Getting to Know What is a Virtual Accountant
What is a virtual accountant? A virtual Accountant is just like a regular accountant but has different circumstances. A virtual accountant provides their client accounting service virtually. While a regular accountant is office-based, Virtual accountants works wherever is comfortable with them.
There is no need for a physical presence for a Virtual Accountant as they don’t need to come to their client’s office. Just like office-based accountants, Virtual Accountants also compile and verify financial transactions but their scope of service is much wider than of office-based accountants. Basically speaking, both are doing the same service.
Some virtual accountants communicate with their clients through an agency. Some companies also find the process of hiring virtual accountants are much more convenient than hiring full-time accountants.
Small business owners especially find hiring a virtual accountant as cost-efficient as they are only starting to grow their business. Small business owners can pay these accountants with the exact and reasonable pay they should receive for the service they do, not having to worry about financial and legal compliance.
Necessary steps to take to become a successful virtual assistant.
1. Get practical and know if you really want to pursue the career.
You need to consider whether or not you could hold out with the career in the long run. There are a lot of considerations to make when pursuing a career. One thing to consider is the average employment rate of the said career.
The employment rate for accountants for the following years is expected to grow over five percent, and that is more than the average. This means that if you really want to pursue this career, it’s safe to say yes considering the high possibility that you’ll get employed.
2. Get educated and earn a bachelor’s degree in accounting or a similar field.
This one is obvious. As stated earlier, a virtual accountant’s job is a whole lot similar to regular accountants. This means that employers of both careers require the same backgrounds. Other than a bachelor’s degree in accounting, other degrees earned that relate to business and finance are also up to the qualifications.
3. Choose the most suitable path for you: Which accounting expertise is for you.
· Public accounting is an expertise in accounting that has a much larger scope when it comes to service flexibility. Public accountants have an immense range of services provided to clients, from small businesses to corporations, to nonprofits, to government entities, to individuals.
· Management Accounting or Managerial accounting is another expertise that basically manages accounting information. The role of management accountants focuses on providing financial analysis and decision-making advice to organizational leaders, based on the businesses’ needs, goals, and projections. They efficiently analyze each accounting data before deciding financial matters on their organization.
· Government Accounting is also called governmental accounting, this specialty deals with recording and managing financial transactions for government entities and taxpayers. This expertise also focuses on the processes of analyzing, classifying, summarizing communicating, and interpreting financial information about government.
· Internal Auditing The role of internal auditors is primarily to track and manage an organization’s internal control processes to help manage risk and provide an objective analysis of financial status. Internal auditing is an independent, objective assurance and consulting activity designed to add value to and improve an organization’s operations.
4. Earn a CPA License.
A CPA license is one of the most prominent and in-demand qualifications when it comes to accounting jobs, and that is also the case with virtual accounting. The fact that you earned a Certified Public Accountant license is a huge advance that helps the client not to hesitate when hiring.
5. Prepare requirements for the job application.
There are three ways for you to get a client. There are places where there are actually firms for virtual accountants and they require the necessary requirements like resumes and some interviews.
Another is through third-party outsourcing sites where there are tons of job posts by either hiring managers or the clients themselves, they also require the basic requirements when applying for the job.
The last option when finding a client is making your own website where you could post your background and qualifications.
6. Visit a list of virtual accounting firms that are hiring.
As mentioned earlier, when it comes to virtual accounting, there are some actual virtual accountant firms where they train and hire new members and direct them to a client. These firms usually build their own websites to outsource accountants that would work remotely. You can visit these sites and apply for the hiring if there is.
