College SA - A Career in Finances

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A Career in Finances

Today's economic world is an uncertain place. More than ever, companies are seeking qualified finance professionals to join their teams - to help secure the financial future of their corporation. If you are seeking a career in a financial field, you should start looking at our financial qualifications. Whether you are looking to make a fresh start in your finance career, or you are just exploring some new financial job opportunities, let us show you the possibilities!

Where can you work?

You can work either in a company’s accounting department or in an accounting firm. Accounting firms and departments are typically broken up into individual departments. Each department is responsible for a specific accounting function.

Accounting firm

Accounting organisations consist of several individuals who provide financial services in the business environment. Many independent accounting firms operate as partnerships. This allows several individuals to work as a team and make business decisions in the organisation.

It is also possible to work as a freelancer or to open your own small business by offering bookkeeping or financial administrative services.

Accounting department

Accounting departments generally operate under a tall structure where the chief financial officer or controller makes decisions. The structure usually includes the following functional lines:

· Accounts Payable deal with suppliers.

· Accounts Receivable deal with customers or clients.

· Payroll deals with salaries, wages and all related deductions.

· Final Accounts deal with general ledgers, adjustments, monthly closure of accounts, etc.

· Petty cash handles small amounts of cash as defined by company policy.

· Fixed Asset Management handles fixed asset management as the name indicates.

· Bank Reconciliation has the function of reconciling bank accounts with your payables.

· Budgeting implies maintain a good short and long-range financial plan to control cash flow.

A small company may have one person performing more than one (sometimes all) of these functions. In this case, there needs to be financial controls to reduce the probability of theft or embezzlement.

In a large company, there could be many people working in one functional area, and in that case that function might be broken up into smaller components. In most organisations, Payroll is a sub-unit in HR.

Want more information about the role of a Finance Department? Click Here!

Most companies – depending on the size – have a finance department that looks like this:

Financial

For more information on each function, simply click on the title to read more about that position.

Financial Qualifications

At College SA we offer the following qualifications from Professional Institutes:

ICB Full Qualifications

Career path

ICB Short Courses

Career path

CIMA Management Accounting

Career path

CCSA (ICSA) Professional Qualifications

Career path

Pastel Computerised Bookkeeping

Career path

ACCA Studies

Career path

Entrance Requirements

The good news is that everyone can enter the financial sector. You don’t need a degree or years of experience to start your career in finances. You can start at the bottom and work your way up – gaining qualifications through distance learning while you work.

Even without a Matric certificate you can enrol for some of our programmes, earning credits to qualify for higher level qualifications. For example, with a Grade 10 qualification and no prior knowledge of accounting, you can enrol on some of the ICB programmes.

To view each qualification’s entry requirements, please visit http://www.collegesa.co.za/courses.html.