Only certain businesses need engineers, or doctors, or welders, or economists. Many companies leaned heavily on their internal accounting team or outside public accounting firm to help obtain SBA loans, and to figure out the complex PPP forgiveness rules.īottom line: A career in accounting is generally quite stable. This last quarter was no exception, at least here in the US. In fact, bad times often generate extra work for accountants. Companies need to manage their finances in good times and bad. Unlike the sales team - which makes boatloads of money in the good times and suffers in the bad - the accounting department has steady work. Reason 2: Accounting is a recession-tolerant profession Plus, if the further career options don't pan out, there's almost always a job waiting back in accounting. This broad exposure gradually builds into incredibly broad experience, which opens doors to a host of further career options. Often the finance team has a better view of reality than the ownership team. No one gets a pilot's view quite like the accounting team. They touch every transaction and interact with every division and every manager. Private accountants have the same broad view, but within a single company. They are exposed to countless compensation strategies, tax strategies, and investor/lender arrangements. They see the bottom-line effect of various management styles. They observe which industries are profitable and which are an uphill battle.
Public accountants see the internal organs of many different companies. Spending 5 to 10 years in accounting is a great path to any of those options. Have the freedom to move around within a company.
Why would 1.4 million people voluntarily choose accounting as their career? Aside from sheer love of logic and numbers, here are three solid reasons: Reason 1: Accounting is a phenomenal base If accountants were a US state (wouldn't that be an exciting place!), there would be ten US states with smaller populations. The Department of Labor says there are 1.4 million accountants in the US alone. Why would anyone choose to be an accountant? It's also worth noting that many of the large public accounting firms have divisions that offer these services as well. Folks in this group generally first work their way through Category 1 or 2, or both, to gain the necessary expertise. This is a catch-all group of consultants, forensic accountants, contract CFOs (my specialty!), freelancers, business valuation experts, etc. Many controllers and CFOs begin their careers in public accounting.Ĭategory 3-Specialized Accountants. Job titles on a private accounting team range from bookkeeper (entry level), to controller (mid-level), to CFO (highest level). Larger companies, though, have dedicated accounting teams to track and analyze the company's financial results. In a typical mom and pop business, mom and pop do their own bookkeeping. Sounds exciting, right! More on that soon.Ĭategory 2-Private Accountants. Most public accounting firms offer two core services: 1) Preparing income tax returns for businesses and individuals, and 2) Auditing the financial statements of mid-sized and large businesses. Public accountants work at firms like PwC, Grant Thornton, or Wipfli (the exceptional firm where I cut my teeth). I know, a little lame maybe, but jokes aside, there are roughly three categories of accountants:Ĭategory 1-Public Accountants. There's an old saying that there are three kinds of accountants: 1) those who can count, and 2) those who can't. With all that sarcasm, why would anyone want to be an accountant? Answer: read on.
What is an extroverted accountant? Answer: One who looks at your shoes when he's talking to you, instead of his own.There's even a list on the internet of 77 accountant jokes that includes these shameless highlights: The Washington Redskins could re-brand as the Washington Bean Counters and probably get away with it. In our painfully sensitive world, it's still completely fine to stereotype and mock accountants.