What Skills Requirements Are Needed for Accounting Jobs?

Accountants are employed by organizations to perform tasks related to management and internal resource allocation. Accountants perform accounting jobs such as audits or financial statement analysis. Their key responsibilities include:

• Collecting, examining, analyzing accounting records, financial statements (profit and loss statement), current financial status and other financial reports
• Recommending, maintaining solutions to business and financial problems by analyzing accounting options
• Maintaining current financial security by monitoring internal controls
• Giving answers to questions related to accounting procedures
• Analyze financial data in order to complete quarterly or annual financial statements and reports
• Calculating a total of tax owes and returns, ensuring that paying tax is in full compliance with reporting and other tax requirements
• Assisting and providing internal and external auditing services for businesses and individuals, if any.
• Maintaining general ledger as needed

Different types of accounting jobs

Depending on the demand of using accounting services, each company will employ the most suitable type of accountant. There are 4 main types of accounting jobs: Public accountants, Internal accountants, Management accountants and Government accountants.

• Public accountants: They works for public accounting firms which provide a wide range of accounting services to corporations and individuals include auditing, tax preparation, and consulting. Public accountants can have their own business by opening a private company or can do many different kinds of accounting for individual outside the company.
• Internal auditors: The role of those internal accountants is to check and keep their own company’s financial records accurate and in order. They check the records to make sure that there is no one who is stealing or wasting money of the company.
• Management accountants: They often start their careers as internal auditors. They work internally for the company that employs them and then record and analyse financial information. Their tasks involve in budgeting, managing costs, and evaluating the company’s efficiency.
• Government accountants: They work for the federal government or a state, county or city. Their  responsibility is to ensure that a governmental agency’s accounting records are fair and accurate. They may assist federal authorities in evaluating budget data, estimating revenue and expense levels so that they comply with regulatory guidelines and Government Accounting Standards Board principles.

Education and Training Requirements

Most employers require their accountants to have at least a bachelor’s degree in business administration accounting, finance, economics, business administration or related fields. It normally takes 3 to 4 years to obtain a bachelor’s degree. You are an ideal applicant for a large organization if you have a master’s degree in accounting or a master’s degree in business administration with a specialization in accounting.

Skills

Accountants have an important role in business organizations. It means that becoming an accountant is not quite easy or simple. But if you are interested in working with numbers and possess some following skills as well as requirements, you will be successful in accounting job.

• Numerical ability and knowledge of economic, accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis of financial data.
• Strongly understand, applying complex accounting laws, codes, regulations and ordinances to accounting records.
• Problem solving skills: Accountants have to analyse and assess current obstacles, difficulties related to internal financial records and then determine the best solution.
• Time management skills: Accountants often carry out several projects at a time so they need to arrange time properly to gain goals and demand deadlines.
• Ability to pay attention to each detail : Accountants are required to pay attention to each smallest detail because miscalculations even incorrect position of one comma can lead to serious consequences.
• IT skills and ability of applying modern software: It is useful for accountants to calculate, check financial records and produce reports
• Reports making skills: Accountants need to complete statistical and written reports. Reports have to be presented exactly and plainly.
• Communication and interpersonal skills: Their position requires them to interact with colleagues, managers, etc within their company and other people in the business relation.

Work environment

Accountants normally work full time in office environment but some of them can work from home or work with the position of a part time staff. They are often busy at certain times of the year, such as at the end of the budget year, tax season or the employers can require them to work overtime to deal with a financial crisis or to complete financial records, reports.

Experience

Employers prefer to employ a previous experience accountant for accounting position. Most accountants can obtain their own experience during college by taking part in accounting intern programs or finding a part time job, working as an accountant for companies. Each position, each company will have a different requirement for the applicant’s number of years of experience.