Would being a CPA/Accountant be a good job for someone who likes routine?
Friday, July 30th, 2010 at
8:08 am
I like following a schedule and having a good routine down. I don’t mind working in an office and doing paperwork. As long as I’m actually doing something. I would enjoy it. I just need to know if this would really be a good job for me.
What types of things do Accountants/CPA’s actually do? I know you obviously work with numbers but I know it’s not just adding/subtracting/multiplying thngs. There is more to it. Can someone explain?
Tagged with: accountants • good job • paperwork
Filed under: CPA
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It is possible that you may enjoy being an accounting clerk or entry level corporate accountant. Accounting clerks include payroll clerks (self-explanatory), A/P (Accounts payable) clerks (basically they enter invoices and get bills paid, and A/R (Accounts Receivable) clerks (basically they send invoices to clients to ensure your company gets paid). These jobs usually require a 2 year accounting degree. Depending on the size of the organization and what duties they assign their staff accountant, you may be alright there if all you are doing is basic reconciliations (for example, balancing the companies checking account just like you would your own) and standard journal entries. Corporate accounting generally follows a monthly cycle, and at the lower levels you will basically perform the same jobs each month.
Any higher level corporate accounting job or any public accounting job is not going to be for you. These jobs are not routine "fill out paperwork" jobs. You will constantly be faced with unforeseen issues that have to be dealt with. Higher level corporate jobs require a lot of analytical skills and you are constantly faced with new problems to solve. Day-to-day transactions are dealt with at the lower levels, where the higher ups deal with "big picture" stuff. In public accounting, every tax and audit client is unique. They all have their own unique issues that have to be dealt with in different ways. Believe it or not, you do a lot of research in public accounting. Also, accounting and auditing standards and tax laws change constantly. These changes often require changes in software and in the ways you do things. In public accounting you may also travel a lot. Audits occur at the clients place of business, not yours. (I don’t know how much you know about accounting, but when I say audit I don’t mean a "tax audit" like the IRS does. The audits that CPAs perform involve auditing a clients financial statements to ensure they are correct. Audits are required for companies that are publicly traded, agencies that receive federal money, and can also be required by banks a company borrows money from. ) If you are someone that likes routine and do not easily adapt to change, public accounting is definitely not for you.
Hello,
I’m an accountant, sitting for the CPA exam. Actually accounting math DOES consist of addition/multiplication/subtraction/division ONLY. And you don’t even have to know that, as long as you own a basic calculator.
Job of a CPA is by no means routine, so I agree with the person above. Start as an accounting clerk. Being a CPA requires 5 years of college, and extensive training. Plus, I’m currently in the process of getting my CPA and it’s a REALLY tough examination. You have to have a set of good skills, especially written communication, analytical, problem solving. Do you have any of these?