Careers in Accounting

“Careers in Accounting”

In order for businesses to be successful it is imperative that they make financially sound decisions such as when to invest in capital, when to expand, or even when to downsize. Accounting plays a key role when making these important decisions. Accountants are in high demand in and pay competitive salaries because of their importance. Accountants are also in many different industries such as entertainment, technology, sports, government, criminal investigation, travel, and much more. (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, 2015)

Passing the CPA exam will streamline your career in accounting, but to be eligible to take the exam people must fulfill some prerequisites. Each state has their own requirements that vary slightly. In Florida, it is required that one complete 120 semester hours in order to take the exam, 150 semester hours for licensure, 24 semester hours of accounting education at the upper division level, and 24 semester hours in general business education. What makes Florida different from other states is that there is no state residency requirement to obtain the CPA certificate. (cpaexam.com, 2015)

The CPA certification is one of the most prestigious professional available, and is required for most jobs in accounting. (cpaexam.com, 2015) Many companies are also looking for people to have superb verbal, written, and people skills, team players, creative problem solvers. This is the main reason that some much education is required to obtain a CPA certification. The most importantly companies seek people with great integrity. This is important to companies because reputation affects business, and betraying the trust of public will cripple business. Corporate Accounting scandals are nothing new. Enron, Lehman Brothers, and the Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC are some of the most recent and famous companies involved in corporate accounting scandals. Bernie Madoff screwed investors out of $64.8 billion. Madoff was caught after he told his sons about his scheme, and they reported him to the SEC.