As an accounting professional, you’ll provide services to your clients, ranging from audits to taxes to consulting. Accountants are crucial to making sure businesses and individuals are are on track financially. Learn more about becoming an accountant, a CPA, or a bookkeeper.
Find a local or online accounting school.
Accountant Career Info
Main Article: Accountant and CPA
Accountants are analytical, organized, and good with numbers. Clients rely on accountants to make sure their finances are accurate, their taxes are prepared, and their personal or business accounts are balanced. They try to prevent all types of monetary discrepancies throughout companies, and on personal levels, as well.
Steps to Become an Accountant or a CPA
You don’t necessarily need a degree to be an accountant; however, the vast majority of hiring managers prefer at least a bachelor’s degree. In order to become a CPA, will need a bachelor's degree in accounting or a related field, plus additional graduate credit hours to reach a minimum of 150 credit hours. You’ll need to decide whether you want to be an accountant or a CPA. Accountants are more limited in their duties than CPAs.
- Get your high school diploma or GED.
- Complete your bachelor’s degree in accounting from an accredited program.
- Consider an internship where you’ll get real-life experience.
- Once you graduate with your bachelor’s degree, get some more work experience, network, and learn additional software programs.
- You don’t need a master’s degree to become a licensed CPA, but it’s one way to obtain the 150 credit hours needed. Alternatively, you can enroll in a few graduate classes to reach the credit requirement.
- As mentioned, certifications are optional, but they can make you more appealing to employers and open more career opportunities for you. The most common certification is a Certified Public Accountant, but you can also pursue become a Certified Management Accountant, a Certified Internal Auditor, or a Certified Information Systems Auditor. Each certification has its own experience requirements.
What Accountants Do
CPAs and accountants may have taken a similar education path, but their job duties are slightly different. Depending on your career goals, you may or may not wish to purse a CPA license.
What an Accountant Does:
- Makes sure financial records are correct
- Ensure that everything is in compliance with laws and regulations
- Taxes
- Becomes very familiar with the client’s money, accounts, and balance sheets and how these are going to directly affect finances
- Takes care of personal and/or business finances
- Works without needing certifications
- Cannot do the same scope of work as a CPA
What a CPA Does:
- Gives financial advice to companies and corporations
- Has the last word when it comes to financials
- Adheres to a strict code of ethics and tries to remain as trustworthy as possible
- Are highly regulated by each state
- Renews license every two years
- Everything accountants do
Accountant Salary and Job Outlook
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in 2023 that the average salary for an accountant was $90,780, with the top 10 percent earning $137,280 or more. The employment outlook for accountants and CPAs is consistent with the national average, expected to increase 4 percent by 2032.
Bookkeeper Career Information
Bookkeepers have similar duties to accountants, but they typically require less education and carry less responsibility. Becoming a bookkeeper can be a great stepping stone to becoming an accountant, if you wish.
Becoming a Bookkeeper
While you don’t necessarily need a college degree to find work as a bookkeeper, most employers do prefer their bookkeepers to have a postsecondary education. To become a bookkeeper, follow these steps:
- Get your high school diploma.
- Find an internship or a job that will train you.
- Study the various accounting software available, and practice all the different functions.
- Consider getting an associate degree or a diploma in bookkeeping.
- After two years of working as a bookkeeper, you can get certified through the American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers.
- Get licensed through the National Association of Certified Public Bookkeepers. Twenty-four hours of continuing education per year is needed to keep the certification current once you have it.
- Think about going back to school for a bachelor’s degree or even a master’s degree to become an accountant or CPA.
What Bookkeepers Do
When you are working as a bookkeeper, you’ll be taking care of a company’s financial records and accounts. Your duties make you a major asset to the company you’re employed with.
What your exact responsibilities entail will depend on where you work. The following areas may be your responsibility:
- Accounts payable and receivable - You’ll monitor purchase orders and match them with invoices upon receipt. You have to get approval for payments and make sure all the bills are paid on time.
- Payroll - You take care of the payroll, collecting time sheets and entering them into the system. You will also process the payroll checks or send them to a payroll processing service.
- Banking - Preparing bank deposits and handling company spending are all part of your day’s work. You will also organize and analyze the monthly bank statements, do wire transfers when necessary, and determine spending limits.
- Taxes - Often, tax returns are also prepared by the bookkeeper, depending on the size of the company you work for.
You’ll be filling out a ton of forms regarding compensation, pension or retirement, financial budgeting, and more. Clerical duties are also handled by you, from sorting the mail to organizing files with customer and vendor information.
Bookkeeping Salary and Job Outlook
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), bookkeepers in 2023 made an average salary of $49,580, with the top 10 percent making $68,860 or more. Most bookkeepers are full time, and some can occasionally work from home. There will be times, particularly around tax season, where you may be working more than 40 hours per week.
Many bookkeeping systems are now automated through computer apps and cloud computing. So, by 2031, the demand for bookkeeping is expected to decline slightly. Despite this slight decline, the BLS predicts that an estimated 183,900 jobs will open for bookkeepers each year over the next decade. Bookkeepers are also expected to take more of an analytical role in offices, auditing companies' finances and enhancing opportunities for financial growth.
Online Accountant Programs
Deciding to take online college courses makes a lot of sense, especially if you have a lot going on in your life with work or family. Online school is often much more convenient than attending in-person classes at a college campus.
There are many online accounting programs available, but just make sure whichever one you choose is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, otherwise you may not be eligible to become a certified public accountant, if that’s your goal.
Find an online accounting program.