Accounting Careers

Accounting There are several career options within the accounting field. An accounting education provides the basic knowledge that can serve as a useful springboard for any number of different careers within the field. Some of the many options are identified by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in their Occupation Outlook Handbook (2015). One career within the profession is as an auditor, and another is as a managerial accountant, but there are many more besides these.

Usually, a bachelor's degree is just a starting point, and an accounting graduate will need to pursue a professional designation in order to have a focused career. An auditor is someone who understands corporate financial management, and the role of auditor is to review the financial statements and accounting data that an organization has, in order to ensure that this data is accurate and reflects the financial condition of the company.

There are internal auditors, who work for the company in question, and there are external auditors, who work for outside accounting firms. The former is used in any way the organization sees fit, while the latter will often be used for financial statements that are going to be released to the public, as is required by the Securities Exchange Commission. The job prospects for auditors of either type are generally good. The BLS notes that employment in the industry is growing at 13%, compared with 11% for all occupations.

With rapid growth comes opportunities in the field, with over 160,000 new positions expected by 2022. It is almost always necessary to have an accounting or auditing designation to pursue work as an auditor. Pay for auditors is generally good, averaging $63,550, according to the BLS, nearly double the average pay for an average occupation. Despite the growth in the field, the environment will still be competitive.

The AICPA notes that there are 225,000 students pursuing a career in accounting, which is much more than the number of new positions expected to open up, even considering retirements and other attrition. Hiring has increased since 2009, the AICPA notes, but this should be taken in context -- nobody was hiring for anything in 2009 as unemployment soared to 10%. Yet, firms continue to forecast new hiring for a broad range of accounting-related positions. Managerial accountants work within a corporation, and develop internal metrics that are used in the formulation of strategy.

Whereas a financial accountant is focused on financial statements and metrics, managerial accountants perform the number-crunching that allows management to make better operational decisions. Management accountants need certification as well, usually a CMA designation, and membership in the Institute of Managerial Accountants. The career outlook for managerial accountants is similar to that for auditors, in that it is a generally favorable outlook with moderate job growth. Many firms have seen the value in having strong internal managerial accounting systems, so there is expectation that.