When computers first came into the mainstream of society in the mid 80s, accounting departments were among the very first to be computerized in most organizations. Indeed, there is a feeling amongst a considerable number of computing historians that the computer was mainly developed as an accounting aid ? and that other applications for the computer came up as a by-the-way. And it is perhaps because of this that accountancy has always been among the first areas to get a hang of most developments in computers and computing. Most recently, for instance, accounting was the first area of business to push its operations online (where everything will eventually go) through SAP systems ? and other departments are still trying to catch up. Accounting departments were also among the very first to embrace online recruitment ? and there in fact a feeling in some quarters that the best place to get jobs in accounting ? and other jobs in finance generally, is on the Internet.

Many companies post their accounting jobs onto online job notice boards based on the understanding that accountants are highly computer (and Internet) literate; and the chances of getting the right candidates for their jobs in finance are high if they post their jobs in accounting online are indeed very high.

A number of companies ? especially those that run their accounting departments online through systems like SAP (and this are increasingly in the majority) also post their accountancy jobs online because they only want to attract web savvy candidates, who will be able to keep up with their online accounting systems.

And of course, there is also the fact that posting accountancy ? and indeed any jobs ? online is cheaper than most other alternatives to it ? which mainly involve posting the vacancies on the print media.

In the face of all these factors, then, the chances of getting an accountancy job online are indeed very high ? if you are qualified and care to look.

As you go look for accountancy jobs online, you certainly need to ensure that you are looking for them at the right forums. The internet is home to a number of fraudsters (who co-exist with a lot of good people there, though) and you should ensure that you are not among the minority who fall prey to these (few) fraudsters. As a general rule of the thumb, you should never have to pay anyone for them to employ you. To be sure, you might have to pay membership and subscription fees at various online job forums (though there are a number of good free ones too) ? but these should be token fees to keep the service running ? rather than huge fees in (supposed) exchange for jobs.

If there is a certain company you fancy working for, you should first visit its website and more specifically its ?careers? section and check whether it has any vacancies in that section, before you go looking at the various online job notice boards. In applying for jobs, you are advised to give priority to vacancies you find posted on the respective companies ?careers? sections ? over those posted in the various online job notice boards.

This is not to say that there is anything wrong with these online job notice boards. Indeed there are many smaller companies ? companies whose websites don't get that many visitors ? who prefer to post their vacancies exclusively on the online job vacancy boards where there is a chance of the vacancies being seen by qualified people ? like you.