Accounting jobs most at risk from automation, warns PwC

Accounting has topped a list of professions which, according to PwC, are “most at risk from computerisation and technology”.

Commenting on the study, PwC chief executive Luke Sayers said he is not surprised that digital disruption is putting accounting jobs at risk.

“It was no shock to us that our own research showed PwC’s core business, accounting, is at the highest risk of automation over the next 20 years," he said, adding that PwC has been planning for this disruption for some time now.

“Two examples in our audit practice are our automated data assurance service, which will have the capability to provide a real time audit to all clients, and a global first in predictive analytics to help anticipate future issues based on previous experience.

“These technological innovations not only make audits more secure, but free up our skilled workforce to provide more insight and analysis that benefits our clients,” Mr Sayers said.

While accounting topped the list of jobs most at risk from technological disruption, the profession was followed most closely by checkout operators and cashiers at 96.9 per cent.

Other industries deemed to be at risk include general office administration workers (96.1 per cent); financial and insurance administration workers (93.1 per cent); and real estate agents (85.2 per cent).

From http://www.accountantsdaily.com.au/

The Difference Between Accounting and Finance

A Buffett Approach To Buying Growth Stocks - Forbes

This is an additional reading for students of Wealth & Investment Management in Advance Diploma in Finance & Banking program conducted at Lanka BPO Academy

Growth or value? It’s one of the most basic questions in the investment world. Pundits debate the attractiveness of growth versus value stocks, and mutual funds neatly chop up the market into “growth” and “value” funds.

There’s just one problem. The distinction between growth and value is flawed.

Just ask Warren Buffett. He doesn’t seem to differentiate much between growth and value. “Market commentators and investment managers who glibly refer to ‘growth’ and ‘value’ styles as contrasting approaches to investment are displaying their ignorance, not their sophistication,” he explained in his 2000 annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway BRK.A +% shareholders.

To Buffett all investing is about value. Assessing a company’s growth prospects is simply one part of gauging value. Rapid growth in sales and profits can add a ton of value to companies whose shares may at first glance look pricey. Some of Buffett’s big recent buys bear out that notion.

When Berkshire acquired Burlington Northern Santa Fe back in 2010, the railroad had a not-so-lean price/earnings ratio of about 20, but it had increased earnings at an average annual rate of 19% for seven years. Lubrizol LZ +% had a five-year earnings growth rate of about 40% when Berkshire bought it back in 2011. Lubrizol had increased earnings in six of the seven years before being acquired.

Buffett doesn’t look at just one growth-related metric when assessing a company’s value. As he noted in that 2000 letter to shareholders, a high growth rate can sometimes “destroy value if it requires cash inputs in the early years of a project or enterprise that exceed the discounted value of the cash that those assets will generate in later years.”

Buffett isn’t explicit in the metrics he uses to gauge a company’s growth prospects, but his former daughter-in-law and colleague, Mary Buffett, offered an idea in her book The New Buffettology. Buffett wants a firm’s earnings to have increased reasonably consistently over the prior decade, and he looks at a number of other earnings-driven variables. These include return on equity, return on retained earnings, free cash flow and debt—which should be no more than five times annual earnings. Buffett is concerned with the quality of a company’s earnings and its sustainability over the long haul.

I’ve created a Buffett-inspired stock picking model, and in the last ten years a ten-stock, monthly rebalanced portfolio of Buffett growth stocks would have gained 86.1%, versus 53.8% for the S&P 500.

Here are three:

The TJX Companies (TJX, 51): The parent of discount retailers Marshalls and T.J. Maxx has done exceptionally well in recent years. It’s increased annual EPS every year for more than a decade, and its ten-year growth rate is 17%. The company is also a cash generator—$2.38 in free cash flow per share—and its debt is less than half of annual earnings. It trades for about 20 times trailing 12-month EPS.

PetSmart (PETM, 70) is a $7 billion market cap big-box pet store with a ten-year earnings growth rate of nearly 15%. Shares trade for close to 20 times trailing 12-month EPS. Given its annual earnings, the firm could pay off all debt in less than two years. It has nearly $4 in free cash flow per share, and it has averaged a ten-year return on equity of more than 20%.

My last Buffett-inspired growth pick is FactSet Research Systems FDS +1.18%, of Norwalk, Conn., a global financial data provider whose earnings are growing at an 11% rate. Its share price may look high—the stock has a 23.4 trailing-12-month P/E—but the quality of those earnings is impressive and certainly adds to the company’s value: The firm has no long-term debt, $3.57 in free cash flow per share and an average ten-year return on equity of 30.3%.

By John P. Reese

Forbes  Magazine June 10, 2013

Best path to enter in to global careers in banking & finance

Lanka BPO Academy (www.lankabpoacademy.lk) was initially established to cater to the growing need in the IT BPO sector. Over the years it had successfully produced thousands of professionals for the IT-BPO companies in Sri Lanka. As a result Lanka BPO Academy (LBA) appeared on the Central Bank Annual Report 2011 & 2012 as the recognized trainer for the industry.

From the inception LBA was providing training for fresh talent & executives in the IT-BPO sector. Programmes ranged from Software Engineering, Project Management, Business Analysis, Accounting, and Customer Service etc.

Always staying ahead of the trend

In 2011 Lanka BPO Academy joined hands with Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment – UK which is the largest and most widely respected professional body for those who work in the securities and investment industry.

The objective behind this was though there are more than 200,000 accountants & accounting students there were not enough professionals in the finance & investment sector. In partnership with CISI, LBA launched the Graduate Diploma in Finance which leads to masters in finance.

This three staged finance qualification gives the broadest knowledge available in finance covering areas such as corporate finance, investment management, fund management, risk management etc. This enabled students who are yet to complete the qualification to work as financial analysts, business analysts, and financialplanners in various critical roles in largest banks & financial institutions across the globe.

Being the best

During the very first year of launching the program LBA beat the global pass rate for subjects like Investment Management. Continuing its superior commitment to quality LBA had produced world’s first & second ranks for July 2014 sitting for Diploma in Finance, Risk& Decision Making. Further to that LBA had the highest pass rate across the world which was 79%.

World’s No 1

Dulmini Sathya Sri Dharmapala, a past pupil from the Vishaka Vidyalayabecame world’s number one by securing the subject prize for Investment Decision Making, Accounting & Governance. “I always wanted to be different. That’s why I followed Graduate Diploma in Finance. Practical nature & the depth of knowledge that I received at LBA helped me to achieve this ” said Dulmini thrilled with her success.

Eligibility to join

Anyone with O/L results could join this programme from the beginning. Also there are exemptions available for academics & professionals with relevant qualifications or experience.

There is a lack of awareness about the potential found within the financial sector, with many students choosing to pursue careers in accounting, creating an excess in supply. Lanka BPO aims to cater to the financial sector creating neither an excess demand nor supply

Start thinking of global careers in finance & banking

Financial Analysis - where numbers speak

Financial analysis is an aspect of the overall business finance function that involves examining historical data to gain information about the current and future financial health of a company. That is using Historical Data, Analyze them & Give information to the people who needed. After that they take Decisions for their future success.

Financial analysis can be applied in a wide variety of situations to give business managers the information they need to make critical decisions. The ability to understand financial data is essential for business management.

The finance function in business involves evaluating economic trends, setting financial policy, and creating long-range plans for business activities. It also involves applying a system of internal controls for handling cash, the recognition of sales, the disbursement of expenses, the valuation of inventory, and the approval of capital expenditures.

A financial analyst would try to identify investment options which maximize the return at lowest possible risk. Therefore financial analysis has become one of the most important functions in company to determine the success.

This had made financial analysis a lucrative career across the world as every business or individual is seeking to maximize the profit at lower risk.  Globally financial analysis is well paid & well respected than a traditional accounting career.

Now for young school leavers or young professionals seeking better career paths could enter in to careers in financial analysis with Graduate Diploma in Finance & Banking a qualification provided by Chartered Institute For Securities & Investment (CISI) –UK at Lanka BPO Academy in Nugegoda. For more information visit www.lankabpoacademy.com or email contact@lankabpoacademy.lk