Consider a Career in Accounting

When you consider a career in accounting, you need to pursue a university degree with a major concentration in accounting courses. In this field, you will be dealing with businesses, financial reports and record keeping, assets and investments as well as taxes. There are several areas in this field in which you can specialize, such as public accounting, management accounting, tax accounting, auditing and forensic accounting. However, this all comes with experience, as you have to start in an entry-level position and work your way up obtaining appropriate certifications.

When you are an accountant, your career will involve stimulating and challenging work, but you need to have a love of working with numbers and calculations. You will be part of a team making decisions about mergers, analyzing business decisions and preparing cost analysis for various projects. Virtually every business and government agencies requires the services of an accountant, so there is plenty of opportunity foe employment with a career in accounting.

The skills and talents you need to possess to have a career in accounting include:

• Sales skills
• Interpersonal skills
• Written and oral communication skills
• Analytical skills
• Ability to synthesize information
• Initiative and motivation to succeed

Since the field of accounting is very team oriented, you need to be a team player so that you can work well with other accountants in the firm. Computer skills are essential as most of the work you will do as an accountant will be on a computer and you will need expertise in using accounting software. Both large and small businesses are now using the latest technologies for keeping track of their transactions and the preparation of financial reports and statements. Therefore you should feel comfortable using spreadsheets, as this will be the tool that you use most of all.

Some of the types of work you can do when you choose a career in accounting include working as an internal or external auditor. If you work within the parameters of only one company dealing with auditing the company books, then you will be an internal auditor. An external auditor is a third party looking at the financial records of a company and could actually have several different companies as clients. Both governments and private business hire business analysts to develop and monitor their business plans.

If you want to experience different duties every day with a career in accounting, you might want to take a look at working as a financial accountant. In this job, you could be working on spreadsheets one day, preparing financial statements the next and setting up a business plan for a new client on the third day. If you like working on projects and preparing estimates of what the project might cost to determine ways to make a profit, then a career in management accounting may be the one that is right for you.

While most accountants work in an office setting, depending on the business or organization you work with in your career in accounting you may have a lot of travel, especially if it is a large firm with many branch offices. You may also have to travel to visit clients. There is also the possibility of being an independent accountant setting up your own office, with your own clients and your own hours. Whichever type of accounting you decide is right for you, this is one area where the salaries are quite high and there are many possibilities for advancement.