Auditors, bookkeepers, and accounting clerks are the keepers of financial records. The update, calculate, and maintain all the expenses, receipts, payables and receivables, sale, profit, and loss statements involved in the daily operation of a business or organization. Work in this career varies from the bookkeeper who keep's track of a company's entire set of books to accounting clerks who handle specific tasks.

Most Chartered Accountants require a bachelor's degree in accounting or a related field, or a master's degree. Competition in the field is high especially for the most sought after positions with major accounting or business firms.

In the accounting world, there are four major fields. These fields include public accountants, management accountants, government accountants and auditors, and internal auditing. Public accountants do a range of accounting, auditing, tax, and consulting services on behalf of their clients, which may be small business, corporations, non-profit organizations, government, or individuals. Some public accountant specialize in taxation and do nothing but work on preparing and submitting the companies records to the government tax center, while others look after payroll, design accounting data entry systems, or design controls that verify and safeguard assets. Some special in forensic accounting, which is the study of bankruptcies and other complex transactions and other specialize in auditing. Most public accountants, known as CPA or Certified Public Accountant, generally are self-employed or are hired by public accounting firms. This is the most common type of accounting - the one the public knows best.

Management accountants, also called industrial or private accountants, work as part of an executive team and are responsible for budgeting, cost management, asset management and performance evaluation for the companies they are employed by. These accountants prepare statements for shareholders, creditors, tax offices, and agencies.

Government accountants maintain public records for various departments of the government and its agencies. Auditors from here are the ones who go out to audit small businesses who have tax issues that need clarified. These accountants and auditors are responsible to ensure the tax laws of the land are followed and enforced.

Internal auditors ensure that organization's records are accurate and have been checked for mismanagement or misappropriation of funds, waste, and fraud. These auditors examine and asses all records to ensure the books are being kept accurately, following the laws, and reported in a timely fashion.