Career options
An accounting degree is one career path with hundreds of career opportunities. Adding the CPA Program to your qualifications will open up a range of global opportunities.
Being a CPA means your business skills and accounting knowledge will allow you to move between sectors as your career develops — it gives you the best career mobility of any profession.
The main sectors you can choose from as an accountant are:
- Corporates
Private enterprise, ranging from large multinationals, the finance sector (such as NAB or ANZ) and the mining / resources and manufacturing sector. - SMEs (small to medium enterprises)
Private enterprise with less than 200 employees. SMEs include the recording industry, wineries, sporting clubs and fashion. - Public sector
Organisations including commonwealth, state and local government departments. - Public practice
Firms offering services to clients for a fee. These range from large multinationals (such as the big 4) through to medium and small firms, as well as public practitioners who advise small business and individuals.
Specific jobs an accounting degree can lead you to include:
- Audit
Check accounting ledgers and financial statements. - Budget analysis
Responsible for developing and managing an organisations’ financial plans. - Financial
Prepare financial statements based on general ledgers and participate in important financial decisions involving mergers and acquisitions. - Management accounting
Analysis of the structure of organisations. - Tax
Prepare corporate and personal income tax statements and formulate tax strategies. - Business risk
Identify strategic and operational business risks, provide assessments of the effectiveness of business controls and develop business risk solutions. - Environmental accountant
Address issues of how companies can be both environmentally responsible and profitable. - Forensic accountant
Identifying and tracking fraud, particularly in the realm of e-commerce — may be called to give testimony in legal cases. - International accounting specialist
Handles cross-border transactions, overseas trade agreements and other activities related to international business.
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