Is Accounting a Good Career?

I am a senior in high school and i am staring to look up for future careers. I need information about it. How is the job of an accountant? the hours that they have to work? and things like that. Thanks

Suggestion:

I'm a job hunting expert and author. And I've taught in both the public schools and on the college level. Plus, I've taught and been schoold in accounting. So let me answer your question.

Accounting has been a very popular and "hot" field for many years now. Ever since the collapse of Worldcomm and Enron, accounting standards have been increased to prevent these sorts of situations from happening again. And so, the need for accounting professionals has risen.

If you are thinking about a career in accounting, then I suggest you take a financial accounting course. I've taught this before and it will give you a nice overview of what accounting is all about. And introduce you to the basic concepts in bookkeeping, which is one small part of accounting. FYI, bookeeping is where you record transactions like a cash sale for example.

Now there are plenty of accounting jobs out there besides accountant. For example, many office managers will enter accounting info in the system as a part of their job. Bookkeepers are responsible for entering financial transactions into the system and running a whole series of reports. So accounting can be your main function or a side one.

What hours do they work? Well part of this depends upon the company you work for and your actual job. Remember, there are some companies that are open weekends and late night. For example, when I worked in a hotel, they were open 24×7. So there were plenty of night people working graveyard shifts. And yes, some did some accounting functions during that time. But there are plenty of others who work more 9-5 type hours M-F.

So your best bet would be to take a basic accounting course, which will be financial accounting. This will give you an excellent introduction to what the accounting profession is all about. And you'll gain some very valuable bookkeeping knowledge and experience.

FYI, some places even mix in some accounting software training as part of their fianncial accounting class. I've taught at places where this is the case. So you may even pick-up a program like Quickbooks or Peachtree. In my classes, I would instruct students on the accounting concepts in the classroom. And then during computer labs, they would put the classroom material into practice by actually using accounting software to record various transactions. And prepare a variety of reports and financial statements.