A brief summary of accounting field

Accounting: Managing Money

Brief Description of Job:

Accounting refers to the process of recording, discussing, and analyzing the financial data in business. Accountants keep records of a company’s money. They watch how well the company is doing financially, and what contracts, business deals will gain a profit for the company. They know how much each employee is paid. Many people assume that to be an Accountant one has to be greatly comfortable with Math. Here math means highly mathematical equations, figures, graphs etc. However, a student only needs to know the introduction of Math (addition, subtraction, division, and multiplication). If one can do simple mathematics, he can learn about Accounting. There are four types of Accountants: Public Accountants, management accountants, government accountants and internal accountants. I want to be a public accountant.

Public accountants can be called to do many things dealing with money such as accounting, auditing, tax, and advising their clients. These clients can be corporations, governments, nonprofit organizations or individuals. Some public accountants focus on tax matters, which includes discussing benefits and drawbacks of particular financial transactions and preparing individual income tax returns. They also do consulting in activities such as compensation or employee health care benefits and how to design accounting and data processing systems. Public accountants, who have passed CPA exam known as Certified Public Accountant, can run their own businesses or work for Public accounting firms.

Management Accountants also referred to as Cost managerial, industrial, corporate or private accountants. They analyze and evaluate the financial records of the companies for which they work. Their other obligations are budgeting, performance evaluation, cost management, and asset management. These people are involved in strategic planning or the making of new products. They evaluate the information that the executives they work with must have in order to run the company successfully. They also make financial reports for other people such as stockholders, creditors, regulatory agencies, and tax authorities.

Government’s accountants and auditors work with businesses, examining the records of government departments and auditing private businesses. They also work for people whose jobs are subject to government regulations or taxation. Accountants hired by federal, state, and local governments make sure that profits are gained and expenses are made without breaking the laws.

Internal auditors examine a company’s internal controls and check that there is no mismanagement, waste and fraud. They look over a company’s financial and information systems, management procedures, and internal controls to make sure that they are correct and suitable. They verify company operations, rating their “efficiency, effectiveness, and compliance with corporate policies and government regulations.” Internal auditors can also help companies with their computer systems assuring that the information that comes from them is correct rather than depending on personal observations.

Necessary Interest & Abilities:

One needs to be interested in deal with numbers. You have to compare and make income statements, control the flow of money, prepare long financial reports and discuss company’s revenues and losses. It relies on the area of which you are specialized in; you deal with numbers to give effective financial advice to your clients or employers. For instance, an accountant can talk about a company’s financial performance and what it looked like in the last month, the last year or even the last decade. Joyce Rowe is an accountant with a plastics and fiberglass manufacturing business. She states, "I'm challenged every day. Business is the same but it is never the same. As the economy and the environment changes, it impacts the financial wellness of the company. As an accountant I have to ask myself, 'How will this environmental issue affect the company?'"

Work Environment

Accountants and auditors work in a normal office setting, while some may work at home. Some accountants may travel often to perform audits at branches of companies, places of business or government facilities. Most accountants and auditors usually work forty hours per week, but they can work longer hours if they are self-employed or have many different clients. Tax specialists often work long hours during tax seasons. There are some accountants who work only during tax seasons.

Education & Training Required

“Most accountants and auditor positions need at least a Bachelor’s degree in accounting or a related field.” Some companies prefer people applying for a job to have a Master’s degree in accounting or in Business Administration with majoring in accounting. In order to get a CPA certification, you must complete 150 semester hours of college class work. All states use the four-part uniform CPA examination, which is prepared by American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. It is a very challenging examination and less than half of people who take each year pass every part on the first attempt. Students do not have to pass all four parts at once. However most states require students to pass all four parts within 18 months of each year. The CPA exam is now online and you can take at least two months out of every quarter at different testing places throughout the U.S. Prior work experience in accounting or auditing can be helpful to get a job. Many colleges offer an internship programs so that students can gain experience and knowledge in summer or on part-time basis. Having knowledge of computers is a big asset for applicants in the accounting and auditing fields.

Average Annual Salary

Annual salary people working in accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping, and payroll services are $57,020. Salary for People working in management of companies and enterprises is $55, 560. Local government pays $50,120. Depository credit intermediation pays $49,380. State government pays $47,200. “Median annual earnings of wage and salary accountants and auditors were $54,630 in May 2006. The middle half of the occupation earned between $42,520 and $71,960. The top 10 percent earned more than $94,050, and bottom 10 percent earned less than $34,470.” Federal government paid junior accountants and auditors $28,862 in 2007. Applicants with higher qualifications can start at $35,752, while candidates with a Master’s degree or two years of experience usually began at $43,731.

Employment

Accountants and Auditors reserved about 1.3 million jobs in 2006. They employed with private industry and government. However 21 percent of accountants worked for accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping, and payroll services firms. About 10 percent 0f accountants have their own businesses. “Many management accountants, internal auditors, or government accountants and auditors are not CPAs: however a large number are licensed CPAs.” Many accountants work in urban areas, where public accounting firms and central or regional offices of businesses are concentrated.

Future Outlook

Job opportunities for accountants and auditors should be growing. Those who have earned a CPA exam should be able to find a job easily. Any accountant or auditor who is known as the one who acts correctly with certification or licensure accounts should find a job comfortably. Applicants with a Master’s degree in business administration with a concentration in accounting won’t have much difficulty getting a job. Employment of accountants and auditors hopes to grow by 18 percent between 2006 and 2016. This field has enormous new jobs to rise, almost 226,000 over the projections decade. “An increase in the number of businesses, changing financial laws, and corporate governance regulations, and increased accountability for protecting an organization’s stakeholders will drive growth.

Related Jobs

Related jobs for accountants are Actuaries, Bookkeeping clerks, Budget analysts, Cost estimators, Financial analysts, Financial managers, Insurance sales agents, Insurance underwriters, Loan officers, and personal financial advisors.

before advising his company about a particular deal or a contract? What will be beneficial for a company he works for?

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