What Accountant’s Do for Profession

An Rocky River accountant must earn a bachelor’s degree in business, accounting or a related field. This can be completed at a state college or university. Almost 80 percent of Rocky River accountant hold bachelor’s degrees. After earning a bachelor’s degree some accountants choose to become certified or specialize in a focused area. This provides an edge when looking for employment in comparison to other applicants.

A brief breakdown professions of an accountant:

Financial accounting

Financial accountants track a company or client’s financial transactions, summarize them and generate financial reports or statements. Company shareholders are then able to assess the value of a company based on these documents.

Managerial accounting

Managerial accountants track information needed for management of the company in order for the company to make informed operational and strategic decisions. 

Cost accounting

Cost accountants determine the costs of products and services by analyzing records and depreciation data. They classify and record all operating costs so management can control expenditures and may also assist in making management decisions.

Assurance services

Assurance service providers review several types of documents such as loans, contracts or websites to certify they are correct. An assurance provider may work with financial or non-financial documents, whereas auditors work strictly with financial records. Auditors may work internally or as a third party service to ensure an organization’s financial records are accurate, complete and compliant under federal law.

Tax accounting

Tax accountants prepare federal, state or local tax returns for individuals or organizations according to prescribed rates, laws and regulations. Tax accountants will often specialize even further in an area such as corporate, individual income or property tax.

Government accounting

Government accountants exist at the federal, state and local level. They may work to investigate white-collar crime or manage public funds. At the state and local levels, they may work to manage use of local revenues, investigate fraud and perform lower-level audits.

International accounting

International accountants work with companies or organizations that conduct business internationally. They may work to recast foreign financial statements to align with the U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). They also determine what these statements reveal based on knowledge of the foreign country’s economic and cultural atmospheres.

Accounting information system

Accounting information system professionals have an educational background of general business as well as information systems. They can work in a variety of positions including systems auditors, consultants and accountants. They may help companies develop accounting information systems, assess the data within the systems or make it available to other accounting professionals.

Accountant and auditors ensure that companies or organizations are efficiently operating. They do this by accessing financial records of their clients. Duties include analyzing data, finance reports, budgets, tax returns, and accounting records. An accountant reports findings to management regarding finances and sometimes may make suggestions to become more financially efficient or stable. An accountant may analyze government agency records or work for clients in areas such as compensation, data processing, health care benefits or even estate planning for taxes. Accountants and auditors may prepare reports for budgeting costs to actual costs for a company or organization. An accountants working hours vary depending on the season. For instance, the end of a fiscal year or tax time at the end of the year would require longer hours than other times, but one should expect this to be at least a 40-hour work week.