The pros and cons of Online Accounting Education

You know, accounting is getting very important for every business in the current scenario. The main reason for this importance is that an account helps a business keep track of the expenses it is making and can lead to lower them to be competitive. Every business is not unique anymore, so if you want to sustain in business, you must have good margins, and an accountant can help you find out the ways for it. But how can you become an accountant? 

Well, statistics show that in the future, the number of jobs for accountants is going to go up by 10% as the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) says in a study. Also, many people are opting for online courses for getting the certification/degree or diploma. In short, people are choosing online courses to acquire skills. So how can you acquire an online accounting degree?

But before you decide to go for your online accounting degree for a great career ahead, let us see some pros and cons of doing an accounting course online. This will help you have a thought process running so in case you are opting for it, and you can make an informed decision.

PROS OF ONLINE ACCOUNTING EDUCATION

Let us start with the positives of opting for online accounting education. The following are the pros which you will have:

1. Flexibility: The main reason online education is being adopted by millions of people across the globe is flexibility. This means that you do not have to follow a fixed schedule, but rather you can do it as per your convenience. As accounting is not as simple as you think, it requires a student to be focused on the course. No one loves to be forced to do something. Hence if you opt for online accounting education, no one will force you to sit down and attend the class. You can access it whenever you want and start studying.
2. Any time access to lecture: As established, accounting is not an easy subject. Many students complete their education by failing multiple times, especially when it comes to certification programs. The main reason for this is, students cannot recall the lecture and the concepts taught at that time. So when they start practicing after a few days of the lecture, 50% of the concepts get removed from their memory. But when you are getting online accounting education, you have access to the lectures anytime. If you start practicing after a week and you cannot recall all the concepts, you can just login back to the class portal and have a look at the concepts again. This is impossible for a traditional class.
3. Cost of the course: When we talk about education, the first thing that comes to our mind is cost. What will be the cost which I have to pay? Well, it has been observed that since there is no huge fixed cost involved in getting the education, the overall cost of the education goes down and the websites offer cheaper courses but highly valuable courses. Hence if you are worried about the cost you have to pay for your accounting education then do not worry. Also, some websites offer you full access to the course and charges you when you opt for a certificate.
4. Learn from the experts: There is always someone in a field which is considered as the best, and many people want to learn from him. However, he cannot teach everyone or the whole world by himself. He will always offer limited slots, and it will always be hard to get enrolled. But through online education, you can learn from the best of the best. There will be no limitation of how many students can learn from him at a time. Once he has uploaded a course, you can learn to account from professors of Harvard by sitting seven oceans away.

Wow! Learning from the best teacher looks so amazing and too tempting to opt for the option of an online accounting course. But wait! Cons of online education are yet to come. So do not decide so early.

CONS OF ONLINE ACCOUNTING EDUCATION

Just looking at one side, a coin does not make your decision informed. You must look at the cons of your decision too. Here are some of the cons of online accounting education:

1. No discipline: You know this is the human psyche that when there is no one to force him to do work, most of the time, do not work. Like, if you had to go to college, then you have someone to force you to be on time. But when there is something available 24/7, you do not care about doing it at that time, but a thought comes in your mind that I will do later. Who cares if I do not do it today? Hence you are undisciplined to work.
2. Lack of communication skills: When you are doing an online course, most of the time you are sitting in a room where there is no one. However, when you are in a class, there are many students with whom you can interact. With whom you have to complete the assignments and present them in front of other students. This all creates or polishes your communication skills. But when we talk about online education, you study in isolation and rarely have an interaction with someone. And most of the time that interaction is behind the keyboard, so your communication skills get affected by this. And in the current condition of employment overall, you need soft skills like communication to grow.
3. Hard to complete the course: This corn is linked with the first one or rather the outcome of the first one. The online course offering companies make such persuasive ads of the course that you are inclined and motivated to buy the course. But you know there is no one to push you to complete the course, and hence you might just stop doing it once the motivation fades out.
4. Might not get a job: This can be the biggest issue for an online accounting educated person. He might have all the necessary skills a company requires, but he will or may not have the brand name so that an employer could associate him with a great institute. This mindset is slowing changing, but overall right now online education industry is just on the starting point of it. So this might be a con right now but will not be in the future.

BOTTOM LINE

The world is changing, and so does the way we use to get an education. Getting an education online is the next big thing, and soon everyone will be sitting in their rooms on the bed and studying. But this thing has some pros and cons. Pros can be like flexibility which allows you to schedule your study when you are free from other things, but it also is hard to be motivated, and you can stop studying. Then it allows you to study from professors or universities from where you cannot think of going and learning from, but at the same time you may have acquired skills from them, but an employer might not regard them as much as he does if you would physically be there.

This list can go on and on, but in the end, this is what I know. The education system is changing and will change and in the future people will opt online education, so start getting some small courses that are relevant to your field from today and start learning.