Accountants and Auditors

Examine, analyze, and interpret accounting records to prepare financial statements, give advice, or audit and evaluate statements prepared by others. Install or advise on systems of recording costs or other financial and budgetary data.

Most important skills

Reading Comprehension
Active Listening
Writing
Critical Thinking
Complex Problem Solving
Judgment and Decision Making
Speaking
Mathematics

Key knowledge

Economics and Accounting
English Language
Mathematics
Law and Government
Administration and Management
Customer and Personal Service
Administrative
Computers and Electronics

What the work involves

Prepare detailed reports on audit findings.
Report to management about asset utilization and audit results, and recommend changes in operations and financial activities.
Collect and analyze data to detect deficient controls, duplicated effort, extravagance, fraud, or non-compliance with laws, regulations, and management policies.
Inspect account books and accounting systems for efficiency, effectiveness, and use of accepted accounting procedures to record transactions.
Supervise auditing of establishments, and determine scope of investigation required.
Confer with company officials about financial and regulatory matters.
Examine and evaluate financial and information systems, recommending controls to ensure system reliability and data integrity.
Inspect cash on hand, notes receivable and payable, negotiable securities, and canceled checks to confirm records are accurate.

Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Conventional, Enterprising, Investigative.

Qualifications and licensing

Most common education

Bachelor's Degree (69% of expert ratings)

Related experience

None (34.5%)

On-the-job training

Over 1 month, up to and including 3 months (24.1%)

Preparation level

O*NET job zone 4: Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed

Licensing

Depends on state or role (national summary): Accountants who file reports with the SEC must be licensed CPAs; CPAs are licensed by state boards of accountancy (national exam, 150 semester hours of coursework in all states). source (checked 2026-10-25)

Limits

Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.

Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections; State licensing authorities (curated, see evidence links) · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0

Work environment

How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).

Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.

Rankings compare typical U.S. occupation-level work conditions; individual jobs and employers vary. Data: O*NET 31.0 Work Context and BLS wages (May 2025).
Condition	Level	Compared with other occupations	Most common answer (O*NET survey)
Contact with others	Very low	Lower on contact with others than 89% of occupations compared	45% of surveyed respondents chose “Contact with others most of the time”
Dealing with the public	Moderate	Lower on dealing with the public than 51% of occupations compared	28% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important”
Teamwork	Low	Lower on teamwork than 64% of occupations compared	41% of surveyed respondents chose “Very important”
Freedom to make decisions	Low	Lower on freedom to make decisions than 78% of occupations compared	52% of surveyed respondents chose “Some freedom”
Time pressure	Moderate	Higher on time pressure than 52% of occupations compared	41% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week”
Conflict situations	Low	Lower on conflict situations than 60% of occupations compared	45% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month”
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people	Low	Lower on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 74% of occupations compared	45% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month”
Consequence of error	Low	Lower on consequence of error than 64% of occupations compared	34% of surveyed respondents chose “Fairly serious”

Work-pressure profile

Time pressure: moderate
Conflict situations: low
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: low
Consequence of error: low

Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.

Full answer distributions