The SEED Show With Sonika Maharjan and Suday Kant Jha | Scope of ACCA in Nepal from Mr. Suday Kant Jha, CEO Mega Capital Ltd
The following quality discussions were made in the second episode of Seed Show where the host Ms. Sonika Maharjan who is also an ACCA affiliate put some questions on scope of ACCA qualification with our respected guest Mr. Suday Kant Jha, FCCA who is currently CEO of Mega Capital Markets Ltd.
Link for the full video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjFDdEOorUg&t=4s
1. Many people are nowadays confused about which areas to choose after completion of high school and even if they desire to go for accounting field, there are various courses like BBA, BBS, ICAN, ICAI and of course ACCA as well. Can you please provide scope of ACCA in Nepalese as well global market?
ACCA is an international professional accountancy body and why a person should choose ACCA actually depends upon person individual aspirations. If you want a qualification what is recognized throughout the world or beyond national boundaries, I think ACCA gives you that edge. If you complete BBA/BBS from Local university, then you may struggle to get it recognized when you seek job opportunities internationally but ACCA has already established itself as a globally recognized professional accountancy body. So someone who is looking to shape a career for themselves globally can opt for ACCA. The scope of ACCA is very wide and it gives you the knowledge and skills required for the professional accountants of today. ACCA qualification covers several areas such as financial reporting, audit and assurance, taxation, business management, strategic business leader, financial management which is beyond the typical accounting most of us presume to be. ACCA prepares you to take on the responsibilities that employers seek in their employees as a complete professional accountant.
2. Can you tell us something about your ACCA journey?
My ACCA journey started in 2004. I pursued ACCA because of my elder brother who also was pursuing ACCA and I used to admire him a lot so I followed his footsteps. When I completed my SLC, I had to decide how I would I like shape my career as whether it’s a doctor, engineer or chartered accountant. These are generally three of the career options in front of Nepalese students. After completing my 10+2, I went to London and enrolled in Kaplan where I completed ACCA qualification and also worked in local audit firm as a part of 36 months Practical experience requirement(PER).
3. How has been your experience after becoming an ACCA member?
After becoming an ACCA member, it has been very rewarding, fulfilling, enriching to say the least. In UK, employers highly value the ACCA qualification. When you apply for accounting/auditing job, with ACCA qualification on the table, the employers will consider your application very seriously on a good note. In London, I worked for around five years in few audit firms. I started as a trainee accountant and then towards the end of my career in audit firm I was working as a senior auditor, business consultant and my work was quite diverse. So the career I got with the help of ACCA qualification was very unique, very fulfilling.
4. After completion of ACCA, we can get involved in various sectors as you said accounting, auditing, or you can be an entrepreneur. In context of Nepal, where do you find most of the ACCA members are working?
I see ACCA members, ACCA affiliates and even ACCA students contributing more in audit sector and since ACCA members have to go through few more extra steps to gain certificate of practice in Nepal I also find many ACCA member working for banking sector, manufacturing sector, insurance sector, or even starting their own business as an entrepreneur.
5. If you have to suggest any particular area where ACCA students/ACCA Affiliates/ACCA members should work, what would it be?
That’s a very pretty question. I really don’t like to suggest any specific area/specific industry or any specific roles/responsibilities instead I would encourage them to go for any sectors where they really enjoy. Even they don’t have to get involved in typical accounting or audit function, they can be an entrepreneur starting their own business and do various things. Basically, it depends on the person’s individual interest like where you want to see yourself in coming five years so that is the question I would like to ask back to ACCA students, ACCA Affiliates and ACCA members.
6. You are the CEO of Mega Capital Markets Ltd, a subsidiary of a reputed commercial bank, I would like to ask how many professional accountants are working in your organisation? Also how relevant are the skills and techniques learned during the ACCA qualification in the workplace?
Currently we have 1 professional accountant (excluding myself) working for us at Mega Capital Markets Ltd who is also an ACCA member. However, in previous organization I worked with several ACCA members.
Passing examination and working in real life are different things. We have to acknowledge the fact that 36 months PER requirement of ACCA would supplement the qualification to make the skills and techniques more relevant in the workplace.
7. We all know that the world is moving toward digitalization and the skills requirement are changing day by day. So what skills do you think a professional account should have to cope up with digitalization?
Digital world is all about data, data science. Business managers nowadays prefer to make data driven decisions. Also when you present your business idea to someone you cannot just say I have this idea and this might work but you have to back your ideas with data. So, ACCA qualification helps you to manage data, get the data speak, present data to keep up with the digital world. Apart from that, it is also upto the professional accountant how he manages to take up his skills to the next level where he can match and deliver that is required in this digitally transforming world. For eg. Currently I am learning programming, coding languages and that has actually helped me to automate many of my tasks.
Host: Moreover ACCA also publishes updated resources such as PQ magazines, joint research reports and other resources to get up to date with the digital world
8. Thank you sir for this insightful conversation. At the end, are there any suggestions you would like to give to ACCA students?
My suggestion would be “Just do whatever you enjoy”. There are plenty of opportunities and scope so don’t get yourself limited to a particular area only. At initial stage of your career, try to explore as much as possible, see what you really enjoy doing. The professional journey is about evolving, so you have to keep evolving, you have to keep learning and you just don’t put a full stop on learning. One thing ACCA teaches us is about Learning to learn so we need to keep learning and growing. So, that would be my advice to ACCA students and everyone. Last but not the least, if you want to make a career in accountancy profession, if you want to make a global career for yourself, ACCA could be the first choice for you.
