I know there are a few people in this group with alot of knowledge and helpful insight when it comes to these topics, so I look forward to hearing everyones opinion or thoughts (good or bad). I am 23 years old and have just recently graduated from a local college with a diploma in Accounting & Finance. It was a 3 year program which I succesfully completed with relative ease (I ended up with a 3.3 GPA). A few months after graduating I was able to get into this company as an "Accounting Assistant", a role which I thought and told would involve basic accounting duties and other things like GST remittance, helping prepare financial statements, etc.. But I have come across the following concerns or dissapointments:
1) Althought I was told that this position would require acting as a phone operator (which I have no problem with), I am finding the owner and other employees of the company are leaving me with more administrative basic work such as:- ordering office supplies, preparing fax memos for employees, calling vendors to follow up on certain issues (not related to accounting), calling for courier to come and pickup packages, etc..
2) Their accounting and bookkeeping methods are a MESS. Althought I am working beside a CA with 20+ years of experience, I just found out that he has never had any canadian accounting experience. I am starting to question and doubt whether he is REALLY a CA or not. I am also working beside a newly qualified CMA, but he is also severly lacking basic accounting skills such as booking transactions in Quickbooks properly, using excel, etc.. On the first day of work I was able to bring to their attention that over 3 years worth of accounting transactions and entries have been booked incorrectly through Quickbooks. It turns out that they have been entering bills in the "Pay Bills" menu and issuing payment by just cutting a cheque through the "Write Cheque" menu.3) Because their accounting data and ways of books transactions is a mess, it turns out that they DO NOT prepare their financial statements within the company. They get a local accounting company to come in and prepare them. Over the last month my day to day duties have comprised of about 85% administrative duties (faxing, ordering supplies for office, answering phones) and about 15% basic accounting duties (entering invoices into the invoice log, billing, etc..).
4) I have an annual salary of 22,500. After taxes and goverment contributions my monthly cheque is a measely $1500.I am having serious concerns over my lack of accounting skills being used in this position, because I get a feeling that they would rather me work within a more administrative positon which I am NOT willing to do because I do not want my career and skills to go that route.
It was brought to my attention by my family earlier this month that I should seriously think about continuing my education by going to university and getting a degree, and from there getting my accounting designation. Although I believe the college I graduated with is a well respected and accredited college, I think that finding a more "serious" accounting position or role in Canada (or even around the world) will require a university education. The university I have applied to is offering college graduates direct entry into their Business Management program, which will give me a Bachelors of Commerce majoring in Accounting once I graduate. I know that there are a few Canadians that browse this group, so I would't mind getting their opinion on the following options I have:
1) I should stick with this "Accounting Assistant" position to get experience.. even if the experience I am gaining has nothing to do with accounting. I will be struggling to make it financial with a $1500 monthly cheque, but after 8-10 months I can quit and find something else. Although I get the feeling that this sort of position is the only thing a Canadian college graduate can get.2) Quit from the company and being university in the Fall. It will be hard work and will require about 2 years to get my Bachelors. But I am still 23 years old and do not have many responsibilities just yet. My big concern is the amount of debt I will be facing once I graduate (I will probably require about $15,000 per year for tuition, books, living expenses, etc..). But once I graduate, I will be "complete" and have a university degree. From there I can apply into bigger and more "accounting related" positions in banks, goverment, etc..
So what does everyone think? I am seriously leaning towards option 2. Browsing through the job boards and newspapers, I would say that 80% of accounting positions in Canada require a University degree OR alot of work experience if you just have a diploma. And even with my college diploma, I will be vulnerable to these entry administrative positions that will drain out all my accounting experience I have gained and would like to continue using.