Are You Considering a Career in Accounting?

Welcome to the Rules of Thumb blog from MoneyThumb! We do our best here to try and help accountants, CPAs, bookkeepers, small business owners, and those interested in personal finance topics to learn and improve your life, your business, and your success.

Today we would like to address those of you who are considering a career in accounting. We are going to share what we consider the best articles with advice for aspiring accountants. We have listed those we selected below:

• 4 Helpful Tips for Your Accounting Career--This article from Work it Daily offers some great advice, such as this from Los Angeles-based CPA Robert Wheeler, author of the new book “The Money Nerve: Navigating the Emotions of Money” (Balboa Press, 2013). He stresses the importance of understanding the fundamentals of accounting. “Work a year or two in private accounting, learn some accounting software and get familiar with how clients do their books so that you can communicate with them about things that matter,” he advises. Knowing these basics will make it easier to communicate with your clients. “Many CPAs don’t understand the accounting software and aren’t able to show clients how to do journal entries, bank reconciliations or other practical matters that clients need guidance on,” says Wheeler.
• Good Advice for Aspiring Accountants and CPAs--This article from Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants is a great read for those of you who may be on the fence about a career as an accountant or CPA. Here is a bit of what you will find in that article: Recent graduates gave advice on …
  • Landing the first job. Doing a professional internship during college is the best way to get in the door.
  • How to make the most of internships. Learn as much as you can and take on as much responsibility as they let you.
  • How the CPA credential is going to help them get ahead in their careers. Most firms require it to be promoted past a certain point. Plus, passing the CPA Exam shows dedication and that you can set a challenging goal and accomplish it.
• What is Some Good Advice for Accounting Students?--This gold nugget from Sokanu, where you can take a free career test, offers awesome tips for those of you who are ready to begin your training to become an accountant. Here it is: Attending class, completing homework assignments, maintaining good grades, working a job, and trying to squeeze in a social life are all things that need to be managed responsibly. Someone interested in getting a degree in accounting needs to be self-motivated and self-disciplined.Strong math skills, calculations, data analyzing, spreadsheets, general ledger applications, income tax, cost accounting, fraud prevention, auditing.... all are subjects that will be taken. If you don't find these interesting, then the accounting profession may not be for you. Ask yourself if you would feel comfortable spending fifty to seventy hours a week scrutinizing data and calculating numbers.

  If you aspire to get to a senior level position one day, such as CFO or a partner in a firm, then developing interpersonal skills and having the ability to develop strong networks early on will be essential to your success.

By taking advantage of the three above articles, the Rules of Thumb blog from MoneyThumb believes you can begin your career as an accountant with confidence and a little extra pizzaz.