A Rewarding Financial Career from Accounting Clerk to CPA

Getting started in the financial and accounting field definitely involves hard work with studying and learning software and how businesses work.   Getting an entry level position as an accounting clerk is something 360 Training can definitely help you achieve, in as little as 3 months in some cases. But where can you go with your new accounting skills? For many, it’s the beginning of a path to making more money and having more responsibility as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). Many CPA’s actually started out as clerks; this is how they gained the practical skills and industry knowledge that allowed them to move up the ladder.   The first thing to do as an accounting clerk is to demonstrate to your employer the willingness to learn the additional duties of a staff accountant position. The work is likely to be more administrative in nature, but will definitely rely on the accounting work and skills you will already have as a clerk. Next make sure you are working on your communication skills. Accounting departments often touch and thus have to talk with every other department in the company. Knowing how to communicate financial information in the context of the company’s big-picture operations is a key trait to develop. Finally, as an accounting clerk you will very likely already be working under someone who has a CPA license. So make sure to shadow them to see what work they are doing, you will see the nature of the work involves generating reports and preparing advice for what the company should do. Also ask questions about the CPA exam itself so you prepare yourself.   The best tips are from those who have been there before you so don’t be shy, the CPA is a big test so you’ll want to be as ready as possible for it. Many before you have made the progression from clerk to CPA, it’s a common way to get ahead in this field, and by communicating well and studying hard you can do it too!