Career Paths for Accountants

At the top of the corporate food chain, many senior corporation executives have a background in accounting, internal auditing, or finance. Ah, you ask, how did they get there? In all likelihood, they started out at the bottom of the corporate food chain and worked their way up…unless they took a short cut and married the boss’s daughter.

Job Titles in Accounting

Health Care: physicians, hospitals, chiropractors, dentists, orthodontists, home care agencies/private duty nursing registries, hospice, psychologists/psychiatrists, physical therapists, veterinarians, vitamin and food supplement producers

Careers in Forensic Accounting

Forensic Accounting is the merger of accounting and legal investigative work. Think of a forensic accountant as a Sherlock Holmes who delves into the balance sheet to ferret out nefarious deeds or Elliott Ness of the FBI armed with a calculator.

Licenses and Designations for Accountants

The Institute of Management Accountants confers the Certified Management Accountant (CMA) designation. As of fall 2009, applicants must have at least a bachelor’s degree to qualify to sit for the exam.

Requirements for Becoming an Accountant

As in other fields, previous experience in accounting or auditing can help an applicant get a job. Through summer or part-time internships, many colleges offer students the opportunity to gain experience with public accounting or business firms.

Strategically Allot Study Time

If you are planning on taking a guided review course, choose the course length that best fits your knowledge and time constraints. CPAexcel offers 15, 30 and 40 day-courses to fit each student’s study requirements. One of the advantages of taking a structured review course is that it ensures you stay on schedule, covering a realistic amount of material in a realistic amount of time.

CPA Exam Prep Skills

This study tip is part of CPAexcel’s CPA Exam Study Tip Series. We recommend creating a separate folder for these tips where you can collect and refer to them when you are preparing for the exam. To read passed tips in the Study Tip Series archive, click here. Also, feel free to pass these tips along to other CPA Exam candidates.