Meet the Firms, as the name suggests, is an event created for students pursuing accounting to come into contact with companies and firms that are seeking to hire accounting majors. Attending these meetings may pose a significant challenge since I am a remotely-based student who is only benefitting from online classes. However, I have a remedy to utilize information on the internet and public domain through research, so that I am not left behind. The premise of this essay will focus on giving information on career opportunities with the most appeal in the field of accounting, mention about the knowledge I gained from the research, and how the experience influences my studies and future career.
There are several specialties that an individual can venture in the field of accounting, but this essay is going to highlight three major areas that have great appeal. These areas include government accounting, public accounting, and management accounting. Public accounting is an area that covers services like business consultancy, issuance of public finance reports to other firms, preparation of tax returns, and personal financial plans. Public accounting is further divided into external auditing, forensic accounting, financial accounting, and tax accounting. Financial accounting is used in the preparation of a firm’s public financial statements, while forensic accounting helps detect fraud in financial records (AccountingEdu.org, n.d.). Tax accounting allows businesses and individuals to remit their tax obligations while external auditing is used in verifying the correctness of preparing financial statements.
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New accountants may work as staff auditors to check activities in selected client accounts in a public accounting firm. More senior positions are occupied by experienced accountants who may be absorbed into managerial teams if deemed partner potential. Management positions in public accounting are Tax Managers, Audit Managers, and Consulting Managers. However, only 2% of accountants in Public accounting ascent to managerial positions. With reliable experience, public accountants can start their practices.
Management accounting is also called industrial accounting, and it majors in equipping accounting managers with the ability to make viable business decisions. Management accountants are tasked to come up with forecasts and reports for other managers within a firm. They also analyze and track financial data through designing, implementing, and controlling financial management systems within an organization. Management accounting is divided into project accounting and resource consumption accounting. Project accounting prepares specific financial reports of projects and tracks their finances. Resource consumption accounting is a principle-based approach of accounting that is not attached to particular criteria (AccountingEdu.org, n.d.). New accountants in management accounting start with junior positions like staff accountants or internal auditors in areas like tax accounting. Financial accountants in this area have specific roles like asset management and treasury management. Management staff accountants collect cost data and prepare cost analyses and reports before presenting them to executives. Junior tax accountants help in making tax returns for an organization.
Senior positions are held by more experienced management accountants who take more complicated tasks. Accountants may move up in the career ladder in managerial positions like Tax Managers, Financial Accounting & Reporting Managers, and Internal Audit Managers. There are other accounting jobs attached to corporations like Assistant Controllers who supervise daily collection and interpretation data linked to accounting. An accountant for the management accounting can be appointed as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), who give financial advice to CEOs and presidents.
Government accounting entails accounting jobs that personnel examine government agencies’ financial records and private firms that have an engagement in activities that are regulated by the government like taxation. Therefore, government accounting may encompass tax accounting, financial accounting, among others. Sometimes, fund accounting is used by government agencies to categorize resources and funds for easy tracking and usage. Fund accounting helps government agencies to be transparent in how they use funds allocated to them. It can also be adopted by non-profit organizations to serve the same purpose. New accountants in this field may be absorbed by state or federal governments to serve as staff accountants, tax examiners, and junior officers to help in reviewing filed tax returns. They check for adherence to the law and accuracy in filing returns. With accumulated experience, these employees may earn a promotion to higher positions but with similar roles for the sake of job growth.
Apart from learning about job titles and job hierarchy in the accounting field, I have also learned that an accountant, for example, in the United States of America, earns an average yearly remuneration of $62,970 (Discover Accounting, 2020). This figure is good to pay regarding an accountant’s level of skill and can easily cater for his or her bills comfortably. Besides, the top companies that employ accountants in the U.S. are Department of Labor that pays an average of $111,271 per year and City & County of San Francisco that pays $121,974 per year. These figures are undoubtedly lucrative and worth envying over.
I think this research is very informative to me. I have learned the diversity of opportunities that are available for me to exploit upon completing my college degree. Initially, I thought that accounting could only land you in a bank, and that’s it, but this research has been an eye-opener to me. Adding to the hefty paycheck that an average accountant carries home, I feel so encouraged to work smart in my studies, to earn good grades so that I am better placed to be absorbed in reputable accounting organizations like the Department of Labor. I will also specialize in taxation accounting, which is my area of interest so that I can be competent, having learned that taxation is a crucial part of accounting and can land me a job with a reputable firm too.
References
Accounting Edu, A., n.d. Careers In Accounting | Accountant Career | Accounting Jobs .
Available at: <https://www.accountingedu.org/career-resources.html> [Accessed 18 June 2020].
DiscoverAccounting, D., 2020. 2020 Accounting Salaries By State - Average Accountant Salary |
Discover Accounting . Available at: < ttps://discoveraccounting.org/salary-by-state/> [Accessed 18 June 2020].
