People seek the advice of accountants to help them budget and prepare income tax forms.
The following sections of this BookRags Literature Study Guide is offprint from Gale's For Students Series: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Commonly Studied Works: Introduction, Author Biography, Plot Summary, Characters, Themes, Style, Historical Context, Critical Overview, Criticism and Critical Essays, Media Adaptations, Topics for Further Study, Compare & Contrast, What Do I Read Next?, For Further Study, and Sources.
(c)1998-2002; (c)2002 by Gale. Gale is an imprint of The Gale Group, Inc., a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Gale and Design and Thomson Learning are trademarks used herein under license.
The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction: "Social Concerns", "Thematic Overview", "Techniques", "Literary Precedents", "Key Questions", "Related Titles", "Adaptations", "Related Web Sites". (c)1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.
The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults: "About the Author", "Overview", "Setting", "Literary Qualities", "Social Sensitivity", "Topics for Discussion", "Ideas for Reports and Papers". (c)1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.
All other sections in this Literature Study Guide are owned and copyrighted by BookRags, Inc.
Accountants prepare, analyze, and verify financial records for individuals, businesses, and the government. Accountants may have their own businesses, work for accounting firms, or be employed by various types of businesses.
Some accountants specialize in tax matters and help people prepare income tax returns. Tax accountants also advise companies on the tax advantages and disadvantages of certain business decisions. These tasks involve a great deal of mathematics.
In preparing tax forms, accountants must add up income from the various sources. They use multiplication to compute tax savings that change with the number of exemptions, such as dependent children. They use subtraction to deduct expenses from income to calculate how much income must be taxed. Using all of these calculations, they determine how much tax their clients owe and develop and present various options to save the most money for their clients.
Accountants may review and assess budgets, performance, costs, and assets of different parts of a company. Computers are often used to prepare reports and graphs and to handle the detailed mathematics of business.
Many accountants prepare financial reports. An income statement summarizes a company's revenues (income) and expenses. A company's net earnings equal revenues minus expenses. Performance may be evaluated by comparing net earnings from one year to the next. Thus, there may be a percentage increase or decrease. The financial reports often contain graphs summarizing financial data.
Accountants use mathematical models to estimate how much a company's equipment depreciates. Accountants also use mathematics when budgeting, which entails controlling expenses based on the money available during a particular time period.
People seek the advice of accountants to help them budget and prepare income tax forms.
Most accountant positions require at least a bachelor's degree in accounting. Large accounting firms often prefer people with a master's degree.
Farr, J. Michael. America's Top White-Collar Jobs—Detailed Information on 112 Major Office, Management, Sales, and Professional Jobs, 4th ed. Indianapolis: JIST Works, Inc., 1999.
Nickerson, Clarence B. Accounting Handbook for Nonaccountants, 2nd ed. Boston: CBI Publishing Company, Inc., 1979.