Looking for a career path that will lead you to a high paying job that will let you help others while using investigative and problem solving skills? Then take a look at these tax accounting career options. When you pursue a tax accounting degree, you are readying yourself to become a highly desirable tax accounting professional.
Wondering what tax accounting is?
Tax accounting refers to the services that talented accountants provide to individuals, exotic hedge funds, large corporations, and tax exempt organizations. Tax accounting jobs include tax preparers who prepare tax returns for people and businesses, as well as sophisticated tax accountants and tax directors who perform complex tax projections and research to help major corporations find the best city, state, or even country to set up new subsidiaries in, or ways to best finance new environmentally friendly initiatives.
When you embark on a career in tax accounting, you may begin by working in public accounting. Public accounting firms, whether they are part of the "Big 4" (Deloitte & Touche, KPMG, Price Waterhouse Cooper, and Ernst & Young) which serve major corporations across the globe, regional firms that have a few offices spread across a handful of states, or local firms that assist individuals and small businesses, you will be exposed to all areas of tax accounting.
Your first job in a public accounting firm's tax department may be to prepare individuals' Forms 1040, or perhaps to assist in preparing quarterly sales tax and property tax returns for clients' businesses. As you build your tax accounting resume to include more tax accounting skills, you will be able to work on more complicated clients' tax returns, also referred to as tax engagements. These may include preparing Forms 990 and 990T which are the tax filings required for tax exempt organizations, such as charitable 501(c)(3) organizations or 501(c)(9) voluntary employee benefit associations, which administer employee benefits for a business or charitable organization.
Once you have 150 credit hours in tax accounting education, spread over a variety of topics, including business law, auditing, and economics, and a year's experience working at a public accounting firm or under the supervision of a certified public accountant (CPA), you will be ready to sit for the CPA exam to earn this valuable designation yourself. Armed with your tax accounting education as well as your time spent preparing tax returns for your clients or your employer, you will be able to ace the CPA exam.
As a CPA you will be able to sign clients' tax returns if you become a partner in a public accounting firm, or decide to start your own business providing tax guidance and preparing tax returns. Your tax accounting salary will increase dramatically once you are licensed as a CPA, and your tax accounting job prospects will also greatly improve. You may even add to your tax accounting knowledge base in areas like trusts, estates, and complicated foreign corporations by going back to school for a graduate level degree focused in tax accounting.
Data provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics
The salary range for Reporting begins around $28,390 and usually tops out around $91,507, with a mean in the neighborhood of $59,949. This is about 38% higher than the national average for annual salaries.
In order to qualify for most Reporting positions, you typically need to have a Bachelor's Degree or higher.
Data provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics
The growth outlook for Reporting careers is estimated at about 13% while the estimated growth for all career fields over that same span is at about 10.12%. Over the next six years, Reporting jobs are expected to grow at a 28% higher rate than the national average for annual salaries.