Accounting may seem difficult, sometimes it is not clear for non-practitioners. It is the type of job where some say it is hard and other say it is easy. It makes us wonder, is accounting hard?

Accounting is not hard for those who exert extra effort and time. Accounting is manageable for those who are ready to sacrifice their life outside work during the busy season. If you can adjust to the conditions and requirements needed in accounting, it’s not going to be that hard for you.

6-reasons-why-accounting-is-hard-300x300 Is Accounting Hard? 6 Myths and their Realities

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Let us discuss the 6 myths and their realities of why accounting can be hard.

  1. Accounting is for Math Wizards

A lot of people have a misconception that accounting is just for math wizards. No, it is not. There are a lot of things involved in accounting, including how you prepare a report, how you present your report to your boss or to your clients, and how you follow the process.

The reality is that accountants possess other skills that qualify them as accountants. You just need a good understanding of the work you are doing so you can perform all your duties and responsibilities in your accounting job.

You only need to apply basic math, but you have to be good at it. It’s not something to fear but it is something worth practicing. You have to make sure that you know basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division so well. Your mental ability to do math will save you time and effort throughout the process.

 

  1. Complicated Computations

Many others think that accounting is all about computations, which makes it hard per se. However, it is not just computation.

The reality is that accounting is an art and a process. It is an art of classifying, journalising, and summarising transactions. In that definition, the process includes classifying, journalising, and summarising. So basically, it’s not just the math that you need to take into account. You also need to follow the guidelines and the process.

 

  1. Complex Recording/Reporting

Aside from math, what makes accounting hard? Well, the very thing that makes accounting difficult for a lot of people is that it requires a simple yet complex tasks.

Classification

You have to classify transactions as assets, liabilities, equity, revenue, and expenses. It’s not easy to classify items if you are not familiar with them.  What will save you from the difficulty of this process is studying accounting in theory. You have to know what assets, liabilities, and equities are. You have to be aware when an item is revenue or an expense.

Journal Entries

Accounting uses double-entry bookkeeping wherein when you record a debit, you have to record a credit. What’s vulnerable here is the tendency that the accountant may commit an error in recording the amounts. It all depends on practice.

Reporting

Creating reports makes the whole process of accounting a challenging one. At the end of the process, you need to use formally present the total figures you computed and analysed earlier so that interested parties can understand well how the company is performing. Yes, those figures you came up with will tell if the business is going well or not. The understanding of the viewer will depend on how good, clear, and concise your reports are.

 

  1. Involves Tight Deadlines

Another reality that a lot of aspiring accountants must accept is the tight deadlines involved in an accounting job. Your reports have deadlines. You can’t frequently submit late reports because it will affect the major aspects of the business, including the meetings of the bosses to determine the performance of the company, auditing, and so on. This is why you can see accountants doing computations and recording transactions almost every day. Once you fall one to two days behind, you will definitely struggle to chase the deadline.

This is the reason why time management is highly required. You need to be disciplined at all times so that you will not end up rushing when the deadline is closed. If you can’t make the deadline flexible, you have to adjust yourself as an accountant.

 

  1. Fluctuating Work Spikes

Accounting reports and consolidation have deadlines. They can be either monthly, quarterly, or annually. During those points, you have to give your time and best effort to finish what you need to finish.

Accounting demands your time and effort. If want to enjoy your life, you should practice doing your job in advance and refrain from procrastinating.

 

  1. It is Like Foreign Language

Accounting is technical, which is why during college, there are theories involved. Technical terms are so frequent that you will get used to them after you work in accounting for some time. But, if you are a beginner, those technical terms are hard to comprehend.

Most of the time, you will have to ask your senior what a specific word means in order to understand it. While in the process of doing accounting work, you need to exert effort in understanding technical terms because you will use them almost every time in your future job.

 

Final Thoughts

I think in general, those who don’t have first-hand experiences with accounting would normally say it is easy because the only thing involved is computations and reports. Those who think accounting is hard believe the fact that it uses math all the time.

In the end, each side have their point of view and it all depends on the actual occupation and the person himself. The only thing I want you to take out of this post is if you find accounting interesting, do it. there is no downside of learning something new and pursuing what you want.

Still did not have enough? check out the discussion on reddit on what makes accounting hard.

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