A QUESTION I WAS ASKED RECENTLY

Every so often a question is asked of you that you want to answer. You’ll know by my saying this that I am a father, used to all sorts of questions — some I’d rather hadn’t been asked! Anyway, the question I was asked was:

“How do I improve my experience and skills in accounting?”

While I see that the question refers to accounting specifically, I know from experience that accounting, while a good profession in itself, is a great springboard for all kinds of career and business.

As Charlie Munger says:

Consequently, my answer was as below:

I guess the answer to this depends on your current position and your plans for the future. So, below are some possible position: plan combinations, which I will give my suggested solutions to afterward:

1. You are a student, and want to:
2. Become an accountant, or
3. Build your knowledge in this area, so you succeed better in your chosen career/business.
4. You are already working, in a non-accounting role, and want to:
5. Become an accountant, or
6. Build your knowledge in this area, so you succeed better in your chosen career/business.
7. You are already working, in an accounting-related role, and want to:
8. Become an accountant, or
9. Build your knowledge in this area, so you succeed better in your chosen career/business.
10. You are already working in an accounting role, and want to:
11. Build your knowledge in this area, so you succeed better in your chosen career/business (which may not be accounting).
12. You are currently out of the workforce, but want to:
13. Become an accountant, or
14. Build your knowledge in this area, so you succeed better in your chosen career/business.
15. You are a business owner, and want to:
16. Build your knowledge in this area, so you succeed better in your business.

It’s no coincidence that the above are very much variations on the same combination. As a consequence, my suggested solutions are really just answers to the two ultimate combinations above, with an additional twist.

As Warren Buffet says:

And here are my suggested answers:

A. I want to become an accountant.

Firstly, congratulations. Accounting can be a rewarding career, and also a great springboard into a career in all kinds of business and industry.

How do you improve your skills and experience with this in mind? Well, the usual way — by doing it:

1. For the student, that means:
2. Studying the relevant subjects at college and university, then
3. Finding work in accounting, and sticking with the role (if not that particular job) until you’ve developed the level of experience you desire.
4. For the non-accounting worker, that means:
5. Studying the relevant subjects at university (hopefully with your employer’s assistance), then
6. Finding work in accounting, and sticking with the role (if not that particular job) until you’ve developed the level of experience you desire, or
7. Seeing what other roles your employer (or another) are willing to let you have, now you have this additional skill-set.
8. For the accounting-related worker, that means:
9. Studying the relevant subjects at university (hopefully with your employer’s assistance), then
10. Finding work in accounting, and sticking with the role (if not that particular job) until you’ve developed the level of experience you desire, or
11. Seeing what other roles your employer (or another) are willing to let you have, now you have this additional skill-set.
12. For the accountant, that means:
13. Finishing your studies, then sticking with accounting until you’ve developed the level of experience you desire, or
14. Seeing what other roles your employer (or another) are willing to let you have, now you have completed your qualifications.
15. For the person returning to the workforce, that means:
16. Studying the relevant subjects at university (possibly with assistance from an employer), then
17. Finding work in accounting, and sticking with the role (if not that particular job) until you’ve developed the level of experience you desire.
18. For the business owner, that means:
19. Studying the relevant subjects at university, then
20. Finding work in accounting, and sticking with the role (if not that particular job) until you’ve developed the level of experience you desire, and
21. Probably keeping your business going while you do so.

B. I want to do better in my career/business.

Once again, congratulations. Understanding accounting and financial statements are perhaps the best foundations for you to build upon. And, no, you don’t need to become an accountant to do so.

After all, just as I pointed out that you might currently be in one of many current positions, and you might have more than one reason to learn about accounting, so too your business/career could be in one of many positions, and you might have more than one desired outcome for your business/career.

So, you need to know where your business is at — whether you own it or not. And, you need to know what can be done to take it to where you want it to go — again whether you own it or not.

Building your knowledge in this area can help you:

• Build your business (or the business you are working in), and/or
• Be seen as a more valuable employee, and/or
• Work your way up the corporate ladder, and/or
• Start and grow your own business.

How do you improve your skills and experience with this in mind? Well, there are many ways, many programs, many good mentors, and (consequently) many combinations of these. But, of course, I have to recommend my own course BeansTalk KnowHow Bundle: The Full Set — online training you can do at a time that suits you, for fraction of the cost of attending the week or more’s worth of seminars the content would necessitate, made up as follows:

As you can see, the full course covers:

1. The Fun-damentals of Accounting — how accounting came about, and how accounts come together,
2. Interpreting Financial Statements — what they mean and how to use them,
3. Business Structure — how a business should be structured, to make sure your’s isn’t missing anything,
4. Business Growth — some ways to go about it, so you grow your nest egg, and
5. Selling the Business — so you can escape with the nest egg.

All of this is done in an easy-to-follow, bite-size format. There’s short information papers, associated quizzes, good examples, exercises (with answers) to make sure you’ve got it, and the first two modules have tests (with answers) to ensure the information has stuck. This graphic makes it clear:

Her’s a graphic to explain the thinking behind my answer to this question:

And, yes, I believe everybody should know all of this. That would increase everyone’s skills and experience in accounting and business.

I hope this helps.