Related Career Categories

• Accounting Manager
• Auditor
• Bookkeeper
• Business Accountant
• Controller
• CPA
• Financial Investigator
• Government Accountant
• Not-For-Profit Accountant
• Tax Accountant
• Tax Preparer

School and Career Surprises: Tips From People on the Job

Career: "What has surprised me most was the different career paths for people who worked with large public accounting firms. I found that almost every company looked for qualified accountants who have public accountant experience. The pay scales and opportunity to advance to management positions are numerous."

Career: "I was surprised when the computer technology drastically changed. When I began working as an accountant nearly twenty-five years ago, books were prepared using paper spreadsheets. Today most reports are prepared on computers using accounting software. And even with accounting software the changes that happen are still surprising. You have to constantly take courses to update your skills about software. I love reconciling numbers, but as an accountant you have to constantly learn new things about computer technology."

Career: "I thought accounting would be just me by myself working in an office. Instead, you have to deal with people on a one-on-one basis. You have to have good communication and people skills."

Career: "While accounting principles are set, the application of these principles are varied depending on the type of accounting you practices, i.e. corporate, governmental, oil & gas. While accounting has a cycle that is repeated the obstacles that one encounters can be vastly varied from day to day."

School: "I believe college is basically a scam. It is some kind of a weird pyramid scheme with the college teachers on top. They teach nothing practical and get paid top dollar. Most of my college professors were serious scumbags."

Career: "I was surprised at how little the other accountants knew about accounting. Nobody really knows what they are doing, they are just kind of going through the motions. The difference between accounting education and accounting work is huge."

Best & Worst Things About This Career

"One of the best parts of my job is that I am always learning something new since the tax laws change each year and no year is the same since different transactions occur each year. This can also be one of the worst parts of my job since it is such a challenge to learn different rules every year for the same types of transactions. Just keeping up with the changes, without delving deeper, can be a challenge. But reading many of the industry magazines and weekly news letters and alerts helps keep me updated."

"The thing I enjoy the most is trying to come up with creative ideas to sell our services. Whether it be in our letters, magazine or website. The job is also very task-oriented, so there's a beginning and an end and you get to feel sense of accomplishment at having finished something. The worst part is dealing with angry people. In peer review in particular the firms have to pay extra to have this done and they also don't like the CPA questioning how they do things."

Tips for Succeeding in This Career

"In order to obtain your CPA license, it is a good idea to take classes in college related to the different parts of the exam. Once you're in the workplace, finding time to study for the exam is a much bigger challenge. It may also be helpful to work interim jobs while attending college to learn to apply the knowledge. A big part of the exam is applying the knowledge or theory learned in a book."

"There are associations for everything. They are divided into professional (accountants, lawyers, doctors, etc) or trade associations (manufacturers, college bookstores, golf courses, etc). If you have a passion for something there's probably an association for it. I don't believe you can get a degree in association management but many associations hire communications, marketing or business majors. Meeting/event planning is also very big for associations so seek out colleges that would offer that as a major or minor."