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With more and more people investing in the stock market and the business community still reacting to the regulatory requirements under Sarbanes-Oxley legislation following the Enron collapse, the demand for accountants is overwhelming. Money Magazine and Salary.com recently published data listing Public Accountant as a top 5 job pick based on compensation, job growth and level of fulfillment/challenge. http://money.cnn.com/galleries /2007/moneymag/0703/gallery.be stjobs_young.moneymag/4.html

No w, if the title accountant brings to mind a nerdy guy in a back, windowless office with his door shut, head down, crunching numbers, you couldn't be further from the truth. Today's accountant needs to be able to communicate complex accounting terminology in layman's terms to a variety of end users with varied education levels, multi-task between multiple projects and clients, toggle between various computer software applications with ease and leap 10 story buildings in a single bound. Well, maybe not that last thing. And the days of accounting offices being comprised mainly of men in black suits is no longer true. According to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountant's (AICPA) 2005 Edition of the The Supply of Accounting Graduates and the Demand for Public Accounting Recruits, 53% of accounting graduates hired by firms were women. (http://www.aicpa.org/pubs/cpa ltr/oct2005/supply.htm).

Accoun ting jobs fall into a variety of areas, including but not limited to, public accounting, governmental accounting, not for profit accounting, international accounting, forensic accounting in search of fraud, internal accounting, etc. These sectors offer diverse opportunities to discover personal fulfillment utilizing accounting. Every business and agency is impacted by financial decisions so even if your main job doesn't end up being accountant, your accounting skills will be essential in meeting sales targets, cutting costs and streamlining business operations. After all, as a famous rapper once said, It is all about the Benjamins'.

If you are curious whether you have the skill set required to be an accountant, you can check out the Robert Half & Associates web sight http://www.nextgenaccountant.c om/ and take the skills quiz or check out the AICPA website and utilize The AICPA Competency Self-Assessment Tool.

Learn more about this author, Angela Gulley.
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