What exactly does an ACCOUNTANT do?

[LQQK]

Describe a day in the life of an accountant.

Is it a good job or do you regret becoming an accountant?

[teufel-man]

Describe a day in the life of an accountant.

Is it a good job or do you regret becoming an accountant?

your probably gonna have to be a little more specific....

[BananaHunter]

There are several levels of accountants depending on the size and scope of the company. At the high level, you have the controller and director of finance. At the lower level, there's A/R, A/P, or just general assistant type positions. Smaller companies might just have 2-3 staff doing finance. Your job duties can vary ALOT depending on your company and position. The only thing in common about all accountants is that we work at a desk staring at the computer screen/stacks of paper all day.

An accountant makes sure the financial records reflect business transactions. At the lower level, expect a lot of record keeping stuff like making journal entries (through a software). When you make a journal entry, you have to have back up documentation. This leads to a bit of filing. Sometimes something doesn't add up or you suspect you are missing information or have been given incorrect information. This leads to interaction with vendors/customers/co-workers. To make sure records are correct, some reconciliation will be done. The most common is bank recs.

Most of your day is spent staring at stacks of paper or the computer screen. A lot of bosses will ask for reports in excel so after a while, you might get cross eyed staring at Excel cells.

Is it a good job? Yes and no. Looking at numbers isn't very exciting. But it beats the hell out of many other jobs. The job market is more stable. Good economy or not, companies need accounting done. Accounting is not a difficult job. With computers doing all the calculations for you, it's just a matter of paying attention to details to make sure your information is correct.

[the_fm]

There are several levels of accountants depending on the size and scope of the company. At the high level, you have the controller and director of finance. At the lower level, there's A/R, A/P, or just general assistant type positions. Smaller companies might just have 2-3 staff doing finance. Your job duties can vary ALOT depending on your company and position. The only thing in common about all accountants is that we work at a desk staring at the computer screen/stacks of paper all day.

An accountant makes sure the financial records reflect business transactions. At the lower level, expect a lot of record keeping stuff like making journal entries (through a software). When you make a journal entry, you have to have back up documentation. This leads to a bit of filing. Sometimes something doesn't add up or you suspect you are missing information or have been given incorrect information. This leads to interaction with vendors/customers/co-workers. To make sure records are correct, some reconciliation will be done. The most common is bank recs.

Most of your day is spent staring at stacks of paper or the computer screen. A lot of bosses will ask for reports in excel so after a while, you might get cross eyed staring at Excel cells.

Is it a good job? Yes and no. Looking at numbers isn't very exciting. But it beats the hell out of many other jobs. The job market is more stable. Good economy or not, companies need accounting done. Accounting is not a difficult job. With computers doing all the calculations for you, it's just a matter of paying attention to details to make sure your information is correct.

wait, you are describing the job of a bookkeeper. that's their job

[heymike]

Same as a lot of other jobs...it depends.

A lot of the time it is very, unsung; you are not acknowleged till a mistake occurs or something. It can be long hours and sometime you are just view as a required expense.

As an accountant I also tend to get involved when the sh*t hits the fan and you deal with problems, it provides a challenge but if you are constantly dealing with your coworkers on Company problems they tend to start association you with the problems.

Public practice is a different animal; when you are staring out you handle shoeboxes of receipts and get little pay. You also become very knowlegable about peoples affairs which can be good or bad; but it does get sickening to do tax returns where you know expenses are not legitimate. You will have professional people earning huge cash sitting in front of you lying their asses off.

On the flip side, there is a security in it, no-heavy lifting and accounting skills transfer to many management tasks. There are a lot of baby-boomer accountants retiring soon.

All in all, your education requirments as far as time will be comparable to doctors....but most will never get doctors pay. All things considered, I would not repeat my choice again, should of been a pharmasist or a tradesman. (I know a person who walks dogs downtown, for that period of time when she is out, her hourly wage is higher than mine. I also did a tax return for a plumber, wow, $65/hr plus emergency billing can really add up)

[nabil114]

depends if you like accounting or not. it will pretty much revolve around it.

[Knitecrow]

Describe a day in the life of an accountant.

Is it a good job or do you regret becoming an accountant?

The job encompasses far too many roles to be explained. You need to do some research and narrow down the request. Accountants can be anything from simple book keepers all the way to CFO.


Its like asking:
"Describe a day in the life of an business person. Is it a good job or do you regret becoming an business person?"