Some accounting finance jobs are tough to get and require an impressive resume as well as some hands-on experience. You can't expect to finish college and walk right into a perfect accounting job. Many leave college and work for a major accounting firm as an auditor. I've personally had many friends who worked as auditors and hated every second of it. It was all considered part of the process; and they were paying their dues. But if you go work for a small business company, you take a lot more risk in working for a company that hasn't fully established itself, yet; but they're more likely to hire you straight out of college. They see that you're willing to help them out when they're small, and if they go big, you're set up to take a big position in a new, emerging corporation. With a greater risk, comes a greater reward, should things go as planned.
As the sole accountant, running the accounting department for a small business, you personally handle all cash flow. You personally oversee all transactions going through on a day-to-day basis. This provides you with a great educational experience to better understand cash flow and you also get to learn how to manage money accounts for businesses. If you're looking to get a job as an accounting manager for a major firm or corporation, this is a great way to start. By managing all money accounts, you get firsthand experience of all levels of accounting. However, there are certain levels that aren't associated with small businesses, so you won't get involved in those aspects; so when you take that corporate job, don't think you know everything.
The experience that small business accounting provides, will look great on a resume. Corporations and accounting firms will recognize that you have real world experience of multiple levels of accounting, which will better qualify you to run an office or accounting department. So in this respect, starting off with a small business is a great way to go.
There are also a lot more jobs with small businesses. Think of all the startup companies emerging everyday. Most of them don't last long enough to hire an accountant, but there are still a lot of them that will be hiring soon enough. By keeping a close eye on emerging small businesses, you'll be ready to pounce at the first opportunity that presents itself. So instead of searching for accounting jobs, you can be searching for emerging small businesses and send out your resume to all of them, letting them know that when they're ready for accounting, you're willing and ready to take up the reigns. Many of them will appreciate your offer and will look forward to the day when they can afford to hire accountants to take care of their finances for them.
As a small business owner, myself, I understand how much of a relief it is to hand over your budgets, tax payments, bill payments, accounts payable, etc. over to someone with a knack for numbers. We love handing over the technical, accounting tasks to better-qualified hands; someone who has studied and trained for this particular aspect of running the business. We all love to delegate the monotonous tasks we've been doing for the last few years. So when you come knocking on that door, and they're in a position to receive you, you'll be providing them with a great relief. You'll most likely see that relief on their faces when you take over accounts payable. So not only will you do them a great service, but you'll get great hands-on experience in the accounting department. It'll be a great way to see and handle all the cash flow for a company that's emerging and increasing. If it ends up becoming a large company, you'll be right there and will be in a great and lucrative position. If the company goes under, then you'll at least have great experience and a better-looking resume.
When you're searching for accounting jobs, don't overlook the possibilities of small business accounting. Many fresh college grads go straight to the large accounting firms to begin their ascent up the corporate ladders. But you can bypass a lot of that by working with some small businesses. They're easier jobs to get because there are a lot more of them, and they will help build up your resume quickly so you can rise faster when you do enter the accounting firms. And if one of the small businesses goes big, you won't need to worry about those accounting firms anyway. You're already set up to take care of a large business' accounting department and will most likely be managing other entry-level accountants. So there's a great advantage to starting with the little guys!
