Careers in Accounting
What do you want to be? Accounting has answers.
Is your idea of accounting preparing tax returns, doing an audit, sitting in a room by yourself? Think again. Accounting offers a wide variety of experiences, and career paths. Depending on your interests accounting offers many exciting opportunities.
Assurance Services
Think of a hot growth area in the economy and you will find a need for Assurance Services. Electronic commerce, risk management, and elder care are just a few areas where CPAs use their analytical and information processing skills to ensure and improve the quality of information for decision-makers.
Consulting Services
CPAs are engaged by individuals, businesses, financial institutions, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies to provide objective advice and technical assistance on a variety of business and financial situations.
Environmental Accounting
As businesses take a greater interest in the environment, CPAs are now involved in everything from performing environmental compliance audits, to handling claims and disputes, to setting up preventative systems to ensure compliance and to avoid future claims and disputes.
Forensic Accounting
Forensic accountants look beyond the surface of accounting records to determine if fraud has been committed, and search for evidence of criminal conduct. As such, forensic accountants also often assist legal professionals in the litigation process.
Government Accountants
All levels of government—local, state, and national—have CPAs at the helm. Many work in the U.S. General Accounting Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Colorado State Auditor’s Office, and in many local governments.
Information Technology Services
The growth in information technology has created numerous job opportunities for accounting professionals with strong computer skills who can design and implement advanced systems to meet an organization's specialized needs.
International Accounting
As the world has become more global, cross-border transactions have become more commonplace. This has created a need for accountants possessing a knowledge and understanding of international trade rules, government regulations, and tax laws.
Management Accountants
Also called industrial, corporate, or private accountants, these individuals record and analyze the financial information of the companies for which they work. Other responsibilities include budgeting, performance evaluation, cost management, asset management, and strategic planning. Many CPAs run both large and small companies.
Nonprofit Accountants
CPAs are on the staff to direct all the financial operations of the nonprofit. Or, the nonprofit contracts with a CPA to handle all the accounting-related issues and audits.
Public Accountants
Perform a broad range of accounting, auditing, tax, and consulting activities for their clients, who may be small and large companies, governments, nonprofit organizations, and a wide variety of other entities, as well as individuals.
Tax and Financial Planning
CPAs offer assistance to individuals, companies, and organizations. They may identify financial objectives and counsel on the risk, liquidity and management, and tax characteristics of investments. As tax and financial planning specialists, CPAs are involved in everything from preparing tax returns, to helping restructure a multinational corporation's investment portfolio to minimize its tax liability.
Valuation Services
Determining the fair value of personal or public property, a business, or net assets is very complex. CPAs who provide valuation services deal with these issues in order to provide independent and accurate conclusions. This information can be used for mergers and acquisitions, real estate, divorce settlements, and a plethora of other transactions.