Starting An Accounting Consultant Career

Accounting is all about performing financial audits, prepare tax filings, and keeping the book as and when required for the client! The new-age technology has changed this profession a lot. All thanks to the wide acceptance and use of the internet and computer in everything. So accountants need to evolve their accounting principles with the changes in current trends continuously.

A consultant is someone having expertise in any specific field and uses it to become an advisor for an individual or a company! An accounting consultant is here to help businesses and individuals improving their financial health. There are many accounting software allowing tasks automation and better productivity.

Is consultant a good career?

Many companies prefer to outsource their accounting service. So in this way, they can get better financial control in growing their business ahead. An accounting consultant can help clients in many tasks other than offering accounting services such as;

• Choosing the right accounting service as per need.
• Analyzing the profitability of any business.
• Forecasting finance.
• Setting consistent accounting methods.
• Checking payable accounts to determine the ways a company might save money.
• Going through the financial statements.

You can help the bookkeepers of any company to offer accounting services. The job role also includes increasing the efficiency of the company’s accounting procedures and practices. It is possible by doing the necessary changes required in them.

One needs to create a bookkeeping schedule for the firm to get the reports as required, on predetermined deadlines, or on-demand basis. Further, organize a meeting with the company heads to explain its importance to them.

What is a consulting career like?

Not every consultant gain considerable success in life than others. It might be due to less proper knowledge about a particular field. Or might be they lack vital interest, drive, and passion for gaining excellence. It is about sharing your expertise in return for money!

You might think, Is consulting a good first job?

Before moving into it, you need to make sure that your goals should match the effort and time required to start working as a consultant. You need to have a good network of contacts, be organized and qualified to become a consultant. Also, you should be having a select licensing and certification as required to start your business!

Many reasons are there due to which a company needs to hire consultants. It can be to plan for new business, teach, influence others, or supplement it. Ass per study, about 47% of consultants into this business are Female. If we consider the men accounting consultants, they are about 46%, so there is a very slight difference between them!

You need to have soft skills, with;

• ability to prepare balance sheets
• doing external audits
• handling general ledger accounts
• making journal entries
• file income tax returns, and
• preparing financial statements.

Should I form an LLC for consulting work?

If you are confident to do it, you should definitely try since it requires less initial capital investment. You should first consult with an attorney for licensing or any local laws or restrictions.

Most of the government firms are there, such as internal revenue agencies. They hire only registered accounting consultancy firm to get some financial help in their business process.

But before proceeding to start one, it is good if you study the market and perform the comprehensive feasibility studies. These methods can help you to find out and analyze from where you can get your target customers.

It is also required for you to get an idea about the right price that you can charge with clients to offer your consultancy service. You can give tips on managing their accounts related work and make profits. All such information is building blocks while planning for the accounting consultancy business.

LLC is a US-based term to indicate a private limited company. It is a kind of business structure for sole partnerships, general partnerships, and corporations. A company with limited liability is a hybrid entity! It combines partner’s and corporation characteristics.

In this, the owners are not personally liable for the liabilities and debts of the company.

So, forming a Limited Liability Company can help you to gain many advantages. E.g., creating credibility with potential clients, tax flexibility, and security of personal assets.

What are the different types of accounting work?

You might be interested to learn about accountancy and use this knowledge to make money. If yes, then you can go through related certification or degree programs before practicing one legally. So try to gain enough experience and qualifications required to work as a consultant in accounting!

Generally, the accounting can be divided into different kinds as per clients or work area. It includes;

• Government accounting
• Public accounting
• Forensic accounting
• Fiduciary accounting
• Accounting information systems
• Tax accounting
• Social accounting
• Auditing
• Cost accounting
• Managerial accounting
• Financial accounting, and
• Project accounting.

Most popular Accounting Jobs

Accountants generally like to apply for Auditor, Financial, Tax, Payroll, and Staff accountant jobs. After some experience and career growth, one can also find opportunities like;

• Financial vice president
• International Tax manager
• Forensic accountant
• Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
• Corporate controller
• Finance director
• Senior Financial Analyst
• Cost accountant manager
• Assistant controller
• Compliance officer
• Accounting IT Manager
• Accounting Software Developer
• Accounting professor
• Compliance manager, and more!

Accounting courses and certification [Accounting certification program]

You can find a big list of courses on accounting offered by institutions depending on the level of education, country, or a sector. It is to make people highly efficient and effective in performing accounting duties.

The courses might include relevant topics. It comprises banking, international finance, investments, and financial statement analysis. A program an also give you a brief idea about how accountancy related to the business operations can of much help in practical scenarios.

After getting the basics, an accountant can try accounting certification programs. It can be CPA credentials or specializing in Fraud Examiner, Internal Auditor, or Management Accountant.

Stop wondering: how can I find accounting classes online near me?

Here are a list of accountant certificate and courses:

• AAT qualification
• cima certificate in business accounting
• the Business Accounting Certificate by the Community College of Baltimore Country
• ucla accounting certificate
• macc accounting certificate, macc certificate
• computerized accounting certificate with North Seattle College
• certificate in forensic accounting with American University Washington, DC
• online accounting certificate with Southern New Hampshire University
• bookkeeping degree online with Penn Foster and US Career Institute
• uw accounting certificate with University of Washington
• accounting cert with Harvard Extension School and UC Berkeley Extension
• ucsd accounting certificate with UC San Diego Extension
• post bacc accounting with Southern Oregon University
• nonprofit accounting certification and ifrs certificate program with AICPA
• bcit accounting certificate with BCIT School of Business & Media in Canada
• aca certification accounting, become a Chartered Accountant with ICAEW qualification
• hcc accounting certificate with Holyoke Community College and Houston Community College
• certificate of management accounting with Institute of Management Accountants
• short bookkeeping course with Open Learn
• Find more accounting course on Udemy and Coursera

How to start a consulting business with no experience

You might be among people who have studied the accountancy well but not happy with your job or facing issues in getting one. In this case, noting AI best other than being your boss. Now, Can you be an accountant remotely? We will check about it later in this article!

Many small businesses face difficulties in handling their finance or in need of someone who can guide them to make more profits! Research has proven that many companies need to close or face huge losses only because they lack proper financial planning.

It happens because they do not have enough funds to hire an outstanding accountant who can handle their finances. So now, you can realize your role as an accounting consultant. You can help such people, and even large businesses, improve their finance in return for some money for your basic earnings.

What are the most popular accounting software?

Companies usually requires the use of accounting software integrated in their accounting information system! For example, to make financial reports or monitor their business processes. The most popular accounting tools use some algorithms to ease the task of recording and processing business transactions based on accounting.

The standard features included in the best accounting software are; financial reporting and general ledger. The list also has timekeeping, automated invoicing, and tracking purchase orders.

One can also follow company inventory accounts receivable/payable functions. These tools are even useful in analytics for revenue tracking and budgeting. You can use software for receipt capture using image processing or document, and sales tracking!

Some popular accounting software includes;

• Wave Accounting
• Sage Intacct
• FreshBooks
• MIP Fund Accounting
• Quickbooks
• Tally
• NetSuite
• Xero
• Oracle
• SAP
• Microsoft Dynamics 365

There are many more on the List!

From Sage Intacct, Inc. YouTube channel

Can an accountant work from Home?

Due to typical trends, you can freelance accounting jobs remotely or accounting consulting from home. After all, there are many advantages of starting a consulting career from home or doing remote accounting consulting such as;

– Save Time: Working from home adds benefit for saving some time, especially in getting prepared; commuting to and from the office. You can sit in one place and enjoy the convenience of home to serve your clients remotely.

By the way, in this pandemic situation, it is best if you can start from home. The best part about the same is that you can help your clients wherever they are, either in the same a different place, region, or country!

– Save Money – You can save much of your expenses like paying utilities or rent for your office. It is beneficial, especially for startups! The government of many nations has given relaxations in tax deductions. It is applied for people working from homes with few eligibility conditions!

– Remove Restrictions – Most of the time, while working from home as a consultant, you do not need to join or logoff only on specific hours. It is much more relaxing than what we face in almost all official rules or policies! You can even work for any number of clients at a time to make more profits.

Part-time remote accountant

Working part-time as an accountant can be beneficial for parents, people who need more time to practice a hobby, avoid spending money in transportation, stay safe at home while making money during the pandemic, etc.

Apart freelance accounting jobs and building his own business there are companies offering part-time telecommuting accountant jobs. For example Supporting strategies offers controller services and bookkeeping jobs.

What types of consultants are in demand?

There are many departments under different areas where consulting is required, such as;

• Management consulting includes risk & compliance, HR, financial advisory, operations, and Strategy consultants!
• Corporate consulting comprises Sales, Software, Environmental, Business, IT consultants.
• Independent consulting has Career Coaching, Legal Nurse, and Social Media consultants. Education, Image, Small Business, Security, Financial, Leasing, Leasing, Marketing consultants are also required!

Can accountants get rich? [accountant salary]

While reading this article till now, you might be having a few questions in mind;

What is remote accounting jobs salary?

Do consultants make a lot of money?

Do CPAs make 6 figures?

So, there was an American survey on Accounting Consultants. As per which the average accounting salary is around $30 per hour and more than $55k per year that can also cross six figures! The best-paying cities are San Francisco and CA, with more than $80 per year. Next comes Lindenhurst, NY, with more than $65 annually, and Seattle, WA with about $66k in a year for accounting consultants!

How much does a remote bookkeeper make?

The average salary of a remote bookkeeper job is around $46k annually, while on an hourly basis, it is about $20. Most people may not become rich doing accounting jobs but it is definitely a good way to make a living.

Who is the richest accountant in the world?

With a net worth of about $25 billion, Phil Knight, Nike’s co-founder is started his journey as a certified public Accountant. After taking his business graduation, he got the US distribution rights of a Japanese Shoe brand.

Further realizing the opportunity, he launched a business together with his former track running coach. The company will be known as Nike in 1964. Today the brand is worthy of approximately more than $85 billion.

Bottom Line

Sonner, a future will come when most of the accountant work is performed by AI-based robots or software. After all, automation is proven to be more convenient, efficient in performance, and time and money saver!

Similarly, blockchain technology in businesses is to automate the real-time Audits and Tax filings for firms. So you can prevent your future and prepare a career backup to switch on to make sure recent developments will not harm your career. A smart way to do it for accountants is to become consultants in their field of work!

All you need is to be well-educated and proficient! So that you can help others with the right problem-solving skills for different types of companies and industries! Once you start gaining clients, you will need to work harder to build a good reputation among them and market yourself to grow more!

If you are already an accountant, then start preparing your client base by being an accounting consultant from now. Start doing it in your free time for future benefits!

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