What are tax accounting classes?

Some questions for somebody switching to a accounting major?

• I've done 2 years in a forensics degree but switching to account because I believe I'd enjoy it more. Some of my questions are: 1.) What should I study before I take up the classes to I would do better in my classes? 2.) I do my own taxes and I'm always able to figure out my own paycheck within a 2 dollar range how much is that like being a accountant? 3.) How does accounting classes and getting a CPA exactly correlate because I'm not sure what a CPA exactly is? 4.) How much does the average accountant make? 5.) How many career paths are there for accountants because I've heard of book keeping, tax records, and other things? Thanks for the help.

• Answer:

  1) You need to take Accounting 101 and 102. I would highly recommend you go to your local library check out some bookkeeping books, those books saved my life when I jumped right into my intermediate accounting course. 2) There are differently field in accounting: Cost accounting, Taxation Accounting, Financial Accounting, etc, so I can't really answer this question. But being able to do one's own tax has nothing to do with being an accountant, unless you want go into federal taxation field, if that's the case, then you will learn a more depth income tax rules such as itemized deduction, special rules, etc. 3) CPA = Certificate Public Accountant. Enable to sit for the CPA you will need 150 hours college course hour (24 hours acc course and 24 hours business course). It is just the certification that is given to accountant who is able to know almost everything in accounting 4) Depending on which accounting field. Tax accountant makes the most money, but it is also the most complicated field. On average most accountant makes 30- 50K (Entry level), 50-70 (with 2-5 experience), 70-100K (top executive and with CPA) 5) There are many career path when it comes to become an accountant. However, accounting is one of the hardest degree, therefore, it is not easy to obtain the degree.