In most secondary schools, Secondary 2 students will be given a choice to choose their subject combination upon the release of their End-of-Year results.
Accounting or better known as Principles of Accounting (POA) is a subject that is offered to students who are studying at Secondary 3 level and above.
If you’re curious about Accounting and wondering if you should choose POA as one of your core subjects in O-levels…
This article is for you!
I’ll be sharing with you all you need to know about accounting and POA so that you’ll have a better understanding before making your decision.
The History of Accounting
Accounting has already existed for many many years and it can even be traced back to ancient civilisations.
The records of accounting date back to more than 7,000 years ago, back to the time of an ancient civilisation called Mesopotamia.
Records and documents of expenditures and trade can be found from this civilisation.
Mesopotamians (the people of Mesopotamia), invented the primitive accounting methods of keeping track of their transactions that involved livestock, crops, and animals.
Apart from recording of transactions, accounting was also related to the development of writing and counting of money.
If not for accounting, money might not even have existed.
Back in 1494, an Italian man, Luca Pacioli, who is known as the father of modern accounting, is the man who came up with the terms and use of “debit” and “credit” that is still widely used up till today!
Fast forward to the mid-1800s, when the Industrial Revolution (IR) was occurring in London, the financial center of the world back then.
There was a rise in the number of limited liability companies which increased the demand for accountants.
And in 1904, with the birth of the London Association of Accountants (later renamed to the London Association of Chartered Certified Accountants in 1996), being an accountant is considered to be an actual profession in the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
Importance of Learning Accounting
Now that you know a tad bit more about accounting, let’s dive into why learning accounting is important.
1. Accountants are High In Demand Now
In the modern world that we’re living in currently, accounting plays a major role in running a business, from tracking income and expenditures to giving the government the right financial information.
The reason accountants are high in demand despite the huge amount of accounting graduates is due to the fact that many of them lack efficiency and quality when it comes to meeting their requirements.
Moreover, there’s very little training provided to fresh accounting graduates for them to adapt to the expectations laid out by their companies.
Hence, if you pick up accounting in secondary school and further your studies on it in the future, chances are that you don’t have to worry about being unemployed!
2. Various Job Opportunities
Having an accounting background is sure to give you an edge over your competitors of other backgrounds as accounting opens a wide array of career opportunities.
Being well versed in accounting actually helps you to climb the promotion ladder faster and get to the top management positions of a company.
And if you don’t already know, accounting is actually a universal language!
This means you’ll get opportunities to work overseas.
Working overseas means being exposed to people of different cultures and races.
And it’s definitely more fun to work in a country that you’re foreign to as it adds the necessary stress and some spices to life.
3. Avoid The Cunning Scammers
Although more and more people are well educated nowadays, many still fall prey to scammers when they’re buying items.
Let me give you an example of how learning accounting can help you avoid cunning scammers.
We all know how expensive it is to own a car in Singapore, it’s a very huge investment!
Many car owners actually fall prey to car scammers who sell their vehicle at an extremely exorbitant price and it can be very overwhelming for you to negotiate a better price if you don’t know anything about finances.
So, let’s say you’ve saved up enough money to purchase a car.
You decided to visit a car dealership to make a purchase on the car you’ve been saving up for.
As someone who’s well versed in accounting, you’ll understand the business behind operating a car dealership.
Like how they’ll have to sell their cars at a price higher than it’s the cost to produce it, so they can make a profit.
Knowing this information, it’ll be easier for you to negotiate to a more reasonable price if the car dealership happens to sell their cars at extremely marked-up prices.
Hence, learning accounting can help you avoid scams and help you save more money.
4. Be Better at Tracking Your Finances
Many people just can’t seem to explain where all their money went by the end of the month after getting their salary at the start of the month.
For some reason when the end of a month is approaching, the balance stated on their bank account just doesn’t seem to make sense.
And more matter how hard they try to rack their brains, they can’t just seem to figure out where the money has gone.
Are you one of these types of people?
If you are, then learning accounting will definitely help you gain an understanding of your finances and how you can track your expenses and liabilities effectively.
5. Be Better at Planning Your Future
Just like how no one saw COVID-19 coming, it’s very hard to tell when an economic depression is coming.
And in this time of crisis, it’s good to have more than enough money for you to get through it.
Even if there’s no economic crisis, it’s a dream for many individuals to be able to retire at a young age and have enough money to buy a house and a personal vehicle.
However, not many people know how to be financially free and stable.
Many people have the mindset of needing to work till the time of their deaths, which is a sad reality for many people worldwide.
But, if you studied accounting and further your studies to relevant subjects such as Investments, Financial Planning, etc.
It’ll be easier for you to achieve financial freedom with the knowledge that you’ve gained while studying accounting.
Which is why most people with good financial knowledge are better able to plan for their future.
Conclusion
Has reading this article made you want to pick up accounting?
And if so, why not hire a private POA tutor to teach you the basics during your holidays so you can get a headstart ahead of your peers?
At SmileTutor, we have the best private tutors who’re able to meet all your requirements and demands!
What are you waiting for?
Call us and let’s get started!
Here are some related articles you might like to read:
How Relevant is ‘O’ Level POA to Real-Life Accounting
Debunking the Common Misconception of Studying POA
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