Associate of Science, Accounting

OVERVIEW

As an accountant, you must enjoy working with numbers, but more important, you must understand what those numbers represent for an organization.  Your work provides critical insight into the health of a bottom line, a check and balance for fiscal integrity, or an analysis that could lead to a new way of doing business.  Love of math, details, and organization are good qualities you must have as an accountant, but also think of communication skills. Often, you will be working with teams—and you’ll interact with clients. The art of negotiation, too, is a vital part of your day-to-day life.  Accounting principles have remained the same, but the profession of accounting is constantly evolving.

By studying accounting, you will:

Gain a broad foundation of core business concepts
Put fundamental accounting theories into practice
Prepare for success in a wide range of professions
Credits from the accounting certificate programs can be put towards the degree.

CAREER OUTLOOK

Small to large businesses, government agencies, non-profits, educational institutions — all need trained accounting personnel to make sure that financial transactions are handled properly and accurate records are kept. Workers entering this challenging profession may analyze financial records, manage budgets, perform cost analysis, and evaluate taxes and more. More and more employers are demanding a college accounting degree from prospective job candidates to fill staff accounting positions. Job titles vary—tax examiners and collectors, revenue agents, bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks, payroll and timekeeping clerks, billing, cost and rate clerks.