Accounting and Creativity - oxymorons?

[turtleface]

You can hide this advertisement by registering.

I was talking to someone recently and he's like "oh I like to be creative, so I don't think Accountings for me".

It got me thinking, do you think Accounting is suitable for creative people?

My thoughts:

Reasons for Yes (it is suitable):

• A lot of Management Accounting involves a lot of conceptual thinking, creativity (with regards to best costing method, organisational behaviour etc)
• A lot of Business Info System modelling involves a lot of creative thinking on how to do...it.
• In Financial Accounting, you really need a fresh and creative mind when analysing issues like "should heritage assets be costed and put on the Bsheet?"
• A lot of Financial Accounting is subjective ie. should we do this or that?
• Creativity would be good for trying to figure out the best ways for disclosing contemporary financial instruments, since this is an area where IFRS comes in for the most flack (i.e. IAS 39).

Arguments for No:

• If you deliberately flaunt standards and Corporations Laws in Financial Accounting, or flaunt professional requirements, standards and company law in Auditing or Insolvency, you can go to jail.
• If everyone is creative at inappropriate times in Financial Accounting, the information is no longer consistent and becomes useless.
• Accountants are known to like to stick to the status quo. i.e. If its near enough its good enough, lets just keep it the way it is, I cbfed changing things

[shannonm]

Relative to most/many other professions, no, of course not.

It's easy to select a (non creative) profession and list some small areas of that profesion that do require some mild creative thinking.
But accounting and general creativity? No..

If the creative people are reasonable at it and enjoy it, then yes I would say that is is suitable for them, even if it does not involve much 'creative thinking'.

[Minai]

The collapse of Enron was caused by "creative accounting"...so in that respect...

[jpr333]

A job is a job. People have lives outside of their jobs... and I think you will find in the vast majority of cases people don't like their jobs, it's work, it's a meal ticket.

Justification of one's selected career path and turtleface, synonyms?
a) Yes
b) Absolutely yes
c) Why even ask
:P

[turtleface]

lol I think it takes real innovative minds to think up dodgy ways to turn $1 in the bank to like $1000000

Maybe creativity does have its place in Accounting lol

[seremify007]

Remember accounting is a very generalised term which is like an umbrella covering a lot of other professions/specialised work like advisory, auditing, etc... Different parts of accounting have different things which are suitable.

[turtleface]

Yeah thats true. Accounting can mean so many things these days that its hard to describe Accounting as a whole, only individual areas.

I personally think the areas of Accounting that would require the most creativity are Advisory, IT implementations and consulting, Management Accounting, Taxation and areas that require (and demand) the least bit of creativity - auditing, financial accounting, insolvency (compliance areas)

[Conspirocy]

I think accounting has a lot of structure to it and so with structure people usually think something is rigid. I'd say however, accounting is no more rigid than any other profession that has to adhere to the law, take for example precedent in the courts, once its been set there is not really much you can do about changing it.

Personally, i think people would have had to have been very creative to come up with such good ways of dealing with most concepts in accounting, right now im studying financial reporting, which is pretty rigid, and there is possibly no creativity, but you have to appreciate the thought that goes behind the process.

Most people when they work will not be creative. You are basically just following someones footsteps. I wouldnt call a job creative unless you come up with something that is entirely new, and you can name it after yourself.

1+1=2 how can you change that. Debits = Credits...however, thats not just what accountants do. accountants use logic to improve businesses as a starting point, so if there is a problem, why would you go about thinking of an entirely new way of fixing it when there is already an answer that works. When there isnt an answer, id say its the accountant who comes up with the 'creative' solution.

and major fraud is not creative at all, personally they look like simple structures, usually plain lying. And regulators have been caught napping in not spotting this blatent and simple fraud.

[redruM]

Originally Posted by turtleface

I personally think the areas of Accounting that would require the most creativity are Advisory, IT implementations and consulting, Management Accounting, Taxation and areas that require (and demand) the least bit of creativity - auditing, financial accounting, insolvency (compliance areas)

I think Management Accounting/Advisory would be lots of fun. From the little exposure I've had to auditing (through studying it at uni), I think it requires them to be clue-ey and sharp. In practice though, I think it will be very rigid (at least till you reach a senior position/in charge of audits).

[jpr333]

Originally Posted by Conspirocy

I think accounting has a lot of structure to it and so with structure people usually think something is rigid. I'd say however, accounting is no more rigid than any other profession that has to adhere to the law, take for example precedent in the courts, once its been set there is not really much you can do about changing it.

Personally, i think people would have had to have been very creative to come up with such good ways of dealing with most concepts in accounting, right now im studying financial reporting, which is pretty rigid, and there is possibly no creativity, but you have to appreciate the thought that goes behind the process.

Most people when they work will not be creative. You are basically just following someones footsteps. I wouldnt call a job creative unless you come up with something that is entirely new, and you can name it after yourself.

1+1=2 how can you change that. Debits = Credits...however, thats not just what accountants do. accountants use logic to improve businesses as a starting point, so if there is a problem, why would you go about thinking of an entirely new way of fixing it when there is already an answer that works. When there isnt an answer, id say its the accountant who comes up with the 'creative' solution.

and major fraud is not creative at all, personally they look like simple structures, usually plain lying. And regulators have been caught napping in not spotting this blatent and simple fraud.

Yeah you'll find 3rd year accounting takes a very critical approach to the 'fictional' financial pictures accountants paint, and the subjective and interpretive nature of the standards.