Career Research

An Eye for Aspiring Accountants

Submitted to the Senior High Faculty of APEC Schools - New Manila

as a
Partial Fulfillment of Research 1
Qualitative Research Course

Tristan Jay I. Pinca

May 2018
 Abstract

This career research paper was entitled “​An Eye for Aspiring Accountants​” which was
written for students who will take accountancy in college and who wants to be an accountant in
the future. Both quantitative and qualitative data were the information used in this paper chosen
by the researcher. It was a descriptive type of research whereas data will be in words and not in
numbers. This type of research design allows the researcher to gain opinions from accountancy
students and accountants. This paper will help them to overview some insights about being an
accountancy student, and being an accountant. The researcher was able to gather secondary data
from different credible websites. To gather primary data, the researcher conducted survey and
interviews with 10 open-ended questions and 5 multiple choice questions for 15 accountancy
students and 5 accountants. Accountancy students were studying from National College in
Business and Arts - Fairview, Polytechnic University of the Philippines - Manila, and CPA
Review School of the Philippines - Manila. Accountants were working from Bureau of Internal
Revenue, Network Consolidated Cooperative Bank, National College in Business and Arts, and
VEPCO Group Distribution Corporation. To abridge the collated data, being an accountant is a
tough career. It takes a plenty of books to learn accounting theories, policies and standards.
Problems are complicated and many students have been already tricked. Standards are also
dynamic and changing policies lead accountants to review for updates. Despite of the high
difficulty in this career, accountants are fortunate to get a job easily because of the wide scope of
this career in business.

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 Table of Contents

CHAPTER I​ :​Introduction 4
Scope and Limitation 5

CHAPTER II​ : ​Review of Related Literature 7

Accounting 7
Basic Accounting Skills 8
Father of Accounting 8
History of Accounting 9
Accountants versus CPAs 9
Accountants’ Salary 10
Accounting Firms 11
Bureau of Internal Revenue 11
Educational Requirements 12
CPA Board Exam 12
Center of Excellence in Accountancy 12
Personal Traits of an Accountant 13
Philippine Accountancy Act of 2004 13
Accounting Fraud 14
Health Problems 14

CHAPTER III​ : ​Methodology and Results 15

Research Design 15
Instruments & Respondents 15
Results & Discussion 16
The Poll : Accountancy Students 16
The Open-ended Questions : Accountancy Students 20
The Poll : Accountants 24
The Open-ended Questions : Accountants 28

CHAPTER IV​ : ​Summary and Conclusion 3​3

Summary 3​4
Conclusion 3​5

CHAPTER V​ : ​Recommendation 3​5

Bibliography 3​6

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 Table of Figures

The Poll : Accountancy Students 17

Figure 1. Average Tuition Fee Every Semester 17
Figure 2. Master of Science in Accountancy 18
Figure 3. Review Center Enrollees 1​9
Figure 4. Aspiring Accountants in Sector of Accounting Practice 20
Figure 5. Accountancy Students Satisfaction Rate 21

The Poll : Accountants 25

Figure 6. Accountants in Sectors of Accounting Practice 25
​ verage Salary Every Month
Figure 7. A 26
Figure 8. W​ orking Hours Each Week 27
Figure 9. A ​ ccountants with Secondary Source of Income 28
Figure 10. A ​ ccountants Satisfaction Rate 29

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 CHAPTER I

Introduction

“​If you can imagine yourself 5 years from now, who are you going to be?​” It is a difficult

question when someone ask that to a young boy who only knows are to dance and to go to school

everyday. A young boy should start asking himself repeatedly and put a lot of considerations

before answering it. I know someone who have been asked like that. I am that young boy.

When I was a kid, a career that I had in mind is being a teacher because my mother is a

graduate of Bachelor of Secondary Education. I like teaching someone and I believe that

knowledge should be spreaded to everyone. I like how my mother tries to teach someone

patiently and calmly. Despite of a low salary, teachers are still doing their jobs to produce a

batch of professionals. Teachers are my heroes.

Back then, my mother had a change in career. She failed to pass the Licensure Exam for

Teachers and never tried to take it for the 2nd time. From being a part-time tutor, she became an

Assistant Treasurer in our barangay. Her job is to provide financial reports like an accountant

does. I think that the career I had in my mind changed, too. When I started living my junior high

school years, I started building myself to know more about accountancy and being an accountant.

However, I had one moment when I got a confusion of my dream career since I joined different

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electives such as Journalism, Mandarin, and Information Communication Technology. I have

been stacked between being a journalist, a media arts practitioner, a teacher and an accountant

but one thing made my situation fine. It was when my National Career Assessment Examination

(NCAE) has been released. The result examination suggested that I should take Accountancy and

Business Management (ABM) on Senior High School (SHS) and then, I followed it.

Now, I am taking ABM in SHS. I think that it is the first step to familiarize and to know

the world of accounting. Therefore, I am writing this career research paper for me as an aspiring

accountant and for my co-aspiring accountants as well. I finalized this topic wholeheartedly and

brave enough to take a new journey to the career which I want to be in the future.

Scope and Limitation

In this career research paper, the purpose of the researcher is to collect and to analyze

valid information and opinions about being an accountant. It will focus on prior knowledge about

how an accountant works, being payed and survive on a monthly basis scale. It will also include

the topics about the life of an accountant during their college years. This paper will discuss the

general information about accountancy students in the Philippines. The advices of accountants

and accountancy students for aspiring accountants will also be covered.

The respondents of this career research paper were divided into two groups: (1)

accountancy students, and (2) accountants. Before conducting a survey, the researcher sent an

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email whereas letter of request and link of survey questionnaire can be seen. The accountancy

students were gathered from different colleges and universities in the Philippines. Same process

happened for accountants. They have received an email of letter of request and link of survey

questionnaire. The survey was only conducted in the Philippines. However, secondary sources

were gathered from various credible online websites inside and outside this country.

This career research paper will not include specific accounting jobs thoroughly. It will

discuss the Accountancy Act of 2004 briefly. This paper will be beneficial for the students for

who will take accountancy course and for further journey, to those who will be planning to be an

accountant. Students who will do same career research topic will be benefitted as well. For broad

scope, this paper will be set as an eye for aspiring accountants to see the world of accounting.

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 CHAPTER II

Review of Related Literature

In this part of research, the researches related to this career research paper have been

collected. The researches were gathered from different credible websites in the Philippines and

other countries. Information will be mentioned in this chapter were collated from various studies

as well. The history of the accounting will be written. The researcher will explain other terms

that help the readers to understand the context of this career research paper.

Accounting

Accounting is a business of language which provides financial information on the

services available in the firm (Web Finance Incorporation, 2018). It undergoes in a systematic

process of comprehensive recording, summarizing, analyzing and reporting transactions to

oversight companies and tax entities (Wohlner, 2018). Accounting is also considered as the basis

of all decision- making. There are different kinds of accounting such as public, private, forensic,

investment, governmental, national income and fiduciary accounting (Sokanu Edu, 2018).

It is under the Logical-mathematical because accounting requires a kin knowledge in

analyzing a problem. They can be taught through logic games, investigations, mysteries. They

need to learn and form concepts before they can deal with details (Lane, 2018).

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Basic Accounting Skills

The basic skills for accounting that should be learned first are (1) Journal entries, (2)

Reconciliation, (3) Research, (4) Problem Solving and (5) Reporting. Journal entries used to

record expenses and includes the system of debit and credit. Reconciliations used to verify if the

balance sheet is already balance and to identify errors and corrects. Researching will help the

accountants to provide enough information to analyze the given data. Problem solving will help

an accountant to improve analytical skill for solving financial problems and implement solutions.

Reporting is one of the most important basic skill should an accountant possess because it helps

an accountant to make a comprehensive and concise information (Helstrom, 2018).

Father of Accounting

In year 1494, the system of debit and credit was first introduced in the book of Lucio

Pacioli entitled “S​umma de Arithmetica, Geometria, Proportioni et Proportionalita” and the

translation in English is “Everything about Arithmetic, Geometry, and Proportions”. Until 16th

century, his book has been used as the only accounting book during their time. Now, Lucio

Pacioli considered as the Father of Accounting (Smith, 2012).

History of Accounting

The history of accounting has been traced back to the book of Lucio Pacioli where the

system of debit and credit, use of ledgers and journals can be learned. The 1844 Joint Stock

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Companies Act was brought in to place business and economy on a strong foundation and to

increase the public's confidence in the honesty of a business. The problem of not having

accounting standards was resolved in 1953, when the Committee on Accounting Procedures

produced a standard framework of guidelines for financial accounting, called the Generally

Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). This act was only implemented in United States and

later on, some european countries adopted the system. In the same year, the computerized

accounting system was introduced by Accenture. In 1961, the first computerized spreadsheet has

been created. The most recent system of accounting is Cloud Accounting where employees,

bookkeepers and accountants can all access the software online at the same time. This

development allows people to work from home and sharing information with the relevant people

(Boxwell, 2018).

Accountants versus CPAs

An accountant is an individual who performs accounting. Accountants can work either in

an accounting firm, internal auditing department, or be self-employed. They are given

certifications by national professional associations after passing qualified requirements. Some

accountants can still work even not passing the required prerequisite like board exam (Sokanu,

2018).

Certified Public Accountants (CPA) are those accountants who passed CPA Licensure

Exam. They earned a professional designations with education, experience, and licensing. CPAs

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can be employed at different sectors of accounting practice such as Public, Private, Academe and

Government (Franklin University, 2018).

An accountant is anyone who do accounting related-jobs. However, not all accountants

are CPAs but all CPAs are accountants. It is because CPAs are those accountants who passed

CPA Licensure Exam. In addition, most of CPAs can do tax preparation, financial statements,

financial planning, forensic accounting, internal auditing, income tax. CPA’s primary function is

to help businesses thrive (Accounting Edu, 2018).

Accountants’ Salary

The following salaries of each job are just approximations: (1) Chief Financial Officers

(CFO) earn P1,000,000 up to P11,000,000 per month in the Philippines and $69,985 up to

$253,407 per month in United States. (2) Accounting Managers earn P300,000 up to P1,200,000

per month in the Philippines and $43,530 to $101,324 per month in United States. (3) Senior

Accountants earn P200,000 up to P700,000 per month in the Philippines and $50,125 to $85,775

per month in United States. (4) Staff Accountants earn P100,000 up to P300,000 per month in

the Philippines and $35,594 up to $61,738 per month in United States. (5) Junior

Accountants earn P100,000 up to P300,000 per month in the Philippines and $31,210 up to

$54,136 per month in United States. (6) Bookkeepers earn P8,000 up to P15,000 per month in

the Philippines and $1,973 up to $2,850 per month in United States (Payscale, 2018).

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Accounting Firms

Accounting firms are places and offices where accountants help business owners stay

financially stable, maintain financially organized, tax compliant, prepare for business growth and

any other help related to financial matters (Leonard, 2018).

There is no typical workplace for an accountant in the sense that they are just about in

any business. A bigger company may have an accounting department that employs many

accountants, and would have a hierarchical structure. There may be only one accountant at a

branch office, who might report to a supervisor at the regional or head office. Most of the

accountants are working in offices with air-conditioned rooms. Some accountants are in different

sites whereas to meet their clients (Sokanu Edu, 2018).

Accountants work more than 40 hours per week (5 days). Most of them has no secondary

or part-time job anymore (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2018).

Bureau of Internal Revenue

The Bureau of Internal Revenue is one of the agencies of Department of Finance. BIR

collects more than half of the total revenues of the government. This is the place where most of

the accountants go to pass the financial reports and tax entities. BIR collects taxes through tax

laws enforcement for national progression and changing filipino lives (Bureau of Internal

Revenue, 2018).

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Educational Requirements

Students who want to take accountancy in college should take Accountancy and Business

Management (ABM) in Senior High School (SHS) for them to be prepared in taking accountancy

in college (DepEd, 2018). Students who want to be an accountant should take Bachelor of

Science in Accountancy (Philippine Accounting Updates Organizations, 2016). Post graduate

study in Accountancy is a higher degree over CPA. Having this degree will give you more job

opportunities and easy employment (University of Otago, 2018).

CPA Board Exam

Only those graduate of BS Accountancy can take the CPA Board Exam. Passing this

assessment would be a great opportunity for accountants to take higher position in a company.

Passing this assessment means being a licensed accountant or so called Certified Public

Accountant. CPA Board Exam conducted every May and October of the year (Philippine

Regulation Commission, 2018).

Center of Excellence in Accountancy

Commission on Higher Education (CHED) considered De La Salle University (DLSU) as

the Accounting School Center of Excellence in the whole Philippines. However, University of

the Philippines - Diliman is still on top on producing CPAs with 100% passing rate (Commission

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on Higher Education, 2016).

Personal Traits of an Accountant

These are the following personal traits are in need for an easy employment as an

accountant. (1) Organization because it needs an organized files and everything should be well

placed. (2) Time Management because accountants are required to pass the financial report on

due. (3) Adaptability because accountants work for different kinds of clients. (4) Communication

because being able to communicate well in writing and in person will help you to get a job, work

as a team with your colleagues, interact with clients and, with time, advance professionally. (5)

Openness because the role of an accountant is to provide a transparent reports of finances of a

particular company. (6) Leadership because accountants provide consulting services, which

means that they offer advice and business solutions to help companies improve their operations,

so the ability to look ahead is key (Talent Egg Incorporation, 2014).

Philippine Accountancy Act of 2004

The only law that scopes the tasks and responsibilities of all accountants can be read at

Republic Act of 9282 entitled “Philippine Accountancy Act of 2004” or known as “Republic Act

No. 9298.” Both Senate and the House of Representatives passed this act last February 6 and 7,

2004. Later on, Ex-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo finally approved this act last May 13,

2004. This act has 5 articles and 44 sections. It is also stated the four different sector of

accounting practice such as Public Accountancy Practice, Practice of Commerce and Industry,

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Academe Practice, and Governmental Practice (Official Gazette of Republic of the Philippines,

2004).

Accounting Fraud

One of the most common vices in the law of accountancy is called Accounting fraud. It is

intentional manipulation of financial statements to create a facade of a company's financial

health. It involves an employee, account or the organization itself and is misleading to investors

and shareholders. A company can falsify its financial statements by overstating its revenue or

assets, not recording expenses and under-recording liabilities (Nickolas, 2018).

Health Problems

The common health problems of an accountant are: (1) back problems, (2) weight gain,

(3) mental illness, and (4) exhaustion. Due to long period in sitting position, many accountants

complain about back problems. Most of the accountants who feel stress are gaining weight

because of the habit of stress eating. More than stress, accountants experiences mental illness

like depression and anxiety due to the too much exposure of pressure and cramming. Lastly, they

also faces exhaustion and over fatigue on being tired of travelling and tax seasons deadlines

(Healthable, 2018).

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 CHAPTER III

Methodology and Results

In this chapter, the research design used for this career research paper will be discussed.

The type of instrument will explain as well. The process of collecting data are in this chapter.

The description of needed respondents are included also. The results of the conducted collection

of data will be involved and be discussed.

Research Design

Qualitative research is the research design used in this paper chosen by the researcher. It

is a descriptive type of research whereas data will be in words. However, this research paper

used numerical data which will be explained through words and presented through charts and

graphs. This type of research design allows the researcher to gain opinions from accountancy

students and accountants.

Instruments & Respondents

The researcher used questionnaire as an instrument on collecting data for this career

research paper. The questionnaire composed of 10 open-ended and 5 multiple choice questions.

There are separated set of questionnaire for the different two types of respondents. The

respondents of this career research paper were divided into two groups: (1) accountancy students,

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and (2) accountants. Accountancy students were gathered from different colleges, universities

and review centers such as National College in Business and Arts - Fairview, Polytechnic

University of the Philippines - Manila, and CPA Review School of the Philippines - Manila.

There are 5 respondents in each institution. The accountants were gathered from sector of public

accounting, commerce and industry, government and academe. The respondents were only 5

from Bureau of Internal Revenue, Network Consolidated Cooperative Bank, National College in

Business and Arts, and VEPCO Group Distribution Corporation.

Results & Discussion

The Poll : Accountancy Students

​Figure 1. Average Tuition Fee Every Semester

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 This pie chart is entitled “​Ranges of Tuition Fees of Bachelor of Science in Accountancy

per Semester​”. 60% of the accountancy students were paying less than P20,001 in taking BS in

Accountancy every semester. These students were mostly from state universities. 40% of the

accountancy students were paying P20,001 up to P40,000 in taking BS in Accountancy every

semester. These students were mostly from colleges and universities.

Figure 2.​ Master of Science in Accountancy

This pie chart is entitled “​Population of Accountancy Students Who Planned to Pursue

Master of Science in Accountancy​”. 66.7% of the population of accountancy students who has a

plan to take Master of Science in Accountancy in the future. These students seek for a high

opportunity after taking this master. For some reason, only 33.3% of the population of

accountancy students who has no plan to take Master of Science in Accountancy in the future.

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 Figure 3. Review Center Enrollees

This pie chart is entitled “​Population of Accountancy Students who has a Plan to Enroll

on a CPA Board Exam Review Center​”. 100% of the population of accountancy students has a

plan to to enroll themselves in a review center before taking CPA Board Exam. The reason to

this percentage is the high difficulty of the exam. As in the past years, CPA Board Exam is one

of the most difficult licensure exam in the Philippines.

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 Figure 4. Aspiring Accountants in Sector of Accounting Practice

This pie chart is entitled “​Population of Accountancy Students Based on their Desired

Accounting Practice”​ . This pie chart reveals on which sector of accounting practice are going to

work in the future. 40% of the population of accountancy students plans to work in a public

accounting where they can work in an accounting firms. 33.3% of the population of accountancy

students plans to work in a private accounting where commerce and industry can be found. Only

26.7% of the population of accountancy students plans to work in a government accounting or

governmental where they can work in Department of Finance and any government agencies.

Unfortunately, no one has a plan to work under the sector of Accounting Education or Academe.

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 Figure 5. Accountancy Students Satisfaction Rate

This pie chart is entitled “​Being an Accountancy Student Satisfaction Rate”​ . In the poll

conducted, the respondents rate it from ‘5’ to ‘1’ where ‘5’ is the highest rating and ‘1’ is the

lowest rating. 40% of the population of accountancy students rate their satisfaction ‘4’ as being

an accountancy student. 33.3% of the population of accountancy students rate their satisfaction

‘3’ as being an accountancy student. 26.7% of the population of accountancy students rate their

satisfaction ‘5’ as being an accountancy student.

The Open-ended Questions : Accountancy Students

The following questions will be answered after the questions stated:

1. What made you decide to take accountancy as your course in college?

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 2. Among your top 3 courses that you want to take in college, where do accountancy placed

at?

3. What factors do you consider before you decided to take accountancy in college?

4. What are the skill and talents needed for this course?

5. Do you consider accountancy as a difficult course? Why?

6. If you failed in this course, what other course do you think you can be enrolled which is

close enough to make you an accountant in the future?

7. What are your favorite things about being an accountancy student? Why?

8. What are your least favorite things about being an accountancy student? Why?

9. What do you look forward before you take CPA Board Exam?

10. What can you recommend for a person like to take similar course?

Reasons Why a Student Chose Accountancy

Almost all accountancy students decided to take accountancy course in college because

someone in their family is an accountant who suggested it to them. More specifically, their

parents are already accountants. Some students took it because of it is in demand and suggested

by their teachers and friends.

BS in Accountancy Position at Top 3 Course Student Choice

Accountancy are mostly placed at 2nd and 3rd out of the top 3 courses of the accountancy

students wanted to take in college. It is because of the unavailability of their 1st choice course in

a university they will enroll. Some students reasoned that their 1st choice course is really

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expensive compared to the tuition fee every semester of an accountancy course. Few of the

students choose accountancy as their 1st choice, and few of the students also choose it as not

included in their top 3 list.

Factors Why a Student Chose Accountancy

Almost all accountancy students considered the salary of an accountant to take

accountancy course because they want to have an enough salary to help their family. Some

students considered the approval of their parents before taking accountancy course in college.

Some students also considered their skills and talents because they think that this would be a help

for them to know if they can manage the difficulty of the course they are going take. Only few

students thought that they should consider the distance of the school from their home and the

quality education that accountancy can give to the students because accountancy scopes every

aspect of business.

Skills Needed for BS in Accountancy

Being analytical, patient and having a reading comprehension skill are the important

skills that most of the accountancy students told the researcher in taking this course because

accounting has a lot of tricky questions and processes needed to do are long and time consuming.

Some of the accountancy students said that having discipline and enough determination would be

a great help for the students to pass this course.

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BS in Accountancy Difficulty

All accountancy students said that accountancy course is a difficult. Most of their reasons

are the presence of tricky questions and theoretical problems, a wide variety subjects required in

this course, the dynamicality of accounting standards, plenty accounting concepts, long processes

and time consuming.

Fallback Course

There are two courses in mind of most of the accountancy students that they can enroll

themselves if they failed in accountancy. These are Bachelor of Science in Accounting

Technology and Bachelor of Science in Business Administration - Major in Finance.

Most Favorite Accounting Things of Accountancy Students

Most accountancy students like to solve and to analyze problems no matter how difficult

these are. It is because of the thought that the more it gets harder, the more it becomes fun. One

of the favorite things about being an accountancy student, as they said, is being with their friends

who are always with you during your ups and downs while studying accounting.

Least Favorite Accounting Things of Accountancy Students

Two of the least favorite things, as pointed out of accountancy students, are being sleep

deprived and dealing with difficult problems. These two things are showing cause and effect

whereas they deal with different difficult problems that leads them to study harder and sleep late

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to understand everything they do not know. The other least favorite things of some of the

accountancy students are dynamicality of accounting standards, stress and quota grades.

CPA Board Exam

Before taking CPA Board Exam, almost all accountancy students are looking forward for

themselves to be completely prepared, equipped, determined and motivated because they are

aware that the exam is going to be difficult. Only few students are planning to have bedtime and

travel abroad before taking CPA Board Exam.

Recommendations for Incoming Accountancy Students

For a person who will take accountancy as their course in college, accountancy students

are recommending them to be prepared in this course since it will not going to be easy and stress

will always be present. Some of them are also suggesting to think twice and just follow what

they want to be in the future.

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The Poll : Accountants

Figure 6. Accountants in Sectors of Accounting Practice

This poll is entitled “​Population of Accountants Based on their Current Occupation in

Sector of Accounting​”. 40% of the population of accountants were currently working under the

sector of private accounting. 20% of the population of accountants were currently working under

the sector of public accounting. 20% of the population of accountants were currently working

under the sector of government accounting. 20% of the population of accountants were currently

working under the sector of academe.

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 Figure 7. Average Salary Every Month

This poll is entitled “​Average Salary of an Accountant per Month​”. 60% of the

population of accountants were currently being payed of P20,001 up to P40,000 per month.

These accountants mostly were employees at BIR and private accounting. 40% of the population

of accountants were currently being payed of less than P20,001 per month. These accountants

mostly were employees at academe and public accounting

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 Figure 8. Working Hours Each Week

This poll is entitled “​Average Working Hours of an Accountant per Week”​ . 100% of the

population of accountants were working 46 up to 50 hours each week. It is almost equivalent of 8

hours in 6 days per week. These period does not include the overtime and take home works of an

accountant.

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 Figure 9. Accountants with Secondary Source of Income

This poll is entitled “​Population of Accountants with Secondary Source of Income”​ . 60%

of the population of accountants has no secondary source of income. It is because accounting

processes took a long hours to be done and accountants were being stressful especially during

deadline. 40% of the population of accountants has secondary source of income. These

accountants are those who has no enough income for their family and who work under the sector

of academe and public accounting.

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 Figure 10. Accountants Satisfaction Rate

This poll is entitled “​Being an Accountant Satisfaction Rate”​ . In the poll conducted, the

respondents rate it from ‘5’ to ‘1’ where ‘5’ is the highest rating and ‘1’ is the lowest rating. 60%

of the population of accountancy students rate their satisfaction ‘4’ as being an accountant. 40%

of the population of accountancy students rate their satisfaction ‘3’ as being an accountant.

The Open-ended Questions : Accountants

The following questions will be answered after the questions stated:

1. What made you decided to choose accountant as your career?

2. What skills and talents are required for this career? Why?

3. What are the required qualifications for this career? Degree? Training?

4. What are the benefits that you receive? Insurance? Bonuses? Holidays?

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 5. What do you do everyday as an accountant?

6. What companies have you ever worked for as an accountant? How many years did you
work in each company?

7. What is the most difficult portion of being an accountant? Why?

8. Do you consider any accounting-related jobs difficult? Why?

9. Do the company offer you a retirement plan? Why?

10. What do you recommend a person like me to get similar job?

Reasons Why an Accountant Chose this Career

There are two reasons why accountants chose the career that they have now. Most

accountants chose this path because they consider their family’s desired job for them and

someone from their family is already an accountant. Some accountants see the opportunity that it

can give to them and to their family such as easy employment and high salary.

Skills Needed of an Accountant

Almost all accountants said that an accountant should possess basic mathematical and

analytical skill to survive basic and complex accounting standards. Some accountants said that an

accountant should be patient and hardworking since difficulties are always present in this kind of

job and processes are way too long to commit a single mistake.

Educational Requirements

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 All accountants took Bachelor of Science in Accountancy when they were in college

within 4 to 5 years. Some accountants took the CPA Board Exam for them to be licensed and get

more designation and opportunities. Before taking CPA Board Exam, most of them were

enrolled in a review center but few students only passed the exam. Most of the accountants took

how many years to pass the exam.

Benefits of an Accountant

The only benefits most of the accountants have ever received are mandatory government

benefits like 13th month pay, leaves and other bonuses. Benefits depends on a company because

every company has its own policies regarding of giving some benefits.

Daily Life of an Accountant

Normally, accountants are doing accounting cycle in daily basis. Some accountants are

checking daily reports, budget and any other updates about the financial status of the company

and the new BIR Regulations and Circulars.

Workplace of an Accountant

Most of the accountants are working in banks and companies. Several accountants can be

found inside of Department of Finance and business district such as Cubao Business District,

Bonifacio Global City and Makati Central Business District. Some companies they have worked

before are Network Consolidated Cooperative Bank, Eco Hotels Philippines, VEPCO Group

Distribution Corporation and Bureau of Internal Revenue.

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Most Difficult Portions of Being an Accountant

One of the most difficult part of being an accountant as pointed out by accountants is

having wrong entries because even a one mistake takes a lot of things to change. Some

accountants pointed out that they have a problem of sleep because there are times that

accountants are not yet done and the deadline is nearly approaching.

Accounting Jobs Difficulty

All accountants are saying accounting is difficult because of the complex and changing

accounting standards. They are keep on telling that these challenges hone them to be a good

accountant. But then, some accountants are saying that being an accountant is not really difficult

if you prepare yourself and surround yourself with proper guidance and right knowledge to learn.

Retirement Plan for Accountants

Only few accountants received a retirement plan because companies only give it to those

accountants who have worked for long period of time and who give success to the company.

Recommendations for Incoming Accountancy Students

All accountants’ advices to aspiring accountants are the following: (1) make sure that

their decision is already final, (2) be firm on every decision no matter what it takes, (3) be

prepared and knowledgeable, (4) study hard, and (5) enjoy the journey of being an aspiring

accountant.

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 CHAPTER IV

Summary and Conclusion

Summary

This career research paper is entitled “​An Eye for Aspiring Accountants”​ which is written

for students who will take accountancy in college and who wants to be an accountant in the

future. Qualitative research is the research design used in this paper chosen by the researcher. It

is a descriptive type of research whereas data will be in words and not in numbers. This type of

research design allows the researcher to gain opinions from accountancy students and

accountants. This paper will help them to overview some insights about being an accountancy

student, and being an accountant. Based on the results gathered, most of the students took

Bachelor of Science (BS) in Accountancy because their family advised it to them. They thought

that this would be the way on being an accountant. Accountancy is not their really 1st choice

course. Accountancy mostly placed at their 2nd or 3rd choice course and some students never

thought to take this at the first place. Accountancy mostly costs of less than P20,001.00 per

semester in state universities like Polytechnic University of the Philippines and P20,001 up to

P40,000 per semester in colleges like National Business in Business and Arts. Accountancy

students really driven on solving accounting problems and even though this path is difficult, they

never give up because they have their friends who feel the same atmosphere in the world of

accounting. If ever they failed this course, they have a plan to take BS in Accounting Technology

or Business Administration - Major in Finance. After graduating, all students have plans to enroll

33
in a Review Center before taking CPA Board Exam. They were looking forward to be relaxed

and fully equipped before taking the exam. Only some students planned to pursue higher study in

this field and most of them were planning to work at the sector of public accounting, commerce

and industry, and government accounting. For accountants, they chose this career because of

their family as well. Most of them employed at the sector of public accounting, commerce and

industry, and government accounting. They earn less than P20,001 and some earns P20,001 up to

P40,000. Due to the long hours of work, most of them has no any sideline job. All of them are

still receiving 13th month pay but only some receives a retirement plan. Both accountancy

students and accountants suggested to all aspiring accountants the following advices: (1) make

sure that their decision is already final, (2) be firm on every decision no matter what it takes, (3)

be prepared and knowledgeable, (4) study hard, and (5) enjoy the journey of being an aspiring

accountants.

Conclusion

Based on the gathered information, being an accountant is a tough career. It takes a

plenty of books to learn accounting theories, policies and standards. Problems are complicated

and many students have been already tricked. Standards are also dynamic and changing policies

lead accountants to review for updates. Despite of the high difficulty in this career, accountants

are fortunate to get a job easily because of the wide scope of this career in business.

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 CHAPTER V

Recommendation

After conducting this research, the researcher suggests the following advices to the future

researchers who are planning to conduct same topic:

1. Get a larger number of respondents to make a poll more credible.

2. Respondents might be extended in different areas in the Philippines such as provinces

outside National Capital Region, Visayas, and Mindanao.

3. Respondents might be came from outside of the Philippines to view some points in other

countries.

4. Choose a specific accounting job from different accounting practices such as Forensic

Accountant, Senior Accountant, Chief Financial Officer and Accounting Teacher.

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