All About Accountants

General Bookkeeping

July 28, 2021

Everyone has heard of an accountant, but not everyone knows truly what this job entails. In this blog we will break down what an accountant is, to help you better understand how their role fits in with your business needs.

What Is An Accountant?

First things first, it is important to note that an accountant is not merely someone who just looks at numbers all day, their jobs are much more intricate and complex than merely that. Simply defined an accountant is a professional who interprets and keeps financial records. This includes a very vast array of tasks, and they can be hired by individuals from small businesses to large corporations. It is also noteworthy to state here that the term accountant is often used synonymously with bookkeeper, but the two are not always identical. Keep in mind that all accountants can be bookkeepers, but not all bookkeepers are accountants. A similar important distinction is the fact that there are CPAs in the realm of accountants, and similar like bookkeepers, an easy way to remember the difference is the fact that all CPAs are accountants, but not all accountants are CPAs. In order to be a CPA, which stands for Certified Public Accountant, you need to pass an exam and have fulfilled state licensing requirements in addition to your degree.

What Does An Accountant Do?

This frankly depends on what type of accounting the accountant does and what entity the accountant works for, as the job of an accountant can be quite diverse and vary greatly from situation to situation. That being said, below are some tasks that are common for accountants to perform:

Making sure that financial documents are accurate and compliant with relevant laws and regulations.
Reconciling bank statements.
Preparing and maintaining important financial reports.
Receiving and issuing invoices.
Preparing tax returns.
Making recommendations, identifying issues and proposing solutions, and helping organizations to run as efficiently as possible by evaluating the financial operations of entities.
Performing risk analysis assessments and creating forecasts.

What Are Important Skills For Accountants To Possess?

Analytical Skill: This one is pretty much a given all things above considered. It is absolutely crucial to employ this skill as collecting and analyzing financial data is a major aspect of accounting and is a vital part of identifying patterns and potential issues that may arise.
Attention to Detail: Similarly to the skill above, accountants truly must be able to pay attention to detail in order to keep information accurate and organized. They must analyze large amounts of financial data and make sure that there are no mistakes as even simple errors can turn into much larger problems if they are not caught, as such, they must be very diligent in their jobs.
Math Skills: You do not need to have extremely complex mathematical skills in order to be an accountant, but you do need to be fairly good at math in order to be able to analyze, interpret, and compare the data at hand that relates to the numbers and figures.
Computer Skills: In order to do their job efficiently accountants must be able to use accounting softwares in addition to other computer applications such as Word and Excel.