The Life of a Public Accountant  

By:  Paul Bayer
Feature Author

Public accounting is a career filled with diversity and intellectual challenge.  With the evolution of new and complex business models, accountants are challenged to find accounting methods that will truly represent an organization's financial position.  Consistency, comparability, relevance and reliability are some of the accounting practice criteria used for making informed decisions concerning a particular organization's operations.

As business organizations continue to evolve, especially with new technology advances, public accountants are challenged to educate and inform their clients of changes and assist them through transition.

Successful public accountants must have certain qualities, including:

• A good memory
• Keen and creative problem-solving techniques
• Analytical skills
• Conceptual understanding of the accounting framework
• Good interpersonal and management skills
• Competent teaching abilities
• Memory

Generally, accountants must have very good memories.  Accounting is not an exact science; most of the profession is learned through experience.  As such, public accountants must be well-read and knowledgeable with respect to accounting pronouncements and industry standards.  Quick and precise recall of such knowledge is essential to a public accountant's productivity, efficiency and success. 

Creative Problem-Solving

Certain engagements will challenge the patience of the most tenured public accountant.  There are times when a particularly obscure transaction calls for a new way of thinking.  Creativity is the key to managing such engagements.

Analytical Skills

The deft accountant must be able to analyze and assess data from business cycle to business cycle because changes in a client's business model will produce new transactions.  Accounting for these transactions will be tricky, and the client will depend on the public accountant to examine, scrutinize and analyze exactly what took place.  Fair and accurate interpretations of these transactions are essential to presenting a fairly-stated balance sheet.

Conceptual Understanding of Accounting Framework

A public accountant is required to know and understand the client's industry and be able to apply Financial Accounting Standards to that industry.  To do so, the accountant will apply Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).  In rare instances, the accountant comes across a new transaction or event that calls for a deviation from GAAP, but they must show that the deviation was justified and industry practice demanded it.  Basically, the public accountant must know the client's accounting cycle at least as well as the most knowledgeable person in the company.  It is the only way to recognize the client's weaknesses and suggest improvements.  The client's financial condition is the responsibility of the company's management, but the public accountant will help educate and implement a sound accounting system.

Good Interpersonal and Management Skills

Public accounting is largely a profession of relationship building.  Accountants who fir the typical stereotype of the introverted number cruncher will not be successful in developing new clients.  Today's public accountant must have skills that will provide trust and confidence, as well as warmth and understanding, with a healthy dose of sales skills mixed in.

Competent Teaching Abilities

Every senior public accountant will be charged with supervising a team of professionals.  First-year accountants are constantly learning, and quite often, they will go to their senior professional for help.  The senior professional must make it a top priority to develop staff so as to retain them because the intellectual capital of a public accounting professional is extremely valuable to the public accounting firm.  Most staffers will remain with those firms that make it a priority to teach and develop them so they feel challenged and not frustrated. 

Duties

A public accountant works on an endless series of projects.  However, most public accountants will always do the following:

• Perform standard accounting functions in audit and tax
• Consult with clients on general business issues
• Suggest and implement new technologies and software
• Develop client relationships
• Provide marketing services to potential clients
• Foster community relationships through civic activities

Certified public accountants are some of the most respected and powerful professionals in the business community.  Without them, organizations, investors and financial institutions would fail.  No other professional brings a process to every aspect of business and the future is bright for individuals who have honed the above-mentioned skills.

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