What does an accountant do?

Accountants generally either work in public practice or in industry. Those accountants that work in public practice work at a firm of accountants and provide the following types of advice to fee paying clients:

Forensic accountancy
Audit
Tax advice and tax compliance
Business recovery / insolvency
Corporate finance
Management accounts
Annual accounts
Bookkeeping
Business start-up advice
Payroll

Those accountants in industry:

Prepare management accounts to see how the business is doing
Advise on capital expenditure
Prepare budgets and forecasts
Advise on treasury issues
Negotiate with suppliers and customers

Why you may want to become a Chartered Accountant?

Self-Employment

Many Chartered Accountants qualify and then set up their own firms of accountants. The benefits of this is that you work for yourself and can decide when and where to do the work, and how much work you want to do.

Wide range of careers

You don’t have to work at a firm of Chartered Accountants. According to the ICAEW website, 84% of FTSE 100 companies have an ICAEW Chartered Accountant on their board.

Great general business knowledge

Whilst training to become an accountant you will work with lots of different businesses and see how they operate. This experience will help in the future as you will be able to advise on what has worked for other businesses, and what hasn’t worked.

It’s a sociable job 

Being a Chartered Accountant enables you to work with other people to advise on ways to minimise their taxes and maximise their profits.

You can work all over the world 

Many countries use International Accounting Standards, which means that employees have the ability to move country, and still understand the accounting regulations in the country they move to.

You could also work all over the world in the field of tax, since for many multinational firms, their advisors need to understand the tax systems in numerous countries. A tax adviser who understands the tax systems in different countries can therefore fairly easily move from one country to another.

For more information on how to become an accountant check out:

Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales

Association of Chartered Certified Accountants

If you’re looking for a firm of accountants to help with your business, please get in touch with us.

Summary of why you should become a Chartered Accountant

• You can work in practice or industry
• You can be self-employed
• There’s a wide range of careers
• It gives you a fantastic knowledge of business
• It’s a sociable job
• It’s a career that can be international if you want
• It can be very well paid
• It’s a rewarding job