Misconceptions about Accounting Careers
One of the most important things that I have learned since I graduated from college is that the classroom and the modern professional environment are very different places. When I was a student, I did not have the slightest clue of what skills were actually needed to function in the workplace, and I could only go off of what others had told me. Since I picked accounting for a career, I was told many times by other students that I must be good at math or something similar. If I could go back in time, I wish I knew more about the real working environment and the common misconceptions that are spread to young people about careers in accounting. So today, I’m going to share with you some misconceptions about careers in accounting and give you a glimpse of reality behind the 10-key.
Misconception #1 - Accountants Need to be Good at Math
Because numbers are involved in our work, many people think that accountants need to be good at math. The reality is that many accountants aren't good at math for two reasons:
Despite numbers being involved, most of the math in accounting does not go beyond middle school algebra, and
Because the numbers need to be right, accountants are used to putting the numbers into calculators and Excel, even for the simplest equations
There is an inside joke among accountants that CPA stands for "can't pass arithmetic," and based on the number of silly mistakes that I have made, it's true more often than I'd like.
Misconception #2 - Accounting is A Sole-Contributor Career
I've heard of some people who want to go into accounting because they like working in front of a computer by themselves all day as opposed to working with a team. While there are positions like this, most accounting rules will involve some sort of team effort, critical client interaction, or internal reporting. Examples of these situations include:
Working with a team of people to finish an audit at a public accounting firm
Interviewing client personnel for an audit or consulting engagement
Reporting to the board of directors about the financial status of the Company monthly
While some jobs will have more teamwork and communication requirements than others, almost all accounting jobs will have some of these responsibilities. In some cases, accounting jobs require more communication and teamwork than anything else. As a manager, I’ve spent 3+ hours a day on the phone with my different teams and clients to help get things done, which is something I could never have predicted I would do as a student.
Misconception #3 - Accountants Always Work with Taxes
Just because someone is an accountant or a CPA, doesn’t mean they do taxes. While CPAs need to understand taxes to pass the CPA exam, it doesn’t mean they automatically work in one of the jobs that does tax preparation or tax advisory. There are many accounting jobs out there that don’t deal with taxes as a primary objective, such as:
Financial Statement Auditor
Corporate Accountant
Government Accountant
Transaction Advisory Consultant
Forensic Accountant
There are plenty of CPAs out there who don’t even do their own tax return, which is probably something no student would expect to hear, but it’s true! Being an accountant or CPA opens many doors for career opportunities and you may be surprised how few of them deal directly with taxes.
There you have it! These misconceptions are some of the most common ones I have heard from my university students and friends when they ask me what I do. Every time I get the chance to clear up the confusion about these things, people get more interested in what I do as an accountant (until I tell them about staring at Excel for many hours a day), which leads to a more productive conversation. Thank you very much for reading and I hope I clear some things up for you or the friend you’re about to send this to!