Is being an accountant harder than being a bookkeeper?

What advice would you give to someone looking to become an accountant/bookkeeper as a second career?

• I would like to make a midlife career change to working as a bookkeeper/accountant.   I already have a BA in another field.   I was considering getting an associate's degree first and then working on a bachelor's in accounting evenings once I had secured a job.   Is this a realistic plan?   What does the job market look like?   I have been in charge of department budgets for major companies although it's been a few years and am very comfortable with math and computers.

• Answer:

  Every accounting trade magazine I read says the future job market for accountants is strong.  I am constantly hearing that we are not graduating enough new accountants from college to meet the demand, so I would say your prospects are good. That said, certification, experience and education in that order will go a long way toward advancing your career.  CPA, CMA even a bookkeeper certification will open a lot of doors for you.  Businesses tend to like to hire accountants who have experience in their particular industry or at least in closely related fields.  It sounds like the experience you have would get you a bookkeeping or clerical accounting job, the associates degree would probably open the door to a staff accountant job at a larger company or accounting management job at a small company, the bachelor's degree in accounting will open the door to advancing into accounting supervisory and management and a masters with a CPA certification will at least get you in the door for just about any accounting job you are interested in.