Accounting Careers

Accounting Careers: The Business Trackers

When it comes right down to it accounting careers are not more than tracking the income and assets of a business over a period of time. You may think of accountants as number crunchers and they are, but then again they are a lot more. You see the accountant’s job can get a little more complex. Careers in accounting are not narrowed down to one simple job requirement. If you are an accountant you will do more than just prepare a financial statement. You will be involved in monitoring all types of business transactions. You will also monitor costs and profits. You might even be engaged in plans for acquisitions or mergers. You will be assisting a business by tracking and planning their tax strategy, financial portfolio and managing their health care benefits packages.

Future for Accounting Careers

The first thing you should know is that there is a constant need for good accountants even in this weak and dismal economy. A good accountant is worth his or her weight in gold. Good accountants gain a lot of valuable input over time because they spend so much time dissecting the business operation. You might think accounting careers would be boring but this is not the case. The numbers and the trends are always changing and you are always faced with a new situation to monitor or solve. You would be amazed if you knew how many great business leaders began with accounting careers. Even the Chief Financial Officers of some of the best fortune 500 companies have more than likely had some accounting experience on their resume.

The fact is there will always be audits to do, taxes to be levied, bookkeeping to prepare and payrolls to be issued. Every year over 20,000 new accountants are put to work. Some have 2- year degrees and some have 4- year degrees. Some were interns and some were not. The pay is rewarding and the job fascinating at times. Hiring for these positions will typically depend upon your major, your grades and the effectiveness of your communication. The future for accountants is looking bright.

Skills Required For Accounting Careers

Obviously you need the professional training like the degree that says you are a certified accountant but there are other skills that are vital in the field as well. Accounting careers are normally broken down into 3 categories.

The first is Audit Accounting, the second Tax and Financial Accounting and the third is Management Accounting. These jobs all require diverse skills. Some of the skills needed are People skills. You have to be prepared to work with other people regardless if it is customers or coworkers. You would also benefit by having some Sales skills. After all you do have to bring in clients they don’t always come to you. Communications skills are also very important. The way that you talk to someone is as important as what you are saying. You have to be able to get your point across. You need strong Analytical skills as well. You will constantly be analyzing business circumstances.

You will also go well in the accounting career if you have Creative ability. You have to be able to come up with options and solutions that derive from thinking outside the box. It goes without saying that you will also fair well if you demonstrate some Initiative. You have to display some get up and go. You have to have a fire burning in you that says to everyone around you that this is what I do and I love it so give me some more. In this day and age you need to have some good Computer skills as well. More and more work is being done on computers. The more you know about computers the better it will be for you.

Positions and Salaries

Accounting careers branch out into different fields. Just like there are different types of doctors there are a variety of accountants. You can branch off into Auditing, Budget Analysis, Financial Auditing, Management Accounting or Tax Accounting. You can work for Public Accounting Firms both small and large. You can work for the government (like the IRS). You can work for corporations or you can go it on your own and become a CPA and start your own accounting business. Typically an entry- level position in accounting will start you out around $50,000 per year. Partners in large firms can make anywhere from $200,000 to into the millions. It all depends on how good you are and what your goals are. Accounting careers can be very rewarding if you are up to the challenge of good business tracking.