Essay on Personal Development Planning

Question: Write an essay on personal development planning? Answer: Introduction This essay has focused towards the skills required by a student to pursue a degree course in Accounting and Finance and what are the career prospects of this stream. It also discusses the need and motivation that a student must indulge on career development planning. The essay will discuss the progressive learning milestones that the student has achieved and how he can be successful in future. Skills required and acquired by studying Accounting and Finance A student who selects to pursue a degree in accounting and finance must have the aptitude numbers and mathematics. He must have the ability to deduce, analyze and evaluate figure and facts promptly. He must have the capability to communicate the results effectively to others. To progress in the accounting and finance career a student must be updated with the technical and industrial standards (Arrington, 2000). To progress with finance background, the student must have the ability to carry out and make judgments on the financial aspects of managerial decisions. Above all, I had an inclination towards the subject before choosing finance and accounting for further studies and I wanted to hone my skills and enhance my aptitude while pursuing the degree. The career prospects in this field are high which will be discussed later in this essay. As a student of accounting and finance myself I have acquired and honed many skills as a result of classroom and practical learning sessions. I have enhanced my oral and written communication skills which were widened while attending seminars and writing essays. I have learned to adopt a logical thinking while critical examining a situation and to have a methodological approach towards making decisions (Bertola and Lo Prete, 2015). This has polished my analytical abilities as well. Studying accounts and finance have increased my potential to deduce, influence and to make use of statistical information to reach to a solution to a problem. I have also learned time management and leadership skills. This learned skill can help me in analyzing and interpreting complex data of the business in future and lead a team successfully. Motivation to engage in career development planning for accounting and finance stream Generally students choose a subject for further studies based on his background and the career path that he wants to follow in future. It is very essential for them to understand the future career prospects of their chosen field which becomes a motivating factor for them to start planning for their career development in future (Fry, Ketteridge and Marshall, 2014). Many students get motivated to plan for their career to carve out a chart for their skill development as they grow in the corporate world. For me, the motivating factor for choosing this subject was the bright career prospects and my aptitude in mathematics. As an accounting and finance graduate, I have galore of opportunities available in future. There are several fields in accounting which I can opt for such as public accounting, management accounting, government accounting and internal auditing with availability of wide range of specialization such as cost, tax, audit, budget accounting etc. Also public accounting is a higher paying job, which provides opportunities for growth based on potential of an individual (Khasawneh, 2010). If I go ahead with finance, then too many career opportunities like financial consultant/manager, investment banker, corporate financing, financial planners and many more such jobs are available. As finance major, I can also have the opportunity to work in insurance industry as there is a huge demand for technical finance graduates who can assess the client in managing risk and maintaining a profitable portfolio. I also have the opportunity to be a strategic planner and business analyst who can offer financial consulting to the management and conduct financial analysis and develop strategies to be employed within the organization. Thus, availability of such huge opportunities has motivated me to actively engage in career planning now as all the above fields have its own criteria. Thus I need to zero in few suitable options as per my capability and work towards those in order to flourish in my career (Mey, 2002). Therefore in order to fulfill my aspirations, I need to engage in career development planning in order to logically move towards achievement of my desired goals. Progressive Learning Introduction Progressive learning is a concept that believes that the learning takes place by series of experience and discoveries (Pekkaya, 2015). This approach is student centered. It believes that the quality interaction with students principles of the education is learned when a student is exposed to practical situation which enriches his experience. Thus, as a graduate, apart from learning technical skills, I have acquired other managerial skills such as teamwork, interpersonal skills and leadership by attending (experiencing and discovering) workshops, seminars and other co-curricular activities. Requirement for Certified Public Accountant As discussed above, there are various opportunities available for an accounts and finance graduate. I have also stated the basic requirement to pursue this subject. However, each of the opportunity available has its own criteria which need to be fulfilled by me in order to get that job (Pitts, 2013). I would take an example of choosing Certified Public Accountant as my future career option then I need to fulfill the following requirements as mentioned by the AICPA. I must complete 150 hours of graduate level education in order to increase my communication and analytical skills. I need to pass all the four levels of the Uniform Certified Public Accountant exam. And two years of work experience Thus, I need to take necessary steps to fulfill these criteria. How can I develop skills in this area I am already pursuing a college level education. I need to work for two years after my graduation to get the required working experience for CPA (Tella and Issa, 2013). To pass all the levels of UCPA exam, I need to take extra classes to enhance my potential. Conclusion Thus, it can be concluded that there is always a motivating factor for students before choosing a subject to pursue the degree course. Career development planning is crucial for students in order to land up in their desired jobs. Reference List Arrington, K. (2000). Middle Grades Career Planning Programs.Journal of Career Development, 27(2), pp.103-109. Bertola, G. and Lo Prete, A. (2015). Reforms, Finance, and Current Accounts.Review of International Economics, p.n/a-n/a. Fry, H., Ketteridge, S. and Marshall, S. (2014).The Effective Academic. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis. Khasawneh, S. (2010). Factors Influencing the Career Planning and Development of University Students in Jordan.Australian Journal of Career Development, 19(2), pp.41-48. Mey, S. (2002). A Career Planning Program for Malaysian Secondary School Students.Australian Journal of Career Development, 11(2), pp.18-21. Pekkaya, M. (2015). Career Preference of University Students: An Application of MCDM Methods.Procedia Economics and Finance, 23, pp.249-255. Pitts, A. (2013). Student life - Learning from experience.Nursing Standard, 27(39), pp.64-64. Tella, A. and Issa, A. (2013). An Examination of Library and Information Science Undergraduate Students Career Aspirations in Entrepreneurship and Self-Employment.Journal of Business Finance Librarianship, 18(2), pp.129-145.