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I am thinking of pursuing an Accounting Degree and wanted to learn as much as I can before going through with it. If anyone can help me with the questions below, it would be appreciated. Thanks.
How much stress is involved?
What parts of Accounting must an accountant know like-the-back-of-their-hand (I seem to forget things, unless I do them repetitively)?
How many hours is a typical work week?
Does an Accountant have to give a lot of presentations?
I am thinking of pursuing an Accounting Degree and wanted to learn as much as I can before going through with it. If anyone can help me with the questions below, it would be appreciated. Thanks.
How much stress is involved?
What parts of Accounting must an accountant know like-the-back-of-their-hand (I seem to forget things, unless I do them repetitively)?
How many hours is a typical work week?
Does an Accountant have to give a lot of presentations?
The answer to all your questions is it depends. It runs the gamut depending on the job. My quick take is those that do well in accounting and tend to like it are those that are good at algebra and like business.
So if you stink at algebra, it probably isn't for you. Not that you don't use it that much for your job, but the way you solve problems in algebra is similar to how you analyze and solve problems in accounting.
As for whether you like business, try reading business magazines and newspapers. First start with fluffy ones with lots of profiles and feature articles like Forbes or Fortune, and then graduate to Bloomberg BusinessWeek, your local newspaper business section, and then the Wall Street Journal. A lot of accountants read the Wall Street Journal every day for at least 30 min. to an hour. If you find that reading about business is super boring and unpleasant, being an accountant isn't for you, because as an accountant, you read stuff 1000% time more dry and boring and the WSJ seems like People magazine to us.
Oh, I'd say you should also be comfortable using computers. Not programming. But learning how to use new applications and programs with little formal training (i.e. just winging it and playing around to figure out how things work).
I am thinking of pursuing an Accounting Degree and wanted to learn as much as I can before going through with it. If anyone can help me with the questions below, it would be appreciated. Thanks.
How much stress is involved?
Depends. Employed at a Big 4 , during busy season? A lot. Controller in private industry, a lot, depending on the company.
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What parts of Accounting must an accountant know like-the-back-of-their-hand (I seem to forget things, unless I do them repetitively)?
You generally need to be rock solid on the intermediate financial accounting coursework. If you work in a charity or municipality, you better have paid attention in your Govmnt/not for profit class. If you are in tax, better know your tax stuff (you get the picture).
Accounting is an interesting field in that there is an extensive, definable body of knowledge that an accountant is expected to know. You may not have worked in that area in many years, but if an issue in that area comes up, you better be able to get up to speed darn quick.
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How many hours is a typical work week?
40 hours for a "regular job." 1.5-2x that during busy season in a public accounting firm.
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Does an Accountant have to give a lot of presentations?
Not so much at the lower levels, but it increases as you move up. I was employed at a Big 6 firm, and I was giving presentations to clients starting in my second month with the firm. YMMV.
Yeah - I think the answers to your questions are "it depends" for sure.
But I will say this - do as much research as you can; talk to accountants, look online, ask in various forums - that kind of thing.
Once you answer some of the "it depends" questions posed above, try and really reflect on whether you'd be excited to live the day-to-day life of an accountant given the information you now have.
That's what I did when I was investigating becoming a professor!
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I work daily with several accountants, and even within our company the job duties vary greatly. The one I work with the most is handling billing of rent and utilities, we handle the management of leases and she reviews the financial details and actually runs the billing process and financial reporting. Others are strictly involved with accounts payable, one does only the corporate credit card management, one handles calculation, payment and reporting of taxes, another does payroll. None of them ever have to make presentations of any kind, stress is average, and most work only 40 hours/week but with overtime during year-end processing in January-February.
Anybody can do accounting. It is an easy job. They are needed like when you go to the bathroom you have those muscles that pushes out the waste. Accounting will exsist as long as money is needed. Go for it.
Anybody can do accounting. It is an easy job. They are needed like when you go to the bathroom you have those muscles that pushes out the waste. Accounting will exsist as long as money is needed. Go for it.
Sounds like you have a lot of meaningful experience in the field. Do you have other useful contributions to make?
Accounting is the most diverse profession Ive ever encountered. When I talk to my professional friends about an average days work theyre usually completely baffled. One day I can be making a presentation to the corporate officers, the next I can be mapping the processes of our IT system, the next I can be sitting with finance and helping to prepare the budget.
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