Accountant Careers

What is the career of an accountant like on a normal day? How much can they earn? Is there anyone here who is an accountant or knows one?

I’m an accountant, and I know plenty.

It really depends where you work. Accountants are needed in nearly all areas of business; no, ALL areas of business!

When you start out, you have to work at an auditing firm. Luckily, I happened to live in NY, so 3 out of the 4 major auditing firms in the country were located right next door (15mins by train). You have to work as an auditor for about two years for you to stack up the needed experience to get your CPA license. Even with 2 years of experience, you will now need 150 college credit hours, and the 33 required accounting courses to sit in for the 4 stages of the CPA exam and to get your license.

After you do get your license, doors will open left and right. You can stay at the auditing firm and try to work your way up to partner in 15 years, but there’s a reason so many people don’t stay; I think it has to do with the fact that they don’t usually promote too many people to partner!

So, yes, after you’ve earned your 2-years experience, and things don’t look THAT much better, start job hunting! Corporations, Partnerships, and even large stores with one owner; all require a skilled accountant! Here are some things accountants can do:

- Controllership: This is a branch that is dominated by Managerian Accounting. You will analyze the Financial preformance of the company, and look for way to make it more efficient and profitable (cutting costs, moving resources to more productive areas of operations..)

- Internal Auditing: If you really like auditing, and many people do, just not me; then you can stay and work within a company to make sure financial records are accurate and compliance standards are met.

- Financial Planning: a CPA license is just the beginning. A great deal of accountants today do the work of Actuaries, Economists, Econometricians, Mathematicians, and Statisticians. You will need to forcast profits and returns, analyze which investments will be the most profitable, and manage items like portfolios, trusts, investments, funds, ect.

- Estate Planning: one reason why business is so good, is largely due to the fact that people just have the bad habit if dying! This is where you come in, and make sure that they are able to pass on the most amount of their wealth to their hiers. You don’t only structure Estates, but Wills, Trusts, and organize assets in such a way so that they take full advantage of any available Tax Shelters.

- Taxation: speaking of Tax Shelters! No, No! I know what you’re thinking, this is not what accounting is all about. Accountants don’t sit around all day preparing taxes. They only sit around 2 months out of the year preparing taxes.. lol.. But for many accountants, Taxation is an all-around-the-year job. You will be responsible for organizing capital structure, corporate structure, operations, investments, and finances in such as way that they ALL take advantage of Tax Shelters.

Now, for the million dollar question; how much can they earn?

This is one of those things, which is really up to you. Alot of my friends who have worked in accounting for much longer than I have, earn anywhere from $74,000-$98,000 a year. They work for accounting firms, and the one who works for Smith Barney, earns $98,000 per year. You start off with $45,000 and an extra $10,000 for your CPA license.

My gross salary for this year will be $185,000. But I’m not just an accountant. My specialization is Taxation; but I also handle many legal aspects involved in financial activities. If you want to toy with the idea, and think you may be up for it; I highly recommend combining the Accounting degree with some other advanced degree such as Law, M.B.A., M.S. in Economics or Finance.. Alot of the people I work with (Consultants), all have a wonderful combination of advanced degrees. You have to understand that business is much more than just one field; and for consulting or financial management and investments; you really need a small team who will be able to work together, but not be completely dependent of the others.

I hope this was helpful. I wish you best of luck on your future in accounting!