant Mississauga” and the names of local accountants are listed. Google is a good way to find names but not necessarily the best accountant.  

Scope of Accounting Degrees

In every small or big organization there are separate department for accounting. Accountants are essential part of any organization. Key responsibilities of an accountant is managing an organization plan, checking of ledgers, preparation of financial statement and forecasting and budgeting. Any corporate financial decision is considered incomplete without input from the accountant.

As key decisions of organizations are incomplete without accountant department input, the scope of accounting degrees are always good. Few decades back people do not consider accountant as a career. But in previous few years it is considered one of the key components of an organization and their value is increasing rapidly. Accounting is not confided to one type of organization, accountants are required in every industry like, manufacturing companies, service industry, government organization and public accounting firms.

Accounting is very interesting field as you work with numbers. You will never lose your interest in this field because every year there is amendments in different provision which keep your interest in this field. Normally people think that accountants only do account work and maintain records of income and expenditure which is wrong. Accountants have major prospect of growth in their field. From book keeping to major company’s decision, accountants play an important role.

As technology advancements take place, accounting is also affected. Now only degrees are not enough you should know about accounting software’s. This software’s are specially designed for making company accounting systems easy. If you know about this software’s and has some expertise in these then it will be considering your additional quality.

From time to time scope of accounting is increasing. There are many fields of accounting in which you can do specialization. CPA and CMA are professional courses of accounting beside masters. Chartered accountants are highly paid employees in this era. Their starting salaries are very handsome and they earn a good salary package.

If you get a masters degree of accounting then you would get a managerial level job in any organization. Chartered accountants work in auditing department generally. Cost and management accountant work in budgeting department. They all take part in key managerial decisions.   

Before going to take admission in college, try to do some searching on this. Many universities and colleges are conducted these courses. Before jumping to any conclusion, try to find out the best university and college in which you can take admission in your interesting field. Courses are available online and off line for those who can not take classes due to their jobs.

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