Careers

There are many different careers in the field of accounting ranging from entry-level bookkeeping to the Chief Financial Officer of a company. To achieve positions with more responsibility and higher salaries, it's necessary to have a degree in accounting as well as achieve various professional designations.

One of the primary milestones in any accountant's career is to become a Certified Public Accountant or CPA. To become a CPA you have to go to college with a major in accounting. You also have to pass a national CPA exam. There's also some employment experience required in a CPA firm. This is generally one to two years, although this varies from state to state. Once you satisfy all those requirements, you get a certificate that designates you as a CPA and you're allowed to offer your services to the public.

Many CPAs consider this just one stepping stone to their careers. The chief accountant in many offices is called the controller. The controller is in charge of managing the entire accounting system in a business stays on top of accounting and tax laws to keep the company legal and is responsible for preparing the financial statements.

The controller is also in charge of financial planning and budgeting. Some companies have only one accounting professional who's essentially the chief cook and bottle washer and does everything. As a business grows in size and complexity, then additional layers of personnel are required to handle the volume of work that comes from growth. Other areas in the company are also impacted by growth, and it's part of the controller's job to determine just how many more salaries the company can pay for additional people without negatively impacting growth and profits.

The controller also is responsible for preparing tax returns for the business; a much more involved and complex task than completing personal income tax forms! In larger organizations, the controller can report to a vice president of finance who reports to the chief financial officer, who is responsible for the broad objectives for growth and profit and implementing the appropriate strategies to achieve the objectives.

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eBay Quick Tip videos

How to sell on eBay - first steps
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How to sell on eBay - listing the item
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How to take better photos—layout and lighting

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How to use shipping labels
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How to edit listings in bulk
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How to apply new item conditions
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How to upload tracking for shipped items
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How to use Unpaid Item Assistant
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 Consignment Selling


Another way of making money on eBay is consignment selling. That’s when you sell other people’s products. If you go this route, focus on higher-priced items. I don’t like one-of-a-kind items. We're going to discuss that in a little bit.
Make sure it’s worth your while. If you go to AuctionBytes.com - which is a great Web site for eBay information - on the left hand side there’s a link for consignment sellers. You can look and see how much money they charge for selling other people’s items. You can also take a look at their contracts and see what kind of paper work you’ll need to get started.
That can be an ongoing source. It would be friends and neighbors and older ones, people at work that you might be able to sell their product. That can work out really well. I'm actually working right now on a method, a whole system for doing business consignment selling. That is a huge market because there are so many businesses with products to sell they can't get rid of. But that’s a discussion for another night.

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