Career Path

Scope of an Accountant

Accounting is one of the major fields of Business Management and this is the reason why the career path of an Accountant will be analyzed in this topic. In various state companies, accountants try to ensure that the state firms needs to be run efficiently by storing all the public records accurately. The performance of these important functions is done by providing wide range of accounting and business benefits to the customers. It includes civic management and state accounting. However, in all the major fields, accountants perform the primary tasks of their profession which includes the preparation, analysis and verification of financial data in order to update clients. (Albrecht, 34)

Functions of an Accountant

There are particular job tasks that vary widely in the four main areas of accounting. The extensive range of accounting, tax, and consulting activities are performed by the Public Accountants for their clients that include individuals, governments, nonprofit organizations and corporations. For instance, various public accountants focus on the tax related matters that include the income tax, corporation tax issues. There are even some advisors who give advice in industries like health care centers or their compensation; for the improvement in the existing systems which mark the selection of tools to protect the systems. There are few accountants who specialize in forensic accounting investigating who interprets the reasons for bankruptcies and other suspicious financial transactions. All these transactions are then forwarded to the auditors for further investigation. There are many Public Accountants who are basically the Certified Public Accountants, normally have their own corporations or accounting firms. (Briloff, 10)

Then there is the second category of accountants which are the Management accountants. They are even known as industrial, corporate, or private accountants who perform the task of recording and analyzing the financial data of the companies in which they are employed in which they work. Their next activities include management of cost, management of asset, budgeting and performance evaluation. They are normally inducted in the executive teams whose main task is to prepare strategic planning or contribute in the new product development. All the financial information is then analyzed and interpreted by the Management Accountants which makes it easier for the Executives to make proper decisions of the business. The financial data is even prepared for external stakeholders such as stockholders, creditors, regulatory agencies, and tax authorities. The areas in which they work within the accounting departments is financial analysis, planning and budgeting, and cost accounting. (Cheffers, 87)

Most of the people who have got the background of an accounting field are employed in the state corporations. There are State accountants whose task is to sustain and inspect the statistics of government agencies and they even try to ensure that all the private businesses and individuals must conform to regulations or taxations of the Government. All the Accountants employed by the Government must ensure that all the revenues received and the expenditures incurred were done in accordance with the regulations and law. Normally, all the employees which ...