Title: Accountant: Career Path & Qualifications
Headings: Accountant Career Path and Qualifications
Accountant Career Path and Qualifications
Career Path of an Accountant
Qualifications

Content: Public companies, meaning those owned by public shareholders and traded on stock exchanges, are required by the government to undergo a third-party audit once per year to verify financial statements accurately reflect the current state of affairs. Accountants who work for public accounting firms conduct these audits. Young employees right out of college most often start working for audit teams; as they gain experience and prove themselves, the natural progression is to become a team leader and then department leader. Auditing is not the only service performed by public accountants. The ones who love numbers often gravitate to the tax side, where they help clients navigate the morass of complex tax laws and, hopefully, minimize tax liability. Highly extroverted public accountants frequently end up in management consulting; these professionals audit clients' business operations but for an entirely different reason than compliance. They are looking for ways to cut costs, increase efficiency, and create channels for new growth. Most public accountants start as members of teams that conduct audits, prepare taxes, or analyze clients' management structure.