Becoming An Accountant 

General Overview:

The field of Accounting is defined as the study of how individual businesses track their assets and income over a period of time.  Accountants are involved in a wide range of activities.  These include preparing financial statements and recording business transactions, as well as computing costs and efficiency gains from new technology, involved in strategies regarding company acquisitions and mergers, quality management, developing and using information systems to track financial performance, tax planning.

There is much that one can get from a career in accounting.  One of the most important skills you can receive is to learn how business works.  In other words how the business world turns and functions.  The field of accounting offers challenging and rewarding work that is constantly changing.  Due to the fact that accountants spend much of their time examining how businesses are run, they really get an instead look at how business works.  This is why it is not surprising to learn that many of the most successful business people started their careers as accountants.  As well, it is important to mention that most Chief Financial Officers of large corporations have a background in accounting.  This is because accountants are perfectly positioned to become a CFO during their careers, considering that they likely have the best understanding of what drives business and profits in a company.

In order to start an accounting career, you must start your journey somewhere.  This will likely be at a public accounting firm where you can get excellent training and experience.  Often you will be able to move on to an accounting career elsewhere if you like to focus on what accounting aspects you prefer, either in government or in the private sector.    

Accounting offers vast number of career opportunities in many different areas. The field is normally divided into three broad categories including auditing, financial & tax and management accounting.

Required Skills:

The field of accounting is very team oriented and someone wanting to have a career in it must expect this.  If you get an accounting job you can plan on staring out as a junior member of a team.  Your team could be responsible for a number of things including preparing financial statements and auditing certain accounts.  It is very important that you embrace this team environment and show that you are will to work freely with others.

Try to keep ahead of the technology game.  The accounting world is constantly changing through technological innovations.  Many companies today are implementing new computer systems for submitting and preparing financial statements.  In order to keep ahead in the accounting field, you must always try to keep on top of these ever changing advancements.  Learning new skills and techniques for accounting will only help you in your career.

Accounting Job Options:

Audit Accounting

Audits are the main area that accounting is involved in.  Accounting audits involve analyzing accounting ledgers and financial statements within corporations and government.  This field of accounting has become largely computerized and often relies on sophisticated random sampling methods.  This area of accounting often involves a large amount of travel and can give you a great starting point for a career in accounting.

Budget Analysis Accounting

Budget analysts are primarily in the development and management of an organization’s financial plans.  This area of accounting has many jobs in both private industry and government.  Many budget analysts must have both quantitative and people skills in order to do their job properly.  This is because a lot of budget analysis work involves negotiation.

Financial Accounting

The field of financial accounting largely involves the preparation of financial statements based on general ledgers and involvement in financial decisions regarding mergers and acquisitions, benefit planning and long term financial projecting.  This means that type of work financial accounting jobs entail can vary greatly from day to day.  Therefore financial accounting requires a sound understanding of both finance and accounting.

Management Accounting

Management accounting is a field of work that involves participation in decisions about capital budgeting and line of business analysis.  The most common functions of management accountants is analysis of costs and analysis of expense efficiency which can often include analysis of the entire structure of an organization.  As well many management accountants work side by side the finance and marketing departments of an organization. 

Tax Accounting

The role of a tax accountant is primarily to prepare personal and corporate income tax statements.  This involves developing tax strategies relating to financial choices, mergers and acquisitions, tax deferrals and when to expense certain purchases.  Tax accounting demands a broad understanding of economics and tax laws.  Today, many large organizations are seeking tax accountants who have a background in both tax accounting and law or legal issues. 

Accountants – Places to work

Government

Government accountants can work at the local, state/provincial/ or federal level.  They administer and formulate budgets, as well as track costs and analyze programs.  Government accountants can often have a large impact on the general public which can subject it to political and bureaucratic scrutiny and complications.  This can make the job both stressful and rewarding at the same time.  Government accounting jobs usually offer possible advancement to both controller and higher administrative levels.   

Public Accounting Firms

All public accounting firms are based on a foundation of partnerships (similar to a law firm).  These partnerships provide a variety of accounting services to individuals, businesses and governments.  This field of accounting offers potential advancement in the areas of audit management, tax management or partnership (which is only attained by 2-3% of new employees).

Corporations

Most corporations have an accounting section that prepares financial statements, tracks costs, deals with tax issues and handles international transactions.  This work can offer potential advancement to positions in areas such as audit management, tax management, cost accounting management, financial planning management and treasury.

Certified Public Accountant (CPA)

Working as a CPA (Certified Public Accountant) is a great option that many accountants choose to take.  This form of employment requires that you generate business for yourself as well as keep the overall business running.  Self-employment offers you a high degree of independence, close customer contact and for many accountants high financial payoff.  Although a substantial living can be made as a self-employed accountant, you must consider that it can be risky at times.