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An "accountant" is a person who "records" (writes down officially) financial "transactions" (times when money received and paid out) and creates financial reports. Most working accountants in the United States are "CPAs," or "certified public accountants" who have passed an exam known as the Uniform Certified Public Accountant Examination and meet their state's "requirements" (things that must be done) for education and experience.

People who want to become accountants should enjoy working with numbers and be very "detail-oriented" (pay attention to small pieces of information). They need to receive an undergraduate degree in accounting, or a degree in business with many accounting courses. Depending on which state they live in, they might need to get additional education and/or work in the "field" (area) of accounting for a certain period of time. People usually need at least 150 hours of accounting education before they can take the exam. Once they meet all the requirements, then they can take the two-day exam to become "certified" (recognized by an organization as being able to work in a certain profession) .

CPAs have many "career options" (choices about where one wants to work and what one wants to do). They may choose to work in public, government, or management accounting, as well as internal "auditing," which is the practice of checking a company's financial records to make sure that they are correct. Some accountants specialize in "tax preparation" (helping people and companies prepare their tax forms), "estate planning" (helping people decide where and to whom their money should go when they die), "mergers and acquisitions" (helping companies when they buy other companies), or many other areas.