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Accountants and Auditors

It's a bright outlook for

This career will grow rapidly in the next few years.

Learn more about what they do.

Examine, analyze, and interpret accounting records to prepare financial statements, give advice, or audit and evaluate statements prepared by others. Install or advise on systems of recording costs or other financial and budgetary data.

Related: Bookkeeping, Accounting, & Auditing Clerks Financial Examiners Financial Managers Tax Preparers Treasurers & Controllers

Industries: Professional, Science, & Technical

Summary
Details

Collect and analyze data to detect deficient controls, duplicated effort, extravagance, fraud, or non-compliance with laws, regulations, and management policies.
Report to management regarding the finances of establishment.
Conduct pre-implementation audits to determine if systems and programs under development will work as planned.
Report to management about asset utilization and audit results, and recommend changes in operations and financial activities.
Prepare adjusting journal entries.
Establish tables of accounts and assign entries to proper accounts.
Direct activities of personnel engaged in filing, recording, compiling, and transmitting financial records.
Report to management about asset utilization and audit results, and recommend changes in operations and financial activities.
Prepare, examine, or analyze accounting records, financial statements, or other financial reports to assess accuracy, completeness, and conformance to reporting and procedural standards.
Analyze business operations, trends, costs, revenues, financial commitments, and obligations to project future revenues and expenses or to provide advice.
Report to management about asset utilization and audit results, and recommend changes in operations and financial activities.
Inspect account books and accounting systems for efficiency, effectiveness, and use of accepted accounting procedures to record transactions.
Collect and analyze data to detect deficient controls, duplicated effort, extravagance, fraud, or non-compliance with laws, regulations, and management policies.
Prepare detailed reports on audit findings.
Supervise auditing of establishments, and determine scope of investigation required.
Examine records and interview workers to ensure recording of transactions and compliance with laws and regulations.
Develop, implement, modify, and document recordkeeping and accounting systems, making use of current computer technology.
Review accounts for discrepancies and reconcile differences.
Review taxpayer accounts, and conduct audits on-site, by correspondence, or by summoning taxpayer to office.
Advise clients in areas such as compensation, employee health care benefits, the design of accounting or data processing systems, or long-range tax or estate plans.
Inspect cash on hand, notes receivable and payable, negotiable securities, and canceled checks to confirm records are accurate.
Prepare, examine, or analyze accounting records, financial statements, or other financial reports to assess accuracy, completeness, and conformance to reporting and procedural standards.
Evaluate taxpayer finances to determine tax liability, using knowledge of interest and discount rates, annuities, valuation of stocks and bonds, and amortization valuation of depletable assets.
Confer with company officials about financial and regulatory matters.
Examine and evaluate financial and information systems, recommending controls to ensure system reliability and data integrity.
Review accounts for discrepancies and reconcile differences.
Examine whether the organization's objectives are reflected in its management activities, and whether employees understand the objectives.
Compute taxes owed and prepare tax returns, ensuring compliance with payment, reporting, or other tax requirements.
Examine and evaluate financial and information systems, recommending controls to ensure system reliability and data integrity.
Prepare, examine, or analyze accounting records, financial statements, or other financial reports to assess accuracy, completeness, and conformance to reporting and procedural standards.
Audit payroll and personnel records to determine unemployment insurance premiums, workers' compensation coverage, liabilities, and compliance with tax laws.
Compute taxes owed and prepare tax returns, ensuring compliance with payment, reporting, or other tax requirements.
Prepare adjusting journal entries.
Examine inventory to verify journal and ledger entries.

Operations Analysis
- Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
Troubleshooting
- Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
Programming
- Writing computer programs.
Time Management
- Managing your time and the time of other people.
Management of Financial Resources
- Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
Science
- Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
Social Perceptiveness
- Understanding people's reactions.
Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
Reading Comprehension
- Reading work-related information.
Negotiation
- Bringing people together to solve differences.
Service Orientation
- Looking for ways to help people.
Equipment Selection
- Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
Operation and Control
- Using equipment or systems.
Monitoring
- Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
Active Learning
- Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
Management of Personnel Resources
- Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
Active Listening
- Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
Persuasion
- Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
Technology Design
- Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
Coordination
- Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
Equipment Maintenance
- Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
Speaking
- Talking to others.
Writing
- Writing things for co-workers or customers.
Critical Thinking
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
Systems Analysis
- Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
Mathematics
- Using math to solve problems.
Management of Material Resources
- Managing equipment and materials.
Learning Strategies
- Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
Instructing
- Teaching people how to do something.
Installation
- Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
Repairing
- Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
Complex Problem Solving
- Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
Quality Control Analysis
- Testing how well a product or service works.
Systems Evaluation
- Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
Judgment and Decision Making
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.

Hearing Sensitivity
- Telling the difference between sounds.
Memorization
- Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
Speed of Limb Movement
- Quickly moving your arms and legs.
Selective Attention
- Paying attention to something without being distracted.
Rate Control
- Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
Stamina
- Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
Fluency of Ideas
- Coming up with lots of ideas.
Category Flexibility
- Grouping things in different ways.
Number Facility
- Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
Near Vision
- Seeing details up close.
Depth Perception
- Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
Response Orientation
- Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
Trunk Strength
- Using your lower back and stomach.
Oral Comprehension
- Listening and understanding what people say.
Written Expression
- Communicating by writing.
Visualization
- Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
Reaction Time
- Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
Speech Clarity
- Speaking clearly.
Glare Sensitivity
- Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
Extent Flexibility
- Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Visual Color Discrimination
- Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
Sound Localization
- Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
Far Vision
- Seeing details that are far away.
Auditory Attention
- Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
Flexibility of Closure
- Seeing hidden patterns.
Finger Dexterity
- Putting together small parts with your fingers.
Speed of Closure
- Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
Time Sharing
- Doing two or more things at the same time.
Arm-Hand Steadiness
- Keeping your arm or hand steady.
Wrist-Finger Speed
- Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
Oral Expression
- Communicating by speaking.
Originality
- Creating new and original ideas.
Problem Sensitivity
- Noticing when problems happen.
Deductive Reasoning
- Using rules to solve problems.
Inductive Reasoning
- Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
Speech Recognition
- Recognizing spoken words.
Perceptual Speed
- Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
Information Ordering
- Ordering or arranging things.
Mathematical Reasoning
- Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
Control Precision
- Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
Explosive Strength
- Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
Written Comprehension
- Reading and understanding what is written.
Dynamic Flexibility
- Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Night Vision
- Seeing at night or under low light.
Peripheral Vision
- Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
Spatial Orientation
- Knowing where things are around you.
Multilimb Coordination
- Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
Dynamic Strength
- Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
Gross Body Coordination
- Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
Gross Body Equilibrium
- Keeping your balance or staying upright.
Static Strength
- Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
Manual Dexterity
- Holding or moving items with your hands.

English Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.
Mathematics
- Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
Sales and Marketing
- Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
Computers and Electronics
- Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
Medicine and Dentistry
- Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
Biology
- Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
Foreign Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
Communications and Media
- Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
Physics
- Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
Food Production
- Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
Psychology
- Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
Law and Government
- Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
Administrative
- Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
Administration and Management
- Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Mechanical
- Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
Personnel and Human Resources
- Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
Production and Processing
- Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
Building and Construction
- Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
Sociology and Anthropology
- Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
Transportation
- Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
Chemistry
- Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
Education and Training
- Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
Geography
- Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
History and Archeology
- Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
Therapy and Counseling
- Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
Public Safety and Security
- Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
Customer and Personal Service
- Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Economics and Accounting
- Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
Design
- Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
Engineering and Technology
- Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
Philosophy and Theology
- Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
Fine Arts
- Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
Telecommunications
- Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.

Education

Bachelor's degree

Work Experience

No work experience

Training

No on-the-job training

Education and Training Opportunities

Washington Annual Salary

96180/yr

Washington Hourly Wage

46.24/hr

Currently Employed

47,220

Yearly Projected Openings

4610

Conventional: People interested in this work like activities that include data, detail, and regular routines. They do well at jobs that need:

Intellectual Curiosity
Cautiousness
Integrity
Attention to Detail
Dependability
Achievement Orientation

Desktop calculator
Desktop computers
Laser fax machine
Notebook computers
Personal computers
Personal digital assistant PDAs or organizers
Photocopiers
Scanners
Tablet computers

Accounting software
Analytical or scientific software
Business intelligence and data analysis software
Compliance software
Customer relationship management CRM software
Data base management system software
Data base reporting software
Data base user interface and query software
Data mining software
Desktop communications software
Desktop publishing software
Development environment software
Document management software
Electronic mail software
Enterprise application integration software
Enterprise resource planning ERP software
Enterprise system management software
Financial analysis software
Human resources software
Information retrieval or search software
Inventory management software
Medical software
Object or component oriented development software
Office suite software
Operating system software
Presentation software
Process mapping and design software
Project management software
Risk management data and analysis software
Spreadsheet software
Tax preparation software
Time accounting software
Transaction security and virus protection software
Transaction server software
Video creation and editing software
Word processing software

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