Accountants No Longer Sit at a Table

Accountants no longer sit at a table with a 10-key adding machine, tallying numbers. They have a variety of careers to choice from in this interesting and challenging profession.

Different Types of Accounting

There are differences in financial accounting and tax accounting. Financial accounting is concerned with the results of audits, along with the profit and loss sheets of businesses. These accountants help investors and creditors decide where to put their capital. Besides helping with investment portfolios, financial accountants also help people plan for their retirement. In contrast, tax accounting is a specialized field that deals with business and personal income taxes, state and local taxes and the ever changing tax laws (http://mdhs.haltonbe.on.ca/Business/Accounting/modules1/acunit1.html).

Tax accounting can be divided into three segments which include public accounting, private or corporate accounting and government accounting.

Public accounting deals with individual income taxes. Private or corporate accounting advises businesses on their income taxes after going over their financial statements and assist in filing quarterly tax returns. These accountants also help with financial planning for tax-exempt organizations. Government tax accounting deals with government agencies tax keeping records (http://www.allbusinessschools.com/faqs/accounting.php).

Jobs for CPA's

CPA's today aren't limited to doing only taxes. The world is changing and so are the opportunities that are available.

One choice a CPA can make is becoming either an internal or external auditor. Internal auditors work for the company and have usually have unlimited access to the accounting books and the board of directors. They know about the industry conditions and problems that may cause someone to manipulate the accounting books. External auditors don't work for a specific company and are brought in to go over the books and help find any discrepancies. They also give advice on how to cut costs and increase profits. Companies are finding using both auditors together can actually save them more money since each has their own level of expertise (1997).