What Accountants Have to Offer

"Life is like accounting, everything must be balanced." You have your debits and your credits, both of which MUST balance in your financial statements, otherwise you are the one to blame. Then you have life, which must balance somehow. Not much of an explanation is needed there, as I am sure most of us can agree. We balance life day by day as it happens. There are days when we sleep into hibernation and then there are nights when we cannot afford to rest our minds because our grades will take a fatal beating the next day.  Being an accountant comes with understanding a large number of concepts and being able to literally apply them all. I've previously stated in my previous post that accounting is nothing shy of being able to apply and understand each and every concept that is introduced.

The most basic position one can earn is a bookkeeper. Tasks associated with this role include keeping track of daily transactions, usually on smaller scale. In most businesses or companies, there would be a certified accountant above them to check their work when needed. One taking on this role would usually:

• Provide invoices
• Record basic transactions (debits and credits)
• Maintain and balance subsidiary and general ledgers

The median salary for a bookkeeper position is roughly $40,000. 

Other than a bookkeeper, one can hold the position as an accountant with many different titles. Some include managerial accountants, forensic accountants, financial accountants, etc. "Accounting is a high-level process that makes sense of information previously compiled, and produces financial models using that information." One taking on this position would:

• Prepare company/business financial statements
• Complete tax returns
• Aid in financial decisions on behalf of management
• Analyze cost of operations of running the business

The median salary for an "Accountant" position is $58,000.

When giving it some thought, what business owner would willingly want to stress themselves out and likely freak out over keeping records of the company's financial statements? Probably not a single one would volunteer because it is difficult, and necessary education is a must. Having an accountant dedicated to keeping proper records and statements of purchases and revenues would make running a business one hell of whole lot easier.

Without the organization and education granted with accountants, businesses could not be run. Inventory would be lost or likely unaccounted for way too often and eventually companies would go out of business. Businesses and companies are complex systems designed to collect profit and have a huge role on a country's economy. Without an accountant, profits would not be distinguishable as the organization factor of the company's currency is void without an accountant. Accountants are everywhere.There are in our banks all around the world, where most of our nations money is stowed away. These accountants in our banks work to organize and redistribute every bit of the billions upon billions of dollars to keep our GDP and the world's economy up and moving. That is a role not very many are willing to take. Banks are the hub of currency. People rely on banks to safely hold and keep track of their money. Any money wrongfully misplaced, comes back on the accountant who made a mistake. I see accountants similar to surgeons in a way. There are two things you don't play with in this world; you do not play with someone's life and you do not play with someone's money. 

 

The Beast

Accounting IS DIFFICULT. I thought I would go ahead and get that off of my chest from the beginning and now that I did, let me show you:

Which account has a normal balance of a debit?

1.) Accounts payable

2.) Sales

3.) Cash

4.) Purchase Returns and Allowances

Going right into chapter one within minutes of my first class, I was being told this course was more of a language course than a math one so, I got worried. I am a math guy, not a language guy. Having had such a rough time getting through my Spanish courses in high-school, I am so grateful to have learned English. Anyhow, the answer to this problem would be Cash. Every account has what we call a normal balance, and this balance can be either a debit or credit. Usually, all transactions are documented using journal entries where accounts are debited or credited accordingly, depending on the transaction that is taking place. For an accountant keeping record of a cash account, this account would have a normal balance of a debit because that is the way it is. Great explanation, right? Yea I know, not really, but this is what I had to sink in, while learning the material my first day. 

Within the next week, I was making Adjusting entries, meant for year-end adjustments for instances where interest or depreciation of equipment would be taken into account. Adjusting entries come up for several more instances and all that you need to know about them are that they are too, highly confusing. While learning the material, I recall there being a number that you would have to calculate. This was your adjustment and therefore the number that went into your adjustment journal entry. Seems easy enough but not at all. In these problems, there was always an ending balance figure provided for the account that you were making an adjustment for. This is what the account SHOULD BE, but not the number we want to take. What the ending balance figure is in the account is not equal to the adjustment at year-end and we have to remember that we want the adjustment figure and not the ending figure. Makes some kind of sense, right? Yea, maybe not, but it will with practice.

Ignoring the heads up I was given, I really began to realize that this way truly an applications course. You had to know it, and everything about it, step-by-step to be confident in your final answer. I remember one of my Professor's best students from a couple years back giving my whole class his phone number for tutoring sessions. He volunteered to share his honest opinion of the class and he summed it up in the two words, "The Beast." This stuck with me, maybe not so much at the beginning, but shortly after when I realized the procrastination was only going to make it worse. 

What I want you all to get from my blog is a sense of realization. My professor volunteered to say it himself, "Do not take accounting courses, unless you have too." However, do not be scared away, as there are still those willing and wanting to take on the challenge. The benefits afterwards will far outweigh the frustration you went through to get to the finish line.