Accountant
You get handed somebody’s money records and one question: can these numbers be trusted? You find where they are wrong, decide which mistakes matter, and tell the people who own them what the numbers really say.
Related: Investment Banker, Data Analyst, Management Consultant
The day in the life
Colette's · last year's numbers
One page, and the bank reads it tomorrow
- •the two shops took in about $620,000 last year
- •the books show $1,840 more than the bank does
- •nobody at Colette's can say why
the page, before you start
The shops took in about $620,000 last year, and Colette's own records say there is $1,840 more in the bank than the bank says. How small does that difference have to get before you stop looking?
Try a day as an accountant
A short, playful taste of the real work.
Growing faster than most jobs, with about 115,300 openings a year. Some of the routine work is expected to move to software, including AI.
A four-year degree in accounting or something close to it, and no license to start. The license, called a CPA, comes later: more college or more work, then a four-part exam.
What you’d do all day
The picture is somebody doing sums all day. The computer does the sums. The job is checking: going through somebody’s records to find what is wrong or missing, matching them against the bank and the receipts, and working out the tax they owe. Almost everyone in the job is on email every day, and about two in three talk things through face to face every day.
What stays yours is the judgment: which mistakes are big enough to chase, what counts as money that is really coming, and what to tell the person who owns the numbers when they wish they said something else. Nearly right does not count here: 97 in 100 people in the job call being exact very or extremely important.
- Checking records30%
- Matching and fixing30%
- Taxes and reports15%
- Talking it through10%
- Email and forms15%
Most of the day is going through somebody else’s numbers line by line and fixing what does not match. The months before tax deadlines make it longer.
Most accountants end up in one of four kinds of work.
- Public accountingyou work at a firm that checks the books and does the taxes for lots of different clients, from families to big companies.
- Inside a companyyou look after one company’s money, plan its budgets, and tell its bosses what the numbers mean.
- Auditingyou check somebody else’s books and say whether they can be trusted, from outside the organization or from inside it.
- Governmentyou keep a government agency’s records, or check the people and businesses that owe it tax.
A typical early-career day
- 8:30Email first
Almost everyone in this job starts on email. Overnight there are questions from clients who want an answer before lunch.
- 9:30Matching a month
You go down one client’s month line by line against the bank, and list every line that does not match.
- 11:30A client on the phone
A shop owner wants to know whether the new van counts against this year’s profit. You need to be sure before you answer.
- 2:00Chasing a gap
Two totals are $400 apart. By four you have found most of it, and you decide what happens to the rest.
- 4:30The review
Somebody senior goes through your work, and most of the questions are about the numbers you could not explain.
A rough day for somebody a couple of years into a small accounting firm. From January to mid April, with tax returns due, the days run longer.
The outlook
Where it’s going
About 115,300 accounting jobs open up every year, and the number of accountants grows about 5% by 2035, faster than most jobs. The government expects some of the routine work to be done by software, including AI, as it spreads.
Right now
About 1 in 40 accounting graduates is out of work. About one in five has a job that does not ask for the degree.
Would you like it?
Worth a look if you would rather find the one number that is wrong than guess at the right one.
Tap any that sound like you.
In practice, people realize it’s their thing when…
…and it probably isn’t their thing when
How people get in
- 4
- Years it takes on average
- $48K
- Average cost
- 43 in 100
- Pass the hardest part of the exam
Every way in
A college degree in accounting
About 7 in 10
Four years · About $48K for the degree
A two year degree
About 1 in 14
Two years · Two years of college fees
How your first job gets decided
Getting the first job is the easier half: companies hire accountants straight from college. The harder half is the license, a CPA, which stands for certified public accountant, and the exam you pass to get it.
What employers check
- Enough accounting classes. An accounting degree has them, and the government asks for at least 24 credits of accounting before it hires you as an accountant.
- More than a normal degree for the license: 150 college credits instead of the usual 120, a master’s degree, or two years of work instead of one. Which of those counts depends on your state.
- A four-part exam: three parts everybody takes, and one you choose from three. Fewer than half the people who sit the hardest required part pass it.
Most first jobs come straight from college, at an accounting firm or inside a company.
- Accounting firms hired 11,985 new graduates in 2024, and 8,994 of them, three in four, had studied accounting.
- An accounting degree earns about $76,200 four years after you finish.
- The government also hires accountants without an accounting degree: four years of accounting work plus 24 credits of accounting classes counts instead.
When to apply
Two things set the calendar in this job: tax season, and the exam for the license.
- January to AprilThe busiest months. Tax returns are due on April 15, and the days run long until then.
- Any week of the yearBook the three parts of the license exam that everybody has to pass, whenever you are ready.
- January, April, July or OctoberThe only months you can sit the part you chose.
- Once you pass one partYou get at least 30 months to pass the other three parts of the exam.
How long it takes
College
Four years
More college or more work
One or two years
The exam
Pass all four parts to get the license
Four years to the first job, and about six to the license.
About six years to the license, and the first job starts after four. You can try the checking this afternoon: take one real month of somebody’s money and find out whether it adds up.
Try making a real month of money add upMake a Real Month of Money Add Up
Pick a real month of somebody’s money: a club, a team, a fundraiser, a small side business. Check every payment on their own list against the bank’s list, find out why any do not match, and hand the person whose money it is one page that says whether it adds up and what you could not explain.
Where these numbers come from
Written by the Sidequest team, from the sources below.
- Pay: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, Accountants and Auditors (SOC 13-2011), May 2025 wages, read through the BLS public data API. Starting pay by major: Federal Reserve Bank of New York, The Labor Market for Recent College Graduates, released February 2026 on 2024 data. Dated September 2026.
- The outlook: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Accountants and Auditors (outlook 2025-35), page last modified August 27 2026; O*NET OnLine 13-2011.00 Accountants and Auditors, site updated August 25 2026, for email, face to face contact, exactness, hours and freedom to decide; Federal Reserve Bank of New York, The Labor Market for Recent College Graduates (February 2026, on 2024 data), for unemployment and underemployment. Dated September 2026.
- Getting in: How many people take each route: O*NET OnLine 13-2011.00, site updated August 25 2026, read September 2026, for the education answers of 69 and 7 in every 100. National Association of State Boards of Accountancy, New CPA Licensure Pathways and CPA Mobility, December 23 2025, and its pathways map current as of July 21 2026, for the three ways to qualify; NASBA, its 2023 exam rule amendment, for the 30 month window. AICPA and CIMA, CPA exam scoring and pass rates, updated July 15 2026, for the 42.95 percent 2026 pass rate on Financial Accounting and Reporting, and its score release page, read September 2026, for when each part can be taken. AICPA, the 2025 Trends report, for the 11,985 new graduates hired by responding firms in 2024, the 75 percent who were accounting graduates, and the exam having three required parts and one chosen. U.S. Office of Personnel Management, qualification standard for the Accounting Series 0510, read September 2026, for the 24 semester hours and the four years of experience. U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard, field of study data, CIP 52.03 Accounting and Related Services, for the $76,194 median four years out. Internal Revenue Service, When to File, updated May 22 2026, for April 15. College Board, Trends in College Pricing and Student Aid 2025, public four year in state tuition and fees of $11,950 a year, for the four year total. Dated September 2026.