Accountant Career Path and Qualifications

Accounting is a wide-ranging profession. Whether you prefer to sit in a cubicle poring over financial statements and input complex formulas into spreadsheets, or analyze a company and present to the CEO a list of areas where efficiency could be improved, you can find a career path that suits your goals within the field of accounting.

What You Need to Know

• There are several types of accountants.
• Accountants can work for firms and the government.
• The CPA credential is important for this profession.

The Career Path of an Accountant

There are three broad types of accounting: public accounting, industry accounting, and government accounting. Within each of these types, you can find several positions and career paths.

Public Accountants

Public accountants work for third-party companies that perform a variety of services for their clients, such as auditing financial statements, preparing taxes, and working with management in a consulting role to improve efficiency and streamline operations.

Public companies—that is, those owned by public shareholders and traded on stock exchanges—are required by the government to undergo a third-party audit once per year. The purpose of this audit is to verify that a company’s financial statements accurately reflect the current state of affairs. Accountants who work for public accounting firms conduct these audits.

Auditing is not the only service performed by public accountants. The ones who love numbers often gravitate to the tax side, where they help clients navigate the morass of complex tax laws and minimize tax liability.

Extroverted public accountants frequently end up in management consulting. These professionals audit clients’ business operations to cut costs, increase efficiency, and create channels for new growth.

Most public accountants start as members of teams that conduct audits, prepare taxes, or analyze clients’ management structures. For the ones who thrive, upward mobility is nearly unlimited as they progress into leadership roles with increasing responsibility.

Industry Accountants

Industry accountants perform auditing and tax preparation services for their employers rather than for external clients.

Most start as entry-level auditors or tax preparers. As they gain experience, they are given more responsibility and are often put in managerial roles.

Government Accountants

Government accountants ensure that businesses and individuals are doing what they are supposed to: paying taxes, making required disclosures, and releasing accurate financial statements. The most common starting place for a government accountant is as an auditor for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Qualifications

Educational requirements for accountants depend on the specific nature of the job and the company doing the hiring.

Plenty of entry-level staff accountants have only bachelor’s degrees, and a few have even less. High-end management consultants tend to have a Master of Business Administration (MBA) or Master of Accountancy (MAcc) degrees.

Almost without exception, public accounting firms want new hires to have passed the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) exam, or at the very least, be eligible to take it. This requires 150 semester hours of postsecondary education, which is more than a bachelor’s degree but less than a master’s degree.

Note

Many new public accountants obtain MBA or MAcc degrees since the difference between stopping at 150 hours and going ahead and finishing the degree is usually minimal.

What Is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA)?

A Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is a professional designation. To become a CPA, you must take at least 150 semester hours of college coursework and pass the CPA exam.

Do Accountants Perform Audits?

Yes, many accountants perform audits, which are a type of formal review. An audit can be external (for a third party) or internal (for the accountant’s own company).

Who Can Become an Accountant?

Accounting is a broad profession in which an array of personality types and skill sets can achieve success.

Accountants are often pigeonholed as introverted number-crunchers, but this stereotype doesn’t reflect everyone. Many people who gravitate to accounting are indeed math whizzes who might never thrive in sales careers, but equally as many are dynamic extroverts who use their accounting degrees as springboards to people-centric careers such as management consulting.

The Bottom Line

Becoming an accountant is a long process that takes hard work and dedication, but the work can be satisfying. For some, it’s even fun. A crucial credential is the CPA exam, but the requirements don’t stop there. To do well, you must be rigorous, detail-oriented, and able to communicate effectively.