Accounting Information Systems Career Overview

Analyze Data: Accountants often analyze financial data for individuals and organizations to ensure accuracy and compliance with laws and regulations.

Maintain Financial Records: Accountants maintain financial records to help individuals and organizations track and organize their finances.

Prepare Tax Returns: Accountants need a thorough understanding of tax laws and regulations to help prepare tax returns for clients.

Identify Cost Reduction Opportunities: Accountants assess the financial standing of a company to identify savings and cost overruns.

Provide Economic Feedback: Accountants investigate finances for organizations and individuals and provide feedback to help them maximize their savings and revenue.

Employment Numbers: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), accountants and auditors accounted for an estimated 1.4 million jobs in 2019. Nearly 25% of those professionals worked in accounting, tax filing, payroll, and bookkeeping services.

Salary: BLS data reveals that the median annual salary for accountants and auditors in 2019 was $71,550, with the top 10% of earners making more than $124,450.

Projected Growth: The BLS projects employment growth of 4% for accountants and auditors from 2019-2029.

Education Requirements: According to the BLS, a bachelor’s degree meets the entry-level education requirement for accountants, but a master’s degree leads to roles with more responsibility and higher earning potential.

Why an AIS Concentration Helps: Understanding the intricacies of how information systems operate can help accountants broaden their career prospects and add value to businesses.

Experience Requirements: Many entry-level roles do not require experience beyond a bachelor’s degree in accounting, but professional experience can help accountants advance their careers.

Certified Public Accountant: Typically, more advanced accounting responsibilities, such as regulatory compliance, require professional credentials, such as certified public accountant.

Certified Information Systems Auditor: This certification demonstrates the investigative and technological expertise needed to conduct in-depth investigations of IT systems.

Certified Management Accountant: For professionals who use accounting in information management, certified management accountant credentials provide a pathway to executive positions.

Investigate Financial Fraud: One of the most essential obligations of an auditor involves reviewing financial statements for misrepresentations and inconsistencies. These investigations help safeguard companies from potential fines from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Evaluate Information Systems: Auditors monitor and assess a company’s computer system to ensure the accuracy of financial data.

Manage Financial Reports: Auditors generally rely on standard accounting practices to create and authenticate various financial reports detailing earnings, tax deductions, and business expenses.

Communicate Economic Changes: After investigating fraud and compiling financial reports, an auditor may recommend potential adjustments in how the business conducts daily operations to cut costs or enhance practices.

Assess Accounting Procedures: Auditors constantly reassess accounting standards and methods to help companies manage finances efficiently and adjust to changing technology in information systems.

Employment Numbers: According to the BLS, accountants and auditors accounted for about 1.4 million jobs in 2019.

Salary: According to the BLS, the lowest 10% of earners in the accounting and auditing field made less than $44,480 in 2019, which is still higher than the median annual wage of all workers.

Projected Growth: The BLS projects employment for auditors and accountants to grow 4% from 2019-2029.

Education Requirements: Entry-level auditors typically need a bachelor’s degree from an accredited school.

Why an AIS Concentration Helps: Auditors must analyze complex business data. An AIS concentration helps auditors use emerging technology for data analysis.

Experience Requirements: While not always required, relevant professional experience can help auditors advance their careers.

Certified Public Accountant: An auditor does not need a CPA license to perform financial reviews of accounting books. However, auditors can obtain CPA credentials to advance their careers.

Certified Information Systems Auditor: For more extensive and complex audits regarding information systems, CISA certification is required. This certification demonstrates an ability to perform technology and business system audits for entities in various sectors, including government and private organizations.

Certified Fraud Examiner: Specializing in certain types of auditing often requires industry expertise. Becoming a CFE helps auditors exhibit expertise needed to work as fraud detection specialists.

Certified Internal Auditor: Working as an internal auditor does not require CIA certification, but the certification demonstrates an auditor’s ability to perform audits based on a set of strict standards and ethics.

Study IT Systems: By researching and finding the most effective computer systems for a business, a systems analyst can help streamline employees’ daily tasks.

Implement IT Solutions: IT systems can experience malfunctions that cause business disruption, and a systems analyst possesses the skills to discover and fix glitches.

Conduct IT Tests: Many businesses can’t afford to slow operations down when an IT system fails to work properly, which makes testing and analyzing the functionality of IT systems a significant responsibility for systems analysts.

Teach IT Systems to Employees: Accountants often rely on an accounting information system to perform their duties. A systems analyst can train workers to interact and interpret data for accounting purposes.

Customize IT Systems: A systems analyst can customize internal controls and hardware to adjust how an IT system operates within a company’s infrastructure.

Employment Numbers: The BLS reports that computer systems analysts held approximately 632,400 jobs in 2019. The largest area of the profession involved computer systems design and related services, which accounted for 28% of the workforce that same year.

Salary: According to the BLS, computer systems analysts earned a median annual salary of $90,920 in 2019, with the top 10% of earners making more than $147,670.

Projected Growth: The BLS projects 46,600 new jobs for systems analysts between 2019-2029 due to the increasing use of IT systems to manage health records.

Education Requirements: A bachelor’s degree is the typical education requirement for an entry-level position as a systems analyst.

Why an AIS Concentration Helps: Graduating with an AIS concentration demonstrates the expertise needed to manage IT systems.

Experience Requirements: Gaining entry into the profession generally requires only a related degree, while management positions usually need a few years of experience in the field.

Certified Information Systems Auditor: Earning this certification is not required to work as a systems analyst, but it enables degree-holders to advance their careers.

Information Systems Analyst: Passing the ISA exam enables job-seekers to demonstrate a basic level of IT competency to prospective employers.

Certified IT Professional: This credential demonstrates knowledge of the core principles used in most IT systems.

Monitor Financial Operations: Financial managers commonly conduct daily checks on financial procedures to ensure companies are meeting fiscal and legal obligations.

Craft Monetary Reports: A financial manager generally prepares and reviews banking statements in accordance with an organization’s information systems department.

Analyze Economic Markets: Researching economic trends enables a financial manager to identify expansion opportunities for a particular business.

Oversee Finance Departments: Coordinating and supervising the daily operations of an organization’s finance department, a financial manager often establishes the procedures for payroll, auditing, and invoicing.

Recommend Economic Changes: A financial manager commonly advises how a company can cut costs, reallocate resources, and identify additional revenue opportunities to improve its performance.

Employment Numbers: According to the BLS, financial managers held about 697,900 jobs in 2019, with 30% of employees working in the finance and insurance industry and 7% involved in government roles.

Salary: The BLS reports that financial managers earned a yearly median wage of $129,890 in 2019.

Projected Growth: As the need for professionals with economic management experience grows due to emerging world markets, the BLS projects approximately 108,100 new openings for financial managers from 2019-2029.

Education Requirements: The BLS recommends obtaining a bachelor’s degree to start a career in the profession.

Why an AIS Concentration Helps: An AIS degree combines accounting skills with expertise in information systems, both of which help financial managers excel in their careers.

Experience Requirements: Finance managers often need several years of related experience to qualify for top-level roles.

Certified Public Accountant: Financial managers can find work without acquiring CPA credentials, but some employers may require this credential.

Certified Information Systems Auditor: This certification is not necessary for the role of a financial manager but can open more career options involving corporate or government audits.

Certified Management Accountant: This certification demonstrates expertise in making executive-level decisions, which can expand career opportunities for financial managers.

Master of Business Administration: Graduates with this degree can pursue top-level finance roles, particularly if they also hold relevant experience.