Education Articles from College Matching Service

If you have a keen interest in financial information and are able to provide an accurate picture of any given financial situation, then you can opt for a career in accountancy. However, before pursuing your career in this particular field, you need to understand the various terminologies used in accounting. Having a clear explanation of these terms will enable you to understand your course program in a much better way. The various important accounting terms include:

• Revenue: This term refers the monetary value that you have earned by selling a product or service within a given period of time. An organization may earn its revenue from several factors such as services, sales, as well as from sources like dividend interest, and commission, etc.

• Equity: In a broader sense, this term signifies the total claims made against an enterprise. Equity is further sub-divided into two categories. These are Owners claim or capital and Outsiders’ claim or liability. The Outsiders’ claim or liability is defined as the costs, which the company owes to the outsiders including the business creditors and bank overdrafts etc. The Owners claim or capital is calculated as the excess of resources over the total liabilities of the company.

• Entity: It can be a government unit, a business enterprise, an educational institute or even a charitable organization and includes each and every element of the financial statement. In certain cases, an entity may encompass several other associated entities. Thereby, it is very important to record the accounting information, in order to accumulate and present those records with reference to an identifiable entity.

• Expenses/ Costs: This term refers the total expenditure made a business organization to earn its revenue. The business organization generally consumes benefits of expenditure ‘in present’, which includes salaries and privileges, raw materials consumed, and expenditure used to meet other requirements.

• Assets: It can be defined as anything that can be utilized for future operation of the business organization. Generally, it refers to all belongings of the company such as land, debtors, cash, goodwill, building, machinery, and other movable or immovable property of the business organization.

Accounting is all inclusive in perspective and includes various postulates, principles, assumptions, concepts conventions, and rules. It is broadly defined as the science of classifying, recording and analyzing various financial transactions. Accounting is comprised of several branches in order to meet the demands of different parties like the management, taxation authorities, and creditors etc. These branches of accounting are as follows:

• Financial Accounting: It helps to ascertain the financial result, including both the profit and loss, of a business organization for a particular period of time. It also calculates the company’s financial position and states the result as a Balance Sheet at the end of the given period. It includes expenses, revenues, liabilities and assets.

• Cost Accounting: It helps to calculate the cost of services provided or goods manufactured by an organization. It also indicates the avoidable losses and wastes in order to control the cost.

• Management Accounting: It is responsible for supplying relevant information within the given time to the management in order to enable them to take timely decision to achieve the targeted cost control.

• Tax Accounting: This branch is responsible for preparing as well as filing tax forms in the government agencies. A significant part of this branch includes tax planning that helps to minimize tax payments.

• Auditing: This incorporates evaluating and reviewing financial related records, documents and control systems and can be both external as well as internal.

Practical implementation:

• It helps to determine the financial condition of your business.
• It provides performance related information of the different departments to the management.
• It helps you to determine the appropriate time to buy a particular component from the market or even to manufacture a product.
• Proper accounting record is prepared on the basis of consistent practices; this enables your business to compare the financial results of one period with another.

While selling your business the values of your assets as shown in the balance sheet will help you in getting a good deal.

Accounting and finance are emerging into the most challenging and highly in-demand professions. Those who aspire to make the transition into a career filled with high-level opportunities and responsibilities, and have an aptitude for working with money and numbers would do well to consider a career in accounting and financial management.

The scope of an accounting/financial manager has increased tremendously in the modern world. They are now required to take on a variety of roles which are substantially different than those associated traditionally with the accounting/ financial positions. Nowadays financial managers and accountants are involved in e-commerce, evaluation of data integrity and compliance services, forensic accounting, environmental accounting and more

People who do not have a background in accounts or finance would find that the Keller Graduate School of Management with its degree program in Master of Accounting and Financial Management (MAFM) is a great place to get an education which would prepare them well for an excellent career in this significant profession.

The various master’s degree programs offered by the Keller Graduate School of Management have been designed to train students in the required concepts and skills such that they would develop a concrete foundation in the fundamentals of financial management and accounting.

The Keller MAFM degree program comes with a choice of three different professional designation emphases:

• MAFM with a CPA Emphasis. This degree aims to combine your master’s degree with a CPA credential which will boost your professional opportunities in the areas of accounting and finance. Select courses offered at Keller make use of the Becker CPA Review methodology (which is a widely trusted and highly recommended CPA exam preparation review). Apart from increasing your chances of passing the CPA exam it will also save you time and money.
• MAFM with a CFE Emphasis. The Certified Fraud Examiner has one of the most interesting accounting careers. Those who are interested in making a career as a Certified Fraud Examiner, the Keller degree with an emphasis on CFE will ensure a solid foundation in the concepts of fraud examination, forensic accounting, auditing, ethics and more. Professionals who have a CFE credential generally get to play a progressively vital role within companies which are influenced by shifting government policies. They would even find themselves eligible to explore employment opportunities within the government or law enforcement agencies.
• MAFM with a CFA Emphasis. Investment analysis, banking and portfolio management are functions that have become associated with high-profile and extremely lucrative careers. A CFA designation has become a very valuable credential which would help people move ahead in the aggressive financial field. In fact some major studies have concluded that employers are increasingly willing to pay considerably higher salaries to professionals with CFA credentials. At Keller the CFA emphasis is integrated with the Stalla exam preparation methodology.

If you have an online accounting degree from an accredited university, then you are qualified for various kinds of jobs with high salaries and lucrative perks depending on their merits that are available in the market. However the job opportunities depend on the type of the online accounting degree that you have opted for.

Types of jobs available if you have a bachelor’s online accounting degree

If you have opted for an online accounting degree in bachelor’s level then you are eligible for the jobs with the titles like:

• Public Accountant where your focus should be on auditing and tax functions
• Management Accountant who most of the times begin their career as cost accountants or junior internal auditors or trainees
• Internal Auditor whose jobs are to deal with audit, accounting information systems and internal controls.

If you are trying out for jobs in any government organization then with an online accounting bachelor’s degree you can get a job in the below-mentioned departments of the government.

• Finance
• Operations
• Branch Management
• Marketing
• Human Resources

Types of jobs available if you have a masters level online accounting degree

Those of you who have opted for a masters level online accounting degree for them the job opportunities prevailing in the market are the following:

• Accounting Manager
• Controller
• Vice President of Accounting
• Chief Financial Officer

If you want after pursuing a master’s degree in online accounting you can also opt for a mid or upper level management jobs which are in the following areas:

o Marketing

• Human Resource
• Finance
• Operations

Other than these fields, there are opportunities in the IT industry as well as the government and non profit organizations where there are regular needs for talented individuals with a bachelor’s or master’s online accounting degrees and with a basic idea of the tax regulation and policies related to these organizations.

All of you out there who are good at numbers and payroll system and want to try out their career in accounting now have good opportunity at hand. You can now opt for an online accounting degree. Now you might ask the question that why opt for an online accounting degree so here are the reasons which are valid enough to make you opt for an online accounting degree.

Reason1: Good salary in the market: If you go by the survey conducted by National Association of Colleges and Employers you would find that the accounting job can offer you good pay packages. There is also high demand in the market for knowledgeable accountants. Therefore if you are good with numbers have the tenacity to perform under pressure and can work for long hours then you should opt for an online accounting degree which would provide you with an easy path to success.

Reason 2: A degree at hand is a must: In the competitive field of accounting only having verbal qualification is not enough; you need something more substantial as a proof of your competency. Thus nothing is better than an online accounting degree since it will provide you with a degree after you complete your course. But you need to be sure that the online degree that you get is from an accredited college or institution.

Reason 3: Studying at your own free time: This is the major reason why most people are opting for an online accounting degree. It is ideal for those of you who are already working since both practical experiences as well as a degree are necessary for succeeding in this field. If you have opted for an online accounting degree then you can work in a company as well as study too during the weekends or in your free time after your office sitting at home.

All these reasons have combined together to make it easy for more and more people to opt online accounting degrees.

When you search through the internet you would find that there are lots of online colleges offering online accounting degree. These courses are divided into various categories. The categories are:

1. Associates

2. Bachelors

3. Masters

4. Undergraduate

5. Graduates

The online colleges that offer accounting degree courses are the following:

• University of Phoenix
• South University
• Sullivan University
• Salem University Online
• Peirce College
• Regis University
• Bellevue University
• University of Mary
• Florida Tech
• Capella University
• Saint Leo University

Some of the courses that you can opt for while choosing the accounting degrees are:

1. Associate of Arts in Accounting: This particular degree is provided by the University of Phoenix. The curriculum makes you proficient in business strategy making, economics and management.

2. Associate of Science in Accounting: South University offers this online degree and it provides the students with appropriate knowledge and skills of accounting. You would further learn how to work with balance sheets, finance statements and income statements.

3. Bachelor of Science in Business Administration- Accounting: This course is targeted to make the students ready for having a career prospect in finance or accountancy. The curriculum also covers subjects like Human Resources, Accounting, Finance and Marketing.

4. Master of Business Administration in Finance and Accounting: Regis University offers this degree to the students who want to know the financial perspective of a business. After completing this course you would know how to analyze a company’s stock price, check the budget and compile the forecast of a company.

5. MBA Accounting: It is a 36 credit hour program by the Bellevue University which aims at making the students proficient in having the knowledge of the tools and methods of a business

6. Doctor of Business Administration-Accounting- This program is designed to enhance your professional abilities so that you can fit yourself in the modern organizations and institutes.

So, now you have known what the types of online accounting degrees offered are and where to look for them. The only thing you have to do now is to go online and register yourself for the particular degree.

If you want to have knowledge about accounting then there are various online certificate programs offered by many colleges which you can browse through and consider before choosing any particular program.

Depending on the needs of the students various universities provide different types of online certificate program on accounting. These are:

i) Undergraduate Certificate Program in Accounting-Advanced Accounting

ii) Undergraduate Certificate Program in Accounting- Introductory Accounting

iii) Graduate Certificate Program in accounting

iv) Executive Graduate Certificate Program in Professional Accounting-Taxation

v) Executive Graduate Certificate Program in Professional Accounting-Accounting

vi) Diploma in Accounting

vii) Diploma in Book-keeping and payroll accounting

viii) Post Baccalaureate Accounting Certificate

The main aims of these online certificate programs are the following:

a) Enhance the financial management skills of the students

b) Providing both the theoretical and the technical training about accountancy to the students

c) Giving a thorough idea about auditing, financial analysis, information systems and taxation

d) Increasing job opportunities for those who are seeking a change in career

e) Giving the students an edge over the others in promotions or transfers within the organization

Depending on which course you have chosen you can apply to any of these universities. The universities offering all these courses include:

1) Strayer University

2) University of Phoenix

3) Southern New Hampshire University

4) DeVry University

5) Herzing College

6) Post University Online

Before you select any course you need to know what the eligibility criteria of these courses are. Though it differs from course to course some eligibility criteria remains fixed. If you are applying for an undergraduate course in accounting then you need to fulfill the following criteria:

• Applicants must have knowledge of English
• Applicants must have a high school diploma

If you are applying for any graduate certificate programs then the education criteria would be different.

• You need to have a bachelor’s degree from any famous institute with a minimum of 2.75 GPA.
• Need to provide the GMAT scores if you have less than 4 years of professional experience

Those who apply for an executive graduate training program needs to fulfill the following requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in the related field of study

The applicants for the Post Baccalaureate Accounting Certificate need to fulfill an different criteria. This is

• Minimum 21 credits taken on Post University

If you are eligible for these programs then you need to select the university which offers the particular online certificate program and began studying.