As an accounting technician, it would be your job to keep accurate financial accounts for all types of business, and to assist qualified accountants.

In larger companies, you would usually work as part of an accounts team. In a small business, you may be the only person trained to deal with finance matters like wages and invoices. In either case, your typical duties would include:

processing and paying invoices recording receipts and payments preparing and checking ledger balances and other monthly and yearly accounts completing and submitting tax returns monitoring company expenses using computerised accounting systems.

With experience, you might take on management responsibilities and more complex tasks, such as:

drafting financial reports
planning and budget control
assisting qualified accountants with audits.

To be an accounts technician you should have:

confidence working with numbers
good spoken and written communication skills
an interest in business and finance
good organisational skills
the ability to solve problems and analyse figures
a high level of accuracy and attention to detail
the ability to work to strict deadlines
honesty and discretion.

You will find it helpful to have previous experience of office work. Temporary work (‘temping') can be a good way of getting experience that may lead to a permanent job. Computer experience is also useful, particularly in using spreadsheet and database packages like Microsoft Excel and Access.

Above all, you should feel confident with maths and using computers. Employers may prefer you to have at least four GCSEs (A-C) including maths (or a similar level of qualification), although entry requirements may vary.

You would often start as an accounts clerk doing basic accounting duties in a company. You could then take work-based training or a part-time college course to qualify as a technician with the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) or the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) Certified Accounting Technician (CAT) scheme.

You may be able to miss out some parts of AAT or CAT training if you already have one of the following:

AS or A Level in Accounting
previous relevant work experience in accounting
an entry-level bookkeeping qualification (see the Accounts Clerk profile).

You may be able to get into this job through an Apprenticeship scheme. The range of Apprenticeships available in your area will depend on the local jobs market and the types of skills employers need from their workers. For more information on Apprenticeships, visit www.apprenticeships.org.uk.

Your training is normally a mixture of learning on the job and studying for qualifications from the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) or the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants (ACCA).

You can take the AAT Accounting qualification in one of two ways – the NVQ route or the Diploma route.

If you are employed in an accounting role, you can take work-based training and assessments to achieve NVQs in Accounting. This route has three stages:

NVQ Level 2 (Foundation)
Level 3 (Intermediate)
Level 4 (Technician).

If you do not yet work in accounting or if you prefer to take an exam-based route, you can choose the Diploma pathway to the AAT Accounting Qualification. The Diploma also has three stages:

Certificate (Foundation)
Advanced Certificate (Intermediate)
Diploma (Technician).

You will be assessed for the Diploma by exams and simulated skills tests, instead of providing practical evidence from the workplace.

You can study for the AAT Accounting Qualification full- or part-time at colleges or training centres, or in the workplace.

For full membership of the AAT, you must pass all three stages of the qualification, and have at least a year's approved work experience. You can find more details on the AAT's website.

Association of Certified Chartered Accountants (ACCA)
To become qualified with the ACCA Certified Accounting Technician (CAT) Scheme, you must pass exams at the three levels (Introductory, Intermediate and Advanced) and keep a training record of at least one year's practical accounting experience.

You can study for CAT full- or part-time at further education colleges and private training centres, or alternatively through home study. See the ACCA's website for full details.

Once you are fully AAT or CAT qualified, you could study further to become an accountant. Your accounting technician qualifications mean that you can usually bypass the first stage of professional exams. For example, you could start at Part 2 of the ACCA's Chartered Certified Accountant Scheme, instead of Part 1. See the Private Practice Accountant profile for more information.

Starting salaries at foundation and intermediate levels can be around £14,000 to £18,000 a year.
Once qualified to technician level, salaries can be up to £25,000.

What opportunities are there?

You could work for companies in every business sector, or in the public sector for organisations such as local councils, colleges/universities and the NHS.

Jobs may be advertised in the local press, Jobcentre Plus, and by recruitment agencies.

With experience, you could move into management or become self-employed and work on accounts for a number of small business clients. You could also choose to study further and become a qualified accountant.

AAT and ACCA qualifications are recognised across the world, so work abroad is an option.

Free study material and course notes ACCA-Pakistan

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/career-management-articles/a-career-as-an-accounts-assistant-or-accounting-technician-aat-2353892.html

Tipoo Khan is the  author/administrator of acca-pakistan.com . ACCA-pakistan is a website serving students practicing for ACCA exams By Providing them with an online community formed in a way to allow ineractions and exchange of ideas

Finding a process in the healthcare field is not a dream even though you only have high school qualification. You are suggested to become a certified medical office assistant through the American Association of Medical Assistants. The major role of the assistant is to support the doctors, physicians and nurses to provide proper care to the patients.

For people who are at the moment having financial difficulties, you might not have the ability to enroll yourself to the accredited junior college or university to obtain a diploma or an associate's degree at the moment. As a way to earn some money for the tuition fee, I would suggest you to apply to become an unlicensed medical office assistant in small organization in order to begin gaining some practical experiences.

Don't feel bad if you can't earn the qualification. You'll still get good pay. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, those people unlicensed assistants who work for small health care corporations are getting $19000 to $24000 per year. In the event you have accumulated sufficient fund, then you can start enrolling yourself to the trustworthy accredited school in US. After you have accomplished the needed course work and you have passed the formal evaluation, you will be rewarded with better pay. In general, the yearly pay offered for experienced licensed medical office assistants is around $30,000 to $40,000. Isn't it attractive?

These days, let's take note what you have to study.

As a way to become a successful assistant, you are reminded to go through the on-the-job training course appropriately. All employers require the newly recruited staff to attend formal course sessions before they conduct their responsibilities. You should put in your time and effort in mastering new expertise in order to be much more competent.

One of the main skills a medical office assistant must have is the fluency in applying distinctive computer software in the doctors' offices. For your information, each doctor's office or professional medical centre may have distinct software. The key purpose of using the software is to maintain the medical records and database of the patients in a orderly manner. At the same time, most of the medical offices begin to integrate billing computer software with the records software. As a result, you need to make sure you know how to apply it before you begin working.

Last but not the least; I would say professional medical legislation and medical terms can be learnt little by little. You can pick up rapidly once you confront your co-workers daily. Don't worry about all of the difficulties simply because you will be guided by the trained medical staff. As a result, you could think of this occupation as your lifelong profession.

If you want to get hired as a medical office assistant, the first thing that you need to do is to learn how to become a qualified medical office assistant - Click Here

For more information about medical office assistant employment, visit MedicalOfficeAssistantGuide.com

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/careers-articles/medical-office-assistant-the-best-way-to-obtain-experience-and-build-your-qualities-4681780.html

In many offices administrative assistants play an important in disbersing work on day to day basis. They also play significant roles in managing appointments with the senior proffessionals, owners of the company and smoooth functioning of the office. Their job responsibility includes Screening telephone calls and determine from time to time which calls needs to handled on priority basis. In case of emergencies, they are supposed to answer complex inquiries by customers and employees of the organization, hence administrative assistants need thorough knowledge of departmental policies and procedures of the particular corporate organization.

They may also require to type confidential official matters through memoranda, correspondence, letters from drafts and review the same. In some offices, administrative assistants conduct research, develop, maintain proper filing system and data analysis for projects which need special attention. However, with the passage of time news rules have been implemented for this job position. If you're an MBA or hold any degree or diploma of Human Resource Mangament then you're eligible for such job vacancies. Employment opportunities for administrative assistants are wide as they are recruited in various sectors be it telecommunication, IT, marketing or banking.

Nature of Administrative Assistant Jobs:

Other than the bigger job responsibilities their main duty also involves maintaining manager's calendar, coordinating large meetings, conferences and seminars. When special seminars are held its the utmost duty of administrative assistants to direct the other officers and managers in proper direction D assist them with their needs. They are also supposed to respond to inquiries which are received internally and externally by mail or through phone which involves communicating with high level management both verbally or in written form.

On a public diaspora they are supposed to perform other administrative functions such as ordering the concerned department with supplies, ensuring proper travel of departmental staff in case they need to travel abroad or to other cities. Administrative assistants are supposed to work in coordination of the accounts payable. Job conditions in such occupations are generally good though at times they might be hectic. Just like other jobs remuneration for administrative assistants are quite good with salaries at par with other industries. Also if one can perform their funations there's immense scope for development of individuals as they can be promoted to office manager, high level project manager, and managing director in the long run.

Pre-requisites for Administrative Assistant Jobs:

There are so many front office jobs also which are in great demand. If you want to make your career as administrative assistant then you need to have a high school diploma with strong background in the basic secretarial skills which is mandatory. Such skills includes shorthand, transcription, typing, working knowledge of English grammar and spelling. However, if one has background training in business administration it would also be helpful.

Beyond these administrative assistants also needs to have proper attitude and should be well groomed. In order to become an administrative sales assistant, it would be helpful to take coasching on databases, presentation of software, and preparing letters. Its vital to note that record keeping using software is designed for sales tracking purposes.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/careers-articles/administrative-assistant-jobs-in-world-market-1000235.html

Prem is an associate editor for the website www.naukrihub.com an online job search portal in India. It is committed to providing visitors with complete information on latest jobs in India, Job Market in India, Jobs in USA, Europe, UK, Delhi job fairs, Indian industries, jobs in Bangalore and much more.