So what does an accountant do? An accountant makes sure that businesses and individuals keep records of their business transactions and ensure that they pay the correct amount of taxes on time, some accountants work in an office of big companies are also responsible for billing people, paying bills and wages and keeping all records and transactions which concern the financial side of the business. Accountants can also be internal auditors and work for public services, government departments and large and small businesses including individuals. Normally an accountant will need a minimum of a bachelor’s degree in accounting before they can get an accountant job. Accounting can also encompass bookkeeping which is also another branch of accounting work.
In recent years the accounting work has changed dramatically and due to technology and the internet the world of virtual office work has arrived this means you do not have to have an office of your own but can work from the comfort of your own home. So you can now do your accounting work from home and even do your bookkeeping work at home. There is lots of accountancy and bookkeeping software available to allow you to do this. If you do not want a typical nine to five job working for a big company or government department in an accountancy capacity then you will need to go down the road of being self employed.
If you are going to be a self employed accountant you need to find enough work for you to earn a living from, one of the easiest ways of doing this is by being an accountant for small firms and individuals. Instead of working for one firm or person you will need to do the accounts and bookkeeping for lots of small companies or individuals. You do not need an office you can work from home this will save you lots of money because there is no need to rent premises. Lots of accountants who work from home do there business via the internet. Small firms and individuals will send you all the information on their accounts and you compile it and produce accounts returns which can then be sent to the tax office where they will be checked and then they will inform the individual or firm how much tax is due.
Being a self employed accountant and working from home allows you to work for lots of people and still earn a good salary. Successful accountants working from home can even earn more than the going rate of accountants working for large companies. The bonus is you are working from home and you decide what hours you want to work and when you want to work them. You have no bosses to keep hassling you and so you enjoy your job better. If you are interested in setting up your own accounting business from home there is lots of information about it on the internet including government sites which have the qualifications you are going to need. This is the important thing not just anyone can be an accountant you sill need to get the right qualifications at college.
Most people think of accountants as being boring and dogmatic – however to become an accountant requires lots of hard work and a knowledge and skill for numbers and keeping accurate records. An accountant is like a detective in the numbers industry and will also need to pay careful attention to details so mistakes are not made. There are lots of different branches of being an accountant you could work for a company in an accounts department, you could work for the government in various departments which will also include the tax office, you can work freelance for lots of small businesses or you can be an external auditor who checks the businesses books for accuracy and eliminates fraud.
One of the main reasons why becoming an accountant is a good career path is that there will always be a need for accountants they cannot be replaced by anything; yes there is software out there which will help you with your accounts and make the accountant’s job easier and less time consuming, however it still will all come down to the accountant to finish the work and verify the businesses accounts and submit the returns which in turn will decide how much tax a company will pay and how much profit or loss a company will also incur. Accountants and accounts departments will keep a record of all the businesses transactions everything from purchases to sales and all the costs associated with the business by looking at these figures you will be able to see how much money your business is either making or losing and you maybe able to identify where savings can be made and change the fortunes of your business. This is why it is important for businesses to employ a good accountant as they will quickly identify any problems and inform the business quickly allowing maximum time to rectify the problem before it gets out of hand.
To become an accountant you will need qualifications which will include the need for you to go to college and obtain a degree, lots of colleges are well known for accountant’s courses and students who pass the relevant accountants degree. The most highly sought after accountant is the one who pass out from Universities such as Texas, Pennsylvania, Chicago, Illinois and of course Stanford in California. The top candidates from these universities are normally snapped up by the biggest accountancy firms or companies and will command the best salaries. Accountant’s salaries will depend on the qualifications and experience which an accountant has the more of each of these factors and the higher salary you can expect. This is why the accountants from the universities mentioned can command the best salaries as the companies who employ them know that they have had the best training and education in the world of being an accountant and so they should be more use than an accountant from another university who may require extra training.
If you enjoy working with figures and have a good eye for detail then becoming an accountant would be a good career choice but it will not be easy the qualifications required to be come a fully trained accountant may take many years however the plus side is the salary you get will also be high to compensate the hard work and long hours of studying. Check out the requirements for becoming an accountant and if you like the look of what you see go for it.
It is easy to confuse the job of being a bookkeeper with that of an accountant – this is mainly due to the fact that bookkeepers are often referred to as accounting technicians or accounting clerks. Although these jobs can be very similar the job of a bookkeeper is normally more focused on keeping accurate and prompt record keeping of financial data which ranges from income, payments, sales, purchases and all the costs incurred in running a business. Where as an accountant will take all of this information and create a financial statement for the company or business which can be used for tax returns and also enable the company to see how it is performing. So although these two jobs are similar and intermixed they are quite different in a number of ways.
Accountants will normally be required to go to colleges for there qualifications but because the qualifications for a bookkeeper are not as high you can take accredited courses to become a bookkeeper and once you have passed the course you will get a certificate listing your qualifications. You will find that a bookkeeping course takes in quite similar tasks of a basic accounting degree which include processing accounts information and processing financial transactions. If you are good with numbers and have a good attention to detail then becoming a bookkeeper could be the career path for you. When deciding which bookkeeping course is suitable for you check out the accreditation and qualifications you will end up with as the better this is the more chance of landing a decent job, some of these courses can qualify for government aid to help you with the costs, but its best to check first.
As the name suggests Bookkeepers keep the records of transactions in books or ledgers and there are various ways which they can achieve this the first is by using a method called “The Double Entry” which uses a system of balancing the credits and debits of the company which is separated by two different ledgers within the books this system is quite complicated and time consuming but very safe and secure. The other method is the single entry system where the data is kept in a revenue and expense journal and uses accounts which consist of just income and expense which is much easier than the double entry method and less time is required keeping the records accurately. There can be lots of different books which are kept for accounting purposes and they all need compiling into the master books which will be used by the accountant to complete the company accounts.
Bookkeeping is not a simple or easy job and you cannot hurry it as this is when mistakes are made but if you are good with figures and have a good attention to detail then accounting maybe the job for you. Most companies and businesses will require a bookkeeper and large companies will have an accounts section where lots of bookkeepers are employed you can either work for a company or several small companies where they will hire you for a period of time each week for you to complete their bookkeeping. If you enjoy bookkeeping but want to further your career this could be a good stepping stone to becoming an accountant as well.
Accountants need qualifications and there are various methods to attain these qualifications one of the easiest ways is to go to college where you can get every sort of accountants qualifications from associate’s degrees to a masters degree, there are different levels of qualifications to allow people to choose a course which will correspond to the sort of job and branch of accountancy which they intend to follow in the accountancy industry. People who want to start their career as an accountant is going to need a bachelors degree which will provide the necessary skits to pass the accountant’s licensing exams prior to them entering the accountancy industry.
The bachelor’s degree will teach the students all the important skills which they will require in the accountancy branch. Skills such as auditing, taxation and the new way of using the latest computer software to aid their job. Included in the accountant’s course they will also explore corporate finance, business law and marketing skills. These courses will normally be taken over a four year period of full study which is broken up into two parts the first two years they will have general education skills such as science and English and the final two years the course will focus on accounting skills.
A master’s and bachelor’s degree will both teach the students all about marketing, corporate finance and cost accounting as part of the course. Corporate finance will prepare a student to examine financial management techniques and procedures as well as the professionalism practices which they will require in the accountancy world. The course should also teach the student how to become successful in accountancy once they have qualified and if they want to take their qualifications to the top level they can then go on to take their PhD in accountancy. Colleges offer a variety of courses which a student can take and after four years they should end up with a degree which they can then go on to complete a graduate level but prior to starting any course they should make sure that the program is accredited by the Accrediting council for independent colleges and schools.
In order to become a good accountant you need to go to college and work hard, also you will need to do some research to see which are the best colleges to go to for the best accountancy courses and also which colleges the top businesses like to get their new accountants from as this will make a great deal of difference once you have your qualification. The better the college and the degree achieved then the easier it will be to get a good job at the end of your course. Once you have your qualification you can then decide on which branch of accountancy you wish to specialize in or you can decide to stay in the education stream and go for higher qualifications. You will need to think carefully about this before the end of your first course as it is no good leaving it to the last minute to decide what you are going to do.
