SPECIFIC JOB DUTIES

Accountants and auditors help to ensure that the Nation’s firms are run efficiently, its public records kept accurately, and its taxes paid properly and on time. They perform these vital functions by offering an increasingly wide array of business and accounting services to their clients.

These services include public, management, and government accounting, as well as internal auditing. Accountants and auditors are broadening the services they offer to include budget analysis, financial and investment planning, information technology consulting, and limited legal services.

Specific job duties vary widely among the four major fields of accounting: public, management, government and internal.

Public accountants perform a broad range of accounting, auditing, tax and consulting activities for their clients, who may be corporations, governments, nonprofit organizations, or individuals.

Management accountants – also called cost, managerial, industrial, corporate, or private accountants – record and analyze the financial information of the companies for which they work.

Government accountants and auditors work in the public sector, maintaining and examining the records of government agencies and auditing private businesses and individuals whose activities are subject to government regulations or taxation.

Internal auditors verify the accuracy of their organization’s internal records and check for mismanagement, waste, or fraud.

Increasingly, accountants also are assuming the role of a personal financial adviser. They not only provide clients with accounting and tax help, but also help them develop personal budgets, manage assets and investments, plan for retirement, and recognize and reduce exposure to risks. This role is a response to client demands for a single trustworthy individual or firm to meet all of their financial needs.

Most accountants and auditors work in a typical office setting. Self-employed accountants may be able to do part of their work at home. Accountants and auditors employed by public accounting firms and government agencies may travel frequently to perform audits at branches of their firm, clients` places of business, or government facilities.

According to a recent salary survey, a staffing services firm specializing in accounting and finance, accountants and auditors with up to 1 year of experience earned between $29.500 and $40.500.

Accountants and auditors design internal control systems and analyze financial data. Others for whom training in accounting is valuable include budget analysts; cost estimators; loan officers; financial analysts and personal financial advisors; tax examiners, collectors, and revenue agents; bill and account collectors; and bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks.