Hello! I'm here because I'm not an accountant. I'm not here to find accounting help or because I want to be an accountant.
I'm writing a story about an accountant. While it certainly might be possible to imply that she is an accountant and never go into it, I don't think that would do. I want to do the character, and her career the justice due them both.
While a lot of the inner workings of accounting practices leave me baffled (I'd need to actually see single and double entry bookkeeping in practice to understand them much less tell them apart) I do understand that accounting is stable, fairly high paid work, and becoming an accountant is no mean feat. That and there's a dozen and a half different certifications one can get, varying on practice. With that in mind, I can narrow it down a bit.
My accountant's name is Theresa. From the occupational reputation, Theresa doesn't seem to be a normal accountant, and this makes sense. See, long before the story begins, Theresa graduated from a State Ivy cum laude with a degree in Finance, and went to grad school with the ambition of becoming an investment banker. Personal issues came up and she flunked out of grad school, and not knowing what else to do with her academic career ended, she studied really hard for an accounting certification (probably a CPA) and passed because she's brilliant. That's the backstory.
Theresa is a corporate accountant. She's never expressed any real desire to do anything but business accounting. She does taxes and recently became certified in the field of Fraud Investigation. What seems to set her apart is that Theresa's take on accounting is rather artistic. Theresa is at heart a rules lawyer who loves twisting rules to her advantage and getting what she or the client wants. Theresa, highly articulate, intelligent, creative, and always looking to spar, is used by her company to engage in the most creative accounting this side of legal and ethical. She fights for every deduction; she's always got an idea percolating about how to reallocate and reclassify data to get maximum savings. She was going to be an investment banker, remember. That and she LOVES tussling with IRS agents, and is her firm's go to whenever the government has financial questions. IRS agents do NOT like her, and she carries it as a badge of honor.
That's my idea anyway. In the story I plan to present Theresa as occasionally caught up in organized crime and corporate sabotage, as an accountant hacker who can, if she feels the cause is just, use her skill with computers and accounting to expose corporate and criminal villainy. Yes, I intend to make a heroic accountant. I'm sure there are things that don't compute in the real world with what I want to do, and that is why I am here. Like I said, I want to do her, and the accounting profession the justice it deserves.
Any help or thoughts are greatly appreciated. Thank you.
I'm writing a story about an accountant. While it certainly might be possible to imply that she is an accountant and never go into it, I don't think that would do. I want to do the character, and her career the justice due them both.
While a lot of the inner workings of accounting practices leave me baffled (I'd need to actually see single and double entry bookkeeping in practice to understand them much less tell them apart) I do understand that accounting is stable, fairly high paid work, and becoming an accountant is no mean feat. That and there's a dozen and a half different certifications one can get, varying on practice. With that in mind, I can narrow it down a bit.
My accountant's name is Theresa. From the occupational reputation, Theresa doesn't seem to be a normal accountant, and this makes sense. See, long before the story begins, Theresa graduated from a State Ivy cum laude with a degree in Finance, and went to grad school with the ambition of becoming an investment banker. Personal issues came up and she flunked out of grad school, and not knowing what else to do with her academic career ended, she studied really hard for an accounting certification (probably a CPA) and passed because she's brilliant. That's the backstory.
Theresa is a corporate accountant. She's never expressed any real desire to do anything but business accounting. She does taxes and recently became certified in the field of Fraud Investigation. What seems to set her apart is that Theresa's take on accounting is rather artistic. Theresa is at heart a rules lawyer who loves twisting rules to her advantage and getting what she or the client wants. Theresa, highly articulate, intelligent, creative, and always looking to spar, is used by her company to engage in the most creative accounting this side of legal and ethical. She fights for every deduction; she's always got an idea percolating about how to reallocate and reclassify data to get maximum savings. She was going to be an investment banker, remember. That and she LOVES tussling with IRS agents, and is her firm's go to whenever the government has financial questions. IRS agents do NOT like her, and she carries it as a badge of honor.
That's my idea anyway. In the story I plan to present Theresa as occasionally caught up in organized crime and corporate sabotage, as an accountant hacker who can, if she feels the cause is just, use her skill with computers and accounting to expose corporate and criminal villainy. Yes, I intend to make a heroic accountant. I'm sure there are things that don't compute in the real world with what I want to do, and that is why I am here. Like I said, I want to do her, and the accounting profession the justice it deserves.
Any help or thoughts are greatly appreciated. Thank you.
. You might also want to know the general hierarchy of the public accounting profession. For the most part, this is pretty uniform across the board (from regional firms to the Big Four). A recent graduate or someone early in their accounting career would likely start as a staff accountant. In a couple years, she would likely become a "senior". A few years after that, assuming she has her CPA certification, she could be promoted to manager. From manager, she becomes a senior manager. Some firms recognize a "tax director" at the next level, others go straight to partner. The partners are at the top of the hierarchy. These individuals actually buy into the practice, at least a portion attributed to their individual office. Generally, the staff and seniors do most of the detail "grunt" work. Managers start working more with clients, and are expected to get more clients. Partners only review, and are rarely in the office... but still very busy!