What is accounting? Its financial information for a business or individual which is prepared by a trained accountant for investors, tax audits, creditors, to pay taxes and to receive tax returns. What is an accountant? The accounting profession is a very diverse field with a number of different professional occupations a person can get into, and some of these fields depend on the accounting degree a person has. An accounting degree ranges from a certificate to a doctorate. Some of the different professional fields we are going to look at in this paper are Auditor, Finical advisers, Tax accountant, Management Accountant, and Government accountant. As we study accounting and accountant we will look at the different boards that governed the accounting field, the education that is required, the standers, ethics, and the different certifications.
The different accounting degree and certifications, a person can get a certificate in accounting in one year. An associate degree in two years, a bachelors in four years, a master’s in six, and doctoral in eight years. For any of these accounting degrees a person has to attend college classes. With a certificate, associate and bachelors a person can get their certification as Certified Public Account (CPA) the CPA test consist of four tests. A master’s degree a person can get there Certified Management Account (CMA), and Certified internal auditor (CIA) with a doctoral in accounting a person can go into researchers or teaching (Different Accounting Degrees, 1999). Auditor, there are internal and external auditors, and internal auditors work as a full-time or part- time employee, their job is to find ways for the company to save money. External auditors are hired to make sure their financial reports are factual, or by an agency, government or investors, to make sure the company is following regulations. If the auditor files reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission, he must be a certified public accountant Finical Advisers, they give recommendation on how to protect, invest, and minimize tax liability of an individual’s assets. Tax Accountant, work with companies to keep track of their income and expenses and minimize the amount the company will have to pay in government taxes at the end of the year. Management Accountants keeps track of daily expenses and profits; they also work with management to predict how future expenses or developments will affect the company in the future. Government Accountant work for the government helping them to determine how much money they can expect to bring in each year from taxes, and other income sources, they also try to project the cost of different government programs (Fundamentals ofAccounting 1, 2012).
Ethics is one of the important assets to an accountant because if the reputation of an accountant is damaged it can have lasting finical repercussions. The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) requires its entire member to adhere to a professional code; failure to comply with the rules can result in penalties. (Fundamentals ofAccounting 1, 2012). Financial Accounting Standers Accounting standards used today are referred to as Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). The GAAP was established in 1973 when the Accounting Principles Board (APB) was dissolved. These standards are needed so every company is doing their financial statements the same way, without standards each company could have their own accounting rules, this would be hard for new employees or other users of financial statements because they would have to learn the account rules of each company they have worked for (Finanical Accounting, 1999).
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is a governing agency that has the authority to establish accounting standards for publicly traded companies. In 1959 the Accounting Principles Board (APB) was establish.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) was implemented in 1973 and was made up of three organizations:
1) Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF)
2) Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). FASB issues statements of financial accounting standards which the GAAP follows.
3) Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council (FASAC)
In 1973 the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) was created to establish international accounting principles. In 2001 the IASC was succeeded by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). In 1984, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) was formed to set standards for the financial reports of state and local governments (Finanical Accounting, 1999).
In conclusion we have found that accountants work for companies, governments, individual, and different agencies. Most are CPAs and follow ethical guide lines. Accountant gives advice to individual on how to save and invest assets, they also do audit, and management account for business. They work for our government helping to assess taxes and for individual and companies to find tax deduction. The field of accounting is diverse, rigorous, but it also is a field that has job diversity.

References
Different Accounting Degrees. (1999). Retrieved from eHow: http://www.ehow.com/list_6530722_different-accounting-degrees.html
Finanical Accounting. (1999). Retrieved from QuickMBA: http://www.quickmba.com/accounting/fin/standards/
Fundamentals ofAccounting 1. (2012). The McGraw-Hill Companies.