What do accountants and auditors do?
Examine, analyze, and interpret accounting records to prepare financial statements, give advice, or audit and evaluate statements prepared by others. Install or advise on systems of recording costs or other financial and budgetary data.
This describes a U.S. occupation, not a live vacancy. Individual employers may use different titles and requirements.
Job titles to recognize in your search
O*NET reports these titles for this occupation. Compare the responsibilities in each posting before treating titles as equivalent.
- Accountant
- Accounting Officer
- Audit Partner
- Auditor
- Cost Accountant
- CPA (Certified Public Accountant)
- Financial Auditor
- Financial Reporting Accountant
Core tasks to compare with a job posting
- Prepare, examine, or analyze accounting records, financial statements, or other financial reports to assess accuracy, completeness, and conformance to reporting and procedural standards.
- Process invoices for payment.
- Review accounts for discrepancies and reconcile differences.
- Compute taxes owed and prepare tax returns, ensuring compliance with payment, reporting, or other tax requirements.
- Prepare adjusting journal entries.
- Inspect account books and accounting systems for efficiency, effectiveness, and use of accepted accounting procedures to record transactions.
- Prepare detailed reports on audit findings.
- Prepare, analyze, or verify annual reports, financial statements, and other records, using accepted accounting and statistical procedures to assess financial condition and facilitate financial planning.
- Collect and analyze data to detect deficient controls, duplicated effort, extravagance, fraud, or non-compliance with laws, regulations, and management policies.
- Review data about material assets, net worth, liabilities, capital stock, surplus, income, or expenditures.
Prepare an application for this occupation
- Check the employer’s requirements, location, schedule and any licenses against your situation.
- Choose two or three tasks above that match the posting and your actual experience.
- Build a resume evidence worksheet using the skills and software relevant to that employer.
- Practice explaining your contribution, decisions and results before an interview.
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