Tag Archives: south africa

why futureblender?

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Being an accountant in South Africa is a great thing, you are an extremely qualified professional with technical and practical experience in various industries and areas of business. The world should be your oyster right? Well, yes and no.

There is indeed still a strong demand for qualified accountants, but mostly in traditional “pigeon holed” roles such as:

  • Financial/Group/Tax/Fund Accountant etc
  • Financial Manager/ Financial Controller
  • Audit Manager

If these traditional roles are exactly what you are looking for and why you became an accountant, then that’s great, these are very valid career paths that can be very rewarding and could lead to exciting career pivots down the line, so they are not to be discounted. But they can easily become a career trap if you are aiming for something more.

Additionally, if you are a non EE candidate in the South African market, even these traditional roles will be hard to get. Overseas there is the additional challenge of work permits and visas.

So If you were sold on the idea that an accounting qualification would be a solid, highly sought after broad business foundation that would open doors and enable you to leverage yourself into more exciting areas of business, then there is obviously a challenge to overcome.

This is the goal of futureblender, a site created for ambitious South African accountants with an alternative outlook on life and what they expect from their careers. Highly driven achievers that want to take control of their destinies, think outside the box and create a fulfilling future for themselves. We want to create a place that inspires and empowers, showcasing the exciting career possibilities that only an accounting qualification can offer.

This site is for accountants in all stages of their career – whether you’re still studying, busy doing your articles, newly qualified or an experienced professional looking to make a career change.

  • We will analyse all the various career paths available to accountants (traditional and alternative), giving advice how to get there.
  • We will feature compelling interviews with individuals who have been successful in achieving this, as well as featuring companies that support these paths.
  • You will find info on further training/qualifications that are helpful if not necessary add on’s to your accounting qualification.
  • Another big focus area is entrepreneurship, and we will be featuring loads of useful articles and guides on starting your own business, especially in the South African context.
  • For those of you that are keen on spreading your wings we will feature overseas opportunities for accountants, the locations that offer them and how to get there.

We are just starting out and are keen to grow our focus and ensure we best serve the needs of our readers. We have grand plans for futureblender, and see the end goal as being a vital connector between you the individual, and the opportunities out there that would realise your unique career aspirations.

We are therefore extremely keen to hear your feedback on what you most want out of futureblender, and how we can improve. Therefore please sign up to our newsletter and watch out for us on other forums such as Linkedin and Facebook soon. This way we can build this community together and really make a difference.

Cheers, Gideon

(futureblender was started by Gideon Kretschmer, a CA (SA) with broad experience in SA as well as abroad. Like you, Gideon is not content with being a career accountant, and is an ambitious and creative individual with alternative career goals. To find out more about Gideon, connect to him on Linkedin, or if you want to get in contact, see the contacts page)

why should i start my own business?

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“Why should I start my own business?” The question, particularly in the South African context, should rather be “Why not?”

Taking control of your own destiny, being your own boss, breaking free from the chains of the corporate world and building up some real long-term wealth are some of the main reasons people decide to do their own thing.

Before deciding to quit your day job and starting the next google or apple there are however some key things you need to ask yourself:

  1. Am I an entrepreneur – i.e. do I have the personality, risk appetite, perseverance and innovative & strategic leadership qualities necessary to be successful.
  2. Do I have a clear business idea & business plan that is realistic, profitable, sustainable and scalable?
  3. Do I have the necessary funds to bootstrap the business and sustain myself and my family for the foreseeable future? Or do I have clear feasible plans to obtain funding?
  4. Do I have the right partners with complementary skill sets needed to make the business successful? If not do I have plans to source those skills?
  5. Do I have the network connections needed to build the business? If not do I have plans to make the necessary connections?

Given the depressing statistic that on average 80% of all startups fail within 5 years, these are important questions to consider, because it will surely be a hard road ahead. Your new venture will most likely be all-consuming for quite a while, with new challenges arising on a daily basis. The potential rewards however are unlimited and for the right idea and individual it is definitely a worthwhile pursuit.

In a growing economy like South Africa there are countless opportunities and untapped markets. If you can just open yourself up to innovative and outside-the-box thinking the world could be your oyster. SME’s are the lifeblood of the local economy and a key answer to the questions of poverty and unemployment.

One example of a key growth area in South Africa is e-commerce – with the improvement in online connectivity and infrastructure, reduction in data cost, and the 30% projected annual growth rate in online retail, this is definitely an area to focus on. Online retail is already huge in the US, UK and Asia, and it is just a matter of time before we catch up. There is therefore still ample opportunities here to be first to market.

Many people however are just not natural entrepreneurs and are content with the structure and safety of a traditional corporate career. This is also a very rewarding path, both personally and financially, and the one most people follow. Entrepreneurship can also be found in the corporate career framework as your responsibilities increase and you start managing departments, teams, business lines etc. A managerial position also gives  you the opportunity to run your “own business” within the safe context of a salaried position.

That said, having an accounting qualification gives you the perfect business background and core skill set to be successful in your own venture. And especially when you are still young with less responsibilities and more innovative drive, it is the perfect time to consider starting your own thing, whether it be full-time or on the side. You need to ask yourself – “What is the real risk here? What will I really lose if this fails”. In most situations the worst case scenario is not as bad as you think.

In terms of career experience and CV development, being able to say that you started your own company (whether it was successful in the long run or not) makes you a much more interesting and desired candidate than one who has never taken a chance and been running the corporate treadmill all his life.

As we continue to grow futureblender, we will be featuring many more exciting articles on entrepreneurship and building your own business in the empire builder section.

In the meantime, head over to www.entrepreneurmag.co.za/. This is a great website with almost all the info and guidance you need to start your own business. The local version of the monthly “Entrepreneur” magazine is also a great read with loads of useful info.

traditional career paths – tax accountant

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Overview The tax accountant position is accountable for the collection of tax-related information, reporting to taxation authorities in a timely manner, and advising management on the tax impact of various corporate strategies. The tax accountants tax expertise of one jurisdiction e.g. South Africa usually limits to him to local roles, as each country’s tax legislation differs. This is however a highly sought after direction with great earnings potential if your good and passionate about tax.
Example of responsibilities
  • Completion of deferred tax calculations
  • Assistance with completion of tax calculations and tax returns
  • Assistance with responses to tax authorities on various tax queries
  • Assistance with managing the various tax advisors used by group companies
  • Completion of tax budgeting and planning calculations
  • Assistance with documenting and resolving tax issues
  • Assistance with tax planning
  • Assistance with Audit Committee tax reporting
Experience/ qualifications required
  • Qualified CA with post qualification experience, particularly in tax depending on role level and company
  • Post-graduate degree or diplomas in taxation will be advantageous.

 

what career do you want?

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We’ve all been there, career counselling sessions, introspection, decision time – who am I and what do I want to do with my life? This question first comes up in high school when you need to make subject selections, and then again when you’re heading to university/ college.

Most people still don’t have a clue what they want to do with their lives at this stage, so many settle for broad generic B.Comm degrees, with the plan to figure it out as they go along. If you we’re like me you also took a gap year after school to get to know yourself in the context of the real world, before getting serious with studies. Many people, have a clear idea of what they want to become from day one – whether it be a doctor, an engineer, an artist etc (like my sister – who studied medicine and became a doctor). For these lucky few their most likely career path is more clearly laid out from the start.

But this is not to say their careers won’t take them in various unplanned directions down the road, as we have to make clear that your career is an ever evolving animal, one that changes as you change and grow. Many engineers end up in banking, doctors end up doing their MBA and starting their own research practice etc. People are multi faceted with various talents and passions – I for example have a passion for music and the arts and is forever looking for ways to merge that interest with my professional career as a chartered accountant.

Getting back to accountants – deciding to study accounting (eg. B.Acc/Business Science) is one of those important life decisions that send you down a certain path. Whilst it is a strong broad business qualification, its strengths are in its focus on accounting, tax, audit and financial management, and these are the focus areas where most obvious opportunities lie down the road. This is an important point to be aware of.

If you were like me, you were sold on the idea that a CA qualification would be the strongest broad finance qualification that would open various doors and give you the competitive edge compared to the legions of generic B.comm candidates in the job market. It would give you a core skill set that is sought after and which you would be able to leverage into various areas of business and industry.

This is true, as being a CA does offer various challenging and rewarding career paths, both in SA and abroad. It is just that most of the opportunities, at least initially after qualifying, lie in the narrow focus areas of the qualification, i.e. audit, accounting, tax and financial management. For many this is great, because these are exactly their areas of interest and why they became a CA. And starting out in one of these areas does not mean you will be stuck there your whole career – as mentioned careers are fluid and ever-changing, and as you grow in your role and with a certain company many other interesting doors can and will open up, if you put yourself out there.

I however decided on becoming a CA not be an accountant or an auditor, but to use this “elite” qualification to leverage into more interesting areas of business. I see myself as an entrepreneur, a strategic and innovative business leader that wants to be a player in exciting and dynamic industries. I want to use my qualification and experience as an enabler to build a rewarding career aligned with my personal passions and interests. Quite a lofty goal I know, and a lot to put on a single qualification.

I quickly realised that if you do not, from the outset, have a clear plan in mind on how to achieve this goal, with specific pro active steps on how to get there, then merely relying on your CA qualification to open these doors will most likely fail. As the doors opened by a CA qualification are by default in the narrow paths outlined above (which is further compounded by your allocated industry exposure during your training contract), you need to make sure you know how you will use the qualification to your advantage, and not let it use you.

To give some guidance and help you figure out whether becoming an accountant is right for you, refer to our career paths section where we analyse the various traditional and alternative career paths available to accountants, as well as the steps needed to get there.

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Feedback:

  • Do you have a similar perspective on the challenge and nature of the CA qualification and the career possibilities it offers?
  • Are you following a different path to those detailed in our career path section?

We would love to get your input and start a discussion on this topic.