#5: Accountant

If an accountant's wife can't get to sleep, what does she ask her husband?

"Tell me about work today, dear."

Accountants are often the butt of bad jokes. Many people perceive accounting to be dull and monotonous work that requires being confined to a cubicle. As the world evolves, so does the profession of accounting.


Accountants work on movie sets, for professional sports teams, for the FBI, and in a wide variety of exciting settings. If a company has a balance sheet, it's probably got an accountant.

Nothing is certain but taxes and death. Thus, there will always be a need for accountants. Job growth is expected to increase 17 percent in Indiana, making it number five on Indiana's top ten jobs list. Over the next ten years, there will be 700 accounting job openings in Indiana, and employers often have a hard time finding qualified candidates to fill these positions. The average salary for an account in Indiana is about $56,000.

There are four major fields of accounting: public, managerial, government, and internal auditing. The basic function of an accountant is to ensure that firms are run efficiently, public records kept accurately, and taxes are paid properly and on time.

However, new fields of accounting are emerging. A growing area is forensic accounting, in which accountants investigate white-collar fraud such as money laundering or embezzlement. They use their accounting skills to find out whether someone has "cooked the books." Even the great Al Capone was no match for the mighty accountants that eventually busted him for tax evasion.

How to become an Accountant

Ivy Tech offers a direct path to becoming an accountant. With an Associates of Science in Accounting, you can obtain an entry-level junior accounting position.

If you are interested in advancing in your career, you can continue your education and obtain a bachelors and masters degree in accounting that would qualify you to become a Certified Public Accountant. With this certification you would qualify to work for any of the major accounting firms or in senior positions in major corporations.

The website http://www.startheregoplaces.com/ is a fun, interactive website that may just make you pause the next time you go to tell a joke about accountants.