Is Accounting Really Hard? Why Do People Think It's So Difficult?

September 2, 2021

Organize and maintain financial records.
Identify ways to increase value, reduce costs, and improve the bottom line.
Prepare, analyze, and confirm the accuracy of financial records and tax filings.
Ensure that taxes are paid both properly and on time.

Apply accounting principles, standards, and practices to analyze financial data.
Collaborate using automation tools, business intelligence, and data analytics to perform accounting business functions, communicate information, and create financial solutions.
Analyze relevant ethical and regulatory trends that apply to both domestic and international accounting.
Evaluate accounting processes, systems, and financial data to identify opportunities for improving business processes.
Demonstrate accounting and leadership skills using automation, business intelligence, and data analytics.

You’re well organized. Being capable of keeping things organized will be an extremely important skill as an accountant, where you’ll be responsible for sorting through financial data, organizing it, and delivering insights about it.
You’re a good planner. Accountants need to plan and project, thinking about the future and preparing their clients and the organizations that they work for to accomplish critical financial goals.
You like working on a team. You’ll do some work alone as an accountant, but once the data has been compiled, it has to be presented to someone who can make decisions based on the findings. Nearly every accountant works in some kind of team, either with other accountants or with organizational leaders who count on them for providing financial advice.
You can clearly explain complex concepts. Being able to review a wealth of financial data and distill it into a simple takeaway so that senior leadership can understand what they need to do in response to the data is a key skill for accountants.
You enjoy solving puzzles. Accounting isn’t always straightforward, sometimes it requires digging for information, piecing things together, and uncovering financial details that aren’t obvious, especially when conducting an audit or performing complex tax calculations. If you enjoy puzzles, this could be the perfect role for you.

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Is Accounting Hard?