Accounting is present pretty much everywhere since every financial entity be it public or private will need accountants to help manage their finances and their financial strategy.
If you're considering becoming an accountant, you'll likely want to know where you can work and what you can earn. Luckily for you and accountants, their average salary ($92,000) is much higher than the national average (somewhere between $56,000 and $70,000).
However, becoming an accountant isn't the easiest thing in the world and most of the highest-paying roles and designations often come with a lot of prerequisites. You need a lot of work and academic experience to become most kinds of accountant.
The Chartered Accountant designation is arguably what you need to aim for if you want to maximise your earning potential, though there's further training and professional development available after that.
To get it, you'll need to meet the requirements set by Chartered Accountants Australia New Zealand (CA ANZ) and then complete their accounting training program.
Upon successful completion of the program, you'll be given the Chartered Accountant (CA) designation and also membership to CA ANZ
After the better part of a decade studying and training to become an accountant, you can start looking for work and begin your accounting career.
Work For One Of The Big Four Accounting Firms
The Big Four is the name given to the world's four largest accounting firms and they dominate the world of accounting no matter where you are. Three of the Big Four (Deloitte, Ernst & Young, and PricewaterhouseCoopers) are British and one (KPMG) is Dutch but they're all pretty much huge multinationals by this point with offices all over the world, including New Zealand.
The companies act as a network rather than single firms and are managed independently of one another and any accountant with the best accounting qualifications should be looking to join one of the Big Four.
They generally offer services like auditing, transaction advice, taxation, risk consulting, and forensic accounting and if you look to join them, you'll likely earn one of the more competitive accounting salaries.
Working as an Accountant for Banks and Financial Institutions
Whether you're a chartered accountant or hold another professional or academic qualification, you should be able to work for banks and financial institutions within New Zealand.
Banks and accounting naturally go hand in hand and there are a good number of professional roles for accountants with the right skills, qualifications, and experience.
Working as a bank manager isn't necessarily a dedicated accounting role, but there are a lot of accounting-adjacent skills required. This role is likely more public-facing, especially in smaller branches, so you'll be expected to maintain high standards of customer service while also understanding how accounting, reporting, and financial analysis all work, too.
You could work for one of the major banks as a financial analyst to provide customers with advice on the best ways to invest their money. For this kind of role, you'll need to understand government regulations and keep your ear close to the ground for investment opportunities while also deciphering lots of information for financial reports, projections, and audits.
Financial managers are in charge of a bank's financial data and putting together financial statements. Their job is to minimise costs and losses, maximise the profitability of a bank's investments, and make sure that everything the bank does is nice and legal.
A treasury analyst monitors cash flow, income, credit liability, and the bank's financial assets. They are in charge of bookkeeping and accounts while also creating budgeting plans and forecasting.
Working as an Accountant in the Entertainment Industry
Where there's money, there's a need for accountants and the entertainment industry is no exception. An entertainment production accountant, for example, has to deal with the budgets for media productions such as movies, TV shows, or concerts.
They have to make sure that all the money is correctly handled and that the expenses are monitored while respecting the budgets for the production or show.
You could also work as a financial advisor to a performer. You could advise them on the wisest ways to spend their money while also finding them legal ways to get the most out of their tax.
Due to the nature of the entertainment industry, it'll take a lot of hard work and a healthy helping of luck, but financial advisors to stars are often paid a percentage of their client's earnings.
Work as an Accountant for the Government
The government has money and it needs accountants to manage it so you could use your accounting qualification or chartered accountant designation to land you a role working for the New Zealand government.
Almost every department of the government needs an accountant but also every department ultimately has its budget managed by the treasury.
You could work as a financial accountant for various branches or departments within the government to keep accounts well-managed and squeaky clean.
Work for Yourself as an Accountant
You can always work for yourself as an accountant and for some of the roles we've already mentioned, that's how you have to do it. You can become self-employed and specialise in tax accounting for individuals and companies that need to declare their earnings and complete tax returns.
Tax accountants need to be au fait with current regulations, watch over their clients' accounts, and make sure that they're making all the appropriate tax payments that they're legally obliged to.
This is particularly important during the "tax season" when annual tax returns are due. This is when tax accountants earn most of their money but it's also the time of the year when they work the hardest and are required to put in a lot of hours for their clients' tax returns.
You could also work in auditing accounting, a fast-growing accountancy specialisation that many self-employed accountants are turning to. Generally, you'll work for companies and corporations, but you can also have smaller businesses on the books. This job includes keeping everything above board in the event a company is audited by the government.
You'll have to be up-to-date with all the relevant standards and practices, review financial records, and advise your clients on how to conform to any relevant regulations. In the event your client is audited, you'll also need to advise them on how to proceed and the best ways to make the process run as smoothly as possible.
Finding Work as an Accountant
The accounting sector is one of the best places to be looking for work since the New Zealand government considers it to be an area with a skills shortage. Since accountant is on Immigration New Zealand's regional skill shortage list, the government is encouraging international workers to work as accountants.
Australian accountants probably have it the easiest since the Chartered Accountant designation given to accountants from both Australia and New Zealand is issued by Chartered Accountants Australia New Zealand (CA ANZ) and is recognised in both countries.
However, CA ANZ can also recognise international chartered accountants from almost any other country, too, though they will need to go through the process of having their designation recognised and applying for membership to CA ANZ.
In the meantime, companies and the government are in need of accountants so if you're thinking about going to university to study accounting, about to start your chartered accountant program, or looking for work, it shouldn't be that hard to land accounting roles that also pay quite well.
After all, supply and demand will help accountants to command a higher salary, especially if companies are struggling to find people with the right skills.
It isn't easy becoming an accountant, though, which is why there are probably too few people doing it. If you decide to study and train to work in an accounting role, don't forget that there are plenty of private tutors out there who can help you with your studies.
There are tutors for almost any subject you can think of as well as study skills to help you with tricky university or CA ANZ exams. A quick search on the Superprof website will point you in the right direction for both face-to-face and online tutors so even if there aren't any local tutors out there who can help you, you can always get support tutors elsewhere in New Zealand or from anywhere in the world.
You'll see that online tutors usually charge less than face-to-face tutors, but this doesn't mean that the latter is necessarily better. This is normally because they don't have to travel to their student's homes and can schedule more sessions each week, making them an affordable option for accounting students on a budget!
Many offer the first session for free so try a few out before you opt for the perfect accounting tutor.
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