Why accounting

Software does much of the number crunching in today's accountancy firm, with team members increasingly focused on providing guidance to clients.

From fashion to entertainment, construction to non-profits, one thing ties almost every industry together - they need finance professionals to help manage and advise them. When you train as an accountant, you gain skills that can apply to almost any industry of your choosing. In fact, go ahead and name an organisation. We're betting you they'll have need for finance professionals somewhere. If all businesses need finance professionals, it makes sense for those starting them to have some finance experience themselves.

With no need to employ an accountant in the company's early days, it's certainly economical - and a fundamental knowledge of how a business's finances should be structured and maintained will also be crucial to keeping the business profitable. Accountancy is arguably the ultimate portable qualification. Not only are the principles universal, applying the world over, but membership of a body such as ACCA the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants is also globally recognised and respected.

If you harbour ambitions of moving abroad, an accountancy qualification could be the passport to your dream city. We've already covered that accountants aren't mathematicians. So what do they do for their clients?

Consultancy and advice forms the bulk of what accountants provide today - using their expert knowledge to help their customers select the right business structure, minimise unnecessary tax expenditure, and forecast their cash flow for the coming year.

Depending on your experiences and interests, you might find employment in investor relations, banking, business operations and management, financial planning, market research, IT, and more. You might even consider teaching to share your love of accounting with a new generation of professionals, or working as a private investigator to pinpoint fraudulent accounting activity.

Another practical reason to pursue an accounting career is financial stability. According to the U. Based on national earning averages, the Accounting Degree Review ranks these as the top 10 highest paying accounting jobs, in order from the highest to lowest earning positions:. Of course, your earning potential will depend on your experience level, education, credentials, and geographic location.

Given the level of expertise and significance in the business world, accounting is a highly respected career. The accounting profession tends to be structured and intellectually challenging. While all sorts of people and personalities enjoy the profession, someone who is great with numbers and logic is likely to thrive in this type of work environment. People who excel at quantitative skills or have an aptitude for math or money may be naturally well-suited to an accounting career, but anyone can develop these abilities.

Personal qualities like integrity are also critical to success in this profession. But even if your career takes you beyond the accounting world, this skill set will come in handy. The demand for professionals with these skills is rising. According to the BLS, there were over 1.

This expansion is on pace with the national average across all jobs. This image persists today. To attract investors, corporations began to publish their financials in the form of a balance sheet, income statement , and cash flow statement. Although investment capital stimulated operations and profits for most corporations, it also increased the pressure on management to please their new bosses: the shareholders.

Accountants were already essential for attracting investors, and they quickly became essential for maintaining investor confidence. The American Association of Public Accountants AAPA was established in , and the accounting profession was formally recognized in with the establishment of the professional title of certified public accountant CPA.

The title is awarded to those who pass state examinations and have three years of experience in the field. The creation of professional accountants came at an opportune time. Less than 20 years later, the demand for CPAs skyrocketed as the U. Technology has changed accounting today. Bookkeeping is now automated. Since the first records were kept in America, bookkeepers have used a number of tools.

When IBM released its first large computer in , it was based on the vacuum tube, which was small enough that it made it possible for businesses to buy them and led to accountants being among the first to use them. By , transistors were replacing the tubes and making computers even more accessible. As early as , transistors were being supplanted by microchips, which eventually led to computers for everyone.

Today, technology has brought accounting software such as QuickBooks. These new advancements are much more intuitive, helping accountants do their job quicker, more accurately, and with more ease. Fremont College.

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These choices will be signaled globally to our partners and will not affect browsing data. We and our partners process data to: Actively scan device characteristics for identification. I Accept Show Purposes. Your Money. Personal Finance. Your Practice. Popular Courses. Part Of. Having a good accountant on staff prevents mistakes and decreases the likelihood of an audit, especially for small businesses.

Coming into a large inheritance as an individual or giving a large financial gift makes your taxes more complex, too. An accountant can help you manage the money and make your life easier.

A good accounting system provides the information necessary to make decisions about the future of the organization. Analysis of financial records can also help a company make decisions about hiring employees, making purchases, gifting charitable donations, and more. Preparing for tax season would be a nightmare and take up a lot of your valuable time.

Having a good accounting system and accountant on staff makes the money-managing process much smoother and faster. An organization can now spend time on other areas of business. During tax season, it can be challenging to know what you can deduct. An accountant can also point out deductibles you might not have known about.