When most people hear “accountant” they imagine a sunlight-deprived, backroom, number-cruncher whose condemned to a life of long math, and staring at excel sheets. Fortunately, this is not true. Accounting is a diverse field with a plethora of different responsibilities that range from investigating tax fraud in large corporations to providing critical analysis of data to financial decision makers. Despite the wide range of jobs in the accounting profession, UNLV’s accounting major prepares its students for any direction they wish to take with a wonderful array of internships, clubs, and programs. According to the Oxford Dictionary, accounting is “the action or process of keeping financial accounts (2016).” In reality the definition is much more complicated. Each branch of accounting is unique, and must be explained separately to fully understand their roles. The four most common types of accounting according to UNLV professor, Daniel Siciliano, are public, corporate, internal auditing, and government. By far the most common branch of accounting is public accounting. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that almost twenty-five percent of accountants work in public accounting (Wiley, 2013). Public accountants work at commercial firms like Deloitte, Pricewaterhousecoopers, and Ernst & Young that provide expertise and services to businesses, individuals, nonprofits, and governments. The type of work they provide are auditing, preparing and commenting on financial statements, tax work, and giving insight on organization’s accounting systems (Averkamp, n.d.). The services public accountants provide to organizations are indispensable. Their advice helps businesses reduce cost and manage risk. While public accounting is the largest branch of accounting, corporate accounting is another significant field. Unlike public accountants who deal with a wide range of different clients, corporate accountants work for a single private entity.
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Corporate (also known as private) accountants focus on recording the costs of business operations, creating financial reports for managers and financial analysts, and providing crucial analysis to business leaders (Brooks, 2015). This allows businesses to have a better understanding of their costs and assess their performance. Hiring a corporate accountant instead of contracting it out to a public accountant allows companies to receive more in depth analysis and provide constant accounting support. Internal auditors have an extremely important role in ensuring an organization is running as efficiently as possible and preventing illegal activity. They investigate how well the business’s organization is functioning. They look for faults in financial reports, misallocation of funds and acts of fraud (Career Path-Internal, n.d.). They obtain this information so businesses can find where too much waste is occurring and improve performance. Improving business performance is not the only duty internal auditors have. It is their responsibility to ensure that the organization they are investigating is operating within the bounds of the law. Without internal auditing there would be no way to ensure that fraudulent activity was not occurring. Internal auditors are an invaluable resource to the functionality, and integrity of an organization. The final major branch of accounting is government accounting. Government accountants manage government agency records, and audit businesses and individuals. Their primary goal is to ensure that taxpayer money is being used as effectively as possible. It is their responsibility to ensure that funds are being spent where they were intended to be spent. Many government accountants work solely with taxes. This field of government accounting deals with ensuring tax returns are correct, providing support to citizens who need aid with taxes and auditing businesses and people to verify no fraudulent behavior is occurring (Wiley, 2013). Government accounting is vital for guaranteeing that businesses and people are paying their due and helping government agencies run as efficiently as possible. Students attending UNLV generally have three routes to take for accounting. There is the Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in Accounting, Masters of Science in Accounting, and Minor in Accounting. Students in the accounting major learn what ethical issues accountants face in the real world, how to apply analytical and decision making skills, the course work for the CPA exam, taxation, public accounting, corporate accounting, and government accounting (Department of Accounting, n.d.). Students can also take the Internal Audit Certificate Program to increase opportunities to network with professional auditors and partake in internships programs. According to Professor Daniel Siciliano, 25% of students in the business
Corporate (also known as private) accountants focus on recording the costs of business operations, creating financial reports for managers and financial analysts, and providing crucial analysis to business leaders (Brooks, 2015). This allows businesses to have a better understanding of their costs and assess their performance. Hiring a corporate accountant instead of contracting it out to a public accountant allows companies to receive more in depth analysis and provide constant accounting support. Internal auditors have an extremely important role in ensuring an organization is running as efficiently as possible and preventing illegal activity. They investigate how well the business’s organization is functioning. They look for faults in financial reports, misallocation of funds and acts of fraud (Career Path-Internal, n.d.). They obtain this information so businesses can find where too much waste is occurring and improve performance. Improving business performance is not the only duty internal auditors have. It is their responsibility to ensure that the organization they are investigating is operating within the bounds of the law. Without internal auditing there would be no way to ensure that fraudulent activity was not occurring. Internal auditors are an invaluable resource to the functionality, and integrity of an organization. The final major branch of accounting is government accounting. Government accountants manage government agency records, and audit businesses and individuals. Their primary goal is to ensure that taxpayer money is being used as effectively as possible. It is their responsibility to ensure that funds are being spent where they were intended to be spent. Many government accountants work solely with taxes. This field of government accounting deals with ensuring tax returns are correct, providing support to citizens who need aid with taxes and auditing businesses and people to verify no fraudulent behavior is occurring (Wiley, 2013). Government accounting is vital for guaranteeing that businesses and people are paying their due and helping government agencies run as efficiently as possible. Students attending UNLV generally have three routes to take for accounting. There is the Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in Accounting, Masters of Science in Accounting, and Minor in Accounting. Students in the accounting major learn what ethical issues accountants face in the real world, how to apply analytical and decision making skills, the course work for the CPA exam, taxation, public accounting, corporate accounting, and government accounting (Department of Accounting, n.d.). Students can also take the Internal Audit Certificate Program to increase opportunities to network with professional auditors and partake in internships programs. According to Professor Daniel Siciliano, 25% of students in the business