Shihadeh 1

Mohammad Shihadeh

Professor Saturen

ENG 1100-90 – College Writing

20 December 2018

The Life of An Accountant: The Career Path to Accounting

Careers. They say in some cases, defines who you are, who you will become, and what

you will do to achieve success. In our modern era, I find this to be correct. Your career is what

will pay for your future necessities, such as a home, car, food, clothing, family support, etc. On

your path to a career it builds character and how you will evolve as a person entering that field of

work. When during crunch time, how much effort and time are you willing to put in to achieve

success. To get the job done. The career I chose to help lead me to success is accounting. The

academic path to accounting isn’t so easy as many other people would believe. And even the

mental standpoint isn’t all that easy either. There are lots of things you must look over before

even saying, “I'm going to be an accountant”; such as completing required courses for specific

schools, choosing the best college/university out of many that would best educate the major, job

offers, master’s accounting degree studying. The career path to accounting contains a lot of

consideration, concentration, and dedication which of course is never easy.

What is accounting? According to the New York State Society of Certified Public

Accountants; accounting is the “recording and reporting of financial transactions, including the

origination of the transaction, its recognition, processing, and summarization in the financial

statement” (NYSSCPA). So, the role of an accountant would be professionally being skilled at

recording and reporting those financial transactions. There are different types of accounting,

according to Gordon Hanson, “a freelance writer for Collegis Education who writes student-
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focused articles”; nine types of accountants such as, “Certified Public Accountant (CPA),

Forensic Accountant, Auditor, Management Accountant, Cost Accountant, Government

Accountant, Project Accountant, Investment accountant, and Staff Accountant” (Hanson). Each

accountant’s specific occupation, requires a specific task/job that he/she needs to perform of

course. But of course, earning a bachelor’s degree is mainly the first step regardless of which

type of accounting field you would go into.

Academically speaking, to get started with an accounting career you need to start in high

school. I was told by my former teachers at Clifton High School, in New Jersey, that to study

accounting at any college/university, I needed to take 4 years of mathematics, where the required

high school minimum mathematics courses needed was three. Tanya Lee, a professional writer

with over thirty years of writing experience, stated that, two years of algebra, one year of

geometry and an additional year of an advanced math course, such as pre-calculus or calculus

(Lee). Lee has also stated that, “two years of science courses, four years of English courses, two

years of social science courses (ex. History, philosophy, public health, etc.); and electives in arts

or creative fields, are also required in attending an accounting program” (Lee).

Moving on to a much higher educational view point which is the post high school phase,

college. To graduate with a bachelor’s degree in accountancy there are many mandatory

requirements that need to be met to reach that level success. The courses accounting majors take

will sometimes vary considerably among certain colleges/universities. Those courses are: AIS

(Accounting Information Systems), Auditing, CIS (Computer Information Systems), Cost

Accounting, Economics, Finance, Government Accounting, Management, and Marketing

(MyMajors). As stated the courses may vary according to each specific institution, names of

courses may differ, some courses will not be mandatory but electives for the major. For
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accountant majors, especially for future CPA (Certified Public Accountants), candidates for the

exam, “should be required to have at least 150 semester credit hours to sit for the exam”

(Booker). But a regular bachelor’s degree consists of only 120 credit hours. Which is something

to consider wisely, one way allows you to become a higher positioned accountant but with more

semester credit hours. Another route would allow you to become a lesser more accountant but do

so in a more less amount of semester credit hours.

What young members of the accountancy studies are probably most excited about in

becoming future accountants is the pay. Of course, we can’t speak of career moves, jobs, and so

on unless we address money. According to U.S. News and World Report, Accounting salaries

are ranked number 7 in business jobs, “overall score 6.8/10” (U.S. News and World Report). It

was also recorded that, states and districts that pay accountants the highest mean salary are New

York ($93,280), the District of Columbia ($93,210), New Jersey ($88,940), Virginia ($83,380),

and California ($82,620). Four out of the top five states are on the east coast, including the

District of Columbia. Those statistics do not specify what exact field in accounting but, in

accounting in general. Some accountants are selected and paid due to their educated experience

and knowledge. Kelly Noe, wrote that in the Southwest region of the United States, even though

there is no hard-cold bond between teaching and financial rewards some corporations/agencies

decide ones acceptance of an accounting job in an unnatural manner:

Typically, schools with a predominantly teaching emphasis hold faculty to lesser research

requirements, if research is required at all. These faculty members performance is

typically based on student evaluations of their teaching. However, prior research (Katz

1973) indicates there is not a strong link between teaching and financial rewards (Noe).
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Accounting was such a major decision I had to think long and hard about. Will I ever be

truly ready to face the responsibilities, intense work, and put in the man hours? Surely, I can

switch my major in time when the going gets rough; but if I take that same energy throughout

life will I ever truly succeed in anything life throws my way. Due to the amount studying and

research I am very excited on what this career path will unfold for my future.
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Works Cited

Booker, Quinton, et al. “Education and Experience Requirements to Become a CPA.” CPA

Journal, vol. 83, no. 8, Aug. 2013, pp. 61–66. EBSCOhost,

ezproxy.wpunj.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=fth

&AN=90022946&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Hanson, Gordon. “9 Types of Accountants Who Do More Than Just Taxes.” Rasmussen College,

Rasmussen College, 14 Feb. 2017, www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/business/blog/types-of-

accountants-who-do-more-than-taxes/.

“How Much Can a Accountant Expect to Get Paid?” U.S. News & World Report, U.S. News &

World Report, 2016, money.usnews.com/careers/best-jobs/accountant/salary.

Lee, Tanya. “What Classes Do I Need to Major in Accounting?” SeattlePi, 29 Sept. 2016,

education.seattlepi.com/classes-need-major-accounting-1798.html.

MyMajors. “Accounting Major.” MyMajors, 2018, www.mymajors.com/college-

majors/accounting/.

Noe, Kelly, et al. "Academic Accounting Salaries in the Southwest: A Revisitation and

Exploration." Journal of Accounting and Finance 17.5 (2017): 79-97. ProQuest. Web. 19

Nov. 2018.

NYSSCPA. “Accounting Terminology Guide - Over 1,000 Accounting and Finance

Terms.” New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants, New York State Society

of Certified Public Accountants, 2018, www.nysscpa.org/professional-

resources/accounting-terminology-guide#sthash.7HPqLRqC.dpbs.