Change – we love it! Introducing the new FNS40217 Cert IV in Accounting and Bookkeeping

woman using a laptop

WiseClick are excited to announce that we are now delivering the new Certificate IV in Accounting and Bookkeeping. This new qualification was issued in late February 2018 by the Training and Accreditation Council (TAC) and we are one of the first training organisations to gain scope to deliver this new course.

The new qualification is a result of many industry and association meetings over 1-2 years that result in the latest in bookkeeping and accounting education needs. The new qualification picks up the same changes that universities have been taking up recently with their generic “Under Grad” courses offered for first level students. Students get a taste of the wider industry units and then can specialise later. Our new Certificate in Accounting and Bookkeeping will qualify you to be a bookkeeper and then allow you to specialise later in accounting of you feel that you want to go that way.

WiseClick Training has always chosen our units of delivery that ensure our students are work ready when they finish our course, we pick units that help in the most current day to day workload of a bookkeeper and also cater for a progression into accounting. The fact that we only needed two (out of 15) unit changes in order to gain scope for this new qualification gives me verification that we are doing the right thing in our small private training centre and are aligned to the Australia Wide trends. This also verifies for me that WiseClick has the knowledge and skillset to impart and train, enabling a new bookkeeper/finance officer to make it in the industry.

Let’s look at some details of this great new qualification available to you now.
In 2017 WiseClick listed four new units and the option for our bookkeeping students to complete a dual qualification which included both Certificate IV in Bookkeeping and Certificate IV in Accounting. These four units are part of the new qualification. They are listed below with some details of their content:

1. Process financial transactions and extract interim reports – our students needed more practice in using MYOB and Xero, entering and reconciling data. With this unit they now complete four units of general bookkeeping practice.

2. Administer subsidiary accounts and ledgers – we wanted our students to have more knowledge on how the accounting software dealt with the detailed contact information such as customers and suppliers (subsidiary ledgers) and still reconciled back to the general ledger which was reported to the ATO at the end of year.

3. Prepare financial statements for non-reporting entities – this unit went more into real time accounting for transactions as they happened in a business which meant that our students could offer management accounting as a skill set.

4. Prepare operational budgets – this delivery included budgeting and then cash flow forecasts which built off the back of the budgeting. Something our businesses were asking for and another skill that an accountant has and a bookkeeper can also offer.

Units added to gain scope for this NEW – FNS40217 Certificate IV in Accounting and Bookkeeping course:

5. Work effectively in the accounting and bookkeeping industry – this is a core unit and must be included. Provides and understanding in the financial services industry and working situations /needs such as legislation knowledge and procedure writing. Similar to one of our previous units but more comprehensive we feel.

6. Introduce cloud computing into business operations – covers what cloud accounting is, when it should be used and how to bring a business from desktop into the cloud. We have always taught this throughout our course and included Xero in our training to help with this understanding. This new unit reflects the desire to keep accounting and bookkeeping students up to date with new technologies and assist businesses in getting the most from those advances.

Microsoft Units

7. Design and produce business documents – we train Microsoft Word here and writing business documents as anyone working in an office needs this skill. Many of our students have been out of the workforce for some years so this is a good one to bring them up to date.

8. Produce spreadsheets – bookkeepers and accountants use Excel every day and we feel the Microsoft Excel skill is a must. We chose this level of Excel in particular as many of our students have never used Excel before so we need to ensure they have the core Excel skills required for both their future careers and assessment work.

Tax Practitioner Board Required Units (core units required to become a BAS Agent as part of the qualification)–

9. Complete business activity and instalment activity statements – covers a lot of tax legislations plus reconciling data then preparing BAS and IAS.

10. Establish and maintain payroll systems – covers a lot of payroll legislation plus setting up a payroll system, adding staff, running a pay and reporting on pays.

Other Units

11. Prepare Financial Reports – This is where we teach accounting theory and first look at how data turns into financial reports, cash reporting vs non cash reporting. Understanding Assets and depreciation and the end of tax year process.

12. Set up and operate a computerised accounting system – this is two days of accounting software practice (or one large unit). Setting up data files and then entering data and reconciling, then reading the data through running reports.

13. Maintain inventory records – One of those units that you can’t bookkeep without. Most accounting software packages have basic to more complex stock modules but realistically if those stock modules were used without training they can be VERY wrong. Most of our students find this unit easy and the understanding they get will always be used in the future as many businesses have stock of some kind.

In general we feel that the merging of the two units Certificate IV in Bookkeeping and Certificate IV in Accounting is a great move. No one ever knows where they want to be in 5-6 years’ time. Working as a bookkeeper once you finish your course is always different to completing tasks during training and some people that think that they want to be accountants might actually be better suited to being bookkeepers, or accounts /administration / finance officers – we see these terms  being used to cover a lot of bookkeeping tasks now.

We are behind the Under Grad type approach to training and whatever is better for our students and their future. The two new units that have been added are a great step towards bookkeeping moving with technology with our Training Accreditation Council basically telling us that we need to teach cloud accounting now (WiseClick has been doing that for a long time but other larger training centers don’t move as quickly ? )

I look forward to seeing our students enjoying the new units on offer.

Until next month,
Cheryl Triplett (previously Knight)

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