Before going to a recruitment agency or
several recruitment agencies to ask to be placed in any open accounting
positions, the applicant should be familiar with the credentials needed to
become an accountant.
There are several necessary steps one needs
to complete before successfully applying for accounting jobs.
The most important credential one needs in
order to get a job as an accountant is to become a Certified Public Accountant,
or CPA. The requirements to obtain CPA certification differ from state to
state, so it is important for the applicant to research the necessary
prerequisites for the state in which he wants to work. One requirement which is
necessary in every state, however, and that the applicant have a bachelor's
degree in accounting or in another, related field-such as business-with several
hours of accounting classes on his transcript. The only exception is in
Deleware, where an associate degree is acceptable.
While in college taking accounting courses,
the Finance and
Accounting Jobs applicant will select
a specialty. Just as students in medical school decide whether they want to
specialize in internal medicine, surgery, or other field, accountants must
select a primary interest. The specialties within accounting include public
accounting, government accounting, management accounting and internal auditing.
Most accounting students choose to do an internship at an accounting firm which
specializes in their primary accounting field during college in order to garner
as much experience as possible.
After graduating from an accredited four-year
university with an accounting degree or other applicable degree (as well as the
appropriate number of accounting hours, which varies by state), post-graduate accountants’
study for the CPA examination. In order to be eligible to take the exam, the
post-graduate must receive eligibility from his state's Boards of Accountancy.
Though the requirements for each state vary slightly, most insist on an
accounting degree or concentration as well as a year's experience working for
an accounting firm. Some students gain that experience during college through
work programs or internships, while others choose to use the year after
graduation to work for an accounting firm to gain the experience needed to take
the CPA exam.
The CPA examination is a standardized test
which is divided into 4 parts and is taken over a 2-day period. It is designed
by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, or AICPA, and
administered by the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy, or
NASBA. Not many people pass all 4 portions of the CPA examination on their
first try, so taking a CPA preparation course and studying before the examination
is helpful.
