Accounting Degrees – What You Need to Become an Accountant

Accounting is the measurement, interpretation, and communication of monetary and non-monetary information about organizations including corporations and businesses. The accounting profession includes approximately 1200 different professional disciplines including auditing, bookkeeping, management, government, and statistics. Some accountants specialize in particular areas, while others are generalists who perform a range of responsibilities within the field of accounting. An accounting professional can specialize in one or more of these areas and be certified by the American Institute of certified public accountant – gvcpass.com (AICPA) as an eligible professional accountant – CPA.

Accounting Degree Categories

One type of accounting practice that many accountants engage in is single-entry or double-entry accounting. Single-entry or double-entry accounting involves the use of internal control measures to measure an entity’s financial performance based on the activities of the people who control the business. For example, if a corporation’s CFO uses control measures such as accounts receivable and accounts payable, it will report the results of those activities on its income statement. It will then have an inventory count to determine the quantity of inventory that it has in stock and to determine the cost of inventory to maintain its total assets at a specific amount.

There are many more accounting practices including financial reporting and corporate governance, tax accounting, environmental accounting, internal control, international accounting, information systems, financial analysis, program modeling, public accounting, and research analysis. A certified accountant – CPA – specializes in one or more of these areas. A CPA needs to earn a degree from an accredited university and pass the CPA exam – a complex exam given multiple times annually in two main categories: Test of Practical Knowledge (TPR) and Theory Based Practice (TBP). If you would like to become an accountant, the best route to take is to find an accredited university that can provide you with the education you need to gain the credentials you need to pursue a career in accounting.