Accountant

Overview: Accounting is the study of how businesses track their assets and income over a period of time.  Accountants use a wide variety of activities besides preparing financial statements and recording business information. Accountants also calculate costs and gains from new technologies and also participate in making strategies for mergers and acquisitions. They also help companies by tracking financial performance, using tax strategies and creating better and cheaper health care benefits. In the accounting field, the most important thing you will learn is how a business works – from beginning to end. 
Schooling: Bachelor's Degree in Accounting or a related field.
Salary: $33,000(entry level) - $ 260,000(Partner).
Job Opportunities:The career of accounting offers exciting and challenging work that is always changing.  Accountants spend a lot of time looking "under the hood" of a business learning how each department works.  Most of the Chief Financial Officers of a large corporation have backgrounds in accounting.  An accountant is a perfect candidate for a CFO(Chief Financial Officer) because he or she probably has the best understanding of what profits the company. A person beginning their career as an accountant will most likely start out in a public accounting firm such as Ernst & Young or PriceWaterhouseCoopers. Most accountants do not make partner in an accounting firm but the experience and training can be excellent.  Many accountants move on to careers with a financial or accounting interest in business or government.

If you are interested in this career you may want to do one or all of the following:

join a Math club at your school
get familiarized with the stock market
visit this Math Link at http://www.learner.org/exhibits/dailymath

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