Whoever has the gold makes the rules. It’s an old tired saying. However, it is true today. Another saying might be “whoever counts the gold makes the rules”. People will always be worried about money. In both good times and bad, accounting is a recession proof business. Do you like numbers? Do tax laws fascinate you? Perhaps helping people reach their personal financial goals is the driving force behind your decision to become an accountant.
Let’s explore the world of accounting and find out how hard it is to become an accountant in these modern times. First of all, and this no secret, you better be good at math. That’s obvious. You also need to possess excellent computer skills. A skill that you might not have considered is that you better be well spoken and have oratory skills. This is for when you have to explain to a client why exactly they owe so much in taxes. Finally we don’t need to leave out that you need to pay incredible attention to detail and be extremely accurate. The financial lives of people will be in your hands.
How do you get started in the accounting field? First of all, check out all the colleges in your area and the ones that are online. Choose the curriculum that works best for you and your interest. It is also important that you check out the specific requirements for the state that you plan on eventually obtaining your CPA Certificate.
Another decision you will have to make is which field of accounting you would like to go in. There are three are four main fields, and of course, these fields contain countless sub-fields. They are government, public, management accounting, and internal auditing. Find out as much as you can about all of them.
Make sure that you understand a number of accounting software programs. There are countless ones out there. You can do an internship while you are going to school if you can afford to. Oftentimes, accounting firms will hire their interns as soon as they graduate. Finally after you have graduated, take the four part, two day Uniform CPA Examination prepared by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. You will need a bachelor’s degree and some accounting experience before you can sit for the exam. Now that we have covered all that, let’s look at some schools where you can get all this fancy accounting book learning. Many people headed into the field of accounting are doing this while working a full time job. Let’s look at three schools that offer online and campus courses at various locations across the country.
