Accountants record, maintain a report and analyze these reports to study the financial transactions of a company. Business organizations may have a team of accountants who help their organization in maintaining financial services or organizations may hire accounting services from other organization that provide accounting services to big firms. Accountants should have excellent accounting, mathematical and calculation skills. The accountant work done by the accountants is used by the company to make crucial financial decisions.
Accountant Work Profile
Accountant collects the financial transactions form the company on monthly, quarterly and yearly basis and enters the details into the database of the computer. They perform necessary calculation on the financial statistics collected by them to estimate the investment, profit and loss of the company. The company uses this calculated statistics in planning future budget, investment plans, increasing profits, saving taxes and legal traps. Sometimes accountants also perform internal audits for the companies and help the companies in maintaining clean financial transactions that can prevent it from falling into any financial transactions.
Accountant Work Responsibilities:
Job Scope
Accounts have huge job opportunities in various areas of industry. The specific job duties of the accountants vary depending upon the various sectors such as public, government, management and internal auditors they work in.
Public Accountants - They are also called as external auditors and they provide auditing, tax, accounting and consulting services to the non-profit organizations, small scale business organizations and individuals. Some Public accountants also specialize in forensic accounting that investigate and interpret white-collar crimes.
Government Accountants - This type of accountants are employed by local, state and federal government. They help in tracking the revenues and expenditures of government organizations. Some government accountants who are employed by the Federal Government also work as Internal Revenue Service Agents.
Management Accountants - These accountants are also called as managerial accountants, cost accountants, corporate accountants, private accountants or industrial accountants. They work for cost management and asset management of the company along with performance evaluation of the company and planning budget for the company.
Internal Auditors - They audit the financial records available with the company and make sure that the records maintained by the company are appropriate and accurate.
Work Environment
Before the use of accounting software for maintaining financial transactions and performing various calculations, the work of accounts was tedious and time-consuming. But, since the advent accounting enterprise software the stress at work is reduced to a great extent. Accountants may have to visit the client offices to collect financial data from them and most of the times they work in offices.
Current Industry Trends and Employer's Requirements
Accountants should possess a degree in finance, accounting or law. Public accountants also need to pursue a certifications course so that they can work as Certified Public Accountant (CPA). Skilled accountants, who possess ability to handle multiple accounting software have excellent opportunities in this career. Individuals having experience and knowledge of current legislation, international business and international financial auditing and reporting standards have advantage over the other job seekers.
Career Path and Growth Opportunities
Accountants can begin their career as assistant accountants, accounting clerks, bookkeeping accountants or in any financial and accounting work. Experience of 1-2 years in handling junior level responsibilities will qualify an individual for higher level positions such as accountant, senior accountant, accountant manager, etc. There is ample growth opportunity for skilled and interested candidates in this profile. Wages paid to accountants are also pretty high and they are expected to increase considerably in the next few years.
If you are looking for opportunities in accountant work then the information provided above will definitely be useful for you.