A profession is a calling that requires specialized knowledge and often intensive academic preparation by an individual. It can as well be defined as the whole body of individuals that are engaged in a duty or a calling according to Garmilis (2016). Therefore, professionalism is understood as the conduct, qualities, or aims that mark or characterize a professional person or profession. It hence encompasses various attributes that together defines or identifies a professional. A profession is hence the individual that meets all the academic qualifications and attributes required in a particular facet of professionalism such as doctors, teachers, accountants, lawyers, and politician, among others as denoted by Gabbe (2012). People often choose the profession because it is an area of integrity, honesty, consistency, and ethical performance; factors that will ensure any profession remain relevant in their area. This paper will focus on the general background of professionalism with a focus on the accounting profession. It presents the requirements that one needs to have to qualify as an accountant, requirements of remaining relevant to the profession, as well as what constitutes the professionalism in accounting.
In many cases, professionalism is viewed differently depending on an individual. As others understand it as dressing smartly while at duty, others think it is doing a good job, while others take it as having possessing advanced certifications or degrees hung and framed on the office wall (Zabar & Kalet, 2014). However, professionalism covers even more factors and components. In his study, Smith (2015) denotes that professionalism also entails how an individual conduct himself during the affairs of the profession that can apply virtually on the particular profession on which the majors. Some of the essential attributes of professionalism include;
Competency; A professional is expected to get the job done and remain reliable in the promises they make. In case circumstances arise preventing them from delivering their promises, a good professional will always manage expectations up front while doing their best to ensure the situation is right. They hence do not make excuses but focus on reaching a solution within the required deadlines. In remaining competent, Wardley (2016) points out that a genuine professional will always respect their counterparts no matter the situation or their role, an attribute that requires a high degree of emotional intelligence while interacting with other people in the course of duty.
Integrity and honesty; Professionals should keep their word so as to be implicitly trusted without them compromising their values to ensure the right thing is done even if it is through a harder road. Moreover, a professional should be humble to the point of admitting if a job or a project falls outside their scope of expertise. With the willingness to learn from other people, a good professional will always ask for help where necessary. They are accountable for their words, actions, and thoughts in any case they make a mistake.
Professional accounting is often faced with significant threats as a result of the identified accounting fundamental principles. Accepting to engage in all the relevant accounting tasks hence requires an individual to be well-trained and qualified so as to demonstrate effectiveness and ability to safeguard what is considered ethically reasonable and expected international standards of performance according to Bouilheres and Sangster (2016). Depending on the state, every state or federal government have a state board of accountancy which ensures licensing accountants and certified public accounts practicing within that federal boundaries meet certain requirements. Every board hence issue rules on what every individual need to do to become a licensed accountant as pointed out by Hermanson (2016). Such boards often work together with the legal professionalism of accounting bodies to ensure the accountants meet the internationally set standards of the profession. To become a globally accepted accountant, it is necessary that an individual joins a professional body where each body has a requirement that needs to be met. These mainly cover three major areas that include;
Meeting the above requirements put in place by the professional bodies needs an individual to complete at least three years BCom or BCA degree in relevant courses. These include economics, statistics, accounting information systems, management accounting, assurance and audit, enterprise operations, business finance, taxation, and organisational management. Some of the accountancy bodies include ACCA (Association of Certified Chartered Accountants), CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accounts), CPA, and Chartered Accountants Australia among other bodies. Depending on the body an individual is interested in, the completion of courses named above allows once to undertake BCom or BCA compulsory papers and a certain degree of points so as to qualify for accounting and commercial law. The major initiatives of the accounting bodies is to enhance quality of edit, ensure high-quality AICPA and CIMA advancement of the profession, and offer diversity in accounting resources according to the AICPA updates (2017).
A successful accounting professional need to understand that satisfying the needs of a customer is the cornerstone of every success. Accountants hence have the sole responsibility to genuinely, satisfactorily, and timely meet all the needs of the customer. However, Guo (2016) denotes that for every professionalism especially those in the leadership positions, the employees are a vital resource in meeting the needs of customers. It hence means that the best way of taking care of the needs of the customers is taking good care of the employees.
Remaining relevant in the accounting profession requires an individual to possess good communication skills. He should be able to effectively give financial advice to a customer, explain any available option, while making the best recommendation in a simple way that can be easily understood. For this reason, Gabbe (2012) points out that effective communication remain an ultimate responsibility of the accountant and not the customer. In other words, the accountant should be able to resist any argument or pointing blames at the customer in case the communication process goes awry. Whether written or verbal, an accountant will only be effective when his communication is always concise, clear, accurate, and thoughtful.
In their study, Henry and Hicks (2016) denotes that there is a specific ethical requirement or code of conduct that all facets of professionalism are required to meet. The ethical requirement may be specific or distinct to the profession or even the individual. The same manner a doctor is required to respect the relationship between a patient and his professionalism, an accountant is also required to aspire towards achieving the core values of the accountancy profession that are centered upon an unconflicted and uncompromising regard for best interests and benefits of the customer. For instance, the principle of confidentiality puts obligations to all accountants refrain from using any acquired confidential information as a result of the professional relationship to their individual gain (Gabbe, 2012). In public practices, the accountant should not disclose any confidential to any client even if the information is beneficial to the client or relevant between their engagements.
With advancement in technology and increased competition in the global business arena, every profession has been affected in one way of the other as denoted by Macnaughton (2013). For instance, remaining relevant in the profession will require an individual to continuously read accounting journals and materials so as to be updated in the insight of changes in different facets of accountancy such as direct tax, indirect taxes, accountancy and ethical regulations, and company laws among others (Rainey, 2016). Such an individual will stay connected with business information and the necessary changes that require knowledge adjustments. Technological advancements have as well lead to the innovation of different accounting software that an individual needs to understand so as to remain relevant to the technological adjustments in performance within the profession.
Specialized knowledge in different areas of accounting and finance constitutes the major area of the profession. A professional should have made a deep individual commitment in developing and improving his skills hence possessing certifications and degrees serving as the foundation of the knowledge where appropriate. Even though not all facets of professionalism have a solid core of knowledge and the academic qualifications, others areas do not demand extensive knowledge for a successful practice, and one can develop the skills and experience needed without necessarily having top degrees in the area. However, Kelly (2017) denotes that what is essential is that these professionals have worked in sustained, thoughtful, and serious ways to master the specialized knowledge required in succeeding in a particular field while keeping the knowledge up-to-date so as to deliver despite the changing times.
Skills in different facets of accounting
An accountant needs to be equipped with knowledge and skills in the following areas of performance;
Once an individual meets the academic qualifications, there are specific accounting ethical standards and guiding principles that an accountant needs to achieve according to Dahlgren (2011). According to Garmilis (2016), these standards contain ethical and professional requirements relating to the performance and conduct of the professional service across different assignments and engagements within the profession. For instance, these standards are compulsory for every accounting profession to meet the CPA Australia membership qualification. These standards are currently categorized into the code of ethics for a professional accountant, and professional standards applicable to members in the public practice, members of the business, and to all members of the body. Now depending on the organization an individual in interested in working with, the academic qualifications, standards or performance, as well as the professional experience are the major requirements.
Conclusion
The compliance measure of accounting as a profession can be achieved by different means that are reasonably expected to ensure the maintenance of the professional competencies for practice and employment. The compliance is often achieved through a formal education, registration standard qualifications, as well as experience in particular facets of the profession. Despite the normal expectation of the accountancy, it is a profession that requires integrity, honesty, consistency, and ethical performance to remain relevant and beneficial to the profession. Remaining in the accounting profession hence require the accountant to remain updated, be effective communicator, focused on customer satisfaction, and work within the ethical standards required.
Reference
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