Accountants and Auditors Career Guide: Duties, Earnings and Employment Outlook
Submitted by: Gypsy Santiago
Job Overview: Accountants are responsible for preparing, compiling, verifying and analyzing financial records, such as profit-and-loss statements, tax reports, cost studies, and balance sheets. Auditors work by examining and verifying financial records to ensure they are complete, accurate and comply with local, state or federal laws.
Education, Training and Knowledge Requirements: Accountants and auditors must obtain a bachelor’s degree in accounting, liberal arts, business, economics or other finance-related fields. Large accounting firms prefer candidates with a master’s degree in accounting. Both accountants and auditors must become certified public accountants (CPAs) by passing examinations and obtaining specific hours of work experience.
Advancement in the field may be obtained by taking various examinations to become a certified management accountant (CMA), accredited business accountant or accredited business advisor (ABA), and accredited tax advisor (ATA), certified internal auditor (CIA), accredited tax preparer (ATP), or certified information systems auditor (CISA), among others.
Skills & Abilities: To become successful in this field, one must have comprehensive knowledge in mathematics, basic algebra, arithmetic, accounting and their practical applications, excellent written and verbal communication skills, problem-solving and analytical skills, customer service skills and strong interpersonal skills. He/she must also be detail-oriented, industrious, honest, hard-working, service-oriented, and patient.
Duties: Accountants and auditors hold various job titles depending on the field they specialize in and the size of the company. For instance, some accountants work as a contractor on a fee basis (public accountants), others handle private firms financial records (private/management accountants) or work on government financial records (government accountants). They may be called general accountants (performs general accounting tasks), cost accountants (determine unit costs of services and products), budget accountants (review a firm’s expenditures and manage budgets), systems accountants (create, design and install accounting systems), environmental accountants (work in chemical companies or manufacturers to ensure they comply with environmental laws), property accountants (maintain records of equipments and other properties owned by a company),
or tax accountants (prepare and update tax records of individuals and companies), among others.
In general, auditors work to ensure financial records of an individual or company are kept accurate and in compliance with laws. Internal auditors work in one particular company and handles financial audits. State or federal tax auditors and revenue agents work in government offices, but conduct field audits of various companies.
Earnings & Job Outlook: According to the U.S. Department of Labor, employment of accountants and auditors is expected to grow faster than average through 2014 due to changing finance laws and business growth. In 2005, it was recorded that accountants earn salaries from $32,000 to $88,500 with a median annual salary of $46,000/year. Entry-level auditors earn between $28,000 and $45,000, but highly experienced auditors can earn up to $200,000. These salaries may be higher or lower depending on factors such as size of the firm, company location and the education level of accountants and auditors.
Gypsy Santiago is a professional resume writer and career search strategy/career branding coach with years of experience in assisting job seekers prepare for the job market. She helps create career-targeted resumes, provides useful tips about career transition, offers future career ideas and guide jobseekers about effective job search techniques.
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Word Count: 505 Date: Mon, 20 Sep 2010 Time: 3:03 PM
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