Without people working accounting careers keeping the numbers straight, the truth is things would go downhill pretty quickly. This is just a fact of life. Accountants and auditors really, truly need to love numbers. If your financial career planning or job search is leading you to consider entering an accounting career or auditor career, then you really better ask yourself if you like playing with numbers enough to do this job. The fact of the matter is that financial careers as an accountant or auditor is one career that is almost entirely about the numbers.

Due to the importance of financial careers, accountants and auditors are found in every aspect of industry and government. Most of the time, employers require accountants and auditors to have a bachelor’s degree. It is becoming more and more common for employers to seek those with a master’s degree. It is also common for accounting careers and auditor careers to go through respective certification processes. In the coming years, it appears that the demand for accountants and auditors is likely to go up, creating a great many more financial careers.

There are a lot of individuals working financial careers in the United States as accountants and auditors. In fact, the numbers are large enough that it might be something of a shock. In 2006, there were a roughly 1.3 million accountant jobs and auditor jobs in the United States. This number is expected to rise dramatically by 2016, to a whopping 1.5 million accountants and auditors working financial careers. This increase of roughly 220,000 marks an eighteen percent growth rate, meaning that the prospects for accounting careers and auditor careers are looking pretty good.

Only about ten percent of all people working financial careers as accountants and auditors are self-employed. Most work in private industry and a great many work as government employees as well. Small percentages of accountants and auditors are employed within academia, teaching accounting. People working accounting jobs usually find themselves at the hearts of operations for most businesses and corporations. After all, various factors including exciting calculations such as… how much money there is on hand, how much money is coming in soon and how much will come in later, are all exceptionally important in determining which direction a company will take. Obviously, this is a financial career that can have more than its fair share of stress.

 

The majority of people working accounting jobs and as auditors find themselves working in what most people would think of as the “typical” office environment. In recent years, the computer has become a prime tool for the accountant and auditor and is widely, almost ubiquitously, used today in these financial careers.

Accounting jobs and auditor careers, average about $55,000 per year in earnings, with the top ten percent earning about $94,000. The average salary and starting salary does vary somewhat depending on the field and the employer. An interesting note is that the average salary for directors of accounting and internal auditing can range between $68,000 and an impressive $208,000.

A great deal of accounting training and education is required for accounting careers and auditor jobs. In addition to a bachelor’s degree in the field, additional certification and licensing is required for these financial careers.