START YOUR CAREER IN ACCOUNTING

For as long as civilization started engaging in trade, accounting has been around. Evidence of financial records exists from as early as the Greek and Roman Empire. As civilization developed, accounting became more complex as well.

For centuries, accounting standards stayed fairly unchanged. However, in the past decade, the accounting industry experienced many changes. From the company scandals to big mergers, we have seen the world of accounting transform. Today, it is one of the largest growing industries in business. “The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 15.7% employment growth rate for accountants between 2010 and 2020” (US News). This growth rate is higher than any other profession, which makes accounting an excellent career choice for BBA graduates. To get started on your career path in accounting, here is what you will need to know.

RECENT TRENDS IN ACCOUNTING

Accounting has a reputation of being boring, but recent events prove this statement wrong. This year is an exciting and challenging time in the industry as one can expect to see more changes as the industry redefines itself.

New Auditing Regulations: As Rapoport states in his recent article, “the annual audit report is about to get an extreme makeover.” The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board plans to propose new rules that will require auditors to put more information in their report. Contrary to the current pass-fail system auditors use in their report, regulators are pushing auditors to provide the public with more useful reports about the information in companies’ financial statements. By doing this, regulators hope to increase transparency between the company and its investors.

Another proposal to be made at the end of this year involves requiring auditors to reveal their names in corporate annual reports. In accordance to the previous