Wednesday, February 23, 2011

8 Easy steps to be successful in your accounting career

If you have an ambition is to become a successful accountant and want to choose accounting field as your career path after graduation. Then, you need to start planning for your career path and working toward the success of achieving your career goal. In accounting field, a good knowledge in accounting, constant accuracy and working experience are of utmost important for a success. Here are 8 steps that you can include in your career path planning to ensure you are in the right track to meet your career goal.

Step 1: You must Excel in MathAccounting is about numbers and the manipulation to numbers; hence, you must certain that you excel in math at high school. People who hate math may not be success in accounting field. That's why you got to love math if you like to become an accountant. Take a special attention in math and ask your teacher or counselor's guidance on which courses to take to best prepare you for earning a degree in accounting when you enter a college later.

Step 2: Request Information From College that Offer Accounting DegreeBeside the traditional brick & mortal colleges, there are many prestige's online colleges and online universities offer degrees in accounting that enable you to earn an accounting degree from home. Send a letter, an email or make an online information request to those colleges that offer accounting degrees for heir catalogs and admission requirement on their accounting degree programs.

Step 3: Research On Certified Public Accountant Requirement. In order to become certified accountant, you must receive Certified Public Accountant certification, CPA from a state. The pre-requirement to CPA certification is you must first receive a bachelor's degree in accounting or in related business fields. Check out the information on the requirement of CPA will make you more prepare on what courses need to be taken in accounting degree program. See the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (aicpa.org) for further information.

Step 4: Ensure Your Accounting Degree Will Fulfill State Requirement. Normally, you will start your first career in you own state after graduating from your degree program. Hence, you need to make certain that the accounting degree program that you are going to enroll fulfill all state requirements, else you will face problem when you want to start your accounting career later.

Step 5: Decide Accounting Field Of Interest. There are a few starting points for your accounting career, you may major in public, government, and management accounting or internal auditing. No one degree program will cover all these fields; you need to choose which field that best suits your interest which you can choose as your majors of study.

Step 6:
Become Proficient with Accounting Software. The time of using Microsoft Excel program in accounting work was over. You need to become proficient with a variety of accounting software if you want to success in this field. You may not be able to learn all the accounting software in the market, but you need to familiar with the common accounting software use by most corporate.

Step 7: Gain Working Experience in Related Fields. Related working experiences are important in determining a success in your accounting career. If you are attending class-based accounting degree program, you could work at part-time jobs or internships in accounting firms during your college years. If you are getting your accounting degree online, then you can start gaining your full working experience in accounting with a full-time job, because an online accounting degree program allows you to plan your learning schedule that fit into your full-time job.

Step 8: Takes CPA Test & Become A Certified Accountant.You can start preparing for CPA (Certified Public Accountant) examination while earning your bachelor's degree in accounting. You will need some accounting experience, in addition to a bachelor's degree, before applying for the test.SummaryIn order to prepare you career path to successfully become an accountant, you need to have a bachelor's degree in accounting, a good working experience in accounting field and pass in CPA examination.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Benefits that a business owner can get from an accountant


According to some studies the number of solo practitioners continues to rise. Unlike days gone by, when poor planning and a lack of management skills caused the failure of companies, business owners today are found to be assembling teams that increase efficiency and provide support for growth of their business. There are some key players, such as accountants that need to be a part of the overall team.Here are five ways an accountant can make a difference in the performance of a business.Trusted Advisor, Operating a business entails dealing with issues regarding finances and making decisions that may be tough. Owners need a professional that will hear concerns in confidence. The person needs to offer reliable expert opinions as well as feedback that is unbiased. For trust, reliability and integrity, business owners turn to accountants.

Wise Counsel. Every day business owners face complex decisions. It is important that owners have a person that is able to guide them through these rocky paths. To prevent the owner from making a serious mistake in the financial world, the accountant provides counsel on matters including profitable pricing models, investment decisions, and tax issues as well as liquidity planning and financial forecasting.Team Member. The skills of accountants are diverse and their experiences broad. They can help companies to a path of better performance. Many of the professionals may have both general business knowledge as well as specialize in specific types of businesses and industries. As a member of the team, the accountant can offer expertise and knowledge to the company in order toe strengthen the management, marketing and legal objectives.

As the accountant assists the owners of beginning companies, the accountant may provide support for planning, research and development of the company.Communication. With the large number of tasks required of business owners they often have difficulty staying abreast of laws regarding finances. When changes occur which affect the company, the accountant is the person that serves both as interpreter and sharer of regulatory information. The accountant works with the owner in order to create a plan for finances that can both meet the current challenges and cause the business to grow in profitability.Liaison.

The accountant keeps his finger on the pulse of the company to monitor health. One of his primary roles is to make sure that cash flows are adequate. The accountants work to build relationships and use tools to evaluate the resources of the owners in order to see the business grow.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Is accounting a career for you?

An accounting career is a highly popular choice for many people. Although accounting may not be considered one of the most exciting professions, there is certainly a high sum of money to be made as an accountant. There are also many career opportunities and accounting careers options for qualified accountants. There are also some very interesting and exciting options for accountants due to the fact that virtually every single company and organization requires an accounting department. That translates to countless opportunities to live and work. In addition, there are many different industries to choose from according to your needs and interests.It is estimated that there are over 1 million accounting positions in place currently in the United States, with that number growing every year.

There are countless opportunities in government and private industry as well as a high number of self employed accountants and bookkeepers. Accounting provides the rare opportunity of choice as you can just as easily work for yourself as for someone else, or even do both. Teaching is also a possibility for qualified accountants.There are several different types of accountants. These include:- Audit accountant
- Budget analysis accountant
- Financial accountant
- Management Accounting
- Tax accounting. Audit Accountant, Auditing is an important aspect of any business. Audit accountants check accounting ledgers and financial statements. This sort of work gives an accountant excellent experience in the business environment.

Internal auditing is becoming of increased importance and these accountants must check the books for waste, fraud, mismanagement and other discrepancies.Budget Analysis Accountant,A budget analyst accountant must develop the financial plans for an organization, as well as manage them. Government and the private industry provide many budget analysis jobs.Financial Accountant. These accountants prepare financial statements with information from the general ledgers. Financial decisions can also be made with the help of financial accountants. Depending on the organization they can have a say in planning, long term business projections, employee benefits and other aspects.Management Accounting, Capital budgeting and business analysis are two parts of the organization that Management Accountants have a role in. They work alongside other managers to develop new business.Tax Accounting, Tax accountants prepare personal income tax statements and business taxes.These accounting jobs provide a wide scope of choice for any qualified accountant, making this field one of the most diverse and varied fields of work available.Accounting Salary: What to Expect? If you are planning on becoming an accountant then you will want to know what kind of salary to expect. Unlike many other fields of work, accounting can encompass many forms. Four main sectors you can work in as an accountant include:- Private Sector
- Public Sector
- Non-Profit Sector
- Self Employed Accountant? You may have already decided that you want to become self employed once qualified. Although this is a wonderful way to work as an accountant, it is generally advisable to seek employed experience before embarking on self employment. Many accountants work a full time job and also have their own clients.All companies, corporations and governments have accounting departments. That makes accounting highly flexible and ensures a never ending supply of positions. Accounting is certainly one field of work that will never be made redundant. It is also difficult to outsource most accounting tasks to overseas markets due to the in depth knowledge required of the national and local economics. This makes accounting a very secure field to work in as well.The medium annual salary of accountants in the US is about $38,000. Auditors are listed as having a similar median wage. Of course, there is scope and potential for much improvement in this field and generally those with experience earn much more than the median.Some other median salaries in various sectors of accounting include:- State Government: 35,900
- Federal Government: 43,100
- Local Government: 36,400
- Commercial Banks: 35,700As you can see, gaining an accounting position within government is an ideal place to start due to the higher wages, benefits and relative job security.The top 10 percent of accountants and auditors have an average salary of nearly $80,000 whilst the bottom percentage earns under $25,000. Without doubt this lowest percentage consists mainly of graduate and inexperienced accountants.You will require a bachelor's degree to work in accounting. Although this can have a short term financial impact, people can generally pay back their college fees quickly after becoming employed. Unlike other fields of study, accounting students rarely have a hard time finding a job after or whilst studying.If you wish to improve your salary then consider a masters degree or study areas which focus on a particular aspect of accounting such as auditing, management accounting, corporate tax accounting, financial advisor and others. All of these advanced lines or work command much higher salaries and are highly interesting compared with regular accounting.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Four factors to think of when choosing an accountant


When you choose an accountant, Newcastle is an excellent place to live due to the number of accountants operating in the city. But choosing an accountant is not simply a matter of finding one who is located nearby. There are a number of factors you should consider before hiring your accountant, and here are the four most important.

1. Specialty: There are many different types of accountant, including management, Taxation, corporate recovery, forensic accountants and more besides. The first thing you need to do then is clarify the exact reason you are hiring an accountant. Newcastle has accountants of all specialties, so you should not have difficulty finding one who fits your specific requirements.

2. Qualifications: Without holding the right qualifications, you should be very wary of hiring an accountant. Newcastle accountants can belong to a number of professional bodies, including the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and the Institute of Chartered Accountants amongst others, so if you want to reassure yourself that you are choosing the right company then make sure they hold some form of qualification.

3. References: It is always a good idea to ask for suitable references when you are choosing a new accountant. they should be happy to provide you with one or two references of previous or existing clients in a similar situation to yourself to demonstrate how they helped them with their financial issues. You should then ask the references questions such as how reliable the accountant is and whether they are good value, as this will help you to make your decision.

4. Contact:How much contact will you be expecting from your accountant? Newcastle residents looking for an accountant should consider this seriously, because all accountants are different. Some accountants will just contact you once a year to process your taxes, whereas others will stay in touch regularly with news and advice that might affect you and your business, so make sure you know what to expect.ConclusionChoosing an accountant is an important process. Newcastle has a lot of accountants working in the city, but not all of them will be right for you, so remember to look carefully and consider the above factors when making your decision.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

How to be successfull in your accounting career

In any type of companies, a cpa is required. You need to consider which accounting is actually the language running a business and getting enough understanding of accountancy is important for businessmen and women to know exactly how their own clients are performing.In any type of companies, a cpa is needed. You have to think about which accounting is actually the actual vocabulary running a business and having sufficient knowledge about accountancy practise is important for businessmen and women to know how their own clients are performing. This is why accounting experts are extremely a lot in demand today.

As well as, a lot of licensed accountants have grown to be quite profitable within their field and some possess even began their very own business.The great thing about this particular career is that it'll enable you to interact with all amounts of business and you'll also learn a great deal from this.So, just what does it decide to try become a cpa and adhere to this particular career?To begin with, you need to know concerning the eligibility within getting a cpa.You have to be a move on inside a Four 12 months college diploma in accountancy or any kind of associated area. Apart from this particular, an accountant should be able to have great analytical as well as specialized expertise running a business systems. Good numerical skills is also a must-have for an accounting firm. As well as, simply because computer systems are now probably the most used medium within processing, it's also wise to have knowledge and the working abilities of a computer.Another requirement is that you will require a bachelor's diploma having a minor within an additional topic. This should be obtained from an accredited university or college to ensure that you to definitely apply for Master's within accounting. You can also go after this particular career should you have had your own program within accounting more than distance learning programs or even with the web.

Also, you will need an certification or license of particular business, such as being a Cost per action should have a license by the STA or even the State Panel of Accountancy practise.A lot of companies also need that you ought to complete a number of term hours in addition to work hours, that are regarded as for a 4-year bachelor's diploma. Should you become a open public accountancy firm, you will be used like a trainee. You will usually start your career like a junior internal auditor or even as cost accountancy firm.It is recommended that you ought to possess a master's degree running a business management or a good MBA because it is preferred by more companies who're searching for an accounting firm included in their workers. The fantastic thing about going after accountancy as a profession is the fact that this provides a lot of career opportunities.

For example, you can get a work because auditors or an accounting firm within federal government offices or perhaps in personal businesses even though you do not have any permit.During the course of your career, you may also obtain promoted to a position, such as the main monetary official placement which presents a lot more excellent opportunities for your profession.You may also are employed in the actual legal workplace. You can work as an auditor, an economic official, a budget analyst, the management accountant, and even like a taxes accountant. A lot of companies that are looking for taxes an accounting firm may prefer accountants with lawful background.Forensic accounting is another guaranteeing career for an accounting firm. Right here, you'll check out crimes, such as scams in company's finances.

If you have the knack for teaching, you can train a topic related to accountancy attending college. This is a excellent career choice and several accountants feel that this job is actually satisfying.Keep in mind which on this occupation, you need to start slow. If you're simply starting work being an accountancy firm, attempt to start as a trainee as well as work your way as much as the actual career path you want to consider.Accounting or even accountancy profession is an extremely promising profession that provides lots of great possibilities. It is certain that you will find the right profession you want if you take this type of profession.