Unexpected Career Options For Accounting Majors

More and more college students are pursuing a degree in accounting--and for good reason. With a good job outlook and an average salary of over $60,000, it makes sense that accounting is becoming a very popular area for study. However, not everyone is interested in a job that keeps them at a computer or in a cubicle for the better part of every day.

The good news is that not every job with an accounting degree involves long hours of looking at spreadsheets or pouring over receipts. The financial knowledge gained while pursuing an accounting degree can make you well-suited for a whole range of careers that you might not have considered.

Lawyer

While most people understand that lawyers are required to go to law school, there's a great deal of variety in what prospective lawyers study for their undergraduate degrees. From political science to biology, the majors of people going into law school are diverse. However, the right degree can help define a lawyer as an expert in a particular field--making them well suited for specific legal positions.

Accounting training helps lawyers understand the way a business deals with their finances. This makes them perfectly suited to pursue a career in corporate or financial law. In fact, this connection is so relevant that most accounting degrees require coursework in business law as a result. 

Entrepreneur

There's something exciting about operating your own business. However, experts cite that nine out of ten startup businesses are doomed to fail. The most pressing reason for failure from that study was the product being manufactured. A close second, however, was financial mismanagement.

Training in accountancy puts you in a perfect position to understand fiscal strength and financial management. This allows you to avoid the pitfalls that many entrepreneurs seem to run into when they begin their business. If you're the type of person with million-dollar ideas, an accounting degree might be just what you need to get those ideas out there.

FBI Agent

The media portrays the FBI as a tactical unit capable of undermining drug cartels and spying on people with evil intent. In reality, the work of the FBI is often done in an office instead of in the field. That's because many of the crimes that the FBI helps deal with are financial in nature, requiring analysis and expertise in matters of money.

That's why accountants are so critical to the work of the FBI. Auditing a company's records is a crucial step in determining when fraud has occurred, and also the severity of the offense. With an accounting degree, you can use your knowledge for the public good--helping to ensure that everyone abides by the law of the land and has an equal opportunity for success.

Consultant

Accountants have a unique perspective on the health and direction of a company. Through their understanding of cash flow and revenue streams, accountants can often identify problems and opportunities for a business that people without sufficient training cannot catch. This fact makes proficient accountants such a valuable asset that companies often hire external professionals to assist them.

As a consultant, you'll be able to look at a company objectively and without any obligation. Your job is to give executives an honest, real assessment of their organization's fiscal health. This will allow them to make correct decisions, earning both you and the executives a significant amount of money--the average consultant's salary is almost $75,000 per year. 

Don't fall into the trap of thinking that an accounting degree dooms you to a lifetime of sitting in a cubicle and reviewing tax documents. The opportunities for accountants in today's business world are rich and varied--with enough variety to satisfy the desires of a diverse set of people. If you're ready to start working on your accounting degree, contact a local school like Interactive College of Technology.