AICPA

Become a CPA and you really will know everything.

Studying to become a CPA will help you get a versatile bunch of know-how under your belt–and as a CPA, you'll be called on to use all of it. So learn what skills a CPA position will ask (or more likely demand) from you:

• Strategic and Critical Thinking
• Problem Solving and Decision Making
• Risk Analysis and Measurement
• Research and Reporting
• Technology
• Resource Management
• Communication
• Leadership and Team Building
• Business and Client Focus

Strategic and Critical Thinking

One seemingly small decision today might have a significant effect on a number of other decisions in the future. A good example of using strategic thinking in your life is choosing an internship. An internship can allow you to make professional contacts within a company or industry that you're interested in working with later. Strategic thinking is a "big picture" skill — a professional ability that will serve you well in everything you do.

Problem Solving and Decision Making

The ability to analyze rather than just memorize information is the foundation for intelligent problem solving. In a career where you could be making decisions worth millions of dollars, you want to be sure your conclusions are reliable and 100% accurate. Your studies as an accounting major and professional experience as a CPA will train you to make important decisions confidently in your professional life.

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Part of the Team

Mike Minarczyk, CPA
Controller, New York Jets

As Controller for the New York Jets, Mike Minarczyk analyzes all aspects of the organization—from ticket sales to marketing operations.

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Risk Analysis and Measurement

Equally important to the positive effect of any strategic decision is its counter side: risk. Your ability to identify and control risk is extremely valuable. In business, it can minimize financial loss for some industries; for others, such as the automobile industry, it can save lives.

Research and Reporting

A business depends on hard, statistical data to make intelligent decisions. The decision-making skills you'll learn as an accounting major, and later in your role as a CPA, are supported by your ability to effectively research relevant information, both qualitatively and quantitatively, for a specific purpose or project, and communicate your findings and recommendations.

Technology

You don't have to be a technology expert to succeed in business. You just need an understanding of how technology affects business in a broad sense, and how one applies it. The truth is that every business relies on technology in some way. When you major in accounting and work as a CPA, technology skills will enable you to act as a translator of sorts, explaining the strategies of business decision makers to the IT professionals who implement those decisions through computer software and hardware solutions.

Resource Management

Resource management is about knowing your limitations and working well within them. The skills you'll learn as an accounting major and your experience as a CPA will allow you to manage every type of resource — human, financial, physical, environmental — to sharpen your ability to effectively control any project. Every type of project operates on the principles of efficient resource management, from a film production to an undercover FBI operation. You're held to strict budgets, and must ensure that people are doing what they're supposed to do, when they're supposed to do it.

Communication

As a CPA, you can expect to be called upon to present complex information in a way that can be understood by individuals with diverse capabilities and interests. You'll also need an understanding of organizational communication, and how it can be affected by various factors such as new technologies. Accounting studies will give you the opportunity to get in front of groups of professionals or nonprofessionals to try communicating effectively in the most appropriate medium for your audience. You'll learn how to listen, speak, write and respond effectively, as well as gain the ability to recognize and understand conceptual or theoretical issues.

Leadership and Team Building

In almost every kind of experience you'll ever have, from recreational to professional, you're going to be working as part of a team. The ability of the group to meet its goals depends on good leadership and team-building skills. As an accounting major, you'll learn how to work well with all types of people. And you'll learn the importance of objectivity, diversity and integrity in a group setting. This will help you lead and succeed in appropriate circumstances.

Business and Client Focus

Different industries are affected by completely different factors. For instance, a drought could have devastating effects on the wine industry, while better standards for online security could cause a "dot com's" business to soar. Aside from showing you how to work comfortably with a diverse group of individuals, an accounting major will teach you to work with diverse business markets. You'll identify economic and business risks, and the opportunities of the market in which they operate. In addition, you'll understand different market needs and how to develop new ones.