A public accountant works for a public accounting firm and provides services including preparing financials, auditing reports, tax calculations, and consulting. Public accounts often have developed expertise in areas that are useful to different companies. The skill sets needed to provide certain services to clients are highly specialized. Consequently, public accounting firms may be organized around a number of sub-specialties, each of which is staffed with employees whose training and experience are highly focused.

Over 40 of the state boards now require applicants for CPA status to complete a special examination on ethics, which is effectively a fifth exam in terms of requirements to become a CPA. The majority of these accept the AICPA self-study Professional Ethics for CPAs CPE course or another course in general professional ethics. Many states, however, require that the ethics course include a review of that state’s specific rules for professional practice. Public accounting represents just one of the numerous concentrations, including auditing and taxation, available for accounting majors. Researching each topic can help you target the field that most closely aligns with your educational and professional goals. A public accountant may also prepare all tax documents on behalf of a business.

Skills

The larger scale of many public clients necessitates onsite visits for specific tasks. On the other hand, private accountants often only need to travel as much of their work can be completed remotely from their offices or homes. Furthermore, private accountants enjoy a more casual working environment than their public sector counterparts.

• The CPA designation helps enforce professional standards in the accounting industry.
• Furthermore, since private accountants are typically self-employed or working on contract, they may be able to negotiate higher pay rates than their counterparts in the public sector.
• However, a public accounting curriculum delves into the theory and practice of the subfield to provide you with a comprehensive understanding of its real-world applications.
• Federal and state laws require CPAs to maintain independence when performing audits and reviews.

Investors use the information contained in these reports to make decisions about which stocks to buy and sell. There is also no reason you have to choose the public or private path for the entirety of your career. It’s very common for accountants to pursue a job in public accounting at the outset, then transition into private accounting. Often, public accountants will be promoted more quickly, which allows a public accountant to enter the private accounting field at a higher level than their private peers. If a public accounting firm is hired to audit the financial statements of a client, then independence rules restrict the ability of the firm to provide many of the other services just noted. For example, a firm cannot prepare the financial statements of a client and audit those statements.

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Public accounting can be viewed as firms of accountants that serve clients such as businesses (retailers, manufacturers, service companies, etc.), individuals, nonprofit organizations, and governmental organizations. Large public companies enlist the https://www.vizaca.com/bookkeeping-for-startups-financial-planning-to-push-your-business/ help of CPA firms annually in order to provide the SEC with audited financial statements and the IRS with their corporate tax return. Depending on their particular role, a CPA may be involved in one or more aspects of the accounting profession.