Private accounting

Corporations -- Most large corporations have an internal accounting group that prepares the financial information (both tax and audit) for the public accountants, tracks company performance for internal evaluation and works with management on issues related to acquisitions, international transactions and any other operational issues that arise in the running of the company. Within corporations, there are a number of roles that an accountant can take on. These include:

• Internal auditors, who perform financial accounting tasks within an organization. Typically, these employees will perform audits of specific divisions or operational units of a company.
• Management accountants, who can work in several different areas of a corporation. On the finance side, accountants can work in the financial planning and analysis or treasurer's group, analysing potential acquisitions and making funding decisions for the company. On the accounting side, there are opportunities within the accounting group to handle tax issues and to work with external auditors to prepare financial statements. Additionally, on the accounting side, opportunities exist to work within specific divisions to track costs and analyse operational performance.

Government agencies -- Government accountants can work at the federal, state or local level. Many government organizations, such as the Department of Defence and the Department of the Treasury, have large accounting departments to analyse the performance and allocation of their funds.

Nonprofit organisations -- Accounting for nonprofits and charities is quite similar to for-profit accounting; they both follow internationally recognised Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). In addition to understanding GAAP, nonprofit accountants must also understand the standards written specifically for these organisations through the Australia Accounting Standards Board (AASB) -- these standards closely mirror the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) -- as well as the tax regulations specific to nonprofits. (For example, nonprofit organisations are typically exempt from federal taxation.)