Gwp 900 : International Workplace Assessment Answers

Introduction:

The purpose of the report is to analyse the different career opportunities that are existent in the labour market in the accounting industry. The report will evaluate all the opportunities for careers that are present in the Australian Labour Market in different areas such as technology, employment and others. The other industries such as investment banking and the financial industry will be evaluated, and the occupation which will be helpful due to the accounting degree will be identified. The report will also access the recruitment agencies that are present in the accounting industry followed by the intercultural challenges that could be faced by the intercultural students and how these challenges would impact the career opportunities in the future.    

1. Research and Analysis

1.1 Australian labour market trends for the accounting industry

The Australian labour market has seen many changes regarding the structure and the dynamic of the accounting industry. The technological changes and globalisation have impacted the Australian labour market to a great deal for almost all industries. The Australian market has embraced the new technologies that have emerged in the market. The need for labour in the manual skills is comparatively low as compared to the higher skills which require a higher level of education such as the accounting industry. The demand for accountants in the Australian Labour market is on the increase due to the need for skilled employees who would be able to utilise the high technologies that have been adopted by the industry. The change in the economy demands new skills which have led to the requirement of highly educated and skilled labour in the accounting industry.

1.2 National and state employment trends

The accounting industry has different trends both in national and state aspects in Australia. Due to the technological advancement in Australia, there have been many changes and a rise in demand for accountant in the country. Along with the accounting industry there have been a high demand for labour industries as well. The graph below shows the labour participation rates by state in Australia.

The data shows that the financial or accounting industry is at the eleventh position between 0.3m and 0.7m population in Australia.

The number of people employed in the accounting and financial industry in Australia is 439,900.

1.3 Accounting industry employment trends

The accounting industry in Australia is changing very fast along with the technology that has been adopted in the industry. The job market is expected to stay strong. However, there might be several differences which will emerge in the job market. Due to this change both the candidates and the companies who will be hiring the candidates have to be updated about the current trends that are existent in the market and develop their strategies according to the trends (Autor and Salomons 2018). The different employment trends of the accounting industry in Australia are as follows. Firstly, the market has become very competitive due to the rising demands for accountants in the market. The high demand in the organisations has given rise to a higher competition among the accountants to secure their employment in a renowned organisation. Companies can get an edge in their recruitment policies by providing better salary and incentive structure to the recruits and attract the talent towards their organisation (Jardim et al. 2017). Secondly, the experienced accountants are looking for better job opportunities where they can grow and develop their skills. Due to this trend, many organisations are facing issues regarding employee retention since their experienced accounting employees are leaving the organisation in search for better jobs which might help to secure their future. Thirdly, due to the advent of technology, companies are looking for people who have a diverse set of skills so that they can make use of the new technologies and increase their productivity. Moreover, they want people who will be able to evolve themselves based on the changes in the market (Watson 2017). Candidates who are proficient with technology are often hired by a different organisation than the candidates who do not know of financial technologies. This is because technology has become an important part of life and organisations look for people who will be able to give maximum productivity in less amount of time with the use of these technologies (Bramucci et al. 2017). Fourthly, with the advent of social media, the process of candidates have also changed. In current times, candidates who approach the organisation through inline recruitment websites have more chance of being noticed as companies these days have people designated to handle their online recruitment sites where they have posted for their job.       

2. Career opportunities in investment banking and financial planning industry

A degree in accountancy can get a huge number of career opportunities in different industries in Australia. Other than the accountant industry, two other industries which can provide a great career opportunity for people with a degree in the account is the investment banking industry and the financial planning industry. In the investment banking industry, the main job of the investment banker is to work as a medium between different companies who wants to raise monetary fund through the issue of securities and also the individual investors who want to give money in return for the securities (Maclean, Jagannathan and Panth 2018). The main work of the investment banker is to advise the organisations on the securities that they should issue like bonds and stocks and the price at which they should issue. They also handle the process of underwriting which is placing the securities with the investors for both public and private companies (De la Torre, Gozzi and Schumukler 2017). Other than the financial activities, an investment banker would also handle other financial transactions which are complex.

Another industry which can be determined with the accounts degree is the financial planning industry which is very popular in Australia. This is also a major career path in current times and has many opportunities which can help a candidate to grow in the financial field (Anderson, Baker and Robinson 2017). A financial planner would provide advice to different individuals regarding the management of their finances which deals with different matters such as budgeting, saving for the future, controlling the expenditure, saving for different big purchases such as cars or houses, investing and others. Financial planners can work independently as well as with small firms. The roles of the financial planner would be to help their clients save the money and control on the expense that they are doing so that a plan can be laid out which will optimise the use of the fund that they have accumulated (Chu et al. 2017). Financial advisors not only has to provide financial advice but should also incorporate creativity in their solutions and develop new ideas so that they can improve the current situation of their clients. Both of these occupations, investment banker and financial planner is suitable as a career path with a degree in accounting. These jobs need creativity on the part of the candidate so that they could develop new ideas which will be beneficial for their clients.  

3. Recruitment agencies in the accounting industry

The accounting and the finance sector provides a vast range of career opportunities and is an important part of the economy of any country. There are several organisations and recruitment agencies that search for candidates with an accounting background. This is because there is an array of job roles for people with accounting degree such as financial analyst, accountants, credit controller and others. These job roles require a huge amount of candidates so that their knowledge regarding finance can be used by various organisations and individuals for their financial benefit.  

4. Intercultural challenges

There has been a huge outflow of international students in many universities, and this has given rise to the challenges that come with being an international student in a foreign country. The first challenge that they might face is the academic barrier where they might face discrimination from their professors which affects their academic performance. Many professors might not be able to accept international students in their classroom; however, due to their position, they might not be able to show their distaste. Teachers might not give their full attention to the students, and this hampers their educational aspects (Morgado, Régio and Gaspar 2017). There are also various etiquettes that are evident in a classroom which varies from country to country. This becomes a confusion for international students which becomes a challenge for them in the initial time. Secondly, the international student often faces language barriers which are the biggest challenge in an intercultural setting. Different students have different languages which are a hindrance for the international students since they might take some time to learn the local language of the country that they are studying in. Many students do not even know to speak in English which can become a big issue for them (Portera and Grant 2017). Thirdly, they could face isolation from classmates, if the international students are not able to involve with the other students. The language barrier could be a major issue which can stop them from communicating with the other students which send them into isolation as they will not be able to mix with any group. There are other challenges such as cultural and social barrier which becomes an issue for the international students. The international students can face severe adjustment issues if they do not receive any help from the university, their faculties or their friends.            

Recommendations:

Based on the analysis in the earlier sections there could be certain recommendations which can help the student to find their right career path and also to overcome their challenges that they face in being an international student. Firstly, the student should find the right opportunity and the career path based on their degree of accounting. The student should choose between the careers that have been provided by analysing each of the career paths. However, depending on the market scenario the career as a financial planner could be beneficial for the student. This is because financial planner can work independently and give their creativity to develop solutions for their clients. Their main aim would be to manage the financials of the clients who come to them. Secondly, candidates should train themselves to become adaptable to the technologies that have emerged in the market. Before applying for any job role, the candidate should develop their skills to match the latest trends so that the organisation would find no way to reject them. Thirdly, the candidates should be able to possess several skills and must be creative so that they are the first choice of any organisation. In current times, organisations look for people who possess a huge array of skills so that they can use the candidate for several works. Therefore, the candidates must be adapted to other jobs as well other than accountancy. They need not be proficient in other fields. However, they should have basic knowledge regarding the current trends in the market.         

Conclusion:

Thus, it can be concluded that an accounting degree can provide several opportunities in the Australian labour market. There are many trends which are followed by the Australian market such as high competition, an adaptation of social media in the recruitment process and better job opportunities for the experienced people in the accounting field. The changes that have emerged in the market have led to the emergence of these trends since the financial sector is also moving away from the traditional recruitment process and adapting to new technological aspects. The technological aspect has forced the candidates to develop their skills further so that they can work in sync with the technology. Moreover, there are many benefits to the usage of technology such as being more productive in a much less time which will be cost effective for the organisation. Other than the normal accounting sector there also many job opportunities in other industries such as investment banking and financial planning. Both of these career opportunities are in demand in the market and can provide ample opportunity for growth and incur more money than other accounting jobs. However, many challenges have to be faced by the international students in the college and universities that they study in. The intercultural challenges provide many barriers for them which need to be overcome for them to succeed in their field. The guidance of the teachers, friends and self-motivation is very important to overcome these barriers and challenges.   

Reference:

Anderson, A., Baker, F. and Robinson, D.T., 2017. Precautionary savings, retirement planning and misperceptions of financial literacy. Journal of Financial Economics, 126(2), pp.383-398.

Autor, D. and Salomons, A., 2018. Is automation labor-displacing? Productivity growth, employment, and the labor share. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity.

Bramucci, A., Cirillo, V., Evangelista, R. and Guarascio, D., 2017. Offshoring, industry heterogeneity and employment. Structural Change and Economic Dynamics.

Chu, Z., Wang, Z., Xiao, J.J. and Zhang, W., 2017. Financial literacy, portfolio choice and financial well-being. Social Indicators Research, 132(2), pp.799-820.

De la Torre, A., Gozzi, J.C. and Schumukler, S.L., 2017. Innovative Experiences in Access to Finance: Market-Friendly Roles for the Visible Hand?. The World Bank.

Jardim, E., Long, M.C., Plotnick, R., Van Inwegen, E., Vigdor, J. and Wething, H., 2017. Minimum wage increases, wages, and low-wage employment: Evidence from Seattle (No. w23532). National Bureau of Economic Research.

Lmip.gov.au, 2018. Welcome to the Labour Market Information Portal.. [online] Lmip.gov.au. Available at: https://lmip.gov.au/default.aspx?LMIP/EmploymentRegion/EmploymentbyIndustry [Accessed 5 Oct. 2018].

Maclean, R., Jagannathan, S. and Panth, B., 2018. Overview. In Education and Skills for Inclusive Growth, Green Jobs and the Greening of Economies in Asia (pp. 1-18). Springer, Singapore.

Morgado, M., Régio, M. and Gaspar, M., 2017. Content, language and intercultural challenges in engineering education:(E-) strategies to improve instructional design. New Trends and Issues Proceedings on Humanities and Social Sciences, 4(8), pp.153-161.

Portera, A. and Grant, C. eds., 2017. Intercultural education and competences: Challenges and answers for the global world. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Watson, A.L., 2017. Employment trends by typical entry-level education requirement. Monthly Lab. Rev., 140, p.1.