The public accountant job description differs a little from the job of an accountant in a company. They are accountants for the public and they work in firms. They provide their services to anyone in exchange for pre-decided fees.
The public accountants are adept at all the existing account practices. They make use of these practices to do accounts for their clients. The clients hire them to do their accounts and give them access to all their accounting books. The accountants then go through these books to check if all the entries are in order. They match these entries with bank statements and receipts to corroborate their accuracy, and then begin the balancing of the accounts.
They balance all the books that are given to them and make calculations of profits and losses. The services of public accountants are also utilized by shareholders of a particular company. If they are unhappy with accounts that are provided by the board of directors, the shareholders can hire public accountants to audit the accounts. Some companies directly approach public accountants to come and do accounts for them, so the shareholders do not have issues with it.
Public accountants have to know all the latest accounting practices and they should apply them in their work. They should be able to work in teams and should have good organizational skills as they have a lot of paperwork to handle. The accountants may be doing accounts for many people at one time, so they have to careful not to mix up any paperwork.
Confidentiality is important in this profession, and the accountants should adhere to it. They have access to the most important documents; hence they should not reveal the financial secrets of their clients to anyone. Another important aspect of the public accountant job description is that they have to catch financial frauds. Many times they are hired by companies to catch frauds taking place in their accounts. They have to inform the correct authorities when they find the guilty parties.
The public accountants are quite versatile, they have the combined duties of a normal accountant and a forensic accountant put together. Therefore, go through the public accountant job description given if you too are interested in this important profession.
Duties and Responsibilities of a Public Accountant
Public accountants make good money. Even the junior accountants get a good salary as firms charge quite a hefty amount from the companies that hire them. Accounting is also one of the few professions that get less affected by the recession.
Qualification Needed for Becoming Public Accountant
Career Advancement
With good experience in this field, and qualifications to back that experience, public accountant can start their own firms. They can make good contacts in the beginning which will come handy later on.
The public accountant job description is very much the same as an accountant, but the difference is that they even audit the already completed accounts and try and find discrepancies in them. Public accountants are trusted because they give an unbiased account.