Types of Accountants

All accountants are primarily concerned with keeping track of money. However, there is enough diversity among accountancy positions that people refer to four subsets: government accountants, internal auditors, management accountants, and public accountants. Each type of accountant (that has earned an accounting degree) is described below.

1)  Government accountants – serve the public sector by maintaining and examining the records of government agencies. They also audit individuals and private sector businesses that are subject to government regulations and taxation. Accountants who work for the federal government’s Internal Revenue Service take positions as administrators, agents, budget analyzers, and financial institution examiners.

2)  Internal auditors – work for private businesses and organizations. They verify an organization’s internal records in order to protect against fraud, mismanagement, and waste. Internal auditors also evaluate organizations’ compliance with internal policies and government regulations. Increasingly, internal auditors are specializing in information security as it relates to organizations’ computer systems.

3)  Management accountants – are also known as corporate accountants, cost accountants, managerial accountants, and private accountants. By any name, they document their employers’ financial information and then analyze it for cost management, budgeting purposes, performance evaluations. They typically work on executive teams and help executives to make financially sound decisions.  Management accountants also prepare reports for creditors, regulatory agencies, and stockholders.

4)  Public accountants – typically open their own practice or work for public accounting firms. They perform a wide variety of tasks for corporations, government agencies, non-profit organizations, and individuals. For instance, some focus on employee health care benefits, and others audit their clients’ financial statements for investor reports. It’s also possible to specialize in forensic public accounting, which involves investigating white-collar crime. Most states are now requiring new public accountants to gain certification – that is, to become CPAs – in order to perform certain essential public accounting tasks.