Accounting Career Choice Accounting has become one of the most popular degree choices in recent years because it can lead to a great deal of careers that can be much more exciting than they may initially sound. The problem for the student who chooses to follow a desire to get into accounting may be that they realize after they have taken a few classes that they will have to choose between different types of jobs which poses a problem. Besides the focused careers that are more apt to require a master's degree, there are two primary avenues that an accounting major can choose. The first of those is working as a public accountant with an international, national or regional firm, or choosing to work as a private accountant with a single company. This paper looks at both types of accounting and evaluates them based on their differences and similarities, and finally provides a personal set of goals that will set the course of my personal accounting career.

The distinctions are many, so it is best to begin with the similarities. Both paths require that an individual receives an accounting degree or, at the very least, has enough experience and education in the field to successfully accomplish the tasks required. The tasks that each fulfill are of a similar nature also, although they are done on a different scale. The person who chooses to be a public accountant may not be happy as a private accountant because, though they are similar, the two do require different skill sets.

For explanation purposes it is necessary to outline exactly how the two different career paths are defined prior...

The difference is not that one works for the private sector (business) and the other the public (government), although this could be a choice engendered by the desire to do one or the other. Public accountants generally work for a large accounting firm and have diverse clients which requires that they do a great deal of different types of work according to the contract they are working in at the time. There are four major accounting firms in the U.S.-- Pricewaterhousecoopers, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Ernst & Young, and KPMG (Ryan, 2009) -- which employ many public accountants, but there are also regional firms which may have smaller numbers of employees, but perform the same services. A private accountant on the other hand works for a business that is not an accounting firm. This individual works in an accounting or finance department and only does the work of the specific firm by whom they are employed. These are large differences and the two choices necessarily appeal to different types of people.
Public accountants are able to get involved with a great many different people in their daily occupations which may appeal to one set of accounting graduates. According to Ryan (2009), it "is a sector of accounting where communication and excellent people skills are a must." This means that aside from the fact that an accounting degree is needed, the individual must have acquired, or be naturally gifted with, people skills that allow them to interact successfully with a wide variety of people. Of course, this does not mean that the person…