The Job Outlook for Students Who Studied Accounting

The Job Outlook for Students Who Studied Accounting

Mar 28, 2015 | 9:00 am

The field of accounting will always be needed, even by law, you could say—because the government needs its money. All the way up to the corporate and government levels, there is a rising need for skilled accountants. According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the accounting field is expected to grow as much as 13%. Although salaries can vary from company to company, the demand will always be high.

Your Future

Accounting jobs can start with no formal schooling, but college degrees are preferred by recruiters. Most of the time, within a small local company, there may be a need for someone who can assist with accounts receivable or payables and maybe even some payroll aspects. Depending on the workload, some duties might include one person keeping track of receivables and what is coming into a company, while another position involve keeping track of hourly employees. This may also be true within a larger company and duties delegated throughout the accounting department.

What Accounting Jobs Are There?

There are Certified Public Accountants and Certified Management Accountants. There are financial accountants who will go through massive amounts of numerical data or analyze, strategize and forecast plans to ensure a stronger stability for the success of the company. There are tax accountants who specialize in both individual taxes and all the way up to corporate taxes. There are Certified Public accountants who can cover everything from auditing, bookkeeping, taxes, consulting, finances, and even forensic accounting.

Forensic accountants by title usually work for the IRS and keep watch for any criminal activities such as tax fraud, evasion, embezzlement, and securities. They watch to make sure all individuals and companies are in compliance with government laws and regulations at all times and make sure taxes are paid on time.

The Certified Management Accountants will dig deep into financial information. They might audit, analyze, consult, and plan strategies, and forecast ratios and formulas for the benefit of the company’s future. The level of education starts with high school, followed by an associate’s degree and so on. At the master’s degree level, you can decide whether or not you would like to specialize in a particular field.

Accounting can be flexible and requires large amounts of travel, especially in the auditing areas of the field. If you like a variety of different aspects of accounting, you may want to follow the path of Certified Public Accountant, which covers a little of all the groups.

Since the field of accounting will always be in demand. Your education and skills will play an extremely large part of where you may land in employment and with which organization. Although the size of the company can be a defining factor in your starting salary, so can your education and skills determining your paycheck.

You want to get into one of the “Big 4” audit firms if you are looking to enrich and advance your experience and exposure. As you can see, this a career field with versatility, growth, and even individuality.