An Overview of Public Accounting

1. An Overview of Public Accounting Dr. Alan Davis and Dr. Keith Harrison

2. Services Provided by Public Accountants at CPA firms • Tax • Audit • Advisory Services

3. Requirements to obtain a CPA in Missouri • 150 Hours Semester Hours • Passing Four Exams (75% is the passing rate): • Financial • Audit • Regulation • Business • Pass the Online Ethics Exam • One Year of General Experience

4. Public Accounting Firms The Big Four Other Firms in MO • PwC • Deloitte • Ernst and Young • KPMG • Anders • BKD • Brown Smith Wallace • Grant Thornton • Kerber, Eck, and Braeckel • Mayer Hoffman McCann • McGladrey • Rubin Brown • UHY • Williams Keepers LLC

5. The Benefits of Working in Public Accounting • Learning Experience • Working with a large variety of clients • Ability to “work your way up” • Manager • Senior Manager • Partner • Great asset to your résumé • Will open a lot of doors if you want to eventually move to private accounting

6. Internships • Apply for Leadership Programs in the Spring of your Sophomore/Junior year • Gain insight about the different firms and learn more about the differences between tax and audit • Apply for Internships the fall of your Junior/Senior year • If it is a tax internship, be sure to talk with the auditors at the firm during your time there • Likewise if it is an audit internship

7. Choosing Between Tax and Audit

8. Benefits of Tax • Everybody loves the tax accountant as she is there to help them save money on their taxes. • Audit: Employees of the client view you with suspicion – at worst you are trying to catch them doing something wrong – at best you are a disruption of their normal daily routine.

9. Benefits of Tax (Cont.) • Being a tax accountant is as close as one can get to the practice of law without actually going to law school. • Auditors have to maintain neutrality and independence while tax accountants can become an advocate for the client.

10. Benefits of Tax (Cont.) • Auditors travel a lot and often don’t have an assigned desk in the office • Tax has more daily variety as you will work on numerous clients in one day while auditors spend weeks working on the same client

11. Benefits of Audit • Get to visit all of the hot spots: Mexico, MO, Poplar Bluff, Chesterfield, Liberty, MO, Lawrence, KS • As well as some genuinely exciting places: Chicago, Manhattan (NY, not KS), London, England

12. Different clients-different issues • Both audit and tax work with a lot of clients and each will have unique issues • Tax professionals get to help clients solve problems and develop effective tax strategies • Audit professionals help clients protect their assets and raise capital to start new ventures

13. Audit path-variations • Not all auditors work in public accounting • Internal auditors • Government auditors • Many auditors will move to industry to work as Asst. Controllers, Controllers, Vice president-finance • Not all tax professionals work in public accounting • Many will start there and move to corporate tax departments

14. Personality Environment • Choose Tax if you like going to the same place each morning and having your own desk • Choose Audit if you like the idea of traveling and working on one project at a time • Also, evaluate the work that each do and what fits your interests and learning style