Accounting Montana

Accounting is the method by which those who are trained practice their trade in managing financial records. All businesses are required to rely on certain accounting procedures in order to track and record all business transactions. Accountants are held in very high esteem and are charged with the record keeping of large and small entities both public and private. Accountants go to school for several years to learn the accounting trade and then they have several choices of how to apply their knowledge in a career that suits them the best.

Accountants do indeed have a lot of choices as to what industry they’d like to work in and what kind of accounting they’d like to do. For example, one accounting professional might be a tax accounting specialist and have several clients for which he does nothing but taxes. Another accounting professional might work in the entertainment industry with just a few select clients for whom he manages their entire financial portfolio.

Those of us outside the accounting profession tend to think of accountanting experts as geeks in suits who love numbers. What many of us don’t realize, however is that accounting can be an exciting career path. Every industry has to have accountants that specialize in specific areas of accounting. That includes the FBI, who has special agents who are also CPAs who practice forensic accounting. It also includes accountants and the accounting firms that certify the results of such voting contests as the Academy Awards!

Accounting professionals have suffered from the unethical reputations of a few bad apples over the last few years and are rigorously working to change and enhance their public image.

A person becomes a CPA or Certified Public Accountant after passing the licensing exam in their state after having met all of the qualifications to sit for the exam which differ by state however most states require at least a bachelor’s degree and some require a certain amount of accounting experience. For example, Texas requires the CPA candidate to have at least a bachelor’s degree and 2 years of public accounting experience. In addition, the candidate must have good moral character. A background check is done by the state Accountancy Board to make sure this is the case.

New York requirements are similar but no accounting experience is required before licensing. There is an age requirement of 21 and they also require the CPA candidate to have good moral character and will conduct a background check. All of these requirements must be met before the candidate can even sit for the exam. Once the accounting exam is completed, the individual earns their certificate and can legally practice accounting anywhere in New York.

All accounting professionals are not CPAs however all CPAs are accountants. Once someone has reached this distinction in their career, they will never be out of a job. That’s because the possibilities of employment exist in so many different industries and also because of the vast array of job titles and responsibilities.

There are other accounting credentials that a accounting professional can obtain as well. CFE (Certified Fraud Examiner) has become increasingly necessary and thousands of CPAs have added this certification.

More than 15,000 CPAs have obtained their Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) credential. Unfortunately fraud is a multi-billion dollar industry in the public sector today and personnel trained in the investigation and discovery of misappropriated funds are needed to uncover these actions and help to prosecute the persons responsible. Most fraud examiners also have training in some facet of law enforcement or criminal justice. Cerfified Fraud Accounting professionals are needed in various industries where fraud may arise, and some work in tax departments.

There is usually detective work involved in forensic accounting. A firm may call in a CPA who is also a CFE for cases such as suspecting one employee of taking kickbacks or embezzling money or a time discrepancy where there is no suspect but money has been missing every month for six months. Not only does the forensic accounting professional need to find the problem, which will entail investigation and the gathering of evidence, but he also needs to pinpoint the internal controls or lack thereof and suggest different control procedures that would prevent the same thing or a similar situation from happening again.

Forensic accounting professionals are needed in every industry where accounting is practiced. Accountants who hold these types of jobs are not buried in numbers all day monotonously punching numbers into a computer but rather like an investigator, they’re trying to solve a puzzle and find and fix problem areas in the organization.

Kimberly A. Somers, EA

(406) 522-8500
24 S. Willson Ave, Suite 7
Bozeman, MT