How are future accountants trained today? What should a modern accountant be like? What knowledge and skills do you need to have to succeed in this profession? These and other questions from the edu.site were answered by the head of the Department of Accounting in commercial organizations"Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, Chairman of the Educational and Methodological Council of Russian Universities in the specialty "Accounting, Analysis and Audit", Doctor of Economics Viktor Grigorievich Getman.
ConsultantPlus: Nowadays they often talk about an overabundance of economic specialists. There is even an opinion that the accounting profession will not be in demand in the future and will disappear. What do you say to this? What are the prospects for students studying in the specialty "Accounting, Analysis and Audit"?
Viktor Grigorievich Getman: During the transition of our country from a planned to a market model of the economy, serious changes occurred in the choice of profession by young people. Competition in universities for technical specialties has dropped sharply. Many school graduates began to give preference to economic specialties. As a result, in last years The Russian government was forced to take a number of measures aimed at increasing the interest of school graduates in enrolling in universities for technical specialties. These measures are understandable under the current conditions. However, in our opinion, it is too early to talk about an overabundance of economists in the country, since there are still many citizens, even among entrepreneurs, who do not have an economic education.
As for the accounting profession, it has existed for many hundreds of years and will be in demand in the future, since society, by definition, cannot do without it. The assertion of individuals that it will supposedly disappear in the future should be taken as nothing more than a joke. Currently, the accounting profession is one of the most numerous in our country. According to various estimates, there are 5-6 million accountants. As a rule, there are no accountants among the unemployed registered at employment centers. Therefore, the prospects for students studying in this specialty are very positive in terms of employment. And their wages are often at the proper level.
ConsultantPlus: Tell us a little about the accounting profession. Many people think that it is boring, routine, that it is endless numbers, monotonous operations. But is it? What is this profession actually? What does it give to a person? What career opportunities might this open up?
V.G. Getman: Any profession, or rather, if not all, then the vast majority of them, includes two parts of work: routine and creative. The first is regularly repeating types of operations/work/processes performed by an employee day after day. And the second - in which there is a creative beginning for him. Moreover, the lower the worker’s qualifications, the more, other things being equal, he will have more than the first type of work and less than the second. Is no exception to this general rule and the profession of an accountant (ordinary accountant, senior accountant, head of a group/accounting department, deputy chief accountant, chief accountant). The introduction of IT technologies makes fundamental changes to the content of an accountant’s work. Large share routine work is transferred to the shoulders of personal computers and other computer technology. As a result, accountants have more time for creative work (summarizing and analyzing the results obtained, searching for unused reserves, developing proposals for their implementation, providing this information to management, etc.). All this, among other things, serves as an important basis for moving forward career ladder.
Students should remember that a well-trained accountant at a university can, in practice, without much additional effort, perform the work of any other economist at the proper professional level. Moreover, history knows many examples when leaders large companies, and in in some cases and entire states (for example, in France, etc.) had higher professional education in area accounting.
ConsultantPlus: What, in your opinion, should a modern accountant be like? What should he know, be able to do, what should he strive for?
V.G. Getman: A modern accountant must be a highly erudite specialist. He must have a systematic understanding of the structure and development trends of the Russian and world economies; understand diversity economic processes V modern world, their connection with other processes occurring in society; possess all the skills, knowledge and abilities required in the accounting profession. In the context of economic globalization, his professional skills must be at the level of the requirements established International Federation accountants (MFB). The modern professional accountant is a manager high class. His functions, figuratively speaking, are akin to the functions of a pilot on a ship. Thoroughly knowing the state of the economy at the enterprise, perhaps like no one else, he, like the pilot, must plot the correct course for the company to move forward, offering the latter to the captain, i.e. the head of the enterprise/organization.
ConsultantPlus: Please explain, at your department do you train exclusively accountants or general economists? What are the specifics of training specialists at your department?
V.G. Getman: We train not only accountants, but also economists in all other profiles and areas available at the Financial University. The department, which is now called “Accounting in Commercial Organizations,” employs teachers who, as a rule, have not only academic degrees and titles, but also experience practical work by specialty at enterprises/organizations. Among the teachers, more than 15 people are doctors of economic sciences and professors. We teach students in the department's disciplines using advanced educational technologies. Textbooks have been developed and published for all major disciplines/ teaching aids, the authors of which are teachers of the department. Every year we also publish a lot scientific works. Thus, in 2013 alone, 19 textbooks and teaching aids, 16 monographs, and 287 scientific articles were published. All these materials are actively used in the educational process.
In 2013, the Financial University received the right to train students according to its own curriculum. As a result, we have the opportunity to avoid the shortcomings inherent in the universal Federal State Educational Standards for Higher Professional Education (federal state educational standards for higher professional education), according to which we taught previously.
One of the peculiarities of teaching students at the Financial University is that here, in addition to training specialists and bachelors, the training of masters is quite widely developed. Moreover, the latter are trained according to own programs. There are 4 such programs in our department alone.
ConsultantPlus: Is it possible to become an accountant after completing accounting courses?
V.G. Getman: Persons who have completed full-fledged (and not just any, by the way) accounting courses receive only initial vocational education. It gives them the opportunity to work as accountants, usually only in small enterprises. However, after working for a short time, most of them strive to enter a university, because they feel the need to improve their professional skills and the lack of previously acquired specialized knowledge in these courses.
ConsultantPlus: Is it really necessary for students who want to work in accounting to spend several years getting a higher education?
V.G. Getman: Yes, it is necessary, world experience shows this. In universities in many countries, the training period for accountants is 5-6 years, incl. in bachelor's programs 3-4 years (usually 4 years), and in master's programs - plus another 2-3 years (often 2 years). This number of years of study at a university is necessary for students to acquire during this period the level of professional knowledge and skills established by the International Federation of Accountants. Note that the Institute of Professional Accountants of Russia (IPB Russia) is also a member of it.
Moreover, professional accountants, in accordance with international and domestic requirements, are required to regularly improve their qualifications, i.e., to put it figuratively, they must learn throughout their lives.
ConsultantPlus: How do you see the current student studying in the specialty "Accounting, Analysis and Audit"? Are there any differences between modern students and students of yesteryear and how are they expressed?
V.G. Getman: The bulk of applicants now entering the university have a higher level of knowledge in the field of IT technologies than their predecessors, but at the same time, many of them are noticeably inferior in terms of general level preparation. As a result, universities often have to provide them with additional classes in mathematics, foreign languages and other subjects.
In the current student environment, the spirit of collectivism and commitment to a specific ideology has become less evident. At the same time, the manifestation of commercial features and started.
ConsultantPlus: Do you track the fate of your graduates? Is there any data on how many of your former students work in their specialty and in what areas? How in demand are your graduates in the labor market today?
V.G. Getman: The Financial University has a special structure that monitors the fate of graduates. The latter, as a rule, work in their specialty in large and medium-sized companies in various industries. The overwhelming majority of senior students (more than 80%) begin working in their specialty while still studying at the university. We do not experience any problems with the employment of graduates. The quality of their professional training at the Financial University allows graduates to be in demand in the labor market. Our graduates were not among the registered unemployed before, nor are they now.
ConsultantPlus: What is your attitude towards modern information technologies? What do you think awaits economic Education in the future, will it be swallowed up by IT technologies?
V.G. Getman: The attitude is most positive. If we talk, for example, about a modern accountant, then he must have knowledge in the field of accounting information systems and have the skills to put into practice at least two packages application programs and also be able to use modern systems management based on computer technology.
In our opinion, there is no reason to believe that IT technologies will absorb economic education in the future. The teacher has always been and will remain the most important link in the education system. This is evidenced by current practice distance learning students, in which, as is known, IT technologies are widely used.
ConsultantPlus: How important is it for future specialists to study specialized computer programs?
V.G. Getman: This is extremely necessary, since ignorance of them sharply reduces the competitiveness of a graduate in the labor market.
ConsultantPlus: Should your graduate know and be able to use, for example, reference books legal systems and why?
V.G. Getman: Not only must, but must know them and be able to use them, since they are a very powerful information tool for users (including accountants) when choosing options for solving practical problems or making professional judgments. Now it is difficult to find an organization/enterprise/institution that does not have ConsultantPlus or other legal reference systems.
This storehouse of information is also actively used by students, graduate students, and researchers. It serves as an irreplaceable and very convenient source for teachers involved in training students, and especially economists.
ConsultantPlus: What advice do you have for students wanting to build a career in accounting?
V.G. Getman: Try to make the most of your time studying at university to gain professional knowledge and skills that will be required in your future job.
ConsultantPlus: What disciplines should students now place special emphasis on studying?
V.G. Getman: This question in Lately acquired a special poignancy. The fact is that the Federal State Educational Standard of the 3rd generation in the direction of "Economics" (bachelor level), unfortunately, does not indicate a list of professional qualifications that must be studied. academic disciplines. This had a negative impact in a number of universities.
Meanwhile, reverse processes are occurring in the world. In particular, international standardization education of professional accountants. IFAC has developed a whole system educational standards for these specialists. One of them, namely IES-2 “Content of Professional Accounting Education Programs,” quite clearly indicates the list of academic disciplines that these specialists should have knowledge of.
Students will certainly benefit from analyzing the content curriculum training of accountants used in their university.
As for the academic disciplines that students should now place special emphasis on, we include: principles of accounting (accounting theory), financial accounting and reporting, management accounting and control, taxation, international accounting standards and financial statements, law, audit, finance and financial management, foreign language (preferably English), IT technologies, management and strategic decision-making, international business and globalization problems, business analysis.
ConsultantPlus: What literature should students read?
V.G. Getman: First of all, textbooks and teaching aids that have a stamp (i.e., recommended in in the prescribed manner for students) in the disciplines studied; professional journals (domestic and preferably foreign); monographs on problems of accounting, analysis and audit.
ConsultantPlus: Which prominent figures economic science and practices should students navigate?
V.G. Getman: Many scientists and practitioners made a significant contribution to the formation and development of economic science in general and accounting in particular. Therefore, I will not highlight individual of them, but will advise students to read textbooks/teaching aids “History economic studies" and "History of the development of accounting" and choose your own idols.
What will the accounting of the future be like? I see her quite clearly. But before I present my visions, let's agree on the necessary conventions:
- firstly, it assumes exclusively non-cash money circulation. Does anyone have any doubts that cashless transactions will sooner or later replace cash?
- secondly, the widespread use of computer technology is assumed,
- thirdly, I omit the complexities of implementation and use, including technical, geographical and political, and consider only the methodological consequences of computer accounting.
What will she be like? What does the future hold for accountants?
Registration of transactions
Need I say that accounting will become completely computer-based?! Completely means in this case completely, and not a quarter or half, as now.
Fully computerized accounting is accounting:
- First of all, without paper documentation. Because – what kind of paper documentation does computer accounting require?! It's funny to even talk about it. Only electronic documents - in the form of records in databases - and no paper;
- accounting, in which a transaction is considered completed at the moment of its electronic registration.
Let us dwell on the second in more detail: the point is unusual, but extremely important for understanding the future accounting methodology.
If we abandon paper documentation, how should transactions be recorded? By using electronic documents, of course, which actually means: records in registration databases. In paper-based records management, a document is first drawn up indicating the transaction has been completed, then the document is registered in the database. With electronic records management, there is no paper document: the very fact of registration in the database - certified, of course, by the appropriate digital signatures - is evidence of the transaction. Now, if we want to receive a paper document in our hands, we can print it out, but the confirmation of the transaction will not be paper, as before, but the corresponding entry in the database. The difference is obvious and huge.
Just don’t say that a transaction cannot always be registered electronically: we agreed in advance about the abundance of technology, by which we mean:
- computers,
- where the use of computers is impractical, special terminals are used.
Firm employees make transactions using computers.
What is a deal? A transaction, if we ignore the legal side of the issue, is a certain economic action carried out by mutual agreement of the parties. For automated registration transaction requires identification of the parties and confirmation of their mutual consent. Another standard contract, of course, without it no automation is possible: it’s impossible to imagine an automatic machine with an unlimited set of functions?! This means it's about freedom entrepreneurial activity you will have to forget: the list of possible business transactions will be as wide as possible, but limited.
There are many employees at the enterprise, each with their own rights and responsibilities. Obviously, within the framework of general office work, it will be necessary to establish the rights and obligations of each of the employees: in the aspects that interest us, this is just the opportunity to dispose of certain material assets. Thus, in addition to identification, when making a transaction, the rights of the enterprise employee to perform a particular business transaction must be confirmed. This is not news for IT specialists, of course.
This concerns the functioning of enterprises. And ordinary citizens will be able, in addition to computers, to use terminals to make transactions. You enter the store, select purchases, after which the terminal identifies you, identifies the purchases and debits the appropriate amount from your account. Nothing beyond the capabilities of modern electronic technology - I'm afraid it's even too banal.
Collation
To complete a transaction, you must express your will, but there is no need to register anything, since only the act of registration - and not anything else, in particular not a paper document - indicates that the transaction has been completed.
Once again: the parties express their will, and the transaction is completed by registering a standard business transaction in the database. Think about some accounting entries no more is needed than when using a modern ATM: the data structure and record types are built into the computer program in which registration takes place, and users (not only individuals, but also enterprises) are freed from getting to know the software once and for all.
What does this lead to? There are two obvious consequences:
- first, since we agreed to ignore geographical and political factors, the software should be standard,
- second, for the same reasons, the database must be unified. Shouldn’t we maintain databases separately for each enterprise, really?!
Under these conditions, amazing collation possibilities emerge. This term, rarely used in accounting, refers to the simultaneous and consistent recording of a transaction by all parties involved. Currently, collation in accounting is not observed due to incompatible software and alternative ways accounting practiced by various persons. It is not observed for nothing, but with significance: discrepancies in data in the accounting systems of the parties often cover up unseemly financial fraud. Everyone knows what fictitious companies – existing only in the imagination – are and what they are used for. So, the automatic registration of transactions inherent in computer accounting makes it possible to achieve one hundred percent collection, and this promises accounting departments unprecedented control functions, in relation to material assets in particular.
Imagine that a company has received contraband goods and wants to sell it. But as? To receive money for a product, you must officially own the product (provided that the buyer wants to receive the product legally): the accounting system will not be able to register the sale of a product that, according to official data, is not available. But it will not be possible to issue a fictitious invoice, supposedly the goods were received from a company that in reality does not exist, if the principle of collation is observed. You can register a company specifically for this purpose, but where will the fictitious company get its goods? Obviously, it can only be obtained from the seller who actually possesses this product: he produced it himself or purchased it from a real seller. Ultimately, everything comes down to the manufacturer of the goods, with whom it will not be possible to agree on a non-existent purchase of goods, which are actually smuggled, for the reason that the manufacturer purchases a certain number of materials from which he produces the goods: the manufacturer, even if he wants, cannot sell more goods, what materials you purchased - the accounting system will not allow it. In this sense, only extractive enterprises have some possibilities of manipulation, which, without purchasing extracted resources from anyone, can “extract” any amount of them “from nature.” But this is unlikely to help our original enterprise, the seller of smuggled goods: a transaction for the sale of smuggled goods will not be able to be registered, just as it will not be possible to register a transaction for its purchase. Collation - and, more broadly, universal and unified computer accounting - destroys smuggling in the bud.
Yes, I know that you can transfer smuggled goods from hand to hand, and receive money, let’s say, for consulting or intermediary services. To stop this possibility, it is necessary to improve civil legislation, which allows you to pay any amount for literally nothing, without any “material” justification. However, I remind you: the conditions of the problem assumed that the buyer of the goods wants to receive a legal product, with an accompanying registration record, and not just a material shell.
The control capabilities of collation are far from exhausted by this: with proper accounting setup, unsecured transactions are simply not registered!
By unsecured I mean obligations that are not based on anything. For example, you promise to give a million rubles in a week, but you don’t have any money. soon not expected. How to check that there is no money at the moment, it is clear - by the balance in the bank account - but how to check that the money is not expected in the near future? For other obligations. What does "expected within a week" mean? Only that you are a creditor of a person or business who has committed to transfer you a certain amount by the end of the week. If the named amount is a million rubles, that is, by the end of the week a million rubles must be transferred to you, then after a week - but not earlier - you have the right to promise this million to someone, otherwise the transaction will not be registered. Transactions involving the occurrence of obligations are registered depending on whether the debtor will have the required amount at the time of the expected payment.
I understand that for IT specialists my reasoning sounds alien and unconvincing, but I assure you that we are talking - neither more nor less - about automatic bankruptcy prevention. No one will be able to undertake an obligation if, at the expected time of fulfillment of the obligation, does not have (should not have) the required amount or necessary things. However, the system cannot provide for emergency incidents and natural disasters leading to loss of valuables. The company had something material and owed it, but due to the earthquake the valuables were destroyed, as a result of which the debt was not repaid. But malicious obligations - the possibility of promising something obviously impossible - will be completely excluded.
Consequences
The consequences of true computerization of accounting are easy to calculate. The main one is that the need for accountants in their current understanding will disappear due to the disappearance of the following accounting functions:
- write out paper documents and register documents in computer databases. This has been said;
- prepare accounting reports. What other reports are there when records are kept in a single database?! Go to the database and, if you have the appropriate rights, generate a request. Asking someone to create an accounting report is as illogical as hiring a special person to Google. Even if someone came up with such an idea, drawing up an accounting report will take exactly one second, required to press a button - the entries in the database are standard, and accordingly the algorithm for drawing up an accounting report is also standard;
- understand accounting regulations. Actually, there will be no standard left: who needs it with universal computer accounting - the few developers of standard accounting software and specialists in setting up terminals?
That's right: computer accounting denies accountants, just as automatic turnstiles deny ticket takers. In a fully computerized society, there will be no accountants, as well as auditors and tax specialists associated with their existence. Due to the extinction of accountants, auditors will have no one to audit; representatives of tax services will also find themselves out of work due to the fact that taxes will be calculated and collected automatically when conducting monetary transactions. Which, I note, is the only correct and possible solution with automatic entry of registration records: the parties agree on a transaction, and accordingly they are collected in favor of the state - automatically, based on algorithms built into the program! – taxes. It will be technically impossible for the taxpayer to make a mistake in calculating the tax or maliciously fail to transfer what is due.
This is what the accounting department of the future will be like – deserted and safe.
If modern accounting is not yet like this, it is not due to the lack of technical capabilities– no longer because of this! – and due to the availability huge number people who are vitally interested in using outdated methods, and more specifically, in their personal participation in it. Accountants, auditors, tax specialists - all of them will be left without work after the implementation of real computer accounting.
23.09.2016 20:02Come on? Many years ago I ended up in the accounting department of my native university. I walked from table to table with the receipt, the female accountants made some entries in their books and put notes on the receipt, and I thought: “But all this management can be replaced with one computer.” And then came these happy times. A computer on every desk, barcode scanners, electronic filing of reports and Internet banking, reconciliation and verification of counterparties and other amenities. And what? Even in offices mediocre The accounting staff is now no less than it once was at that university. And after all, everyone is busy. By the way, it’s the same story in the USA, I know what I’m talking about. A bunch of people who are honestly wasting time and effort on nothing, essentially. Well, I am with them.
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Anonymously
23.09.2016 22:14
Communism will come, you don’t need to keep records, I take as much as I want, I return it when I want. An accountant is engaged in streamlining all business transactions that occur during the operation of enterprises and institutions, otherwise there will be a house. Software makes the work of an accountant easier and allows you to quickly obtain any information, but is not an alternative to accounting as an engineer or teacher.
Anonymously
23.09.2016 20:43
An accountant is now a bridge between the state and business. The state wants to remove it and be the absolute owner, IMHO.
Anonymously
23.09.2016 20:49
Ha ha, the state has screwed everyone over again))))))
Anonymously
23.09.2016 20:49
Then cancel your obligations too
Anonymously
23.09.2016 21:00
Until the accountant enters accounting data, no technology will create a balance sheet, for example.
Anonymously
23.09.2016 21:11
The state wants to remove drivers by replacing them with autopilot... it wants to remove accountants through programs, etc.... from the outside it looks like an imitation of vigorous activity
Anonymously
23.09.2016 21:21
The profession of “lawyer” is also useless. To eliminate the human factor, it can be replaced with a computer robot.
Anonymously
23.09.2016 21:21
there are a lot of artificially supported professions, not only accountants, but they will most likely be replaced not by technology, but by a strong economic crisis, which will force them to reduce costs while such a crisis is not in sight
Anonymously
23.09.2016 21:40
Only an absolutely incompetent official who does not understand the essence of an accountant’s work (formation of an information array for decision-making) can make such statements. Accounting around the world has long been transformed, but accountants have not been abandoned anywhere, since information for management purposes has always been and will be necessary!
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Anonymously
23.09.2016 22:38
Maybe she has no idea about management accounting.
Anonymously
23.09.2016 23:13
I was involved in 1C programming, I can say that an accountant is only needed if there are tax evasion schemes, otherwise full automation is possible, there is nothing complicated in accounting.
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Anonymously
26.09.2016 16:12
Any complication of the system, and the introduction of MORE COMPLEX information technologies- this is undoubtedly a complication of the system, implying an increase in the number of its components. And the component in management systems is the performer, that is, a person with duties and responsibilities.
So employment will only increase. Both from developers and from users.
Remember how, in the pre-computer era, enterprises had a staff of accountants, and they were afraid that with the advent of computers they would all be laid off? And what is the result?
Having reduced the staff of accountants, they introduced a bunch of new cogs in the positions of programmers, technicians, lawyers, auditors and consultants. Add to this the employees of service offices - all sorts of equipment repairers, suppliers of consumables, Internet providers with their managers, engineers, technicians and (surprise!) the same accountants.
Anonymously
23.09.2016 23:14
Everything is moving towards automation; many professions will cease to exist.
The world is changing, and we need to change with it, and not hold on to a sinking ship when a new one has already been built nearby.
Anonymously
23.09.2016 23:36
Electronic accounting, electronic reporting, EGAIS, etc. The business will be transparent, to the point of indecency, everything will be under control.
Anonymously
23.09.2016 23:50
Yes, by the way, I also predicted and assumed that this profession would disappear from the market at some point.
Anonymously
24.09.2016 00:27
Another Manilovism. To throw dust in the eyes of the people or to curry favor at all sorts of forums - our officials know how to do this, and the high authorities love it.
Anonymously
24.09.2016 09:37
But it seems to me that the civil servant profession needs to be automated and eliminated. Only for some reason there are more and more of them.
Anonymously
24.09.2016 11:51
I once had a director who (well, very) had a low opinion of the position of “accountant”. I thought that this category of workers drank tea all day long, washed each other’s bones and spit on the ceiling. Somehow this “hard worker” wanted to keep up with the times and he demanded that he workplace equipped with a personal computer. No sooner said than done. He turned on the computer, but didn’t know what to do next. He calls the secretary and asks to show him a button on the keyboard that needs to be pressed so that the smart machine will give him an analysis. The secretary's eyes widened. What other analysis? - she asks the boss. Economic! - he answers. History is silent about the details of their further dialogue, but soon this director ordered to remove the smart machine from his desk, so as not to look like a complete idiot against its background.
Something tells me that First Deputy Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation Tatyana Nesterenko is from the same field.
Anonymously
19.10.2016 13:44
It's about O tax workers and small officials, it’s high time to remove them, and for 10 years I’ve been working on figuring out how to make the work of an accountant easier, and the state is making our work more and more difficult, before, for example, there were quarterly reports, but now there are monthly reports, there’s more and more work. I am an experienced accountant and advise our state to make one tax, like in Europe, ban reports and pay for us, i.e. The physicist transfers money for taxes, and the state writes it off. Until all taxes are abolished, guys, accountants are not going anywhere!
Anonymously
24.10.2016 14:35
Eight years ago we introduced “full” automation of non-cash payments. Bank documents are uploaded automatically, and then as many as four accountants check and process them. Well, we have a lot of payments, and for some reason there are always documents that do not fit into the program and you have to enter them manually, and the program itself does not assign entries, and cannot distinguish income from expenses, advances from payments, and unclear payments that require clarification , a lot of. And all this is not our fault, but the shortcomings of programmers, inconsistencies in legislation, mistakes of the bank and counterparties. And there is no end to this. And everything about the projects was so beautiful! As they say, it was smooth on paper, but they forgot about the ravines.
Judging by my texts on “Clerk,” you might think that I don’t like accountants, I think they are narrow-minded and lazy. In fact, it's quite the opposite: I consider accounting to be the most important office activity. It is the accounting system that supplies data for analysis to economists, financiers and other employees with beautiful titles on business cards.
It is difficult to imagine a more important and responsible job than that of an accountant - he forms the information basis for managing an organization. Without an accountant, the decision-making process is like searching for a long-lost black cat in a dark room. If he did his job poorly, then the decisions could be fatal for the organization.
Therefore, no matter what I write about professional qualities individual representatives of the profession, I am in love with the profession itself, and I get very upset when I hear from the high stands.Many would-be futurologists fantasize that in the near future accounting programs will begin to keep records themselves. These fantasies fall on fertile ground: replacing an accountant with a robot is the dream of many entrepreneurs.
The robot is cheaper, it doesn’t get sick, doesn’t make mistakes, and doesn’t leak information to competitors. However, there are reasons to doubt such forecasts. I regularly monitor the state of affairs in the industry. And I see no real reason for the sweet dreams of the guys from Skolkovo to become true for two reasons.
First reason- increasingly complex accounting standards, which are increasingly based on .
The second reason is that the current level of robotization of accounting is very far from the day of the rise of machines. The most technologically advanced development in the industry is recognizing the client’s scanned “primary” and organizing it into folders for further processing accountant. That is, the robot is an assistant to the least qualified accounting employee, whose functionality is easily algorithmized.
In addition to the above reasons not to believe in the total robotization of accounting, there is one more. Serious studies based on in-depth analysis of the labor market do not predict a decrease in the number of accountants in the foreseeable future. For example, the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Statistics publishes the Occupational Outlook Manual every two years, which projects absolute and relative employment growth in 325 occupations in 25 economic sectors for the 10 years ahead. The latest such study was released last year. The accounting profession is projected to grow by 10%, one of the highest rates among finance and business professions. However, this forecast only applies to qualified accountants.
For ordinary accountants who perform routine operations (bookkeepers), the prospects are not so rosy. A decrease in their number is predicted - precisely due to the automation of lower-level accounting processes.
Despite all my skepticism regarding the total robotization of accounting, I still admit that someday neural networks will be able to replace a qualified chief accountant. This day is still far away, but an honest analysis of your working functionality regarding the relationship between routine operations and activities that require non-standard solutions, will not be superfluous for any accountant.So far, any accounting program only works in the hands of an accountant. These hands are very different. Some try to play, others conduct. In the first one, we will definitely lose to the robots very soon. In the second there is a chance to flounder. And it’s not so much a matter of the degree of proficiency in the program. Much attitude is more important to their work, based on which we can distinguish three types of chief accountants: they are very different today, and the day after tomorrow the first two types may not remain.
1. Fighters against the system. Such chief accountants who have learned to more or less tolerably keep records and submit reports to the tax office, statistics, etc. But they are waging a constant and never-ending struggle with the enemy in the person of the regulatory authorities. These are people who have learned to turn on the X-ray machine, place their enterprise in front of it and take pictures - accounting registers and reporting. However, their pictures are not always of high quality, so they themselves cannot understand them and are constantly struggling with users who read them differently.
Such specialists usually confuse tax accounting with accounting, dealing in fact with the first, but projecting its rules onto the second. Because of this confusion, they have problems with both accounting and tax accounting.
These are the guys who recalculate the amounts for 1C in Excel, do not update the release so as not to remember the new location of the buttons, and believe that their main task is to submit all reports to all authorities on time. Such accountants mechanically follow the algorithms that are laid down in them by the Tax Code and their favorite accounting journal.They are the first candidates for departure when the robots attack.
2. System elements. These chief accountants know how to keep records in such a way that the tax inspectorate, state statistics bodies, auditors and other inspectors have no complaints about the results of their work. But they are not full-fledged accountants - they simply record events that have occurred.
Often, such chief accountants, when maintaining records, use methods that do not allow the use of its data to manage the enterprise. This is not always due to low qualifications - sometimes they simply simplify their work. Depreciation is strictly linear - it’s easier to combine tax accounting with accounting. Reserves are not created because the chief accountant supposedly does not see any signs of asset depreciation, but he understands perfectly well that PBU 18/02 will have to be applied, and this is extra labor costs.
Multiple indirect cost distribution bases? Estimated and contingent liabilities? I am begging you! They have learned to make good x-rays- the rest is not their concern. Having such an accounting system, it is difficult to explain what illness happened to the enterprise, much less cure it. A hundred shots a day will not resolve appendicitis.
Due to increasingly complex accounting standards, such specialists will still have to work - they, unlike the chief accountants-fighters, are able to master the new rules and again reduce the amount of their work to a minimum. But their prospects are second roles in the accounting departments of private companies, or the public sector - they don’t bother much about the efficiency of accounting.3. System builders- chief accountants who organize accounting so that it provides the data necessary for making management decisions.
Analytical accounting is organized in all necessary sections; the capabilities of modern accounting are used to the maximum: both methodological and software. If the owner needs to know what type of product he makes money on and what type he loses on, he will receive such information promptly and in full. If you need to understand whether procurement is being carried out effectively or equipment is being used, he will know about this too.
Accounting thus turns from a system that observes events taking place into a system that manages these events.
Such chief accountants are already full-fledged doctors who can take clear photographs, read them and identify the diseases of the enterprise. They are not afraid of robotization. On the contrary, by delegating routine operations to a robot, the accountant will be able to devote more time to the accounting architecture.To summarize: rumors about the imminent demise of the accounting profession are greatly exaggerated. But, of course, the profession is transforming. The role of an accountant will increasingly shift to the level of decision-making, which will no longer be executed by other accountants, but by artificial intelligence.
Based on materials from my posts on vc.ru: and.
GBOU Secondary School No. 995 Southern District Project: “Accountant - the profession of the present and future” Completed by Daria Lepanova Supervisor: A.N. Khrus, computer science teacher.
Brief description The accounting profession is one of the most in demand in the labor market. In any organization staffing table includes an accountant, and large organizations– even several, each of which is engaged in a specific area of work.
The work of an accountant is multifaceted: accounting of fixed assets, material assets, settlements with suppliers and customers, accrual wages, tax deductions, etc.
Responsible for the accuracy of record keeping and timeliness of reporting Chief Accountant. In small businesses, one accountant handles all accounting.
An accountant is a specialist who works on an accounting system in accordance with current legislation. His tasks: pay taxes on time and correctly, report to government agencies and the owners of the company, organize work with clients and partners of the organization, monitor financial condition enterprises and so on.
Advantages of the profession The profession of an accountant is in demand more than other professions. Accountants usually have regular working hours. Working as an accountant allows you to earn extra income by doing bookkeeping for small businesses. The accounting profession is prestigious: in enterprises, an accountant is one of the management personnel.
Cons of the profession High level liability: errors in financial accounting and taxation may result in criminal liability.
Place of work Any state organizations various industries economy: industry, construction, Agriculture, services sector. Small and medium-sized businesses. Financial organizations: tax inspectorates, insurance agencies, pension funds. Banks, investment funds.
Personal qualities: pedantry; responsibility; organization; high intellectual performance; developed logical thinking; independence; attention to detail; high concentration attention; analytical thinking; tendency to work with documentation and large amounts of information.
Career Beginning accountants work, as a rule, in one of the areas: payroll, or accounting for material assets, or deducting taxes. Career advancement: through the position of senior accountant to chief accountant of the enterprise.
An accountant's salary depends on several factors: education, work experience, the industry in which the accountant works, and the size of the company. The salary of a beginning accountant without work experience in Moscow is on average 20,000 rubles. 3-4 years of experience automatically doubles an accountant's salary.
The prestige of the university from which the accountant graduated also matters for remuneration: Academy of the Budget and Treasury of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, Financial Academy, Russian Economic Academy named after G.V. Plekhanov, graduate School economics are considered the most prestigious, and their graduates receive large salaries.
Knowledge foreign language And international standards financial reporting, new versions of computer programs for filing reports also contribute to an increase in salaries.
The highest paying sectors are oil and gas, construction, industry and trade. In a construction company, the salary of an accountant is on average 80,000 rubles.
Education In order to master the profession of an accountant, you must obtain a secondary or higher professional education. The profession of an accountant can also be obtained through special accounting courses. But in order to become a chief accountant, you must have a higher specialized education.
The future of the profession. Over the coming years, many employees will go beyond the profession, taking positions as auditors, financial directors etc. The demand for qualified accountants will only increase as the number of companies in the trading industry continues to increase.
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