USA Careers in Accounting

[Mrs.G]

I am a 33 year old woman who is doing an MBA with a concentration in accounting (through the concentration and electives) so I can get the required number of college credit hours in accounting to qualify to take the Uniform CPA exam in Kentucky. Kentucky requires 27 credit hours in accounting and I already have 6 credit hours from my associates degree in accounting. I decided to study transportation and logistics management with a concentration in reverse logistics management for my BA but I have decided to study accounting at the graduate level as a career change.

I recently moved to the Lexington, Kentucky after my husband retired from the Air Force last year and I was wondering what the best career move would be for a new CPA with a background in logistics/supply chain management. I got on the accounting path after I realized that getting a good job in logistics as a female would be really hard in this area. I also had time left to burn on my husband's GI Bill so I figured that I would go for the MBA. My husband has a friend who is a CPA who told me that I could work under him to get the required 2000 hours of experience for my CPA.

I am currently looking into careers with the IRS and I am also looking at trying to become a Certified Fraud Examiner. I worked in fraud services for a major bank years ago and I always wanted to move up back then but it was hard because I was really young and did not have a college degree.

I noticed that there are a number of certifications available to accountants. Which certification (s) are best for an accountant with a background in forward/reverse logistics, supply chain management, purchasing, etc?

 

[kirby]

Need info:
Is your background in logistics entirely from school or did you work in logistics, if so how long?
Please list a few of the certifications you are considering.

 

[Lorenzo]

Hi everyone:


I graduated from college last May with a major in accounting. I have more than 4 years of experience in accounting (AR, AP, GL, etc) but I do not know for what position I should apply. If someone can give me an idea of the difference between Staff Accountant, Staff Accountant II and Senior Accountant. What position should I apply?

 

[Varunjain]

Here's a list of job roles you can take up in accounting:

• Auditor - An Auditor plays a crucial role in providing an opinion on the financials and the control system of a Company. Auditors are looked out for by the accounting firms (including the Big 4's) who provide audit services to the companies (both public and private). Going through the books of accounts, looking out for errors and frauds, collecting corroborative audit evidence, and putting all of these together to provide an integral opinion is a brief on how the auditors work. They are respected by companies and industries.
• Finance, analysts, and treasurer roles - These roles put people in decision-making shoes, and their responsibility with recording books, making informed decisions, payment approvals, etc. becomes an important part of their job role. These roles are crucial for many mid-size and large scale businesses.
• Accounts Payable (AP), Accounts Receivable (AR), others - These roles help an individual not only understand the accounting cycles at large but also be a part of them in keeping records, analyzing, preparing ledgers and books of accounts and communication of the same.
• Business Process Analysts - These BPA roles in the accounting field would require professionals to analyze the processes and accounting cycles already in place to see if they could be optimized for better efficiency and business outcome. Tackling and bringing down various business bottlenecks would be an important role in this case.
• Cost and management roles - These roles would again put the individuals in decision-making shoes where they work on budgets and standards and other internal business decisions leading to informed decisions and practices in an Industry.
• Fintech roles - Given that there are a ton of improvements and advancements happening with respect to Artificial Intelligence and Accounting information systems, there is a wide scope of individuals who can work closely with engineers to chart out the processes and systems so they build software and ERPs based on the ideas provided by the accountants. The main role is to understand a business and its accounting processes using which the accountants can derive knowledge and insight helping build the software.
• Other roles and emerging opportunities - There are more opportunities bubbling up given the speed at which the industries and technologies are moving. Stay tuned for industry-relevant updates in days to come.