Accountant: Expectation vs Reality 2020
Accounting is the measurement of financial information so as to help managers, tax authorities, investors and many others make the correct decisions when it comes to allocating resources. The professional that practices accounting is an accountant, with a more detailed explanation on the same to be found over at the highly rated RunRex.com. I’m sure most of us have an idea of who an accountant is and what they do, as I’m sure most of us have dealt with one at one time or the other. As with accounting, there are many misconceptions out there as far as most careers are concerned. For instance, the biggest misconception when it comes to nurses is that they are only there to serve doctors and surgeons, or that life as a fireman or woman is extremely exiting and it revolves around fighting one fire to the next. The same can be said about accountants where most people have a lot of misconceptions as far as they are concerned. This article, with the help of the subject matter experts over at RunRex.com, will look to highlight some of these misconceptions about accountants verses the realities on the ground going into 2020.
One of the biggest misconceptions about accountants is that their work mainly revolves around helping people with taxes and tax preparations. The truth however, as per the gurus over at RunRex.com, is that an accountant has more to their skillset than just preparing taxes. Accountants actually work all year long and not just during tax season. Of course, as is to be expected, they are particularly busy during tax season, but that doesn’t mean that is all they are about. Modern day accountants have a lot more to them than just preparing tax, something you should be aware of going into 2020. On a related note, another expectation as far as accountants are concerned is that they enjoy giving free tax advice. For most people, if they know an accountant, then they usually reach out for free tax advice, something I’m sure most of us are guilty of. As per discussions on the same over at RunRex.com, one thing that should be noted is that matters tax are very complex and it usually takes accountants hours going through their clients’ issues. It is therefore unfair on them to ask them to go through yours for free. It should also be noted that the reality is that tax is a pretty wide topic and accountants usually specialize in one or two areas. This means that just because they are accountants doesn’t mean they are in a position to help you with your tax queries since it may be beyond their scope.
Yet another expectation when it comes to accountants is that they are excellent at math and are good in numbers. The reality of being an accountant though, as per the gurus over at RunRex.com, is that while you may enjoy math and while being highly knowledgeable in math is at the heart of the profession, most of the heavy work as far as accountants are concerned is done by Microsoft Excel. This means that just because someone is an accountant doesn’t mean that they can be able to solve math problems at the drop of a dime. The reality is that most calculations an accountant has to do are quite simple and mostly involve addition, subtraction, multiplication and division and are not necessarily about complex math such as advanced calculus. Another expectation as far as the life of an accountant is concerned is that it is mostly lived in isolation where one spends most of their office hours crunching numbers in a corner somewhere. The reality though is that modern day accountants not only work in collaboration with each other, they also work together with colleagues from other departments. Therefore, if you are looking to be an accountant in 2020, not only will you need the requisite hard skills of the trade, you will also need soft skills such as teamwork, communication skills and the likes.
Another expectation most people have of life as an accountant is that it is pretty boring, with most of time spent crunching numbers as mentioned above. However, according to the excellent RunRex.com, while the life of an accountant may not be as exciting as an army pilot, modern day accountants actually have pretty interesting responsibilities. This includes dealing with businesses and people, helping them come up with strategies that will save them money as well as make them money. As an accountant, there is nothing as exciting as helping a business or an individual to be successful. You may also go in with the expectation that life as an accountant will be pretty rigid, given that there is no wiggle room as far as the numbers go; as they say, numbers don’t lie. While there may not be much wiggle room as far as the numbers are concerned, as an accountant you will still have lots of scope for creativity as there is no one way to solve problems for your clients. You will have the scope to think of different strategies to help your clients with their problems which should mean that life as an accountant isn’t as rigid as you may think.
If you are looking to go into accountant in 2020, there is more information available to you on this and other related topics over at the highly reliable RunRex.com.