Accounting Career potential Accountants are the financial gatekeepers of the business world. They prepare and analyze financial reports, including tax statements, which furnish current information for businesses, government agencies and other organizations. As an accountant, you may be employed by a business or government agency as an internal auditor, reviewing financial records and reports to help the business or agency function more economically and reduce financial waste. Or you may be a public accountant, preparing and analyzing financial reports, serving as a tax consultant and auditing records for a business. Public accountants also work for large, national accounting firms.
Some public accountants are self-employed.
You also may be a government or a management accountant. Government accountants examine the records of public agencies and audit private businesses to determine whether they are complying with tax laws and other government regulations. Management accountants are employed by private corporations and businesses and tend to be more specialized in their work than public accountants. With an accounting background, you also may work for the federal, state or local government in budget administration, or you may work for the Internal Revenue Service. A bachelor's and a master's degree will prepare you for most beginning jobs in accounting.