International Accounting Day – Interviews with Accountants

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November 10th is designated as International Accounting Day. Find out more about our accountants from the TPA Group:Where does her passion for the profession come from? What made them choose Accounting?

Željka Malčević

Accountant at TPA Croatia

  • What made you begin your career in accounting?

Love for economics and the possibility of multiple career opportunities within the profession.

  • What advice would you give to someone starting their career in accounting?

Always invest in yourself because no technology can replace your knowledge.

  • How do you see the future of the accounting industry changing?

As in other professions, the use of technology is increasing in accounting. Most booking is automated, which gives the accountant more time for analyzing the company’s business.

 

 

Zuzka Drhová

Manager | Accountant at TPA Czech Republic

What made you begin your career in accounting?

Accounting always reminds me solving puzzles: I really enjoyed it at school. The vision of a warm place, a cup of coffee and logic work were probably the main reasons for beginning my career in accounting.

What advice would you give to someone starting their career in accounting?

I would say work on basic principles, pay attention in school or join an accounting course. Trust your skills and try to get an internship to gain confidence and work experience.

How do you see the future of the accounting industry changing?

The industry is changing quickly, we are leaving papers behind and automatize the processes as much as possible. Manual work is replaced by data importers and data-recognition technologies. Computer skills becomes key. Despite the automatization I believe skilled workers will always be needed to check the data and adjust the outputs according to specific client at statutory needs.

Marian Cernansky

Senior Manager | Accountant at TPA Slovakia

  • What made you begin your career in accounting?

I have always liked figures and working with them in thorough and systematic way, therefore gradually I recognized that accounting provides similar opportunity and challenges to me. The more I was in the books processing, the more I learned, how structured the system of bookkeeping is and how much additional value the alternative bookkeeping outputs can deliver to the strategic partners (stakeholders), who at the end of the day appreciate a lot the works of the bookkeepers.

  • What advice would you give to someone starting their career in accounting?

Working in the area of accounting sometimes means to be dragged into a dynamic, but also exciting environment, in which the core lies on one hand in logic, calculations and figures, secondly in lot of internal and statutory deadlines. Hence, my advice would be that in case you see yourself long term in the accounting career, be flexible, open-minded, a lot in details, pro-active and try to also understand carefully the needs of those whom you provide the reports and outputs stemming from the bookkeeping figures.

  • How do you see the future of the accounting industry changing?

Future of the accounting is for sure associated with digitalization of the related processes that brings accounting to another level and world. Digitalization makes the processes in accounting more structured, transparent, straightforward and automatic, which disburdens the manual and database works of accountants, removes mistakes stemming from the human factor and develops more a four-eyes principle. Thus improves also the quality of bookkeeping process and enables the accountants to focus on works that are more qualified and brings higher additional value to the stakeholders.

Edina Molnar

Senior Manager | Accountant at TPA Hungary

  • What made you begin your career in accounting?

I have always loved mathematics and logic, and accounting was a good choice to make use of my competences.

  • What advice would you give to someone starting their career in accounting?

For a beginner I would suggest to focus on being precise in his/her work, and, besides an analytic approach, to have a good insight not only into the smaller tasks, but into the company as a whole, too.

  • How do you see the future of the accounting industry changing?

The tendency that more and more tasks are automatized will continue in the future, and this will cause a growing need for skills in IT systems.

Tereza Marinova

Accountant at TPA Austria

What made you begin your career in accounting?

I completed a 5-year secondary school for economic professions. Even then, I liked the subjects of accounting and business administration. After graduating from high school, I started working as a junior accountant in the internal accounting department of the TPA Group. What I like about the profession of accountant is that not only university graduates, but also people with a commercial education have the chance to advance professionally.

What advice would you give to someone starting their career in accounting?

An accountant’s day-to-day job is almost all about numbers, so you should find it easy to deal with numbers and be able to concentrate for long periods of time. It is crucial that you are a team player, as you are an important interface in the company. There are also many different training opportunities that can help you become more successful in your job. Newcomers should definitely take advantage of these.

How do you see the future of the accounting industry changing?

The job description of an accountant has changed a lot in recent years. Accounting is developing more and more in the direction of digitalisation. Work processes that used to be done manually by employees are now highly automated by systems and imported into accounting. In the future, accounting will become more and more digitalised, so that the accountant no longer books directly, but controls the automatic processes.

Viktoria Salzbrunn

Team Leader TPA Group Accounting at the TPA Group

  • What made you begin your career in accounting?

During my time at university I developed a keen interest in International Accounting Standards, which led me to specialize in accounting.

  • What advice would you give to someone starting their career in accounting?

Keep an open mind, know that your degree in accountancy is just the first step, that you still have a lot to learn.

  • How do you see the future of the accounting industry changing?

One of the main drivers of change in our industry is digitalization. It affects virtually all aspects of accountancy, from electronic invoicing to compliance and documentation. We use software and digital tools to reduce time spent on filing & archiving, retrieving information from data bases or compiling reports. As a result, fewer low-qualification jobs will be required in the foreseeable future. This development is also driven by the ever increasing complexity of the legal framework surrounding accountancy. Keeping up-to-date with all the constant changes and developments can be quite challenging and time consuming, which is why I expect it will become more difficult for small accountancy firms to hold their own.

Nikola Božić

Accountant at TPA Croatia

  • What made you begin your career in accounting?

With the first touch with accounting I knew it was a profession I wanted to pursue.

  • What advice would you give to someone starting their career in accounting?

Choose your employer and mentor very carefully, they significantly affect the development of your career.

  • How do you see the future of the accounting industry changing?

The accounting industry will be increasingly digitized in the future and the processes now being operationally performed will be automated.

 

Natasa Marinkovic

Senior Manager | Accountant at TPA Serbia

  • What made you begin your career in accounting?

At the beginning, it was because you can work in almost any industry. Provides a great opportunity for professional development. Accountants are always in demand. I sems much more than that, now.

  • What advice would you give to someone starting their career in accounting?

After 15 year in accounting, I can confirm that I made a right choice.

If your goal is to become a great accountant and CFO after, you need to learn and know your profession from the beginning to the end. You need to become an expert. As you are growing as accountant it is more about advices than numbers crunching. You become the main link in the business chain. But, as it is the case with any profession, valuable thing is to have a great mentor and team all time during you carrier.

So my advice to younger colleagues is: „You are very lucky if you have someone who will guide you and lead you to the top. What is expected from you on that way is a patience. Your time will come soon or later, but you must be dedicated in what you are doing. It is advice, not just for accounting, but for a life.“

  • How do you see the future of the accounting industry changing?

The largest part of current process will be automated and digitized. As a consequence, the role of the accountant will change significantly. A high level of controlling will replace a manual work which becomes a part of a robotic process. The released mind potential will be able to focus on management and decision-making.

Generally speaking, new digital age is coming. We are a parts of Digital natives and Generation Z. Now, we are building a future.

Aleksandar Jovanovic

Accountant at TPA Serbia

  • What made you begin your career in accounting?

Accounting is a profession that is well respected and known for its high integrity and prestige. Also, accounting provides me a good basis for further career advancement and performing the function of CFO.

  • What advice would you give to someone starting their career in accounting?

Develop competencies such as precision, accuracy and reliability.

  • How do you see the future of the accounting industry changing?

Digitization, automation and robotization. Traditional role of the accountant will change. Robotics will take over the manual processes that were the responsibility of the accountant, while the accountant will remain to control and decide.

 

Start your career in Accounting now at the TPA Group!